A/N: Not much to say today, I'm on a crunch for time...but, I hope you are all ready for this chapter, lots of stuff going on here. I don't own Mai HiME.

White Fence
Chapter Five
(Natsuki POV)

Yes...I took her to my bed, knowing it would likely be a bad idea...but it's like Shizuru's said several times before. She doesn't date others...and I'm not a datable person. I want to feel something for her, but I don't want to explain those feelings to anyone else...so many people don't even deserve the time of day. The ones that do, well, they would never ask anyway.

Kane, Aki, Nao...and Mai.

Those are the people who matter. Nao doesn't need an explanation. She wouldn't care to hear it, even if I had one. Mai, she understands that I'm not one for telling others the real depth behind my every breath. So that leaves the twins. I could feel guilty about this, but, I also know that when I spill the beans, there will be no protecting them anyway.

Kane, he's a strong young man, but he holds a lot of things inside. Like most young men his age, he is learning what it means to love for the first time. What it means to care about someone honestly, fully, and with all of his heart. I think he's ready for that, but, I raised Kane to be ready. I wanted him to be the man he should be for the people in his life. At his age, I was also sexually active, although it never went anywhere.

I was the type of person who wasn't as careful as I should have been, looking back, I'm surprised I didn't catch anything.

I think, if I told him the truth, he would accept it without question. Kane is that type of person. Easygoing and without much that he worries about. As long as he could go on living the life he's always known, having the freedoms he's always had...he would likely nod his head, and accept everything. He would treat his real mother kindly, he would be formal, and polite. Even if he never grew to love her, he would never disrespect her...though, he has his own ways of acting out, he's shy, and quiet when it really matters.

I think the thing he's afraid of most is that I know the truth about him. Kane is older now, but he's still that baby boy in a lot of ways. He's still studying the world, deciding for himself when it's time to let his feelings be known. That's just Kane's way of doing things. He wants to be accepted, without having to explain his every whim. It's because of that, that I know he would accept what I tell him. He would give me the same courtesy, and he would expect I return the favor.

Aki, now she's an entirely different matter.

She followed my every move when she was a baby. She was like the shadow I couldn't get rid of, and I realized everything I did, she would see it...Aki learned a lot of negative things...and sometimes, I feel as if I've failed her...but then, I look at her...I watch over her just when she's alone, when she's looking out of the window, or when she's writing in one of her books, and I see the truth. Her heart, fragile, and soft...she tries so hard to be strong, but she fights every battle on her own.

Kane fights his battles quietly, and Aki, she shouts them to the world...and, at me.

I wouldn't know what to do if she took the truth badly...yet, I know that she will not take it easily. Aki isn't the type to take words at face value. Because of that, she gets into trouble. She thinks she's so much smarter than the rest of the world, and in some ways, I'd agree. Aki sees things in a unique way...she can pluck all of the good out of a bad situation, she can define it. Still, even if she can, it doesn't mean that she will.

Just as she can see the good things in places no one would dare look, she can ruin the best of intentions. She can see through people, see what they really want, and her eyes are such a deep crimson, that it pulls forth uneasiness within me. Whenever I see her hurting, I feel helpless. She tries so hard, but her attitude sometimes gets in the way.

She cries a lot, when she thinks no one is looking. I've tried to do the best I can for her, but if she's learned the one thing from me, it's the one thing that I could never let go of. Resentment...for my parents, my friends, and the people who left me behind.

Aki is the one who really knows, even if she doesn't say it. We don't look any alike. I'm a single parent. Where's her father? That was a question I battled for years, before I finally ended it crassly. She didn't have one, I didn't know who he was, and I wouldn't find him. It was all I could say...but Aki, she can do the math. There's a deep resentment there, knowing she was left behind by unknown shadows.

If it was a father, or an entire family, she doesn't know for sure...but she does see the difference that Kane doesn't care to look for.

