Lost Children Souls

Ahh now that was a question, it was after all imposable for them to stay here all day, much to his disappointment. “You are right they won’t let you leave, after all if anything happened to you today, during school hours, they would be held responsible,” he thought about it for a moment, but only coming to one logical conclusion, “you will have to spend the rest of the school day with me, after all the prinsable did say that I was too take care of you.” Although he wondered how well it would go, after all a lot of students would see her, but he though with some smart positioning of the tables and equipment her tail could be mostly hidden, or at least to the existent that it would be mistaken for a backpack. “As you know I only teach music, so I hope you can handle out of tune playing on mass... from the students I mean, not me.” He was always quite proud of his musical talent, off being a perfectionist when it came to his own performance, the strum of a stringed instrument being just as potent to him as the beat of a warm heart; a gift from his mother like The Sight was a gift from his farther.

“I’ll tell them that you are my little sister, who has been looking for her big bro,” he thought that he may as well start the lie now, well it was not that much of a lie, as she was now his adoptive sister, “after all my mother status is unknown, so it would not be too farfetched that she re-married and had another child.” Part of him considered that a reality, ‘I have to stop messing with my own mind!’

The thunderous drum of foot falls started pounding down the hall one again, as the stragglers came hurrying along to get into their class before being branded late. Yet he could hear another set of footsteps, one a lot heaver than the students, the sound made a small sigh escape his lips, knowing what, or rather who it was, “Let me talk to him,” he said quietly, pulling Chesha’s hood back up, “and don’t worry sis, I won’t let him part us, even if it means me looking for another job.” Reluctantly he pulled himself free from his little sister’s grasp, including the tail let hug, although if he could have had it his way she would never let go; it would be a far comment to say that Unaru had missed the comfort from family. He calmly placed himself between Chesha and the door, trying to hide her behind him, the head coming into the room like a prowling bear, clearly unhappy with having to cover for a substitute, even if it was only for the lesser half of a time, he leaned to the side slightly to try and lay eyes on Chesha, which he managed to do before Unaru got his attention with a small cough. “Well after I got her to calm down again, she told me something, it appears that Alice here is my little sister. Well half sister, and when she found out about me she came looking thus; here she is.” The tone Unaru spoke in was firm, with an almost matter-of-fact vibe to it, like it was pushing out any doubt that it could be a lie.

Yet the older man looked sceptical for a moment, like he was trying to add up everything. “And if you don’t mind sir, I would request that she stay with me, in my class, till more ‘formal’ arrangements are made for her.” the formal and almost humble tone of Unaru’s request almost took him back a bit, normally talking to the rock loving teacher was like talking to one of the students at time, he was always respectful, yet his use of modern slang or song lyrics made what he was saying hard to grasp at time. Unaru could see his boss trying too weighing everything off in his mind; to him he could see why he would not say yes. “Fine,” the older man sighed, “need I remind you that she is your responsibility from now on.”

‘More than you could ever imagine’ “I understand, and trust me, you won’t even know she is here.” The blond said with a fake smile, his boss grumbling something under his breath as he went to his part of the office, relived to get back to paperwork, and more importantly, looking for a replacement door. Unaru turned to Chesha, gently placing his hands on her shoulders, “you ready?”

What might happen to her, Chesha couldn't say since she'd managed pretty good thus far. Cockiness usually resulted in one's downfall, or ego, as she didn't really care to be exact. Plus the school wouldn't know one way or another, so more than likely they expected a lawsuit the moment she walked off without another thought and without someone there related to pick her up. Hanging out with Unaru sounded quite nice...but sitting amongst a bunch of normal, human, kids unnerved her a bit. Naturally they'd gawk and stare, more out of curiosity for someone new within their surrounding more than anything else. And why shouldn't they? Chesha would've stared, she'd stare to her heart's content under any other circumstance. So maybe she'd stare right back until they stopped: see how they like it.

Thus came the problem of what to do while in his care and classroom. Under normal circumstances she hated the idea of listening to novice musicians combined with her sharp hearing, but positioning her ears back would lessen the blow too. She couldn't very well twiddle her thumbs, and might opt to play her game if she remembered not to get bored and let it “play itself” so to speak. A term for when she let the gaming device float off or around her whilst hacking the file and doing as she pleased. Sometimes her hands got tired and sometimes she wanted to use them for something else and still play her game. Checking her bag she sighed when she spotted her little tin game-case, ”Can I play some games? Promise its just how it sounds.”

Chesha beamed as he mentioned their background story, pleased as punch at being known as his little sister already. Worse come to worse she'd easily find him another job, or two if he wanted. Staring at his back she thought Unaru might be a more “good” type of person, so her methods may have to stay a secret, but she could manage it. And she'd happily let him do all the talking seeing as she wasn't “in her right state of mind” anyhow. Whether she truly was or not mattered little to her, just that the staff that knew her, knew her as being off in the head or easily set off. However she begrudged the lack of contact when he moved in front of her, feeling for a moment rejected.

Her expression appeared forlorn when the principal peered around Unaru, her eyes lifting to stare back into his until she heard the little name Unaru gave her. 'He knows the story!' she thought with glee, and wished for a moment she owned a little white rabbit stuffed animal to hold at that time. It passed quickly though as she bent over to gather her “fake” tail in her arms and smile up at Unaru, ”Yep!” Thus she followed Unaru back to his classroom, a small skip in her step as she trailed closely behind and humming a small tune that existed fifty years ago.

Thanks to the secondary bell ringing already, they walked right into the full classroom of waiting students. The moment the door opened they turned en mass to stare like a bunch of wary gophers to observe if their teacher arrived or who was late to class. Desks weren't a necessity so much in music class, whatever tables they occasionally used for music theory or note taking pushed to the back since the usual task was playing and practicing. Designed as a mini auditorium the multiple levels of the class curved so the players could be easily seen and commanded by the conductor – aka the teacher. Quieter instrument players sat in the front with the loud brass to the back and drums behind them, and one person manning the keyboard in the corner next to the empty xylophone. Because that person was home sick with the flu. Bluish spotted carpeting covered the ground and made it easier to scoot the metal-based chairs around as necessary while giving strong grounding for the music stands. Back to the corner on the opposite side of the doorway sat the teacher's desk, a white board between it and the doorway, with a podium standing a few feet in front of the large board for the conductor.

Unsure where else to sit, Chesha figured the teacher's chair and desk might be best considering he had to teach the class and possibly give a few students one-on-one time and attention. Plus she'd get the rolly-chair to twirl in if she got bored enough, along with the long, curved desk blocking off the ground thanks to a wall built onto the desk. Any future classes couldn't see her curious, larger appendage and feline ears could easily be explained as a head band well built or as clip on. Once there she immediately whipped out her little DS with the sound off out loud and on inside her head as a wild creature gave off its 8-bit noise for being disturbed. 'Aw man but I hate the owl one. Bring back the other birdie instead. Guess I'll get the little ferrety guy instead.' She'd started over from boredom and hacking a bit too much in her last file.

