Have you ever experienced that feeling of déjà-vu, the one so strong you remember every detail and simultaneously remembering nothing?

It's an unexplainable feeling. Something I was currently feeling…

School. High school. You attend the same institution five days a week from the months of September to June. Then if you subtract all holidays you don't attend, that's another month you don't attend. And you find yourself realizing you only attend classes five days a week for nine months.

That gives you three months of nothing to do. No weekends filled with homework and projects, no parties to celebrate the end of the year, and no teachers to complain about.

So why am I talking about this? Those nine months of repetitive routines… Doing the same things day after day until you can go through the motions in your sleep. This same pattern continues for four years. In that time you have conversations, arguments, break ups and make ups. You fail tests and celebrate top scores.

Homecoming, prom, and graduation.

For four years you create irreplaceable memories with the people around you.

And once those four years are over you continue on to college.

I had never gone to college, never stepped foot onto the campus before the first day.

I was standing in the main entrance, looking both left and right down the hallways. The floors were carpeted, which was a huge difference from high school.

First time in a new building, I had never seen a floor layout, but I walked down the right wing hallway like I knew everything in the world.

My classroom was easy enough to find, the sign above the doorway helped a little too.

This was not where my déjà-vu began. My déjà-vu started the moment I turned the handle and pushed open the thick wooden door.

The typical classroom set up greeted my eyes; the large teacher's desk was placed to the center-right of the chalkboard, close to the door, while the student desks were aligned in rows. I counted nearly forty desks in the classroom, this would be a large class if everyone showed.

So far there only seemed to be a few early birds like me.

A girl was twirling her blonde hair as she sat on the desk of a dark haired, dark skinned man. Another boy was sitting in the very back playing on a gaming device – he seemed really into it.

The last person in the room was… I couldn't tell. They had long black hair and slim arms. Their head was propped up on one of their arms, the other hand was absentmindedly tapping the desk. They were sitting in the front desk against the far wall, ignoring everyone else around them.

I took an empty seat closer to the middle of the room, sliding my shoulder bag to the floor at the same time I placed my laptop on the on the desk. There was still another twenty minutes before the lecture would begin, in that time I could double check a few things…

"Illu-chan!" A male voice in the sudden silence brought my focus away from the screen. A boy my age with brilliant red hair skipped into the room and stopped next to 'it'.

I watched as he ran his fingers through the long hair. His girlfriend then? She seemed pretty enough. The red head brought a handful of raven locks up to his face and sniffed them.

Okay, that's just whacked. Did he have a hair fetish or something?

I shook my head and tried to refocus on what I had been doing. Unfortunately I could not tune out the red head's loud voice. It was more annoying than the girls who would spend all class gossiping about some guy or another.

"So Illu-chan. Isn't it fabulous that we have a class together? Ne~ Let me see your schedule. What else have you taken this semester?" I glanced up through my dyed blue bangs in time to see the girl slide over a single sheet of paper and the boy snatched it up, eager.

Before he could say anything the professor, a middle aged man in a suit and wearing glasses, came in and thumped his briefcase against his desk.

The class went silent. Red head took the open seat behind his girl and I clicked my laptop shut. I had been so absorbed in my work I hadn't registered the amount of people who had filed in. Nearly all the desks were full now, a couple in the back were the only ones to remain unoccupied.

"Good morning everyone and welcome to the first day of," here he paused to write something on the blackboard, "Introduction of Biological Anatomy." He scratched the piece of chalk under the scribbled letters, causing a screeching sound similar to what I had always believed a banshee to sound like. My classmates all flinched back, a few attempting to cover their eardrums.

The class proceeded for an hour, some of the facts were interesting but my mind was not staying focused on the front of the room. I continued to look at my desk where my notebook sat, closed.

My hand twitched to open it and continue on another of my projects. The only reason I was enrolled in a term was to keep up appearances. I had no need to be taught by people like Professor Husain. This class was being taken out of pure curiosity.