I don't want to give her anything she can grasp onto...if I did, Aki could grow angry, and I don't know if that would be the best thing for her. I don't know if she could move beyond the anger, and see beyond her own fears. I want her to fight her own emotions, and to go beyond her denials. She can be so much stronger, if only she had the courage to have faith in herself. I pray, that once she learns the truth, she can begin to work past the feelings of being unwanted.

Then as if the two of them weren't enough, I have Shizuru to worry about.

I love her, but that love is new. It's an unknown territory for me. I never had time for love, I hardly had time for my friends. My loyalties are with Kane and Aki. They're who I love most, who I want to protect, no matter what. Still, Shizuru has a right to stand alongside of them, and every time she looks at that them...it melts my heart. She is their mother...she is the person I only pretended to be...but, it's my wish that she could be something more, for all of us. That she could walk into our lives, not as a neighbor, or merely a friend...but so much more.

I'd be lying, if I didn't say it...but that's what I desire most.

…

There was one blissful thing about having a room near the back of the house. The sun didn't show it's ungodly happy glow until well into the afternoon. Natsuki kept her blinds closed anyway, so for her the early morning was the same as midnight. She couldn't ever tell the difference. The alarm clock would beep it's annoying tune, if she remembered to set it. Thankfully, though, if she did forget, which happened more often than not, her phone was also on her nightstand, waiting to blast a ring tone into the peaceful room.

If it had been any other day, Natsuki would have grumbled, and rolled over through several different alarms, hating the very ideal of being torn from sleep. This morning was different though, and Natsuki knew the sun would not yet rise for a few hours. She had woken up to the first alarm. She smirked, knowing she'd have at least a few hours to kill, and that's when she had first gotten herself into trouble. She had remembered to shove a pillow into the laundry shoot in case they'd gotten loud, but honestly, they'd just spent a few peaceful moments of bliss together, wrapping themselves up in the warm feelings that had become to feel like an addiction.

She'd been tired before, and sleep had been at the forefront of her mind. Shizuru being the early riser that she was, had all but jumped at the offered opportunity for affection. A few soft murmurs, a kiss here and there...a tantalizing finger, trailing up her bare thigh in such a way that it almost tickled, but not quite, gave her reason enough to pin a sleepy Natsuki underneath her. "Someone's playful this morning..." Natsuki's voice was a slow drone, something intoxicating in and of itself as it rumbled just a tiny bit.

"What if I am?" She didn't let Natsuki begin to even think of an answer, as her lips claimed the woman under her. She kept Natsuki's hands pinned, as she melted into the kiss, the feeling of their bare breast touching enough to send a shiver down her spine. "What would we do about it?" Her words mingled upon baited breath, and Natsuki purred low in her throat, inviting the welcome contrast as Shizuru's fingers began to draw small circles around one of Natsuki's pert nipples.

Natsuki all but swallowed the fear of being heard, forcing it down into the recesses of her mind. She was an adult, she could do what she wanted, and she wished dearly to make love to the woman of deep crimson eyes. Natsuki looked at the clock, the annoyingly green lights twinkling away a number that was both completely safe, and yet bordering on stupid. "We have time, but, only for a quickie." Natsuki whispered then as she broke her hands free of the single palm that had been holding them over her head. She wanted to embrace Shizuru fully, gliding down the small of Shizuru's back with ease before running her fingers idly across the white panties that Shizuru had been wearing. "But we have to be quiet, so you can't be teasing me today."

Shizuru's response was nearly aggressive as she slid her fingers down and underneath the black silk of Natsuki's underwear, not even bothering to take them off. She claimed Natsuki's lips in a fierce kiss. Impassioned by Shizuru's bold advance, Natsuki let herself be swept away by the heady scent that tickled her senses as they moved as one, their fingers slipping in and out of each other in both a frenzied, but quiet pace, as they tried desperately not to make a sound. Their breaths were shallow, quickened by the fact that the inferno had only just begun, and they knew, it would end just as quickly as it started. Soft, gentle teasing had been forgotten, the need for an immediate release at the forefront of their minds as they coaxed womanhood into slick, heated arousal.