Unaru could not help but feel happy when Chesha smiled at him, declaring she was ready to go, relived in himself to finally get out of this room and back to a more familiar environment. He was not surprised to find his class there and already to go, such was the report with his class, yet he could not help but feel he was forgetting something, but he just shrugged it off, if it was important it would come back to him, or something will jog his memory. He watched Chesha sit down behind his desk, making herself at home it seemed and that was fine to him, off did he use his desk, after all he did find it hard to play there, but first things first; roll call. One by one he called out the names, weighting a few seconds for a voice to shout out ‘here’ or for someone to raise their hand, it would have been a full class if one of them had not been out sick. He sat himself on his desk, putting himself directly in front on his little sister so the class could not easily stare at her, he had heard them chattering to each other when they came in, namely the murmurings of the question, ‘who is she?’

“Right, sorry for the delay all let’s get started on....” he stopped, or was physically cut off when he saw a hand shot up from the back, his interest piqued he gave them a nod, a signal that they may stand up and address the class. A female student clad in gray, the dismal uniform of the school rose to her feet, looking a bit meek as she stood there, “W-well you p-promised last time that you w-would sing for us.” The class seemed to break out into a dull chatter then, obvious that Unaru was not the only one that had forgotten about it. It was not uncommon for the blond haired sub to serenade his class after they had worked hard, but unfortunately they had run out of time so he promised them to do it at the beginning next time, which was now. “Ah yes! Thanks for reminding me,” he said cheerfully as he slid of the desk, looking around to see where Mr. Stick-up-his-butt had moved his baby, his guitar.

The black and gold stringed instrument had been propped up in the corner of the room, near to his desk, looking almost solemn, like it had been abandoned there. As he picked it up, pulling the strap over his head to lay snugly on his shoulder, you could see sighs that it was well used and well looked after, “Any requests?” he asked, flicking his thumb over each string to make sure nothing had damaged it, rolling his eyes when someone asked for ‘smack my bitch up’ normally a teacher would stop and scold them for the use of such language, but Unaru seemed unfazed by it, after all, he was only saying a song title. He looked over to Chesha, seemingly content with playing her handheld game console and wondered; what song would she like to hear.

His mind settling on a song he perched himself on his desk once more, letting his teaching partner setting into his lap. His fingers moved over the strings, a slow, solemn melody beginning to fill the room.

“Memories fade into the silence,
Haunting me tonight,
With hopes that last forever, I take this moment in,
It will be the last.
The morning breaks, and sunlight takes
The pain away.

Ever after never came,
And I'm still waiting for a life that never was,
And all the dreams I lay to rest,
The ghost that keeps me, after all that I've become,
I am only one.
I am only one.”

His voice seemed almost haunting as he sang the undertone of sadness and loss undeniable as his words flitted into the room. Some of the less hardened students already trying to hold back tears.

“I close my eyes and plead this empty heart
Of all that longs to die,
When faces lie and love will falter,
I'm left with only time,
And time will break the dreams that take,
The pain away.

Ever after never came,
And I'm still waiting for a life that never was,
And all the dreams I lay to rest,
The ghost that keeps me, after all that I've become,
I am only one.
I am only one.”

Unaru had closed his eyes as the beat and tempo increased, the song seemed to take the form of a bird as he put his all into it, the sadness was still there, yet there was an unyielding hope trying to burst though. Some of the students as already begun to wipe their faces on their sleeves, whilst the other half had begun to fidget, unwilling to let themselves seem weak by letting a song effect them so much.

“I'm on my own here, and
No-one's left to be the hero.
This fairy tale's gone wrong as
Night will fall, my heart will die alone.

Ever after never came,
And I'm still waiting for my heart to beat again.
And all the dreams I lay to rest,
The ghost that keeps me, after all that I've become,
I am only one.
I am only one.

I am only one.”

As the song died down a thick hush had fallen on the classroom, only broken now and again by the snuffle of noses. Unaru opened his eyes and let out a small sigh, his fingers tingling slightly, almost like his body was disappointed with him that he had stopped playing.

The game felt wrong, though she named the little iconic character “Chesha.” Instead she rebooted the game to the main menu and chose “new game” since she hadn't made it to the first gym yet on the new file. This time, rather than use the self-given name for the character, Chesha named them “Alice” - and then double checked she chose the female one. After retyping the name due to accidentally opting for male and thus had to switch over character types. The researcher fellow always asking her about her gender often amused Chesha, especially in the earlier games when you nicknamed your rival, 'What kind of grandfather forgets his grandson's name?' This time she had a wait to decide on her rival's name, usually putting something odd from “Gov't” to “Hollow.”

She liked that name, and liked more someone else gave it to her. Something about naming yourself felt...lonely. Like no one else loved you enough to bother naming you beyond “hey you” or “that girl.” Even if he meant it as an excuse and a way to hide her identity, Chesha decided then and there she'd keep the name. Use it even...so more than likely other nicknames and fake names would require consideration for other occasions. 'Alice...' Now she no longer cared what her birth name once was, because she chose “Alice.”

Horrible memory made it hard to head off instincts before reflexes kicked in and Chesha kept her ears back even as she turned her head up with interest at the student's proclamation. Turned out her first classroom experience would not be filled with horribly off key music then, as Unaru warned her earlier. She thought about yelling “you lied!” for her amusement's sake, but held back as she twirled in the chair and it came to rest with the chair back facing everybody. About now she could finally chose her starter, adoring the little water reptile the most with plans to hack for the other two for the information and because she enjoyed them too. Just not as much as the water reptile.

Nothing about Chesha's face gave away the lull the music put her into. Outwardly she appeared very much involved in the game before her eyes, concentrating to beat up wild critters as they mobbed her on the way to pick up something for the good ol' professor. Inside she experienced that curious sensation again...”peace” Sarynn called it. She felt peaceful again, like music soothing the savage beast it called her mind to the present instead of the usual trend. Her mind didn't wander out through multiple veins of technology, seizing control and viewing too many web pages at once – enough to often render her useless to the outside world as her mind became fully involved in them. Or remodeling the apparent electronics inwardly so they either became better or worse, either way confusing their owners as to why the hardware suddenly performed far beyond its usual capabilities or so amazingly sluggish they became filled with the urge to hurl it across the room.

Temptation reared its ugly head as she wanted to demand another song, but she wasn't supposed to be there. She didn't want attention called to her either from those weird folk sitting but feet away with their blunt objects. Those objects could hurt, Chesha already saw that, and didn't want to remodel them into another special friend, or other forms because they'd realize immediately something was off about her. Instead she looked up, watching him from behind the chair and waiting to see if he'd opt to play another, or it was time for the students to start their practice and her time to sift through drawers for earplugs.

