the day started off just like any other, kieko woke up,fed Ran,ate,and was just about to do her daily cleaning when she opened the guest room door. kieko stood completely frozen. suddenly her face turned a light shade of pink,"sumimasen!" she cried (i wii write sorry in Japanese because it sounded better to me) then she slammed the door, and ran into her room, grabbed her pillow and pushed it to her face. kieko tried to make sense of what just happened,kieko had walked into the room and had seen zero and ichi half naked in her guestroom,how awkward she had forgotten all about them and walked in on them! kieko just had to shake it off it was almost time for school. "kieko are you going to school or what?" zero yelled "oh yeah"kieko thought to herself" we decided to walk to school last night after yesterday's encounter" now kieko just felt embarrassed how could she have forgotten about the past two days? kieko sat down and petted Ran for a bit until she was interrupted by zero slamming the door open and yelling "c'mon lets go! we'll be late!"kieko kneeled down beside Ran"good bye"she said lightly then she opend the window for Ran to jump out then closed it. "aren't you ready yet?" zero cried "ok,i'm ready" kieko said then followed zero out the door, kieko couldn't help but feel awkward standing next to the two boys,"oh,well"she thought to herself what could she do but remain silent? talking about it would just make her blush and she'd feel even more awkward,keiko looked at the surrounding area,she knew where this was,this is the park that she usually takes hoshi to play. kieko thoughts were interrupted by crying. kieko looked over her shoulder to see a girl that was no older than 7 sitting on the sidewalk crying and favoring her knee while a group of other girls stood around her."does it hurt?"asked one girl"alot" the girl replied "if we could get you to the nurse she could disinfect it"said another but before she could answer another girl poked her wound making her cry a bit louder. kieko walked up to the group of girls and kneeled by them."what happed?"kieko asked "i tripped over my shoe lace and scraped my knee"the girl wailed. kieko then picked her up and sat her near the water fountain. kieko washed off the blood with the water,"let me see what I've got in my bag" she said kieko then took out a first aid kit, kieko first took out some peroxide and put it on a cotton swab then rubed it on the wound, then kieko got out a bottle of vitamin E and poured a bit on a rag she then dabbed it on her knee,(vitamin E is like a super healer, no joke!) kieko then brought out a tin of band aids which were hello kitty themed"wich one do you want?" kieko asked sweetly. the girl picked a light pink one with hello kitty's face in the middle,kieko then applied it,and looked down "keep your shoes tied or it'll happen again" she teased kieko then tied the girls shoe."you were very brave"kieko praised. kieko went through her backpack and found a booklet of stickers that she used to reward hoshi, kieko picked out a cute little lion holding a flower and stuck it to the girls shirt. the girl stared at it and blushed "it's so cute!" she squealed, she then hugged kieko tightly and yelled out "thank you miss!"at the top of her lunges and skipped away. kieko sighed "that was thoughtful of you"Ichi said kieko was shocked she thought they continued walking without her. " you have a very sweet disposition kieko" he said sweetly "thanks" she said shyly, she blushed a bit and tried to avoid eye contact."let's go! we're going to be late"zero yelled kieko walked up the stairs with they got to school they were immediately surrounded by a large group of girls. the boys were being bombarded with questions of every sort. kieko's eyes dilated and she started to breath fast. kieko could feel her heart beating loudly,kieko did not do well in crowds, to many people at one time was hard for her, she almost started to cry, but soon the girls noticed her and pushed her away from the boys. unfortunately they pushed her so hard that when she was finally out of the crowd she tripped and scraped her elbow and leg on the concrete in front of mika and yumi. mika was furious,she picked up kieko up bridal style. yumi yelled at the top of her lungs "who the hell thinks they can push kieko down in front of me and live?!" all the girls stopped drooling over the boys and stared at mika and yumi in pure horror,yumi just stood there letting her anger build up. "what makes any of you think that you can hurt someone just because they are in your way,can't you see that she hurt because of your recklessness?"mika growled the two boy stared at kieko,"kieko is hurt?we promised to protect her but she got hurt because of us"ichi thought to himself."are you ok kieko?"he asked sincerely kieko hid her face behind her bangs,"mika put me down i'm fine"she said, when mika put her down kieko brushed off the dirt from her skirt,she then bowed to the girls "sumimasen!" she said loudly then walked away, kieko found a nice bench to sit on while she treated her wounds,she was glad she still had that old kit. the boys soon joined er, "i'm sorry that happened"zero said Ichi apoligised too, he then fixed his eyes on the first aid kit,why did she have a first aid kit in the first place? why does she bring it to school? yumi and mika soon made their way over to her as well. "gomen"they both said as they bowed "we didn't mean to embarrass you"yumi stated,but mika was staring at the first aid kit just as Ichi was, but the way she looked at it was more sorrowful, yumi then saw what it was that her sister was looking at, she looked shocked then her faced washed over with sadness,"you still have that old thing?"she tried to say jokingly, but it sounded more