Natsuki turned the tables quickly however, when she grew frustrated at the cloth that covered Shizuru. The rather plain panties were easily ripped by her blunt nails, and then, Natsuki broke the kiss, and stilled Shizuru's tortuous hand, pulling the offender away from its mission. Natsuki gently pushed Shizuru down on the bed. Her own need for a release went forgotten as she trailed her lips lower, and lower, playing with the soft, tantalizing flesh that rippled under her every breath and soft kiss. It was when her tongue tasted the arousal gifted within soft, velvety folds, that time seemed to run away from them.

Shizuru's hips bucked at Natsuki's every whim. Lost for words and her very breath, Shizuru's fingers began to tangle themselves deeply in Natsuki's midnight tresses. There was no doubt in either of their minds, and they both freely gave into the shuttering waves of pleasure that seemed to carry Shizuru away.

"Holy shit..." And then, just like a train wreck, it finally happened.

As quickly as the door had opened, it had slammed back closed. Kane was startled, surely on the other side of the door, and it wasn't even a few seconds before they heard the door to his room lock away the world. Natsuki froze, and sighed, only hesitating for a moment as she tried to collect her thoughts, resting her head on Shizuru's navel. She was unsure if this was a godsend, or a one way ticket into a day of hell.

"At least he was the lesser of two evils." Natsuki muttered, finding a pair of her pants that were folded on her dresser. "I'll be right back...so stay here." Natsuki didn't wait for a response as she walked out of her room, closing the door behind her. She had tossed on one of her button down shirts, but only bothered to deal with the middle few before she walked into Kane's room, watching him as he gazed out of his window.

Natsuki bit her lip, trying to think of something she could say for what her son had just witnessed, but she also knew, this truth would have to come forth sooner or later. She was saved when his voice drifted into her ears.

"I've always tried to be the man everyone else wanted me to be." Kane said softly, his voice wavering as he didn't dare look at the woman behind him. "I've tried hard, to live up to the eyes of everyone, to be someone worthy of respect." His words were something true, from the pit of his heart, but as he stood there, he shook visibly. "I wanted that, no matter what. To be a man worthy of having a family. To be the man that Tate is for his family...I've watched him from afar, admired him, because he was the only man I knew." He hung his head low, and Natsuki could see that he was crying. She knew better than to get close to him, but felt helpless all the same. "He is honest, and strong...honorable too." This was Kane's way of dealing with things, and she was going to let him react as he saw fit. "I've always wanted to be like that...but I couldn't be."

This was her chance. "Even Tate's had his moments of weakness." Natsuki knew she wouldn't ever get such an open confession from Kane ever again. "Who says you can't be like him?" She knew what he was trying to say. He was relieved, but so very confused. This was her son in front of her, and yet, he wouldn't meet her gaze.

"Everyone around me." He tried to make the tears in his eyes stop, it was a rarity for him to cry in the first place, and he felt ashamed that he was doing it at all, let alone in front of his own mother. "There isn't a place for people like us."

Natsuki scowled in anger...he'd said it, but now she understood clearly what he had been facing down. She crossed her arms, and leaned back on his door. "It gets easier, after you become an adult." She kept her voice low, not knowing if this had been aired to anyone else or not. "Relationships become less defined. You have to let go of the people who are so dead set in having labels...even if you wanted to use one, being gay isn't a crime. Living your life in fear of being hated, isn't a life worth living, Kane. You have to make your life your own."

"So says the closet lesbian." He muttered, finally calmed down, at least a little bit, dragging an arm across his face to pull away the tears. "Why didn't you ever tell us?" There was a hint of anger in his voice, but it wasn't aimed at her.