Now it was time for class to really begin, he looked over his shoulder briefly, one to check on his little sister, and to check what he had planned for this class. To him Chesha, or should that be Alice, seemed content with her game, and he was happy to let her play, after all the sound was off and therefore not disrupting the class, his fingers drummed on the blacken wood of his guitar as he looked over his teaching plan, one set with the original teachers works in mind, classical music, not to Unaru taste but none the less he was paid to teach it so teach it he would. Pulling one photocopied booklet to the front of his desk he opened it up, flipping through the dog eared pages till he found the area he wanted, the notes marked down with red ink where some students struggled or where instrument had to be supplemented because of school funds, he bit his lip slightly as he realised that this was going to sound off, not horrible, but because some missing instruments a level of the song was going to be missing.

“Ok class we will start on page 17, any questions? Comments?” he asked, normally this class was well-behaved and smart, point them to some sheet music and they will play till the bell sounds, so Unaru was surprised when one of the boy’s put their hand up. Said boy was, in himself, not interested in the question he was about to ask, however his ribs had grown sore from the nudging from his friend to his left, he could see Unaru raise an eyebrow followed by a slow nod of the head, the substitutes way of saying ‘you can speak’, he swallowed hard, and did not stand when he spoke, “Who is the girl sat there behind you? Someone new to our school?” and there it was, the inevitable question, Unaru bit back a sigh, knowing deep down that he would have to answer this question a few times today. His fingers flicked over the silvery strings, sending out a few soft notes before he spoke, “She is my little sister, she showed up here unexpectedly this morning, so she is staying by my side till I can take her home,” a few more notes sounded out from his guitar, “anymore questions?”

There were none, much to his relief. As the music started, Unaru leading them with his own playing, it did not sound too bad, there was still an amateurs ring to it, one that you may expect from a school, but it was not so bad that you would want to burst your eardrums just to get away from it. After a few minutes it was clear to see the blonde male settle in, too what some perceived as, his environment, laying down his own instrument to give one-on-one support to some of the students, wondering among them like he was born to slip between tight spaces, a skill he thanked his woodland home for. He seemed to help with any problem he came across, from a better way to hold an instrument too hard to hit notes, a few students would stop playing briefly to whisper in his ear, only for Unaru to smirk and shake his head. All too soon the class seemed to come around to its finale moments as the teacher returned to the front, the music coming to a stop as he lifted his hand into the air, “Good work today, I can tell there is defiantly some improvement.” He throw a glimpse as the clock on the far wall, still 4 minutes till the bell sounded.

Once more taking his guitar and slipping the strap over his shoulder, he shot a grin at the class. “Shell I?” he really did not need to ask, it was clear by the way their faces lit up that they would love another song. Normally he would only play once song per class, yet as Chesha was here he found himself wanting to sing, so if anything this song was more for her than the studends. The tune seemed simple compared to the first song, yet there was something charming and earthy about it, a true ‘one man and his guitar’ song.

"Another gun for hire and just another day
when you are done, you just abuse it, whatever you say
if you were offered some, would you wanna bite the hand?
would you betray a friend to prove you're cold then walk away?

We were born with nothin' I don't want, but you need something
you want glory, I need none and it's coming between us.

people are born with
people are born without
some people have
and others want
what some go without
some people live free
some people just want more
as for me I got all that I need

do you still think that we're not brave if we don't bleed?
we've seen so much blood and violence already, how much do you need?
you howl and fight your war and talk of being free
won't let you in, they're just usin' you so why won't you see?
some people are born so much closer to the sun
holdin' out their hands and grabbin' golden rays, they are the chosen few
but we both know of course that's not you or me
and I'd be telling the truth if I said it don't matter, so how bout you?

can you tell me really you don't need it, you don't want it
if you can, cool, if you can't, the difference between us

people are born with
people are born without
some people have
and others want
what some go without
some people live free
some people just want more
as for me I got all that I need
don't got much but I got what I need

some people are always reachin' for some things that they don't need
I'll tell you now with thoughts like that there will never be enough
some people always struggling for something that is not
I'll tell you something now that I'm really just fine lovin' what I got”

There was barely enough time for a breath before the bell sounded. One by one the students gathered their things and left the class, the footfalls of the friends and joyful shouts thundered down the hall, after all it was now lunchtime, time for freedom and food. Some of the females tried to wave to Chesha as they passed, trying to get a better a look at their teachers sister, ”And remember, homework is same as always; 10 minutes of your favourite artists.” Unaru shouted, half the class already outside, but he did not care, seeing as the class had no official homework as yet. After another few minutes of noise and chaos the last of the teens left the room, Unaru closing the door behind them, letting out an audible sigh, unaware that he had been tense during the lesion, he turned to face Chesha, back leaning firmly against the door as his guitar rested across his front, its weighed was always comforting to him.

“I hope that was ok for you, luckily we only have two more class then we can go home,” he paused for a moment, wondering if she was hungry or not, or if she was even relaxed enough to eat, ”You hungry at all? I’m going to run to the cafe to pick up some food, I’ll be right back, just tell me if there’s anything you are prettily fond or hate.. Food wise.” he had to catch himself at the end, thinking that if he was vague the little kitty would come back with a random answer.

Darn nosy kids...just when Chesha thought they could move on beyond her appearance they had to question her. Normally she'd be deemed a new student because that was the usual reason for a new person to pop into the class, and in this instance it'd be guessed she forgot her instrument at home or possibly had to procure it – she didn't know if this was advanced or truly beginner's class. After his short explanation they appeared satisfied and didn't ask anymore questions at least. A simple answer that returned their world to its relative normality, seeing as it was already disrupted by the company of a substitute instead of their usual teacher. With those problems resolved they got under way to practicing their page seventeen song. 'Spose it could be worse,' she thought as she shifted to sit sideways in the chair and hook her legs over the armrest, 'They could really suck.' Smoothing over one of her ears so when she rested her head against the chair, it flattened and the song partially muted.

Occasionally she looked around the chair to see what was going on as people paused or suddenly became a bit better from the most minute changes. Cat-like eyes pondered what the people murmured to him, but over the hum drum noise of the other instruments she couldn't try to eavesdrop no matter how much she wanted too. Deciding she could ask him later what they all said, she promptly forgot as she turned back to her game to supplement her party of weird creatures a bit before the first test of strength in the game. She'd obtained one of the sheep with lightning, trained it up, and was at the final fellow to fight before she was gifted with the proof of strength when he began his singing. The game lay in her limp hands, situated in her lap as eyes closed again in bliss. She loved music when he played, like having a personal bard. And far better than the school-band music the class played.

The bell acted like the punctuation to his song, marking the end of class and the lovely music as she jolted back to her body with no more appearance than opening her eyes again. Lazily she let her head fall back to peer around the chair again and saw the waves from some of the females. Why were they waving to her? Last thing she knew they weren't friends, and waving was a gesture usually used towards friends and loved ones, or at least acquaintances. They hadn't talked at all since she arrived there since Chesha couldn't recall opening her mouth once. So rather than wave back she stared with half-lidded eyes that made it look like she'd napped through at least part of their class. When Unaru closed the door she used her tail to swivel the chair to better see him rather than hide behind the wide back.