sad than anything. "yeah"kieko replied."what's so sad about a stupid medical kit?"zero asked"let's just say it has a bit of history"kieko said *in class* kieko was getting ready for her name to be called in roll call," this morning was just too much, at least i can take a break in class"she thought to herself, and just as she thought that there was an explosion near the door, a tall girl with beautiful pink hair emerged from the smoke"ichi my love!"she shouted she then ran up to him and kissed him on the lips. the whole class stared at them in confusion. then three girls walked up to kieko and yelled"do something about this!" kieko stared at them "why?" the girls looked at her in horror "why? we thought you liked him!"they wined, that was obviously not why they wanted her to make them stop, in the udder confusion yumi and mika ended up switching seats and sitting with kieko. suddenly a man wearing all green popped up in the window all four of them started to talk kieko was not interested, she was too exhausted to care,and slightly dizzy. kieko looked at yumi. "i don't' feel so well"kieko, stated two girls popped up out of nowhere "is it because you're jealous,kieko?"they asked arrogantly"what? no"kieko said,she almost sounded like she was in a bad mood. "is she his girlfriend?"the girls from earlier asked."i wouldn't be surprised if it was" she said bluntly, kieko felt very weak. "not quite i'm his fiance" the girl stated all the girls in the room gasped at this. "thats not true"Go said plainly "I hope not" zero stated, "wow you sure are a ladies man"zura teased "hey both of you shut up" Ichi said angrily "Ichi angry,thats new"kieko thought to herself. rokka then hugged him,"i'm sorry about this kieko"ichi said "why are you sorry?"kieko asked almost angrily "why am i in such a bad mood?"she thought to herself, she must have zoned out for a bit because now rokka was up in kieko's face yelling ."that's it! you better stay away from my man! i don't even know what he sees in your flat chest!"rokka cried. kieko looked stunned, kieko had been called many things before but never flat, sure maybe she wasn't as shapely as her but she was not flat. the twins got a really dark aura around them"why would she want big boobs?"mika asked"they only make you dumber"yumi finished. roka laughed at this "No boobs,no boobs" rokka teased. the twins were about to attack her, when kieko started to glare at her "how immature, you're relying on balls of fat on your chest, do realize that? and why would i care about such a superficial thing?"she growled, kieko was angry. kieko started to tremble,was it because she was angry?ichi could see kieko's discomfort, he thought it was because of rokka but he was wrong."stop this right now i don't want you saying rude things to my friends!"ichi shouted "but ichi she was trying to take you from me!"roka said, kieko was starting to get a headache, kieko zoned out again and regained her focus when Go gave the teacher something,but she couldn't hear what he said. she finally realized what was happening to her, but it was too late to do anything about it,she collapsed within seconds."get her to the nurse!"yumi yelled. zero picked her up and the four ran her to the infirmary. when they all settled in the infirmary mika went through kieko's bag, got out the first aid kit, she took out the instant compress from the box and put it on kieko's head."this is my fault" said yumi "kieko told me she felt bad but i dismissed it as nothing serious" "it's ok"ichi replied "why did she faint?"zero asked "for you to fully understand we'd have to tell you a story from her past,but i don't think you'll want to hear it" mika warned she was absolutely serious."if i can understand her condition more then i'll listen"Ichi said mika sighed"kieko was a loved child,her parents couldn't care for her any more than they did she was always smiling no matter what happened,she smiled most at shrine festivals... have you heard of the sarin subway incident?"mika asked sadly zero and ichi's eyes' grew wide with shock. "no way, she was there?" zero asked "yes, on her way to the shrine kieko boarded Chiyoda Line,when the fumes reached her she stopped breathing, when she woke up again,she was in the intensive care unit of the hospital. soon after the incident kieko began to fall ill easily, she would go weeks on end without talking to anyone but miroku"yumi said sorrowfully "damn i hated that guy, he always set so many standards for kieko,he barely even cared that she was so sick,i'm glad he went to study abroad"mika stated "with the months of on going solitude, kieko soon became socially awkward,so when kieko became well enough to go to school again she was severely bullied because of the way she acted" yumi stated "severely bullied,huh?" ichi whispered "is that why she carried that first aid kit?" he asked, mika nodded her head."that was around the time we met her, we made a promise we'd keep her safe, but now she's involved in some pretty heavy stuff, we can only do so much now... gomen, i got off topic, anyway even though the bullying stopped she still showed signs of it, thats why she freaked out from all the people,"yumi said"it helps her when she listens to music"mika informed "but even still, she continued to get ill, so yumi and I decided to investigate,we needed to know what was making her sick so we could keep her safe from it,we soon learned that the subway incident caused her brain to react very oddly,the chemicals she was exposed to made kieko sensitive to certain things, for the most part we know that the chemicals in that the janitor used to clean the floor was one of the things that made her pass out,we were then able to convince the school board to use less strong chemicals,however,what