"There wasn't anything to tell." Natsuki said then, seeing everything within him come full circle. "You were young...you can't remember when I had girlfriends. Hell, I could hardly remember myself." She pulled the hair that fell over her shoulders behind her back, and sighed down at the floor. "There wasn't anything to hide, but it wasn't anything I could just come out and say either." She bit her lip, wondering how much she should tell him, but every admissions she thought about came up short. "I've been with both men and women..given my past, you can't blame me for not having a decisive answer...but in truth, being at the age I am, and understanding the world as I do...I don't regret that. In fact, I pity anyone who refuses to accept me. The person I choose to love is something only I have a say in...not the rest of the world."

"Do you really love her?" The question was soft, innocent as if it had come from the lips of a small child, and not those of a teenage boy. "How can you say you love somebody, but then, you won't even say that to the people who matter most?"

"It's complicated." Natsuki began, feeling the weight, the wish to just tell him the truth and be done with it. "It isn't a question of my feelings. It's a question of time, a hope that everything else will fall into place." She almost wished there was a man around the house, someone like Tate, that this boy could confide in. In truth, there wasn't anyone else here who would understand. "You have a boyfriend, don't you?" Kane nodded, but didn't say anything. "You've been having sex with him, right?" Again, Kane nodded, and Natsuki just shook her head. "Gender aside, how is that any different from what I was just doing?"

"It's not." He finally said, still feeling shameful. "I know that it isn't..." His anger and hatred was something he had been aiming at himself.

"Alright, I get it..." Natsuki sighed. "It's different when it's me...but Kane, really, there are situations that are going on with Shizuru and I. Things that she isn't ready to talk about. Just like you are afraid people will hate you, Shizuru is downright petrified that you'll deem her unworthy of being apart of our family. You and your sister mean the world to me, and she doesn't just have to win my heart, she has to earn your acceptance too. She's frightened of that...I can't ask you to blindly accept her. It would be unfair." Still, Natsuki wished it would be as easy as she hoped. "But I can ask you to be kind to her...that you will accept what I do with my life, even if that means she ends up in my bed."

"You can't possibly understand." He felt conflicted, as if the person he truly was had been locked away for years. He hated that he had kept it that way for nothing. If Kane was any type of person in his life, he was the type to find strength where there wasn't any to be found. "If you did, you wouldn't be making excuses, hiding for your own protection." Perhaps, in that way, he was not unlike those who had influenced him. Even now, in his chocolate brown eyes, she saw the hints of those around him. They were his strength, but they were also his greatest weakness. "I was alone. No one would understand it, and even if they could, it would be another strike against me."

Natsuki frowned, disheartened at that. "I was never truly alone." She told him, the memories of her own childhood a grim truth to her shortcomings. "I had people who cared, but Kane, we are only human. Those of us that stood together, we were broken people in a lot of ways." Entirely, that was the problem. "You had those same people in your life too. Mai always took care of you when I was a jackass, and I swear to god, I'll kill Nao if she teaches Aki any more bad habits...if you think about it, Tate's an outright bastard, but the people he cares about are different...he looks after them Kane...he does his best for his family." Though the kendo equipment that was hanging on Kane's wall spoke even more truth into that. "The one thing Tate has always wanted, more than anything else in the world, is a son...he's lived out that dream of his, through you."

"I'm the twisted one." Kane's words were honest. "Aki would never accept me. I wouldn't be Kane anymore, I wouldn't just be me. I would be her gay brother." Now that he was calm, he was returning to his quiet normalcy. In that, however, his words were painful to hear. "Uncle Tate would look at me and I would see the disappointment he would try to hide."

"For the sake of your sanity, I'm going to let you in on a little secret." Natsuki couldn't believe she was about to air the one thing she and Nao had always kept quiet about. Still, if there had ever been an embarrassing situation, one where she felt she would be hated by those close to her, it would have been that one time. "You and Aki were still pretty little, I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind. She just kept screaming, and there wasn't anything Nao and I could do to stop her...Mai merely walked into the front door of the chapel, and Aki stopped...there was a long time in Aki's life when she wanted everything to do with Mai, and nothing to do with me. I found out later, that was a normal way for little kids to act, but I'd thought back then, that she hated me...I got drunk that night...and I don't mean the kind of drunk Nao gets on a gaming night."