Darn he knew her already! Chesha opened her mouth only for him to tack on “food wise” before she could give off a list of things she liked hardly related to food. That open mouth turned into a pout as she puffed out the held in air through her nose noisily. Food floated through Cassiel's realm freely, and some of it inside fridges despite there being no point to it. Could she risk him showing up, or at least chucking some to her through an open hole? What if admiring students came in to try and find Unaru, or a teacher though...what would she say to explain away the food before Unaru returned? Later she could make up for the spending on her behalf as she considered what she liked that schools might have.

”A sammich, at least lettuce and tomato in it. Don't care what meat or cheese,” she finally decided, ”and...anything to drink so long as its not juice.” Earlier she had apple juice and decided she didn't care to follow up juice with more juice. Fear trickled up her spine and caused that annoying tingling sensation as she looked back down at the game and finally finished off the bird guy's final critter, ”You won't be gone long, will you?” Heat burst to life in her ears as she recognized the beginnings of embarrassment at asking such a thing.

A sammich with lettuces and tomato, which was easy enough for him to get, heck it meant he could get food that was prepared out of the school kitchen. Unaru had a set of rules when in school and one of them was; never eat food cooked at school, sure this was his third school to work at, but he had glimpse some pretty grimy kitchens, coupled with him covering for teachers who were suffering from food poisoning. But there was something about when she asked if he would be gone long, she did well to hide it, but he could tell it was there, not sure if it was down to The Sight or just experience, but she was nerves, he knew that anything could happen by the time he came back, well maybe not anything but there was a chance of one of the students or another member of staff to come around looking for him. “I should not be long, about 5 minutes give or take; luckily they allow staff to cut the line, much to the students chagrin,” he chuckled to himself, but they had yet to complain when he did it, “the only thing that would hold me up would be someone wanting to talk to me.” He could see that happening, seeing as it had happened almost everyday since he started working here.

He slipped out from the embrace of his guitar, walking over to his desk and placing the instrument on top. It pained him to leave her here by herself, but he knew that she would be fine for a few minutes, if anything him contemplating on it was only making things worse, the faster he got there the faster he could get back, “don’t worry I won’t be long.” He said calmly as he turned to leave the room, a pang of gilt for leaving her side, but he knew that she could not really come with him. closing the door behind him he wished that he could have locked it, to reassure her that she would not be disturbed before he got back, but then she may have felt trapped, but it was a mute point seeing as very few of the class rooms had locks installed, there were very few people within the hallways, everyone opting to spend time in the warming sunlight with their friends, the staff hiding away in their own classrooms or the staff lounge. Unaru cut across the quad, waving to the students that called out his name, always his first name; he always found it unsettling to be called by his last.

The cafe was bustling as normal, the smell of food wafting around, yet the mix of stuff on offer left you unable to tell what it was by smell alone. At this point he was glad that Chesha was safe back in the class room, the mass of bodies made it hard to move and the chatter just merged into white noise, unable to tell what was said, someone could have called out his name and he would have never realised. He looked over the food stuff they had for sale, a lot with Sold Out marked in red pen, being it was nearing the weekend the school seemed unwilling to renew its stock just yet, but he was able to get something befitting his little sister’s request, a sandwich with lettuces, tomato and roast chicken and a can of fizzy orange, he picked up a plan chicken sandwich for himself and a bottle of water. But his eyes spied something else, a bar of chocolate, he was not sure if she would like it but it did not stop him from picking it up, after all he had yet to know a girl who did not have a sweet tooth.

Paying for the food and drink he headed back to the class room, the trip back being just as uneventful as the walk there. He gave out a sigh when he got back to the relative quietness of his classroom, back to Chesha’s side, “Told you I would not be long, hope nothing happened whilst I was gone.” As he moved over to his desk he could not see any sign that someone had come in, but that did not mean that no one had stopped by. He placed the sandwich, carbonated drink and sweet in front of Chesha, keeping his own food in his lap as he sat crossed legged on the desk, moving items delicately to make room for his body. “I hope they are ok, pickings get slim nearing the weekend,” he opened the plastic packing on his food, taking one of the cut halves and taking a bite; unsurprised at how dry the meat was, glad for picking up a drink as he swallowed it down, “so, you want to talk about anything?”

Unaru reassured her, but Chesha continued to worry in the pit of her stomach. His presence was soothing to her as well as freeing since they were both koi in a pond of salmon inside a dark basement. Their out-of-place color pattern mattered little to them, but if the others saw they'd be classed as outsiders and promptly dealt with. Knowing and seeing him not far offered comfort she hadn't experienced since her last family died, and letting him leave so soon made her jumpy with nervousness. A traitorous mind taunted her with questions such as “What if he never comes back?” and “What if something kills him while you're waiting in this room?” How she hated it, and yet was powerless to stop the swarm of thoughts and “What if” thoughts. Keen eyes watched until the door clicked shut softly and sharp ears lost the sound of his departing footsteps.

Eternity stretched on and on until ears perked at the sound of returning footsteps. The clock nearby said only a few minutes passed; and while her rational mind said he either forgot something or was back far too quickly, her hope chose to believe he returned finally. A familiar face poked through and Chesha's gaze smoothed out back to that same neutral glance she used to stare at the principal and this woman earlier, but a bit of hardness slipped in as eyebrows angled down. Oh how Chesha wanted to beat that woman senseless, release a feline fury upon her even though strength wasn't Chesha's strong suit...unless equipped with a heavy duty wrench. Nothing...neither said a word as the woman glared with beady little eyes and some evil snarl ready and waiting on her dark, smiling face for reasons Chesha couldn't fathom. Then again, the woman likely wouldn't have dreamed of the vicious ideas in Chesha's mind, right down to the tear of the woman's soul and letting the pieces to float off into the distance. She surely wouldn't taint Cassiel with that woman's soul, that's for sure.

Paranoia flared dramatically within Chesha.

Slowly and slyly the woman slipped her head back out and slinked down the hallway as Sarynn was left to calm Chesha down. The sisterly robot managed to convince her out of tailing the woman and dealing with her then and there, rather than going through with the alternative measures that couldn't be traced back to Chesha or Unaru. Yes, in due time the woman would pay for living and meeting Chesha. When Unaru finally did return, Chesha couldn't say if she breathed between the woman's leaving and his return. Then and only then did she think to relax, and only a bit as she surveyed with hungry delight the tidbits he brought over. Chocolate...he brought her chocolate! Sarynn wanted to arrive to confiscate that, perhaps more for preventing the sugar rush than anything, but too much risk kept her at bay. Plus a fizzing soda! Today was surely a grand day despite the annoyances, such was what Chesha decided.