"Our next class will be on Wednesday at the same time. Good day everyone." He re-clasped his briefcase and walked out without another word to any of us. As the others filed out, conversing among their peers, I slowly put away my assortment of pens.

I stood up and my hip bumped the desk, sending the neatly arranged pens into scattered directions.

"Damn." I sighed and bent over to start picking them up. There was one more. Where did it - ?

My favourite pink pen was held out to me, inches from my face, and I looked up to see the red head's girl. She was leaning forward. I had not realized she was so tall. Her hair was falling over her shoulders, framing her porcelain face and emphasizing her large dark eyes. Even her outfit was cute; a black pair of jeans ripped stylishly at the knees and a white tank top that hugged her body…

I blinked as I realized it wasn't a she at all. It was a really beautiful man.

"Is this not yours?" He asked in a voice that was anything but feminine, holding out the pen once more.

"Oh, um, yeah. It is. Thanks." I mumbled as I reached up to grab it. "Really, thank you." I repeated as I placed the pen back into my pencil case and zipped it up, tossing it into my shoulder bag.

"Let's go Illu-chan!" The red head wrapped an arm around the other's waist and without another word they both left. I was now the last person here.

I had no other classes today so I was free to just go home. At least there I could work uninterrupted for hours.

The lock clicked behind me as I kicked off my shoes. The house was silent, as it always was. No one else lived here, it has been nearly a year since I last had a roommate. I preferred the solitude over a messy house guest anyways.

I trudged through the semi-dark living room, expertly weaving around the coffee table without even looking. I never stopped to turn on a light until I reached my study.

The wall opposite me was a floor to ceiling bookshelf, however it was not filled with popular novels or leisure reading. The entire thing was filled with notebooks, each written to bursting with information.

In front of that wall was my overly large desk, three monitors called that space home. This was my haven.

The soft whirling sounds they made as they powered on soothed my nerves. I was not overly fond of having to leave my house, and never would if I had any say. However, it seemed more and more my body was becoming restless. My work had slowly started to become affected, hence the college courses.

The year after high school graduation had showed me that even though I was not in classes to learn, I was in classes to keep me focused. Mandatory classes had given me the breaks and distractions necessary to keep my brain functioning.

Beep… Beep… Please insert password…

I rapidly typed in my password, not even glancing at my keyboard.

As my account loaded I pulled my laptop out and set it up on the little table I had ordered specifically for it.

Multitasking, a blessing and a curse some days.

I settled a wireless microphone headset comfortably on my head, brushing the rest of my bleached platinum blonde hair back. I looked around but couldn't locate my usual hair tie.

Sighing, I snatched up an elastic and caught my hair back into a ponytail.

"Hey Kit! Where have you been girl?" A slightly static-y voice came through my headset, I tinkered with the settings before answering my friend.

"I told you guys I was starting some courses. My online time will be sporadic now."

"Dude, Inu is going to flip when you tell him."

"I did tell him Uma." I sighed at the girl as I typed away. I had told the whole group, twice, about my new college courses.

Apparently I would need to keep in mind that I had to repeat myself more often.

"So who's online?"

"Hebi logged off mentioning something about food. Shika said she was coming on later than usual, she's working with Saru to finish tonight." Uma paused and I could hear her clicking away at her own keyboard. I wasn't sure which project she was working on but I wasn't about to ask. Curious as I was I was not about to distract her. That was a big no-no in the group.

I disconnected our mics but left the chat on my laptop open, no one else seemed online at the moment.

Can I get my own project done before everyone starts logging in?

I opened the file, skimming what I had accomplished last night. I was surprised. I had not realized I was so far. A couple more hours of solid work and I could send the file off to Inu.

Beep… Beep…

Guess not, I thought as I saw Raion's name flash on my laptop's screen.

"Kit-Kit! How was class?" I smiled at his stupid nickname for me, he was always so easy going.

"So-so. It being only the first day I'm hoping the lessons will pick up eventually. What about you Rai? Didn't you start today?"