"What other kind of drunk is there?" Kane asked as he walked over to his bed to sit down. "Let's face it, there are times she can't see five feet in front of her face."

"Worse than that." Natsuki frowned. "The kind when you lose any and all control that you have...the kind of drunk a person gets, when they want to escape from reality...when they feel worthless. Nao and I, back before you were around used to do it all the time...but I tried to sober up once I had to look after the both of you." Natsuki pushed herself off the wall, and joined her son, looking at the floor, and sighing as she hunched over. "Anyway, I don't remember what we did...but Mai woke us up the next day...Nao and I were naked, and we had no idea how on god's green earth that we had gotten that way. Mai was disappointed in the both of us, but it wasn't because Nao and I had banged each other on the floor of a church." Although, the irony wasn't lost on her either...sooner or later, it was bound to happen.

"That's a good way to go to hell." Kane mumbled dryly.

"That's exactly what Nao said when we woke up." The hangover they shared had been terrible, Natsuki wouldn't ever forget it. "Honestly though, I thought Mai was going to bitch at us about it...turns out...Mai wasn't mad because of that...she was upset because we'd tried to deal with our problems on our own, and it led to a bad situation." Though, in truth, that was Nao's nature from the get go, so it wasn't a huge shock. "We had the potential to hurt a lot of people because we hadn't been thinking...you and Aki were two of those people. You were dependent on me, and that night, I had let you down by not being in my right of mind. Mai and Nao could have abandoned me many times, Kane, but they didn't."

"It doesn't mean they won't abandon me." It was a simple statement, but when he'd said it, he felt his mom ruffle his hair.

"You aren't one to tell people conclusively how you feel. Nao and I are the same in that. Mai's just a little bit more bubbly, and she says what she means to say." Natsuki couldn't promise him anything, because it was a truth he would have to learn for himself. "But if you bring someone home that is respectable, and treats you the way you should be treated...if you expect of us to wordlessly welcome that person into our family, we will, Kane. Mai and Tate would follow in that, because they respect and love you."

Kane nodded, but he didn't say anything. It would take him time to find comfort in those words. If she thought hugging him, or drawing out the conversation would have worked, she would have...but he was not so easily convinced by bold declarations. He was always the observer, and he'd want to see for himself. She couldn't do anything about the four walls and the roof over his head...only time would show him the honesty in her statement.

For now though, she could protect him from everyone else, and give him the choice to escape for a while. "You can stay home from school until further notice. I want to put a foot up a few asses before you go back anyway." Natsuki said then, thankful that one dilemma had been averted, but then she paused. "Have you been using the condoms?" The last question was dry, but she hoped Kane was at least trying to be safe.

"Mom!" Kane nearly barked, his cheeks a deep red color.

"I don't like having to ask that any more than you want to answer me." Natsuki grumbled back at him. "But they're important...one day, when your older, you can decide for yourself weather or not you use protection." The blush across his face kept getting redder and redder. "For now, just use them Kane, that's all I ask. Do anything you can to be safe, even if that means bringing your boyfriend here. I can't control what you do when I'm not around, but I can at least enable you to be as safe as possible." With that, she left her son well enough alone, knowing he still would need time to gather his thoughts.

She could hear the shouting downstairs, Nao and Aki fighting about whatever was burning in the kitchen. It was a surprise that Nao had stayed through the night. Natsuki just chuckled a little bit. If Nao was there, she would let the red head deal with the venomous teen on an early morning. Aki was always at her worst before school. Instead, Natsuki went to her own room.

Shizuru had fully dressed, and had been waiting, the anxiety in her eyes something so deep, Natsuki knew Shizuru had been crying, likely beating herself up over Kane's discovery. She closed the door behind her, frowning at one small aspect of lifestyle. "The idea of privacy isn't exactly one we use around here." None of the bedrooms had locks on the doors. "When you live in a chapel, and then an apartment with only one bathroom...well, we all tossed modesty out the window."