Delicately she picked up the chocolate bar and held it in front of her face with a look of awe...and promptly shoved it into her backpack. Later, she wanted to eat it later and savor the delight in having it for now. That matter handled, her eyes darted between the sandwich and soda and couldn't decide which to partake in first. Food? Yes, food, though fleetingly she wished for a sandwich fixed up at a proper sandwich shop or grocery store. This one would do for now, so she unwrapped it and took a bite as the door opened, yet again. Her sheer awe over the chocolate bar and soda, and then cherishing the first bite of food someone willingly bought for her prevented Chesha from catching what Unaru was saying, but not so far gone as to miss another intruder. Muscles tensed in expectation and stayed tense as confusion replaced that battle-ready feeling.

Her critical eye declared that the girl's skirt was far too short – ignoring the fact Chesha's whole mid-section and a good portion of her back lay bare; but that was her middle, and this girl could bend over wrong to flash underwear action. Chesha's underwear lay wonderfully hidden and covered, as well as legs and arms. Though this girl also showed some tantalizing middle on purpose, shirt tails tied instead of properly buttoned where Chesha's shirt didn't reach that far. A little navel piercing decorated her midsection, but almost hard to notice because Chesha was too busy staring at the dazzling jewel (probably fake) necklace, earrings, and all those hair decorations. Much to Chesha's delight the girl jingled as she moved, and for a moment the feline girl wanted this newcomer to dance about just to make that delightful sound. Then she caught the catty look in the girl's eye and pegged her correctly: future whore.

”Professor Unaru! I didn't realize you already had company...is this a bad time?” The voice came out with an airy quality to it, to the point she sounded like her mind might be elsewhere when her bedroom eyes stayed focus on Unaru. Any moment Chesha expected her to float on up to the ceiling with how light she was trying to act, bodily and in personality.

Unaru had taken another bite of his meal, weighting for Chesha’s response to his question, but she seemed to happy with her food to talk to him. Seeing her like that made him happy, even more so when she stole away the sweet he got her for later, it was cute, very, very cute, yet he did not tell her that, thinking that she may not take too kindly too that comment; and the last thing he wanted to explain was why he was covered in claw marks. He was about to explain their sleeping arrangements to her, but then he heard the door and saw whom entered, his gut tensed when he saw the alluring teen, she dressed like someone much, much older than herself, indeed even women Unaru’s age did not seem to dress so... so... sluttey. Her bust fully on display and the way she folded her skirt up to make it fall much to short of her knees, her jewellery gleaming like stars settled into her jet black hair and ivory white skin. Unaru knew this girl well, everyone did, she would flirt with everyone she deemed worthy of her attention, be friendly to anyone who conformed to her idea of beauty and damn anyone who she saw as ‘ugly’.

Unaru wanted to tell her that it was a bad time, to send her away, but he had an open door policy, and he knew that if he did not at least try to change her way of thinking she would end up raped and murdered before she reached his age. “I have a few minutes,” he said, eyes darting over to Chesha briefly, “what is it you need?” She flashed him a smile as she advanced, like a snake who had caught a glimpse of a mouse, a tasty meal it wished to gobble up, but as she reached the desk her face slipped into a sad expression, her shoulders slumping slightly “I just wanted someone to talk too, I need someone to help me with my school work, I hate others thinking I’m just an pretty little air head,” she gave a sorrowful sigh, trying to keep her eyes on Unaru and not look at the girl sitting at his desk, “and there’s still stuff about.. you know.. the ‘incident’ floating around.”

’Lire, your voice is still to light, you can’t kill that lust in your eyes, or the wings on your heals, you would have me talk but only make me cry your name, even Lilith would turn her back on you.’ he wanted to shout that out, he was a healer but he was no fool, he knew that sometimes a wound would need to be cut open for poison to be drained. His face seemed to have an almost deadpan expression as he bottled up the words he wanted to shout. ”I only teach music,” he said bluntly, ”I’m afraid I can’t really help you with your other school work, and I came here after that event happened.” He wanted to help her, yet every fibre of his being was screaming that she was dangerous, and he knew why, a temptress such as her knew how males work, and how society worked, a potent mix if used right, she would see him in her bed and then call rape if he did not bend to her will. For a moment his thoughts floated over to Chesha, how was she taken this girl’s presence and words, would she be worried that he would go with her, fall into her trap? Or was her mind already on other things?

The dark haired girl was next to Unaru now, looking deeply into his clear blue eyes. She had placed her right hand onto his knee, giving it a slight squeeze that made his breath hitch, he wanted to bat her hand away but he left it, questioning himself as to why he did so. ”Please!” she pleaded, ”I don’t want much, just a small boost and someone to talk to, you are always so nice, so kind to everyone, so please.” Unaru did not notice that her hand had been moving as she talked, head screaming with Sight powered thoughts and visions, but he could now smell her cosmetics; her cherry flavoured lip-gloss, her weak perfume, even the power of the foundation she wore.

”I’m sorry but the answer is no, you see you do not need my help, the ones that do simply do not come to me and ask for it, they plead to me unknowingly from the back of the classroom with pain filled eyes, or with their silent sobs from behind the bike sheds,” he sighed, like he was truly sorry for what he was about to say, ”you are still very young and confused about what you want from life, unsure about what others want and expect from you, you can’t even hide the lust from your eyes. You should just go, ask your parents for help, if you do that now I won’t tell anyone about your actions.”

If there was ever a time to sock someone with her tail in a fist, Chesha believed now would've been the perfect time. Except it wasn't and she had to go along pretending that was fake and she was just a bit off her rocker. Didn't serve to keep her annoyance and anger at bay since she'd been enjoying having a nice little lunch with Unaru...now her view was darkened with a hideous creature. Whatever this “incident” was, probably not good overall, and hearing taunting words like that served only to set her further on edge. Her body language spoke of a panther ready to pounce as her ears stayed back, and tail started coiling on the other side of the desk. But she couldn't just charge someone and not have it draw attention, so she uncapped her soda and took a long drink from it as the girl attempted some form of seduction on Unaru.

”Have you tried opening your textbook before asking for help? Its easy to ask someone to help you when you don't bother trying to begin with. Its just the kind of thing a dimwit like you would be able to fathom, though little else beyond that.” With that the attention of the girl would surely shift to Chesha, and once it did she kept her distant, yet hardened feline eyes concentrated on the floozy, ”I wonder, do you know what will happen to your body soon? It'll be all used up. You might have up to ten years of youthful beauty before you start hiding behind products after all the abuse you put it through just to create a shadow of alluring beauty. After that though you'll be nothing more than an overused slut on the outside. It'll show horribly on you too, and any thoughts you have of making something out of your self will either die a sad death right there, or you'll have one hell of a time bringing yourself out of the hole you dug for yourself.”

Another bite of her sandwich as the girl began fuming: delicious when the okay food came from someone else. ”If you plan not to fall into a hole that leads to you on street corners or weeping to police that it wasn't your job, but someone actually raped you, then I suggest you start now before its too late. Hard to believe a working girl at times when they've been on the job long enough...and even then your pimp will probably just try to charge your rapist for the good time. Or maybe you'll just be sold to an unforgiving and cruel bastard, and at that time you'll be praying to die while wishing you changed your fate when you had the chance,” Chesha took another bite as she waited for those scenes to play through the girl's head despite her rising temper.

