"Aly-Jay! Hey, are you alright?"

My head snapped up at the sound of my name. It took me a second see who called me. There was Keiko walking up to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh, it just looks like you're upset or something."

After sending her the best smile I could I said, "I'm fine, just a little homesick that's all." I had to stop myself from frowning. Either Keiko was very observant or is very in tune with people's emotions.

Keiko began to walk with me towards the school. "I can understand that. I bet it's been quite a culture shock and everything."

"Yeah." I didn't want to speak too much in case Keiko could read through my lies. Well, half lies. I was missing my life back at home. Before I figured out why I have to wear these stupid bracelets. The other half being I had gotten no sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about what my mother said. There was no way I could be all that she said. I mean... I know I had powers that needed to be bound but... Ugh, I can't handle this.

"Aly-Jay?" The surprise in Keiko's voice shook me out of my thoughts, but it was too late. Before I knew it, we had reached the stairs to the school and I tripped over the first step.

"Oh, fu-," I stopped myself before I fully cussed. Keiko seems like the type of girl that wouldn't take swear words lightly... or comfortably. Instead, I grunted and tried to catch my fall and let all my books and papers go everywhere. Son of a bitch, I am not liking how this day is going...

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Keiko put her bag aside and helped me gather all my stuff.

"Yeah. It's kind of weird how klutzy ballerina's are when we're not dancing." I grabbed the books she gave me with a smile.

Keiko seemed surprise. "You dance?"

"Back home, yeah. I haven't thought about looking for any classes here. Especially since I don't know long I'll be here for." When we finally made it into the school the beginning bell went off. Keiko and I said our goodbyes until our class together.

The whole day had gone rather smoothly, or at least what I had expected for the day. School was stressful and overwhelming, but that was to be expected for senior year. The language thing was still a fucking pain in the ass but at least I understood everything. The main thing that was kind of irritating was the pressure to prepare for the entry exams. It seemed that no matter how many times I said I'm not staying in Japan it just went through one of the professor's ears and out the other. Sometimes it even seemed that they pretended not to understand me because of my accent. Fuckers...

"Aly-Jay?"

Damn... caught in my daydreaming state again. "Yeah?"

Keiko looked at me like she was rather uncomfortable. "Um..."

Ugh, seems like I should have tattooed 'I am fucking pissed off' on my forehead. I forced myself to relax the muscles in my face. "Sorry, I'm just thinking about finals and entry exams. It's stressing me out."

Keiko seemed to relax a bit. "Oh, I don't think it's anything you need to worry about. But if you like, maybe we can get together and study? I have time today if you want."

"Sure," I replied with a smile. "I live pretty close to the school, maybe we can just head to my place? Although, I have to warn you, we still have a little unpacking to do so it might be a bit messy."

"That's fine. So should I meet you outside the gate after school?"

I nodded. Before we could go more into the conversation class started. I probably would have tried to carry it on but a lot of the students and teachers took school seriously. Too seriously sometimes.

As the teacher went on about the world wars, I had force myself to pay attention. History is not my strongest subject... While I do like to know what happened in the past and I do find the wars rather interesting, however, just listening to a lecture was not something I find entertaining. When class finally ending I couldn't help but eagerly gather my books and go to my next class. Which is... what? I had to double check since I wasn't familiar with the class rotation.

By the time school was over I was beyond ready to go home. I needed to get my mind off of all this school stuff. "Hey, Aly-Jay! You ready?" Ah damn... I forgot. I nodded at Keiko with a smile. At least this will be more laid back. I hope... After making a gesture towards the direction to my place, we started to walk side by side.

"Is there anything that you wanted to go over specifically?" Keiko asked after we walked in silence for a while.

I shrugged. "If anything it's the entry exam that's worrying me. We don't have that kind of stuff in Canada, or at least not as extreme as here. All I had to do back home is fill out an application and I got accepted."

Keiko looked down at me for a second. "You've been accepted into university?"

With a nod, I added, "Yeah, it's super easy. Especially for the smaller universities. If you get good grades you get accepted." We walked a little bit more before I started to get a pain in my stomach. I didn't have a big enough lunch so I figured I was hungry. "Hey, Keiko. Do you mind if make a quick stop at corner store or something? I'm suddenly really hungry." To put more emphasis into my hunger I rubbed my stomach.

"Sure," Keiko said. "I actually know a really good place just down the block that way." She pointed a block down. It didn't take long before she opened the door to a small diner and held the door open for me. The moment I walked in the aroma of teriyaki sauce filled my nostrils. That instantly got my mouth watering.

"Hello, Keiko," the chef said. "Who's this friend of yours."

"Hey, Dad." Whoa, Dad?! "This is Aly-Jay, the girl I've told you about."