"How did he handle it?" That's all that mattered in her mind. Shizuru couldn't force herself to be worried about anything else.

Natsuki just smirked a little bit. "He's okay...a little pissed off at himself I think, for not being able to trust other people...but he'll be okay." Shizuru nodded, but she didn't look convinced. Natsuki was tired, and the fact that she had the morning off, meant that she was going to at least try to crawl back into bed. "He's just gay...that's all."

"He's just gay? As if a hurricane is little more than a moist breeze, he's just gay?" Shizuru seemed hurt at that, and Natsuki looked back at Shizuru, seeing perhaps, a past that had been filled with a rejection for such a feeling. This had to be part of the hell the Fujino namesake brought upon people. "You put a lot of faith in those around him, to think this is something so simple." Her voice hid nothing, as if it was the darkest thing a person could admit.

"You're right, I do." Natsuki nodded. "I know this may sound hurtful to you, but it isn't exactly front page news. Teens come out of the closet all the time, and you know what, I'm almost glad he saw my face between your legs...it gives him indisputable proof that I'm not completely dense. Just because he thinks I have my thumb up my ass all the time, doesn't mean that I do."

"Still, isn't it quite a shock?" A taboo, and one to be hated for. "If he isn't careful, just think of the troubles he would have."

Natsuki knew well of his struggles, but she would deal with that when she came across it. "I've always suspected he was more interested in boys. Now I know it isn't my mind playing games with me, it's pure fact. At least I know what hole he's putting in into, if any at all." Natsuki almost laughed at the look that produced, but instead, settled for looking nearly sheepish.

"That is horridly vulgar." Shizuru shook her head, trying to keep her mouth from hanging agape, but she found it quite difficult. This side of Natsuki was a rarity. "Honestly though, you aren't in the least bit worried?"

"Kane is not a person to worry about." Natsuki said then, but that too, was only a truth she knew well. "There isn't anyone important that could judge him. Kane wants so much to be seen as the man that he wants to be, and he has the determination to make that happen. Being gay has nothing to do with it, Shizuru. If he doesn't understand that, then he deserves to be hurt by his own struggles."

"I don't even understand that." Shizuru wished that she did, but Natsuki had her own way of doing things. "He will face down the expectations of his peers...don't you think that will cause enough trouble on it's own?"

It was with a firm nod that Natsuki could see the worry in Shizuru's eyes. "I'm keeping him home for a few days, because he's been getting picked on. This also explains the fight Aki got into." Natsuki thought back to that, deciding she wouldn't actually ground her daughter this time. "He can go back to school if he wants, if not, I can home school him...there are programs for that. In the meantime, I'm just going to leave the poor boy alone. The people that really matter will accept him, and that includes Aki. I know she'll support him." Time...in the end, that was what everyone really needed. "Now come on and lay back down with me. I've got a few hours to kill, and I want to unwind before I have to go to work."

…
(Natsuki POV)

Lots of little hints always seem to come tumbling down when you least expect it.

I've always tried to prepare myself for those times, but they always come at me. Sometimes, I'm not ready for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. With Kane, it was one of those times. I've always guessed that he was a bit more inclined to be boys than with girls. He grew up relatively normal...well, as normal as one could be under the circumstances of his upbringing. It wasn't that he showed an interest in other children his age, rather, it was that he was indifferent to everything. Even now, Kane is withdrawn enough that he isn't easily interested in much, but when he is, it's all in. Go big, or go home...that's the way he's learned to live his life. Taking risks, but sometimes, not daring to say that he did.

I suspect this boyfriend of his falls under that same basic idea. Test the waters, feel something other than self interest, but not tell anyone about it. Take a risk, but do so quietly, a rebellion under the surface...truth, mixed with assumption...something that isn't a lie, and yet, isn't a truth. He knew I would assume he was with a girl, purely because I wasn't going to make a statement that could have been wrong. He let me go on thinking that for everyone's well being...his reasons were his own...and actually pretty justified.