”Now go open one of your textbooks, do your homework, and get your life straightened out while there's still time and its at its easiest,” by now the girl's face was red and Chesha noticed the fists she was making. Except they were in the presence of a teacher and to sock Chesha like that, when she was only giving her advice, would surely create more trouble than it was worth. The only real downside was the girl would likely go gossiping about her after she left the room instead of doing what she was told, so Chesha might be dealing with stares more. ”C'est la vie.”

”This ain't the last ya bitch,” she screeched and twirled on her heel to stomp out of the classroom. That sweet, airy voice could turn into one mean harpy's squawk. Only lucky factor was the girl wasn't ambitious enough to attempt taking music class, so the pair was safe from her presence for the next two classes.

Watching her storm off and slam the door behind her – or try because the door had one of those devices to make it unable to slam – Chesha swallowed another bite of her sandwich, ”I hate her.”

Unaru could hardly believe what he was seeing, yet in truth he was not really surprised, after all he had witnessed her outburst in the staff room. He hated to admit it to himself, trying to be a better person without malicious thoughts; yet he knew to do that would be fighting against human nature, but everything Chesha was saying he was thinking, and with even more detail on top. He was touched that she seemed to be a bit possessive of him, like a little sister who did not want to share her brother with anything or anyone, even more so when that person was of (highly) questionable pursuits. He was amazed by the way she said it all, laying out the insults... No they were not really insults, it was the truth, and he had seen it many times before; that the truth can sometimes be more hurtful, more horrid and dark then any lie. For a moment he felt like his presence had been forgotten, the two girls glaring at each other, like two cats eyeing each other up before the claws came out.

He was afraid that the two would start a fight, and that would cause the truth of Chesha’s form to be reviled. But as the girls fists balled up, when he thought he would have to act, the gravity of his presence became known to her, hesitating before shouting back at Chesha and turning, storming off like... well, a scolded teen, but he was surprised had much it hurt him when that girl threatened Chesha. Like a static shock ran up his spine and set his mind on fire, he wanted to growl and glair at her as she left, but he resisted, the door even seemed to mock her as it refused to be slammed shut, only closing with a soft click after she had disappeared. “I’m sorry about that,” Unaru said solemnly, trying to clear the air, “I knew what she is like, and I should have just sent her away, but I guess part of me still thinks I can help her,” he looked down at his food, knowing he should eat to get through the rest of the day, but his apatite had left him after what had just happened. A small smile started to tug at the corner of his mouth as his body shook lightly like he was laughing, “its funny really, you where saying everything I was thinking, like you where reading my mind. But then again with the way she parades her body around I don’t think we are the only ones to think what you so bravely said.” He took a bite of his sandwich, seemingly forcing it down as he thought on the girls last words, about it not being over.

“You may well find some students in the last two classes paying a bit too much attention to you, she is good at spreading lies around, I find it odd that some can still see her as ‘innocent’ in all of this,” he sighed and leaned back, putting out one arm behind him to prop himself up, “that incident she mentioned, it caused the last man here, the guy I’m covering for, to get fired and have to move, heck he was facing jail time but they did not have enough evidence to convict him,” another sigh escaped his lips, never before had he known one student to cause so much grief, “I can’t really talk too much of it, both legally and because I was brought in after it had ended, but you are right, that girl is just one misguided look away from being raped.” He mulled on at thought, no matter how much of a bitch she could be he did not want her to go down the route Chesha depicted, he wondered maybe if she could be brought face to face with what she was becoming that would shock her enough to straighten up.

“Alice, do you think you would be able to hack her home PC? I’m sure she had images on there that would undo her if they were to be spread out over the net. But not now, I want to give her a chance, to make the move herself before anyone has to do anything drastic,” he looked over Chesha once more, slowly starting to feel like a older brother, “but are you ok? That did not upset or worry you too much? If you want to get anything of your chest you best do it now sis, as we won’t be able to talk when the classes start.”

"Some are not worth saving, and some can't be saved. Its a law of life: you see it all the time with herds of animals. The sick or weak get picked off, and in our society I'd estimate her to become onf of the sick or weak - metaphorically speaking." With a swig of her soda she watched as he appeared to laugh and yet she wondered if he really was. Statistics said that others thought the same things they did, and others thought the complete opposite. Likelihood was that they couldn't achieve a full one hundred percent - in part because some guys fell prey to her charming ways. However his believing her "brave" in any way astounded her, especially for speaking her mind. Often the scaredy cat over the future, Chesha hardly considered herself brave. Speaking her mind however...well that was more of a restraint problem, so Sarynn believed. An unconventional life left Chesha lacking in certain life experiences and now was far too late to try to learn them, or close enough that'd it'd be just about painful trying.

Ears fell back again as she considered his warning, looking off to the side in annoyance, "I know that already. Nosy whore wants to have the last laugh...like she ever could...the last laugh always comes from the world. But I already figured in extra stares and constant whispers. It'll be annoying, but over their possibly horrific-or-not playing I won't hear any of it anyways. I'll be playing my game, getting my next little badge instead. Whatever they may think won't matter tomorrow when I don't have to come back. By next week I'll be forgotten: a passing memory." She was a bit disappointed to note her sandwich finally met its bitter end and all that lay to mark its spot on the world was a piece of ripped saran wrap. That met its semi-end in the trash can, where its true demise would be laying amongst a heap of trash elsewhere. "Teachers have to be above suspicion, always," she murmured under her breathe. Unfortunately gave students some power...

It didn't take hacking a PC to figure that girl had lewd pictures of herself saved on a computer somewhere. Probably had viruses already that'd make it easier for Chesha's brain to slide on into the system and save them onto one of Chesha's many saved systems in another environment. "PC will be easy, I'll do it later. No reason for her to worry about her computer or precious images leaking without doing so herself. And...I hate her," that was Chesha's partial way of dealing with things: speaking her mind. She told the girl already what she believed would happen to her, and twice now admitted to Unaru to holding a particularly strong dislike of the girl. "She can cast aspersions and fabricate rumors, but she can't touch me. Anything she does is superficial and I can retaliate in ways she could only dream of performing. Next to me she is worthless, and next to me she isn't loved. I may not receive warm, flesh-based hugs, but I'm loved. Worse comes to worse I can destroy her soul and make her less than a dog."

Chesha took a moment to delight in that thought: making the girl's soul inhabit some little pest of a spy bot, nothing more than a mechanical fly or rat for someone to kill. Didn't even have to be that advanced, or sow her soul unto a weak living creature's to strengthen it and degrade her at the same time. That poor rat or dying pest would suffer the problem of having a human conscience, but oh well. Couldn't help everything. For the first time in a long while though she feared having such thoughts because she wondered what Unaru might think of her for having them. As the slut mentioned he was kind and nice: though he shared thoughts in common with Chesha he likely didn't entertain many thoughts of completely downgrading someone. That thought stayed inside, as Chesha knew when to keep her mouth shut even if she didn't always want too. As she sipped the last of her soda the bell rang to signal kids should start heading for their next class. "I'll be fine, I'll forget soon enough so remind me later about the pictures."