I smiled at Keiko's dad. "It's nice to meet you."

He smiled back at me. "It's nice to meet you too. Have you been to Japan before? You speak the language very well."

"Yeah," I said with a little laugh. "But it was never for very long. My grand-parents live here so my mom would bring me here to visit but I grew up in Canada. And my mom taught me how to speak the language, although it's my second."

"Well, if Japan hasn't already, I welcome you to this beautiful country. And as a welcome gift, what would you like to eat? It's on the house."

"Oh no, it's okay-" before I could finish Keiko's dad just waved me off and prepared to make a meal. I gave a play sigh before I finally said that I wanted some chicken teriyaki. After Keiko's dad went about preparing our meal, Keiko and I found some seats at the back of the diner. "This is such a nice little place. I noticed that there were a couple more floors, is there more tables up there?"

Keiko placed some of her books on a table. "No," she said with a little smile. "I actually live here. My room and everything is upstairs."

"No way!" I said in shock. "That is so cool. I've always wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this." As I put my books on the table another thought came to mind. "Wait, why don't we just study here? I can't believe you were going to walk all the way to my place when yours is even closer."

"I don't know," Keiko said with a shrug and soft smile. "You offered up your place, it seemed rude to say no"

I laughed softly at that. "I'm not going to lie, you are just so adorable."

Before Keiko could reply her dad came to give us our food. "Here you go, ladies. Enjoy." We thanked him and began to eat.

"Do you mind if we study and eat at the same time," I asked. When Keiko said she didn't mind we started to study; beginning with our entry exams.

After we were done eating and studying for our entry exams we began to do our homework together. I was a little surprised by how well I got along with Keiko. A lot of my friends back home were a lot more loud and... swear-y? And while Keiko seemed to be more gentle and polite I couldn't help myself from thinking that she doesn't mind being around loud, rude people. That Yusuke boy kind of confirmed that feeling. He doesn't seem like a 'Keiko-type-of-guy'.

Once five came around I began to get a pain in my stomach. I rubbed it with a frown, it was actually quite painful for something that came so suddenly.

"Is everything okay, Aly-Jay?" Keiko asked.

I shrugged with a frown. "I've just got a sudden pain in my stomach. It's probably nothing." I looked over at the clock hanging in the diner. "I should probably go now anyways. We got everything done."

Keiko walked me to the door before I headed back home. At first I thought the pain was from eating too fast and sitting for such a long period of time. But it seemed that the more I walked the more painful I became. My house wasn't that far from Keiko's house but it seemed that my stomach was slowing me down. With every step I took the more painful it became. When I finally made it to my apartment building I had to give myself a minute at the bottom of the stairs. I held my stomach with one arm and used the hand railing with the other and forced myself to walk up the stairs. Ugh, we just had to live on the fourth floor didn't we? The first thing I did when I got inside was to head to the bathroom. Since it wasn't because I hadn't moved around a lot then I assumed it was a stomach ache. Nope, not that either. I dragged myself to my room and flopped onto my bed. After rolling onto my back Mizu came into my room and paused at the door. He meowed softly as if he was worried before jumped onto my chest and curled into a ball. Even though he looked relaxed he kept staring at me as if worried I was going to break. I had to take a deep breaths to keep myself from grunting in pain.

"Aly-Jay?" I opened my eyes when I heard my mothers voice. Had I fallen asleep? "Aly-Jay!" My mom came running into my room. I figured she was worried because she didn't think I was home but when she saw me in bed she appeared to get even more worried. She ran to my side of the bed and ignored Mizu when he hissed at her. "I couldn't sense you... Are you alright?"

I closed my eyes for a second to stop myself from moaning. "I... hurt." I grabbed my stomach for a second then realized that I hurt all over. What was happening to me?

Before I could ask my mother, she ran out of the room and went to the kitchen. She wasn't being very quiet with what she was making but she was probably too rushed to care. God, I hope she was making me some tea. What I would do to have something gentle going down my throat...

When my mother returned she had a cup in hand. Yes, tea. She knelt on the floor beside me, and again ignored Mizu when he hissed at her. However, this time, Mizu eyed the cup in her hand. He took a small step closer to her and tried to sniff it. He seemed okay with it because he moved from my chest and towards my feet, but he never took his eyes off either my mother and I.

My mother placed the cup on my bed side table. "You have to tell me, when did you start to get this pain?"

I tried to ignore the pain before I answered. "Around... five. I was studying," deep breath, "with a friend. It was so sudden. At first I thought... it was just a... stomach ache... but when I started to walk home," a groan, "it only got worse."

She just nodded as if I got an answer right. "Yes... It's my fault, I should have known better. You need to drink this." She grabbed the cup and helped me take a sip.