Now that he knows about me, and my lack gender preference...I think he'll begin to sort out what he really wants to do, although knowing Kane, that's about as much confirmation as we'll ever have.

I doubt he'll ever bring anyone his interested in, Kane doesn't showcase off he friends, let alone someone I know he's sleeping with. You'd think that would bother me, but it doesn't. Even if it did, I have no room to talk, I did the same thing after all. Acceptance, it's hard line, and so many people put conditions into it...loopholes, so that suddenly, they can turn their back on something they don't like...but that's not what acceptance is. You either do, fully...or you don't, fully. There is no middle ground, and with Kane, I must accept who he is, and what he may be doing. Kane's way is his own...and I must accept that too.

I can't put a collar on my teens, they aren't animals...that means, unfortunately enough for my sanity, that I've got to relent when relenting is due.

So, even if it seems that I don't care, the truth is, to accept Kane, I must be indifferent to him...it's that casual mindset that opens doors and conversations. It gives us what we need, even if it isn't what we always want. For example, I don't want him having sex at his age...but he'll use the protection I give him, and in the end, that's all I really need to know.

…

"Your mom is going to kill you." Nao grumbled while shaking her head. "I thought she said no more fighting." The bruise on Aki's hand was starting to color a dark purple.

"This wasn't a fight." Aki shot back, she had been on the defensive all morning, not uncommon, but surely unwarranted. "I took care of it, it wasn't a big deal. The only reason it looks like this, was because I missed the first time." She'd missed the boy she was scrapping with entirely, instead stumbling into the bike rack. "I didn't miss the second, but it wasn't a fight."

"Yeah, and that's why your hand is a rainbow." Nao pressed down gently on the back of the teen's hand. Aki winced at even the smallest pressure. "Are you sure it isn't broken?" Nao wasn't convinced, it's was warm to the touch and inflamed.

"The school nurse said it wasn't." Aki was beginning to wonder about that herself. "It didn't hurt this bad yesterday."

"You were full of piss and vinegar yesterday, dumb-ass. Adrenaline is like an instant painkiller." Nao wasn't amused, her green eyes met those of Aki's deep red ones. Something wasn't right. Aki was normally proud to gloat about who she had come up against. "Come on, don't be like this. You know how to throw a punch, what the hell happened?" Natsuki and Nao had taught them both a few self defense moves, but Aki had taken that even further, and she wasn't a slouch in unarmed combat. "This isn't like you." That was the concern, it wasn't normal for Aki to hide things, especially her victories.

"A kid at school just got on my bad side." Aki bit her lip, looking down at the floor. "Stuff just happened. I took care of it, that's all that matters."

"You were suspended, not that I actually give a damn about that." Nao leaned back onto the counter. "What happened, Aki?" What wasn't she saying? "I'm not going to ask again."

"The slip is right there." Aki sighed out, she hadn't given it to Natsuki the day before. Now though, the truth was out in the open. "It says everything that happened."

Nao rolled her eyes, a smirk on her lips. "Okay, this thing is full of shit, we both know that." So, why was she taking the blame? That's what Nao couldn't understand. "Kane doesn't just have a random breakdown during the lunchtime, and you normally don't go bat shit on school property after hours. If you wanna kick some random kid's ass, more power to you...but don't be dumb enough to get caught." Nao signed the paperwork, indicating that someone had seen it, and then watched as Aki pocketed the slip. "If I were you, I'd at least pretend to leave the house for school."

Aki nodded, but she didn't leave the kitchen. Instead, she just stood there, looking at the floor. "Aunt Nao, do you ever get the feeling that someone is hiding something important from you...and you think you know what it is, but if you did anything, you'd only hurt them?"

Nao stayed quiet for a moment, it was rare that Aki became so respectful. Aki and Kane so rarely used the words aunt, or uncle...it seemed odd when they did. Nao especially rarely heard words like that sent in her detection. She always felt awkward when it happened. "I guess it depends on who it is..."