He made a rude noise.

"What?" I laughed. "No good sights on campus?"

"None! I get that it's Autumn but come on!" He whined, and I smiled as he continued, "Could not one girl still be wearing a mini?"

"Grow up Raion!" Uma broke in, sounding offended.

"Ah Cherie, why must you ruin my fun?"

"It's not 'fun' it's disgusting. Why would you want to stare at a woman's legs anyways?"

"Why do you want to stare at a guy's legs?"

I laughed. Hearing these two brought my mood back up every time. If I needed a laugh I could always count on them.

"Are they done arguing yet Kit?" The voice of a young boy sounded through my earpiece.

"Saru!" I called, gaining the attention of the other two. Saru was the youngest of us. I estimated he was around fifteen or sixteen.

Even though we all acted so familiar with one another the real fact was we only knew one another online. Real names were forbidden, we didn't even share our locations. The unwritten rule was respecting everyone's privacy. In a group of hackers a mutual rule like that was needed.

We could share anything we wanted; birthdays, hobbies, personal info. Anything but name, location and age.

There were thirteen of us, all with an animal code name. When the group was first created we decided to stick to the Japanese translation of our favourite animals.

In my case, Kitsune. Japanese for fox, and often shortened to Kit.

"Hey you three." Saru greeted.

Beep… Beep…

"Morning peeps!" Same's voice drawled, and we all greeted him back. We lived all over the world, but all spoke perfect English. That had been one of the requirements. Another was advanced understanding of programming, on any system.

I forget how we all started meeting, but over time the idea of creating a group started cropping up more and more.

So we had. And nowadays it was more than a simple group.

I opened our webpage and logged into my account. We were a sort of riffraffed company. Specializing in information gathering and computer engineering. We also created new programs and ran checks for high profile companies and even police headquarters.

For a new, small manned company we had made outstanding progress in under five years.

"You still awake on your end Kit?" Same's voice rang in my brain and I realized I had indeed drifted off for some time.

"Hmmm… Sorry guys, didn't mean too." I rubbed my eyes and checked the time. "Was I snoring?"

"Only a lot."

"When did you sign on Hitode?"

"Somewhere between the mumbling and the thunderous snore."

"Ugh. Why didn't you guys wake me up sooner?" I covered my face with my hands even though none of them could see my red face.

"We tried. We failed."

I head several different laughs and it finally hit me that everyone else had signed on.

"I hate you all soo much right now. So can we please move onto something not me related?"

"But riling you up is our favourite past time Kit."

"Ao that's not funny. Seriously." I rolled my eyes at Aokakesu's teasing tone.

"With Sleeping Beauty finally awake again let's get down to business." Inu's tone cut off anything Ao was about to say. Inu was the oldest and the one to officially form the group, so he was the leader.

I wanted to say something nasty about his 'Sleeping Beauty' comment but wisely chose to just start working.

I could chew him out for it later.

Click… Click-click-click… Click… Cli-

"Go to bed Kitsune. You've been going at this for hours. Finish it later."

"Give me more time Inu. I'm almost done."

"You've already sent me two new files. Everyone else signed off an hour ago."

"But daddy~" I pretended to whine, being called daddy always seemed to get on his nerves quickly.

"Good night Kit." He signed off and I just laughed for a good minute. I stretched my back and kicked up my feet, leaning back to stare at my ceiling.

I knew Inu was just worrying about me. I had proven my passion since the beginning, resulting in malnutrition and even a stay overnight in the hospital when my stress level had built to the point where I had vomited everything back up.

On cue my stomach rumbled to remind me I had yet to eat today. Something quick and then bed, I told myself as I stiffly stood up from my chair.

Even the comfiest chairs make my butt go numb after seven hours or so of sitting.

I also had class tomorrow, so getting some sleep now was a good idea.

I walked into a new classroom. Today I had two classes to attend. The first was History of Art, it sounded slightly interesting but I wasn't holding high hopes.