The drink was very strong and had lots of herbs but my mother had tried to hide the taste by putting honey in it. "What's... happening to me?" When I finished my drink the pain slowly began to fade and I began to get tired. Ugh, drugged.

"It's your energy. I'm so sorry, it's my fault. I should have known better... This is why I had put you in dance. With all your energy being locked down you needed to do something active to help drain some of that energy. You have so much power inside you that if you didn't do something with it you'd fall sick... really sick. There was so no way I could help you with your powers, I don't have the knowledge... and you were so young. I would have put you in some kind of ballet academy when we got here but I didn't think this would happen to quickly... I think your power has gotten stronger with age and it wants out... Maybe I should get Koenma. He'll be able to get help for you."

I could tell that she didn't like the idea of me going to Koenma. When I thought about it for a second, I had to agree. "No," I said as I tried to grab her shoulder. I was so tired and kind of drugged that I had completely missed and just hit the bed. I had less than a month left of school and whatever my mother gave me seemed to help. I might be able to last for a month. Plus, to be completely honest, I don't think I'm ready to face my demon side. It seems so... strong. I don't think I can handle it.

My mother must have known what I was talking about because she simply nodded again. She placed a gentle hand on my forehead. "Sleep, Aly-Jay. You need to rest."

The next morning when I had woken up I didn't feel any pain but I was extremely hungry. I went straight to the kitchen without changing first. To my surprised my mother was already in there cooking breakfast. Even more shocking was just how much food was made. There was pancakes, french toast, eggs, turkey bacon—because I couldn't stomach anything made from a pig for some odd reason—and even fruit of all kinds. Since the food was placed on the counter rather than the table I climbed onto a stool and eyed all the food.

When I took my seat my mother placed an empty plate in front of me. "Since your demon energy wont be focusing your human energy anymore it will turn towards your actual body. You'll need to eat a lot more so it has something to burn, otherwise it might just eat you from the inside out."

Ewe, gross image, but I started to pile my plate anyways. I guess that explained why I was so hungry. After I had eaten all the fruit, two flapjacks, and three pieces of french toast I finally didn't feel hungry anymore. When I downed the last of my juice and placed it next to my empty coffee cup I got up and went to get ready for school. With a sigh of relief my mother put down her mixing bowl and spoon. She was glad she didn't have to make anymore.

Before I ran out to go to school my mother stopped me. "Take your phone with you to school. It's your same blackberry, I just had it unlocked and gave it a new sim card. Call me if anything happens."

"Thanks." I grabbed the phone my mom held out. After I double checked to make sure it was on silent I ran out the door. In fact, I ran all the way to school, and it wasn't just because I was running late. I felt like the food and night sleep really helped me. I was refreshed and ready to face the day. The morning bell began to ring when I finally reached the school. Perfect timing. I continued to run to class and took my seat. I ignored the looks I got from people—I guess I looked a little too eager to go to class—and realized I wasn't even out of breath.

School went by rather quickly. With this new found energy I was able to really focus in class and pay attention to everything being said. When ever a question was being asked my hand was the first to go up into the air. I couldn't even stay still, if my hand wasn't going up, my knee would start to shake, or I would start to play with my pen. Keiko was even getting a kick out of this, I was being a little more open around her and she would actually laugh at some of the lame ass jokes I would say. When school ended, Keiko and I walked out together. Once we reached the gates I saw Yusuke waiting against the wall like the first time I met him.

"Hey, Keiko, and Aly-Jay, right?" He pushed himself off the wall and offered to shake my hand.

When we made eye contact I got the same chill going down my spine like last time, only this time it was a bit stronger. There was something different about this guy...

"That's right," I said as I shook his hand. "And, if I remember from a couple days ago, you're Yusuke."

"Good memory." Yusuke looked me up and down then raised an eyebrow. If I didn't know better it looked like he thought that I was different too.

And on that note. "Well, I better get going. I have a lot of homework to do." I said good bye to both of them and—because I still had the energy for it—I ran home.

When I got home I went to my laptop and signed onto skype. I had barely logged on before Jessie started to call me. "Finally you dirty whore!" Yup, that was Jessie. "Do you honestly think that short facebook messages saying that you arrived safely was enough? I am so disappointed in you."

I laughed at her. Our conversation lasted for a little over an hour, most of it being us dancing "together" aka doing the chicken dance and others just as retarded. We would have stayed online for longer if it hadn't become midnight during the week on her side. After I started to play music on my laptop I went about doing my homework. Two hours later, done. Now what? Mother had gotten home half way through my homework session so I decided to help her with the very last of the unpacking. It took us an hour. At this point I started to feel tired but couldn't bring myself to stay still. And that's when I realized that something was wrong...