Unaru could see what she was saying about how much she would be remembered, some teens kind of had short attention spans, thus limiting the time things became new, interesting and fun; a few days after not seeing her and they would have totally forgotten about her; along with anything that harlot was saying. “No soul crushing,” he said trying his hardest not to smirk or laugh as he said it, “you know I never thought I would have to say that.” He laughed, sure he knew she really meant it, and would mostly do it if that girl pushed her luck, but saying ‘no soul crushing’ seemed surreal to him, ‘most likely another thing I will have to get use to saying, but it’s strange, all the time I used The Sight to look into the future I never saw her, not even once.’ But as he thought that an idea popped into his head, maybe he HAD seen her before, in another form, in another life, it was not too farfetched; after all he had witnessed the first fish crawling into the sand, the very begging of mankind, along with the apocalypse. Trying to act ‘normal’ he finished off his sandwich, no longer hindered by its dryness or lack of apatite, yet at that moment he asked himself why he kept going, he found it strange that he could keep on going, that things still surprised and amazed him.

“Ah damn it, already!” he cursed as the bell rang; lunch seemed to pass all too quickly. He threw the packing in the bin, brushing off any breadcrumbs that had settled on his lap, quickly he opened his bottle of water, the cap making that somewhat satisfying snap as the seal was broken, and drank down half of its contence, yet he never looked at the water he was drinking, knowing that his lack of control could bite him at any moment. “Well just two more classes and we can go home.” He said happily, recapping the bottle and putting it on his desk for later. One by one the students filtered into the room, some of them seemed to be in high spirits, smiling and waving to Unaru as they took their seats, yet some of them seemed a bit off; they same in with weary eyes on their teacher and the girl at his desk and from then on seemed to do nothing more than whisper from one to another, unsurprisingly; the school body was quick as spreading venom throughout its system.

Unaru did not let it bother him, continuing with his class like nothing was amiss; however things where not to go as smoothly as he would like. Their work this time was more theory then particle, a class on how to write and compose a song rather than just read and play, or how to alter a song to fit their chosen instrument, and naturedly some choose to just talk among themselves in hushed tones than work, eyes constantly fixed on Unaru’s back before flicking to Chesha. The blonde was a somewhat lenient teacher, as long as they got their work done and where not disruptive he would allow such whispers, with his back turned to the students, black pen squeaking on the whiteboard as he put up some notes for all to see, he missed one of the girls leaning forwards to talk to their friend in the row in front of them. “That’s a lie!!” the girl in front shouted, turning around in her seat to face her friend, unfortunely her voice was loud enough for Unaru to class it was destructive.

“Something the matter, Aya?” He asked, voice not holding any kind of anger or irritation, yet the girl seemed to pail as she was called out, turning her head to look between her friend and Unaru. Her friend looked scared and shook her head, worried that she would get in trouble by her friend rating her out, “I-it’s nothing sir, sorry sir, I’ll be quite sir.” Her nerviness was clear to him by her overuse of the word sir, yet it confused him as why she would be scared, ‘maybe it was just the fact she got called out,’ he said to himself, going back to his work. The rest of that class passed by, with one or two more outbursts, similar to what Aya had done, thus leaving him with a sickening feeling in his gut; and a painful wish that he could get the time to use his power to find out what was going on. The bell rang once more, the class left unblessed with a song, to many disturbances for his liking, but it was this feeling of dread in his gut that left him without the will to sing.

The change of classes meant that he could not detain Aya or any of the others to ask what was going on, yet he had a good idea that the girl who visited him at lunch was behind it. the new class that came in acted like the last, leering eyes that drifted from him to his little sister, along with constant murmuring and restlessness, like they were uneasy being in this classroom, uneasy around him or Chesha. There were a few raised voices now and again, only quieted by the words of the purple staff member, yet as time passed Unaru found the butterflies in his stomach turning into snakes and squirming relentlessly, yet he would not give in to this anxiety, but as he heard the sound of a pen hitting the front of his desk he knew that this had to stop now! Irritation fuelled partly by his pride as a teacher and other half as a brother worried about his sister’s safety. As he turned to face the students he could see the thrown pen lying next to the desk, a crack in its transparent ceasing from the impact, he put the lid back on the black whiteboard pen before slamming his hand flat on the top of his desk, his metal rings aiding in amplifying the sound. The bang made every student jump and fall deadly silent

“Achtung all of you! I don’t know what is going on with you all but it stops NOW! There will be no more talking, no more glaring and defiantly no more throwing! Do I make myself clear?!” everyone was stunned by this, by the fact that Unaru had raised his voice, that he appeared to be angry, they turned their eyes down in shame, like a litter of scolded pups, all meekly muttering the same thing, “What was that? I can’t hear you!” Unaru seemed to growl at them. “Yes sir!” they all said back, clearly this time; satisfied Unaru seemed to flip back to his ‘friendly teen’ persona and continued with today’s lesson.

The final bell rang, signalling the end of the school day ‘Thank the heavens it’s over,’ he inwardly sighed, now wanting the same thing as his students; to get home. Luckily it was the job of the last class to pack up the instruments, so he got out of the clean up job. He drank down the rest of his water, throwing the bottle in the bin before gathering up the papers on his desk into a neat and tidy stack, the first time it had been like that, a few students came up to him as they left, only stopping briefly to apologies for their behaviour in class before heading home, leaving only Unaru and Chesha in the room. “I’m sorry if that outburst startled you,” he said, eyes always saying on the stuff on his desk, “It’s the fact that I’ll always be their teacher and they will always be students, so there will always be some rebellion there.” He was not really sure if what he said made any sense, he just wanted to make sure that Chesha would know that his nice guy persona was not an act, that he was not really a mean or angry person.

“scuse’ me.” he said quickly as he ducked down neck to Chesha, putting his head and shoulders under the desk, retrieving his briefcase and what could only be described as a ball of rolled up leather, placing them both on the desk. He seemed to show little care and attention when he put the files away, some of them clearly folding up as he piled them on top of each other, still with the case closed and locked they were safe, now he turned his attention to the other thing on his desk. Unrolling the black mass it’s form a function became clear, it was a soft guitar case, he packed away his tool of the musicale trade with much, much more care then his did the school work, making sure all the straps where flat and striate before zipping it up, securing the case to his back, ready to be carried safely back home. “You ready?” he asked, picking up the other case in his right hand.

Drinking at the time, Chesha snorted when he mentioned “No soul crushing” and immediately thought of some spin off show on a video site. Something about “No mind crushing” she thought, and would investigate it later. While not her usual first method – more of an “extreme” measure slash last resort – Chesha didn't bother voicing this. She had mentioned it as a possibility so maybe not bad to hear an authority figure say no. Nice even, like when children acted out and then responded all right in the end once their parent put their foot down. Boundaries: Chesha lived without boundaries for a few years now. Tricks to live and go relatively unnoticed were one thing, but boundaries a whole other subject. Plus she offered a whole new experience to life for Unaru, so she hoped he saw it that way.

