Shu sighed to himself as he was currently at home in his room with a bunch of a books sprawled on his floor and papers on his desk. He was trying to catch up the amounts of homework and lessons he had missed for the whole month.

"Ugh." He groaned as he was trying to do all of his class subjects at once but it was stressing him out as his brain was starting to hurt. "This sucks, I can't believe I missed this much garbage." He groaned as he slammed his head down on the desk.

As he did that, he heard the door to his room opened and didn't react only feeling a hand tap him on his cheek causing him to groan once more and looked up, he was greeted with the frown of his sister Yuyaki.

"Hey, sis." He greeted as he sat up.

"This is a lot of homework." She commented as he nodded his head.

"Yeah, all this from one month of being in a coma." Shu said. "It's gonna take me hours to finish all of this."

"You shouldn't stress yourself out too much." Yuyaki said as she pulled her brother out of his seat and stood him up. "Your teachers don't expect you to finish all in one night, they understand that you were in a coma and have no problem with you taking a while to catch up." She explained as Shu remembered that his teachers gave him tutorial videos and notes on the lessons he missed.

"I know but I rather get it all done now and… yawn*" He let out a long yawn as he rubbed his eyes. Yuyaki frowned and could tell that he did not get sleep and hasn't been eating much since he started doing his homework.

"Okay, first order of business you're eating dinner." Yuyaki stated as he tried to refuse.

"that's fine sis, I can have dinner another…" He trailed off as he saw her glaring at him with a death aura appearing above her, causing him to change his mind. "Okay, I get dinner." He said quickly and she smiled at him.

"Good." She said before taking his hand and guide him through the house. Shu notice at how close his sister had been lately, in fact both her and Fuu have been keeping an eye on him.

'Then again, I can't exactly blame them after what happened.' Shu frowned as he thought back to day he had awoken out of his coma.

(Flashback)

After waking up from his coma and learning what he missed from the past month, Shu was currently being picking at his arm with the iv in as his sister kept swatting his hand away, telling him not to pick it even if they both found it annoying.

They were both interrupt it when the door opened as revealed three other figures, Shu could make out that it was his other siblings and his mother. He saw his mother Mabui staring at him with tears in her eyes as she had a hand covering her mouth as she was struggling to keep her sobs in while his second and third sister were wanting to hug the life out of him.

Before he could speak, he already felt one of them stumbled into him and felt slender arms wrap around his neck and stomach. Looking down he saw Fuu holding him tightly with all of her strength, she was a petite girl with slightly darker skin with layered mint green hair with an orange clip that matched her eyes. She was wearing the same uniform as Yuyaki only her ribbon was orange.

Then there was his older sister, Yoruichi, she had dark skin with golden irises and long purple hair tied into a ponytail she was currently wearing a black jacket with a t-shirt underneath and long jeans with brown shoes.

Feeling his siblings hold him, Shu gently sighed into their embrace and let them hold him for a moment until Yoruichi leaned back didn't let go of him while Fuu just stayed buried in his chest, afraid that if she let go, he would disappear.

"You gave us a scare there, little boy." Yoruichi whispered as Shu let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He apologized as the older sibling shook her head and gently flick his forehead.

"No need to apologize otouto, you're still here that's what matters." She said and looked down at Fuu who didn't say anything. Shu gently moved his arms and decided to poke Fuu in her side.

"Poke." He said earning nothing from her before he decided to do it again with a little more force. "Poke. Poke." This time he got something as he felt Fuu shake a bit as if she was trying not to laugh at his attempt at making her feel better.

"Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke." He said as he poked her sides, underarms and then finally her neck which finally caused to laugh at him before she tried stopping his assault.

"Okay, Okay, I give! Please Stop! Hahaha." She laughed as she tried to swat his hands away but was failing miserably as the boy had a huge grin on his face.

"As if, behold the tickle prankster giving you one huge attack in order to make his gloomy sister happy!" Shu said in a dramatic tone as Fuu continued laughing from her brother before she got tired and started retaliating starting a tickle war. Yoruichi and Yuyaki stepped back while Mabui came forward as they all watched the two siblings messed with each other.

After about a few minutes, both of them were tired and panting well Shu was while Fuu still looked like she could go another round as she had a smile on her face.

"Give up?" She asked as he held his hands up.

"Yeah, yeah, you win again sis." Shu surrendered as Fuu smiled.

"And once again, Fuu beats her little brother Shu and the score is now 304 to 278 with me in the lead." She shouted in victory as Shu gave her a smile.

"You good now…" He asked gently as Fuu realized what he meant and she smiled softly before sitting on her knees in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks to you." She said while Mabui came and hugged her son.