Even though I had dressed for bed I couldn't stay in bed, after a couple minutes I would have to get up and walk around the room. When two in the morning came around I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see my mom standing there with a cup in her hand. She looked worried as shit.

"Try this. It might help."

I took it without question and downed it. When I handed the drink to my mother I went to go lie down. The moment my head hit the pillow I started to feel really tired. I thanked my mother and eventually fell asleep. When I finally woke up, I sat up and looked out the window. Odd, it was still dark out. Curious, I looked over at my alarm clock. What the fuck? I had only slept for two hours. I felt the same as I did before my mother gave me the drink. It was like my mind wanted me to sleep but my body wouldn't let me. After trying everything, I eventually just grabbed one of my books and started to read. As I reached for my second book my alarm went off. Fucking finally.

When I crawled into the shower I couldn't help but think about how much I wanted to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes and let my head fall my body would just force it back up. Fuck I felt like shit. As I wrapped the towel around my wet body I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh great, not only did I feel tired I looked tired. After changing and doing my hair I grabbed my make up bag and went about trying to hide the bags under my eyes.

This time at breakfast I had barely let my mother place my plate down before I started to pile it with food. Fuck yes! Again I started with the fruit before I went for the fatty stuff. I was so busy forcing food down my throat that I didn't notice how quiet my mother was, or the way she was looking at me. She was totally worried about me and she watched me until I ran to the door and went to class.

This went on for a whole month and it was always the same. I never felt like there was something wrong with me, in fact, I felt totally normal. The only issue was that all I could think about was sleeping but I could never let myself actually do it for more than a couple hours. However, a couple weeks after all this started it seemed like even the food wasn't helping. I was beginning to lose weight and that wasn't good. I was already pretty skinny because of the demands from ballet so this added weight lose was definitely noticeable. At one point Keiko even commented on my weight and I had to blame it on the stress for the entrance exams.

One morning, while I was in bed reading I heard my mother moving around in her room. I looked at the clock to see that it was four in the morning. I frowned in confusion and my eyebrows got even deeper when I heard her leave her room and head to the kitchen. What could she be doing so early? As quietly as I could I crawled out of bed—trying to avoid waking Mizu at my feet—and slowly walked into the hallway. I tried to find a view point where I could stay out of sight but was still able to watch my mother. I was shocked to see her starting to make breakfast. Judging by the bags under her eyes, she has been doing this almost every morning. How had I never noticed this before? Maybe I should have let her take the bracelets off. She shouldn't have to do this for me...

"Try to rest some more, Aly-Jay. Don't worry about me."

Damn, she's better than I thought. Because I knew fighting her would be futile I didn't comment and went back to bed.

I started to get more worried when we had a visitor a few days after I caught mother cooking breakfast. It was pretty late in the evening when my mother answered a knock on the door.

"Koenma," I heard my mother say in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I hope it's not too late for me to visit. I just really wanted to talk to you about something important."

I heard my mother invite Koenma in and offer him tea.

"What is so important, Koenma? I really don't think right now is a good time."

"If anything, Kasumi, right now is the best time. We need to talk about Aly-Jay."

"No, Koenma. I don't want to talk about this."

"You'll have to face this eventually. What Aly-Jay is going through isn't healthy. She won't be able to go through this for much longer. If Aly-Jay continues this way she'll eventually die. Look, Kasumi, I know you want her to have a normal life. I understand that. Especially after what I put you through. I shouldn't have been so forceful on you and I needed to realize that you weren't the one everyone was talking about. I should have let you go. But you can't let her keep going like this."

There was a long pause before my mother said, "She can hold it."

"Kasumi..."

"No, let me finish. She can hold it. At least until she graduates. She just has a couple more days left of school. She can hold it until then. Please, just let her finish school then we can talk about her training."

"Fine... but the moment she graduates I'm coming back."

Koenma didn't stay long after that. I assumed he stayed to finish his tea but then he left.

And he didn't lie about coming back after I graduated. I couldn't stay long after my last exam. The lack of sleep was seriously taking a toll on me. I looked like crap and I could barely move my body because I was so tired, but even with that, I couldn't sleep. I was lying in bed with my eyes wide open and Mizu on my chest when Koenma walked into my room.

"Hello, Aly-Jay. Do you remember me?" I nodded. "I'm assuming you know why you're reacting like this?" I nodded again. "You need help, Aly-Jay. If you carry on like this-"

I stopped him by raising my hand. "Bring... it on. I'll accept... help"

Koenma nodded. "Right. I brought someone who can help you. Or at least he can take you to someone that can help. I would take you myself but I can't stay in the human world for very long." Koenma turned to the door. "You can come in now."

I heard foot steps before, "Aly-Jay?!"

I turned my head towards the door and was shocked to see Yusuke.