ever made kieko faint today is unclear,it could have been anything from the chemicals in the drywall to your friend's perfume, this may be much to ask but... could you ask your her to use a less strong fragrance?" mika asked,ichi nodded in response,"but the worst part of this is that her..."mika was cut off by kieko coughing, she then sat up and looked over at the four,mika brought her a glass of water. after a long talk kieko managed to convince them that she was well enough to go to class. as they walked out of the nurse's office,Ichi grabbed her hand to hold kieko back,kieko looked back at him."i got you something"he said sweetly as he pulled a charm bracelet out from his pocket, it had a dull silver moon,two matching silver star charms and kieko's favorite;a multi colored shooting star charm "thank you" she said cheerfully, she gave him her best smile as she put the bracelet on. Ichi blushed at this,never had he seen a smile so genuine and sweet.*in the changing rooms*"hurry up kieko"mika cried "go on without me i'll be a bit late!"kieko shouted yumi and mika then hussled to the gym. kieko finished lacing up her shoes and stood up,without notice two hands wrapped around her and started to grope her. startled, kieko swiftly turned around to face an angry rokka standing behind her,"you must be so jealous, being so flat!" she teased, kieko met eyes with her, did kieko's eyes deceive her? no she was certain of it, and because she's a wizard it's actually made sense. kieko remembered what she said in the classroom, she then looked at rocka,kieko could feel tears welling up in her eyes. she started to cry,she bowed her head,"sumimasen!" she forced rokka was very confused "i was very rude to earlier"kieko said. rokka looked at her. "i want to make amends" kieko stated. "never,NEVER did i once think i could be so cruel to a young girl as beautiful as you"she wept ,rokka gasped at this, how could this one pathetic human see what she was, when every other person she met was completely fooled? how did she know? rokka asked herself "how?" rokka said aloud. kieko stood up straight,"everyone has beauty, and everyone is defined differently, the eyes are the window to the soul,and when i look into your eyes i see beauty, but i see something else to... potential, you have so much, when there is so much of that in a child's eyes they sparkle in the most beautiful way that can only be defined as...youth, your eyes are very beautiful, they sparkle, and shine a youthful glow, that is how i know, because you are beautiful."kieko explained rokka hung her head low and held kieko shoulder,"you ... you think i am beautiful?" kieko gave a slight smile "i who has only been so rude and looked down on you?" rokka began to tremble,"why? " rokka was full on crying now,and slowly started to revert to normal, kieko stood steady as rokka balled pieces of kieko's shirt in her reached out and held rokka,*after about 10 minutes* rokka stopped crying,how in the world was a girl as young as her causing so much trouble?kieko then stood up, "i'm sorry for acting like a baby"rokka whispered. "lets go find your friend go shall we?"kieko asked the toddler, when kieko stood up she could hear muffled voices in the hallway,she couldn't quite make them out but she could hear several people calling out the same thing,almost as if they were trying to call for someone. "eeeekkchoo" it sounded like, she then suddenly realized who the voices belonged to. kieko made her way to the door, and before she could open it, it swung open revealing two boys wearing worried faces in front, while in back were two girls complaining about the boys being in the locker room. it was yumi,mika,zero and ichi. when the four met kieko's gaze they all jumped a bit, none of them expected kieko to be behind the door."where the hell were you!?" zero screamed. it was then that rokka looked up to see the love of her life "ICHI-SAMA!"she screamed as she jumped into ichi's arms, "if i'd of known you'd be here i would have freshened up"she teased,she then got down from his arms, she ran into the room and transformed into her 'older' self "don't i look stunning?"she flirted,suddenly Go turned up in the window again, but this time he was holding a plastic bear that looked like a cell phone cover,and it started to buzz "the crystal pearl is near, the crystal pearl is near" he then pointed it a kieko. "oh, i see ichi-sama, you only hang around this girl because she has the pearl, right?"rokka asked "no...i"ichi started, but he was interrupted by kieko"yes, if i didn't have the crystal pearl they probably wouldn't give me a second thought."kieko said plainly. zero and ichi looked upset at the words,but said nothing,ichi wanted to tell her that what she said wasn't true,but it was if she had not swallowed it they wouldn't even know eachother,she'd just be another face, ichi hated that, he hated the fact that was all she was to them, from now on he wanted to make an effort to be kieko's friend, ichi looked at her expression,he noticed that she didn't look the same as she usually does, right now she looked more like when they first met,or when she helped that little girl,ichi had no idea how or why but she just looked looked over at ichi,"you noticed it too?"mika asked quietly. "when younger kids are around,kieko changes her attitude,i don't think it's on purpose, but she tends to act more..."yumi wispered "motherly"mika finished.(the conversation was so quiet that only those three heard, anime logic!) the conversation stopped when rokka started to yell "if thats what it's gonna take to get you away from my ichi then i'll do it!, don't get to cozy kieko because the next time i see you your dead!"rokka then ran away with Go tagging along behind her.