"My baby." Mabui whispered before she sat on the bed with them and stared at her son with worried eyes. "You really scared all of us… Yuyaki told us that she had found you on the ground with blood running from your eyes and your body temperature was pale. What happened to you?" Mabui asked as all of them eyes were now narrowed as all of them wanted to know who attacked their son/little brother.

"Like I told Yuyu, I'm not sure. I was just walking home and then I heard a voice or something and then the next thing I knew was the sky becoming red and… and…" Shu trailed off as he tried to remember what had happened before his head started pounding and he let out a groan. "Ow, sonova…" He almost cursed while holding his head.

"Hey, I told you to take it easy." Yuyaki chided as she planted her hands on her hips while their mother stroked his head to help comfort him. "Don't force it out, it's going to hurt if you do."

"She's right, it will come back on its own, you don't need to force yourself to remember it." Mabui said as Shu nodded his head gently.

"Now with that out of the way… when can he leave?" Fuu asked. "He's awake now so can we take him home?"

"Well, lovebug, we still got to wait for his doctor to come back to give him a checkup and then get him out once he's given the all clear." Mabui explained while Fuu let out a pout.

"And how long will that take, I kind of hungry and I do Not want to eat hospital food!" Shu stated while giving a face full of disgust. "That is the one thing I will not eat."

"Well, you could probably eat something in one of the gift baskets over here." Yoruichi pointed over to the table that was near the window and Shu followed her gaze and his eyes widened at the basket he saw as well as the balloons.

"That's a lot of gift baskets." He said as Fuu nodded her head.

"When you went into a coma, you had scared a few others as well. Honoka was really worried about you, she wanted to make you something for you when you woke up." Fuu explained as Yuyaki came back with a bento box but inside were pieces of gyoza and that were still hot.

"She always made gyoza in hopes you would wake up and eat them… they're really good too." Yuyaki said while eating a piece earning deadpanned looks from her sisters.

"You shouldn't be eating something that's not for you Yuyu." Yoruichi scolded.

"Well, then would me we would be letting this precious food go to waste, so someone has to eat it." Yuyaki argued.

"Shu's awake now, so you can stop eating them." Fuu said.

"Oh, I would but I'm already finished." Yuyaki said as she showed the empty box as both girls glared at the middle sister.

"Seriously." They both said as Shu just waved his hands.

"It's okay, really. I mean I wasn't awake to eat Honoka's food and she would be sad if her food was still there when she would come by to visit so I'm glad someone had eaten her cooking." Shu said as Fuu sighed before pinching his cheek.

"You're too kind, sometimes you know that?" She said as Shu whined at the pinch.

"Ow."

"Anyway, Honoka wasn't the only one that visited. Kasumi and Ayane also visited as did Marie however, she seemed more dormant then usual." Fuu added before she remembered something else. "Oh, that reminds me, another girl had visited as well but…." Fuu trailed off confusing Shu.

"Who visited?"

"Hanabi, she said that you met you the same day you went into a coma." Mabui answered as Shu stared at them for a few seconds before he remembered Hanabi.

"Oh yeah, her. Yeah, Hanabi and I met when I was trying to do my math and she decided to help me out even though she had no reason to." Shu said before he realized something and let out a groan. "Aw man, I gotta apologize to her for getting a coma right after we just became friends, she's going to be really mad."

"I think she will understand." Mabui said as she ruffled her son's hair.

"Sounds like someone's eager to leave." Someone said while entering the room. The Arashi family saw a fair-skinned woman of average height and slender build with onyx eyes and jet black hair. She had on a long bluish black kimono with white trimmings, held by a white obi and open toe sandals. "Sounds familiar to another patient of mine.

"Hey Shizune," Mabui greeted as everyone turned to her. "How is my son?"

"Well, other than waking up from his coma, he is actually healthy and his body temperature is back to normal, so there are no long-term effects… all I require from him is that he rest for a few more days and does not do ANYTHING physical until they are up." Shizune instructed while giving Shu a stern glare.

"Yeah, yeah, no physical activities until the days are up got it! Can I get food now please!?" Shu said in an impatient tone leaving Shizune to sigh before smiling at them.

"Let me just do you check-up first and then you'll be all set!"

"YES! Finally!" He cheered as his mother and sisters giggled at his joy while Shizune shook her head with a smile.

After being taken out of the hospital, Shu had spent the next few days at his home. His mother had gone to his school and picked up all of his homework and had taken those days off work to watch over him. Only his family knew that he was awake so no one else has.