My second class was a Basic English course. Also synonymous with Snore Fest. I could not wait for this day to be over.

I yawned as I waited for the bus to take me home. I had been right about that English class, and I had it three times a week.

A groan echoed up from my throat. College life was not as fun as I had thought it would be. I briefly contemplated dropping out, but then what would I do to fill my time?

Beepbeep

My phone vibrated in my pocket. An email? At this time? It was only noon. I unlocked my touchscreen and glanced at the sender just as the bus pulled up.

"Hey Gary!" I greeted as I took my customary spot in the back corner seat. I needed to transfer to another bus before I could make it home.

I settled back before remembering about the email.

Kitsune,

Info on XX

By midnight.

Of course the message was unsigned. It always was. Even the account remained untraceable, much to my constant irritation. There were very few people who could hide from my skills – this client was one – so why did he use me for information?

I had never received an answer.

I settled my headset as the monitors warmed up. No one was online yet so I got straight to researching what my client wanted.

Beep… Beep…

"Why are you on Hitode? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Just because we couldn't hack each other's locations doesn't mean we haven't figured out general areas.

"Couldn't, but I'm surprised you're on already."

"Had nothing else to do." I shrugged my shoulders as I continued a little hacking. This was too easy, so my hackles were telling me to proceed with caution. One minor slip up and I could be toast – I would be burnt toast in a high security federal prison.

"Want to play around a little?" Hitode asked in a suggestive manner. Was this going where I think it was going?

"Who are you planning on hacking now?"

"Oh I dunno… What's the largest Chinese Triad right now?"

"Dear God Hito! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Her answering laugh told me yes, she was.

"You know me Kit, I don't like getting in over my head. If I say I can hack a Chinese Triad, then by gully I can hack a CT."

"Then leave me out of it. I have my own work to do here."

"Ooh someone got an email from Mr. Mystery." I smiled at her teasing tone. Everyone in the group knew about my so called 'Mr. Mystery'. When I hadn't hacked through his firewalls I had asked for their help.

No one had gotten farther than me, not even with all thirteen of us working together.

"Yes I did. Now shoo-shoo so I can work."

Beep… Beep…

My laptop flashed with a smiley face. Hitode had a weird sense of humour. This new smiley face was wearing a sombrero, was sticking out a blue tongue and those glasses with springy eyes.

I minimized the image and turned back to my desktop. A few more minutes and my system should let me into the best information network in the world.

Nothing else had come through on my search so this was my last chance.

If I couldn't deliver on time my 'partnership' with 'Mr. Mystery' could be over. And so would my income… Okay, half my income – our company paid just as well but it took more time.

"I'm in baby!" I twirled around in my chair in joy before returning to my main focus. "Now let us just see what is so secretive about –" My thoughts trailed off as my fingers moved across the keyboard, dancing a dangerous dance.

Beepbeep

The vibration of my phone had my hand snaking towards it as my other paused the movie I was watching.

Kitsune,

The money has been transferred.

Not a word of thanks, no congratulations or encouragement to keep working. That was how Mr. Mystery worked.

He ordered.

I obeyed.

I was compensated with huge sums of money.

I mean, seriously huge sums of money.

I clicked over to check my new balance… I had been paid almost 500 000 jenny for this info. I think that has been the second highest payment to date.

I had received payment of two million jenny for information on the Zoldyck family. That had not been much, a few basic facts and a little tidbit of personal bio on each of the five sons.

I, and Mr. Mystery, were probably the only ones outside of the Zoldyck family to know that information.

I would be killed if they ever discovered me. I had computer skills not combat skills. The Zoldyck Family is known to be professional assassins.

World renowned. Guaranteed to dispose of any one for a price.

The scariest people I would never want to meet.

"Hey Hito – you still there?"

"Oui mon frère." She said in a horrible French accent.

"You still wanna play?" I felt the smile spread over my lips as I cracked my knuckles followed by my neck.

"Always."

"Then, game on!"