"It's everyone." Aki's voice traveled slowly, the soft wane of her accent something delicate...Aki was never delicate. She forced a smile, changing the topic. "You don't have to worry. Sometimes, I just think stupid things like that. I'm going to go back to bed for a while...mom will know I'm suspended anyway...she can tell things like that."

Nao watched as Aki made her way upstairs. She didn't have anything she could say to that, Aki was always so difficult to handle. Nao wondered if she should call the family doctor, but thought better of it. She knew Aki would climb out of her window later, and then it would take days to find her. No, this was just like other bumps and bruises Aki would always sustain, if it was bad in a few more days, then they would worry. Until then, it was a waiting game.

Nao didn't like the facts, she just put up with them.

There was a yellow dentition slip for Kane still on the counter, and that was the only saving grace to Aki's large wad of notices. Nao knew they'd gotten in over their heads. After putting her name on the dotted line, and initialing the bottom, she folded it up, leaving it well enough alone. Her mind wandered just far enough that she felt angry, but it wasn't at the twins. Someone wasn't saying everything, Nao could tell that in Aki's speech, her actions subdued enough to pretend as if everything were her fault.

To the untrained eye, it was...Nao knew better.

She wasn't a fan of waiting around, and there were times her temper would get the better of her. Still, she couldn't just act rashly, not when Aki and Kane seemed so insistent in hiding away from the things that worried them the most. She didn't have anything better to do than wait it out, so she left Natsuki's home, and found herself on the way to her apartment. If she didn't have anything easy to fix there, she knew Mai would be cooking her little heart away in the bistro not a few blocks away.

Nao waited at the end of the block, and true to Aki's form, she was already halfway out of the window, and would likely get down by using the tree nearby. "Yep, the pain in the ass is at it again." She sighed, and pulled out her phone, dialing a number that she rarely used, but when she did, Aki was always the topic of the conversation. Nao didn't bother to follow the girl, knowing there wasn't any point. Instead, she wanted for the person on the other line to pick up.

"Oh great, she ran away again, didn't she?" The woman on the other line was younger than Nao. Her voice was low, and only slightly raspy. They weren't buddies, or even casual friends, but when Aki was involved, they often worked together.

"Yep." They knew how to deal with this, and could handle it more effectively than Natsuki could ever dream of. "She got into a fight yesterday, it was bad."

"Suspension..." The woman already knew...the pieces fit together well, although, they always seemed to be that way. "Did she take down her opponent?"

"That's why I'm leaving this one up to you." Nao told the woman. "I would have been on her ass all day...but I don't think it's gonna help. Aki's hesitating, the fighting was sloppy. She banged up her hand good too, ended up punching a metal bike rack. The other thing is, she's taking the fall...assuming the blame is completely her fault."

"She was angry." They could come up with the same conclusions. "Felt the need to lash out on the offensive." There were very few people that got on the wrong side of Aki Kuga. She was a spitfire, with a toxic attitude to rival that of those who'd raised her. "Probably became reactive to those round her." Natsuki, Nao, and even herself...Akira knew there were plenty of people who didn't take lip from anyone. Aki had grown into the role herself, but, she'd yet to mellow out, and see the reasons why the anger bubbled the way that it did. "You or Natsuki would have done the same."

"That's not what I'm asking here." Nao growled, looking behind her back purely out of reflex, before she entered her apartment building. "I know I'm rusty, and Natsuki hasn't brawled in years...but even so, Aki's right hook isn't something you play around with." Aki had learned from the three best, if not hot tempered women that she knew. "We don't miss."

Akira nodded into the phone, though she knew Nao couldn't see it. "So why did she?" This wasn't just Aki's bad mood coming into play. "Furthermore, why would she accept the blame entirely?"

"That's why I called you, Akira." Nao sighed out as she continued to walk down the city blocks. "Figure it out."