As he entered the family room, he saw that Mabui and Yoruichi were making dinner while Fuu was sitting on the couch laying on her back in her pjs with her midriff showing and she was wearing any socks watching some tv. She turned her head and noticed her brother out of his room and immediately waved her hand.

"Shu-chan, come over here and sit with me." Fuu called out while patting the seat next to her. Yuyaki let him go as she went to help in the kitchen as he went over and sat down next to her. "How you feeling?"

"Uh, so much homework." He groaned as she laughed at him.

"Hehe, yeah I know that sucks but at least it's keeping you productive." Fuu said while finding a bright side to the situation.

"Yep." He let out while leaning upwards. "So how are things going for you?"

"Oh, it's nothing but boredom over there. I don't know how Yuyu is able to do it. I mean come on, there is nothing fun about Tohno." Fuu complained earning a response from her elder sister.

"That's because you like to cause trouble well you and Yoruichi both. Shu does as well but at least he knows when to stop."

"Hey!"

"Alright, you three, enough bickering. You do it after dinner, tonight we are having Italian." Mabui voiced as Yuyaki picked out the bowls and plates and set up the table while Yoruichi took a tray out of the oven and placed it on the countertop.

"What are we having?" Shu wondered.

"We got Linguine Alfredo, Marinara Spaghetti and some Garlic Bread and Sticks." The eldest sister announced as Shu eyes lit up.

"Yes, Alfredo and Marinara my favorite types of Italian food!" He exclaimed as Fuu raised an eyebrow.

"What about Pizza?" She asked causing him to pause.

"Well…" He trailed off as he was about to go into deep thinking before being flicked in the forehead by his sister.

"I'm just teasing you dum-dum." She said before they both made their way over to the table.

After about 30 minutes, everyone had a good meal with Shu and Fuu constantly fighting to get the last bread only for Yoruichi to steal while they were arguing with a teasing grin while Yuyaki took her own share and watched as Mabui giggled at her children's antics. After they finished eating, Yuyaki went into the living room while Yoruichi and Mabui cleaned up leaving Fuu and Shu to head back to their rooms.

"Come on, otouto…" Fuu said as she grabbed the boy and dragged him to wherever they went once they were out of the room, Mabui turned to her two daughters.

"Yuyaki, Yoruichi." She called making them both turn to her. "I need you both to do something for me and it relates to Shu."

Shu was standing in front of the school with a nervous gaze. He was back but he wasn't ready for people to know that he was back… it was more like he wasn't ready for the attention he would get. So, using the shadows around the school he snuck around the campus and avoided other students quietly until he was at the building of his class.

He then was on the other side and looked around waiting for the close to be clear only to stop when he felt hands on his eyes and causing to stop but before he could react a voice whispered in his ears.

"Guess who~" The voice sounded sweet and teasing at the same time but also familiar, he thought about who it was as he tried to think of those that would surprise. His sisters were all at school, Honoka would jump on him at the while calling out his name so that would mean it would be….

"Hanabi?" He guessed as and heard giggling behind him.

"Ding-ding we have a winner~" She said as she released her hands and stood in front of him with a smile. "Welcome back Shu."

"Thanks, um, I wasn't not expecting you to jump on me like that." He stated as she giggled.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to come to school and sneak your way in around like a ninja." She replied as he nodded his head. "It would've been nice if you gave me a heads up or something that you were coming back."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He apologized while rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not use to having attention."

"Well, don't worry I kind of already knew that you were awake." Hanabi revealed causing Shu's eyes to expand in shock.

"How? I haven't told anybody yet?" He asked.

"My sister Hinata told me. She has a friend that goes to the same school as your sister Fuu and Yuyaki and she told me about you." Hanabi said.

"Ah."

"Anyway, are you heading for your class? It's still 30 minutes before the bell?" She asked.

"Yeah, I came really early because I'm super nervous to see my friends." He said.

"Oh ok." Hanabi said before grabbing his hand and started dragging him through the hallway. "Let's go."

"Wait what-?" Shu asked before realized that Hanabi was pulling him. "Hey stop, I'm not ready yet!"

"Oh, don't be a baby, I'm sure you're friends will be happy to see you out of the hospital and alive now man up!"

"I can walk on my own!" He argued as he tried to get out of her grip only to fail.

'What the hell, why do all my friends result to dragging me when I refuse to do something!?' He thought mentally as he tried to free his grip.

Unknown to them, they were being watched by a few pairs of eyes that watched their every move.

Honoka sighed as she stared out the windows with a longing gaze. It's been a month since her childhood friend was hospitalized and he still hasn't woken yet. She hasn't been able to visit for a few days due to helping her grandmother with an event that took up a lot of her time. The second reason was sitting right next to her.

She turned her gaze to Marie who was fiddling with something in her seat, Ayane who was meditating and Kasumi who was staring worryingly at Marie, it was just the four of them.

The blonde petite hasn't been as herself as much of lately. Ever since her argument with Shu, she wanted to apologize for calling him liar and upsetting him, the same day she wanted to do it was the day he also got hospitalized. Marie went quiet after that, she felt like she was responsible for what happened to him and it was her fault that he had almost died.

Honoka, Ayane and Kasumi have told her many times that it wasn't her fault and no one could've predicted what had happened but it didn't matter. Marie never stopped blaming herself for it, and Honoka found the reason why… it was because she had a crush on him.

Honoka knew that Marie attempts at antagonizing Shu and messing with him was because she liked him, and didn't know how else to express her feelings other than their witty banter. And Marie was never really upfront about her feelings with anyone other than the pink-haired girl herself.

Honoka wondered that until Shu was back that Marie wouldn't really be her peppy child-like self and she doesn't know when that would happen. She let out a sigh, slightly wishing that today didn't start off so down and gloomy, lucky for her it was going to get better.

She heard the door opened and looked up to see who it was. She first thought it was their teacher Kiriya but that guy always entered with a smoke bomb, she then saw her classmate Hanabi enter the classroom but she had a sly smile on her face.

"Ladies, I believe we have a classmate here who has returned from his hiatus." She said before moving aside to let the student behind her come in. Once she saw who it is, Honoka let out a gasp and stood up as Ayane and Kasumi stared at shock who was standing at the door, Marie saw who it was and immediately stood up as she saw him.

Shu didn't know what the do at the shock of his female friends, so he went ahead and the did the first thing that came to mind.

"Um, hey." He said with a small wave.

The first person to react was Marie as she immediately dashed towards Shu and collided with his stomach wrapping her arms around him and buried her head into his chest. The boy stopped himself from falling as he caught Marie with one hand and then Honoka with the other as the latter jumped herself onto him.

Shu didn't say anything as he simply wrapped his arms around them both while trying his best not to fall.

"I'm so glad, you're okay." Honoka whispered as Marie nodded her head as Shu smiled.

"Glad to see you up and well, Shu." Kasumi said with a smile as she and Ayane came beside him.

"Thanks."

"Nice to see you awake… baka." Marie said while whispering that last part as she and Honoka released him.

"Sorry I left you guys for a month." He said as Marie gave him a pout.

"Dummy, you don't apologize for getting hurt." The blonde girl whispered. "Anyway, speaking of coming back you have a lot to catch up on." She said getting back into a cheerful attitude as the boy let out a groan.

"Oh, don't remind me." he said while hanging his head low, only to feel something patting his head which was Hanabi.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'm pretty sure you'll get all of that done in no time!" She said as Marie and Honoka glared at the brunette behind Shu. "Well, it's time for me to go to my class. I'll see you later teddy bear!" She pinched both of his cheeks before disappearing out of the classroom.

Shu, Marie and Honoka all had mixed reactions.

Marie and Honoka were flustered and jealous.

'That's my teddy bear she's touching!'

'I'm a teddy… bear?'

The three students were caught up in their thoughts they didn't notice their teacher Kiriya smoke bomb himself into the room and announced him presence.

As for Ayane and Kasumi they both let out a small sigh as they knew what the three were thinking and knew that things were going to get more fun for a while.

As classes were going on, Honoka and Marie both kept their eye on Shu for the entire day. Not wanting to be separated from him in case something else had happened , the former not wanting to lose her best friend and the latter wanting to make up for what she said the last time they spoke. While he knew why they were doing it, he did find it unnecessary and a bit irritating but he would never say it.

He knew that they were only worried for him although he couldn't find himself to say that he needed some space and didn't want to hurt their feelings. Lucky for him, his saving grace in the form of Ayane and Kasumi both gently pried the two away from him as he excused himself to head to the library, he was unaware that he was being followed.

Once he entered the library, searching for a spot to start on his homework again he had picked up a voice.

"…s..shh.h….uh….shu..."

Perking up, he looked around the empty library looking for voice that he heard only shrug his shoulders and continue writing. Another moment and multiple voices entered his ears this time.

"Shu…. Curse…. Cchild..s…cursed…..chilld…. Curse…"

He looked up again and didn't see anyone else with him, he was thinking that he was having hallucinations again just like the previous one. He let out a small breath and was about to sit down only to look up again and this time in front of him was something horrifying.

In front of him was a man, if he could call that. It was a corpse with its skin all black and dark hair that was faded from its original color but what unsettled Shu was its eyes, its soulless black eyes that freaked him out the most.

He started hyperventilating, the air around him becoming too intense for him to breathe in and his body shaking with absolute fear and sweat dripping down his forehead. He slowly took a step back only for the corpse to take a step forward and suddenly let out a roar that echoed through the library.

It was enough to send Shu flying and into a book shelf, his body taking a heavy hit and fell to the ground. He slowly looked up and then corpse was in front of him again scaring him, he couldn't say anything, he couldn't scream, he then grabbed the nearest object he could which was a book and swung against the corpse only for him to knock it away and kicked Shu once more into the ground.

Then more whispers left its mouth and causing Shu to stop what he was doing and his eyes became dilated with fear and terror.

….Cursed… child…...

M….mos….ster…. yo….m

…...die…...death…slain….

Kill….end….

All these words caused these sudden emotions of guilt, terror, fear and sadness inside him and he couldn't help but cover his ears with his hands as tears flowed down his face. Pulling his knees to his chest, and covered his head the best he could, he desperately hoped the whispers would go away.

"Please…. Leave… me… alone…" Sounding so desperate and broken, he didn't care if he was going to die only to hope that the noises of what he was hearing would go away.

He waited… and waited… for the inevitable death he was about to get… waiting for that cold emptiness he felt before engulf him….

But instead of the cold…... he felt something warm….

He felt something on his shoulder, he didn't dare to look at it, he didn't want to… he was afraid of opening his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay…." The voice he heard… it sounded…. Sounded like a female voice.

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked up and saw someone there. In front of him was a young woman with a mature figure, with green hair tied into pigtails with emerald eyes.

"What… but… where…." Shu couldn't speak as he slowly still tried to process what he experienced.

"Shh, shh… it's okay, it's not real. Whatever you are seeing it's not there, just focus on my voice okay…" She whispered softly as she pressed both hands into his cheeks and turned his gaze to her. "Tell me what you see…."

Shu couldn't slow down his breathing but he didn't want the voice helping him to leave…

"I see…. Bookshelf…. Floor… green hair…. Emerald eyes…"

"That's good, you're doing great."

As soon as he calmed down, Shu slowly look up back at his savior.

"Sorry, um… I… I was…."

"It's okay, take your time… you don't need to rush." She said gently while rubbing his head in a soothing attempt… she was being so patient with him.

"Thank you…. Who are you?"

"Hmhmhm, now that's not nice… not remembering your favorite sister~" She teased at the end as the boy looked at her in confusion before his eyes widened in slight shock.

"Ryofu-nii?"

"Hey, otouto." Ryofu greeted with a loving smile before a frown marred her features. "I was coming in here when I heard something, I saw the book shelf and you on ground huddling in the corner…. You were having a panic attack."

Panic attack… great just what he freaking needed, it was the last thing he needed. He was slowly getting back into school and not this just so happens… what next?

"What were you doing here?" He asked slowly. "I thought you were out doing some off the map stuff or whatever they call it."

"Yoruichi called and told me what happen to you, however at the time I was in a place where I didn't have any type of service so I didn't hear what happen to you until she found me." She said while caressing her brother's cheeks. "She said you were in a coma for a month and that you weren't breathing and it scared me."

"I'm sorry." He apologized as she shook her head.

"Don't be. I had to finish my studies in order to graduate so I left again to finish my studies and I just so happen to finish them yesterday and come back home." Ryofu explained.

"I see." Shu nodded his head. He wanted to be excited but after what he had just experienced, he wasn't in the mood for it. Ryofu understand as she helped him stand up and held onto him.

"We should go home…"

"But what about school?" Shu asked and his sister just gave him a blank stare before it changed to concern when she saw something that worried her.

"Sweetie, you just had a panic attack, and it was a really bad one, because whatever you experienced it made you ears and head bleed." Ryofu said as Shu became confused once more as reached up to the back of his head and his eyes widened when he did feel something wet, looking at his hand he saw that it was blood.

'I probably hurt myself when hit the shelf.' He thought. Once he was done, Ryofu took ahold of his hand and took him to the nurse's office before taking him home.

Shu had a lot of questions on his mind, what was going on with these hallucinations?

Why was he getting them? What was with the voices?

And why did he feel like something terrible was going to happen soon?

Right now, all he wanted was to get some rest and be ready for a better tomorrow.

What he didn't realize was that he had no idea about how right he was in feeling something terrible was going happening, nor how bad it would affect him.