Another part of her wondered why he never saw her. The answer popped into her mind in a snap. Chesha's very lifestyle was an unpredictable one. Within the span of a minute she could swap nations or countries. Danger threatened her life every time she obtained a new soul, and likely her lifeline faded those few encounters with the bounts. Sometimes getting too close to shinigami and Hollows fighting resulted in potential threats. But more than anything her constantly changing attention attributed to that quality that might make Chesha hard to see coming. That morning's walk near a school alone had been a pure accident, and all it'd take was something shiny to catch her attention to pull Chesha away from the school. At some point she was sure Sarynn would caution him about the constant disappearance and reappearance of them over the span of all their lives. But then again, fate was so funny that maybe he had and merely forgot. Like a childhood dream that sometimes left that flicker of deju vu impression.

During the next class period she played her game with only half her attention, occasionally peering around the chair to stare at those daring to stare back until they looked away. Even then her thoughts mainly stayed on Unaru. He knew, knew, and kept going. Few saw the underbelly of Hades' realm, but he was one of those few on the physical plane that likely knew about it. Though he saw Hell on Earth, Unaru didn't falter and allow himself to fade away within an insane asylum. The man kept living out in the open, hiding that scary part of himself from the fragile humans and continuing to live. Unlike her Quincy family he didn't chase danger...but he didn't live in obscurity either. Everyday he interacted with people, and helped them despite how they may turn out or their personalities. Despicable so many of them. Contemptible even, yet he continued working for people like that principal, and with people like that one lady Chesha hated.

Yes. She'd keep him.

No doubt she'd wonder off and return at unpredictable – or could he predict it? - points, but he might accept that with ease as well. Worry here and there, but she'd show signs of worry when she happily embraced him upon return because the world stole people from her without a care. And that's why she wanted mad men and women in her family: they could survive. Sane people either didn't know about her world – and thus couldn't deal with her even on a one-time basis at length – or gave up the moment they caught a glimpse of the true side of this world. So easy to let the Abyss eat you up, much harder to pull back from the comfort of that darkness and face the disfigured light again. Willfully.

An outburst distracted her, Chesha's head flopping back over the arm rest since she shat in the chair sideways – legs hooked over the opposite rest – and stared at the girl in question. What had they talked about? Why did she sound frightened? 'The courtier fearing the Queen of Hearts' wrath? Why, whatever would we want your head to roll for?' Eyes stayed on her for a good while only for her head to slide away and fall back as yet another outburst caused disruption. What ever had that wonderful little slut said? Curiosity drove her to plot listening closer in the next class should little things slip into her wonderfully large ears. Out-of-place, but excellent for catching sound waves when one wanted too.

Just when she thought it safe something banged against the guard on the desk, causing her tail muscles to tense as though ready to slap someone with it. The grip on her DS almost shook with ferocity as senses went wild with the notion of being attacked. Someone attacked her. Someone attacked her. She had to retaliate, couldn't let them get her before she got them. Couldn't let them go unpunished for such a foolish maneuver at an inopportune time. The lot would be punished for the single action. 'Yes!' her mind cried. Visions of Cassiel erupting into the classroom with a roar before he tore into those soft, fleshy bodies filled her mind. Screams would echo and by the time they broke down the door this time – she'd have it framed in metal – all that would remain would be the bloody class filled with miss-matched parts and decorated like some fool who threw paint cans at a canvas and called it art. Or perhaps more like a Pollock piece, on the walls at least.

”No Chesha, that is not the way. BLEND into society when you can, and there's the human you like to think about. Stealing him away would only make him a suspect if you did that, and then where would we be? You couldn't keep him then. You don't even like it in Cassiel's realm.” That horribly lyrical voice of reason Chesha loved so much. Sarynn talked her out of occasional and desirable outbursts, including this one. Spinning a few times in the chair she stood to look over the desk as Unaru berated the class, and stare at the object: a pen. Harmful, fun for drawing on one's pants with, and at worst would leave a stain or perhaps jab you when applied with enough force. 'Requires inhuman strength to throw and achieve stabbing potential.' However, why had they thrown the pen in the first place? What did the little girl say to cause such a reaction?

By the end of the class period Chesha drank up the rest of her soda and spent half the time causing the chair to revolve. Mostly due to sugar-based energy, and partially to keep an interested eye on the bunch. She watched in pleasure as the class cleaned up the instruments and other things while she sat on her throne to watch. With interest she noted his difference in packing, smiling in innocent amusement at the opposites. Her bag, for the most part, was already packed. As she stood she recalled a minor factor and sent a mental request to Cassiel. Visibly her bag jumped a little as it appeared something deposited on the inside, though inside a scarf so any clue to the object outside of mildly weighty was impossible to guess. ”I'm ready!” she said all too happily as she plopped her game into her bag, paying no attention to the clunk against her pair of pistols it made.

Now it was time to make their preverbal escape, to slip out of the school grounds before they could get pinned down by staff or students wanting to talk, wanting to keep them here. Unaru got that tight turning in his stomach once more, the feeling that someone was heading towards them that someone wanted to detain them for a time, to question them and he worried; to maybe separate them for a time. He took Chesha’s hand in his left, feeling some strange static shock between their skins, it made his fingers twitch briefly but he mentally paid no attention to it, only interested in the feeling on her warmth and the fact that this was the most ‘innocent’ skin to skin contact all day, hooking his right index finger around the door handle, pulling it open and quickly making it though. The hallway was almost barren, only one or two students mulling around, weighting for their friends to finish up in the class rooms and join them on the journey home, he turned away from them, still having a tight gip upon his little sister’s hand. As he turned the corner he found that his instincts where right, as he caught a brief glimpse of the Head Teacher disappearing into his class room; no doubt looking for Unaru to question him about Chesha, and maybe remind him about the damages to the staffroom, he had a feeling too, that he would be billing Unaru for a few extra things that were not the result of Chesha’s outbursts.

He knew that he would get hell tomorrow, get chewed out at why they disappeared after class, but he could really care less, he just wanted to get Chesha out of here. Luck was on their side, the simple layout of the building meant that the music rooms where closer to the exit than some of the others, nicely aiding in their getaway, he lead her out the students exit, away from the car park where other members of staff may corner him, ‘How come I’m feeling like I’m busting out of jail?’ he asked himself, after all he could not recall any request for him to remain and answer questions, so there for he had nothing to feel guilty about, nothing for them to brand him with. The few students loitering around where absorbed with their personal electronics, texting their friends on phones or checking e-mails; and thus allowed the two to pass unnoticed before them, Unaru did not relax till the white washed building was out of sight, obstructed by other builds rather than distance. His grip on Chesha’s hand relaxed, yet he did not let go, now that he could relax he found that holding on to her in this fashion was comforting; to hold something that was real, had a physical form and did not dissolve away when he open his eyes or came out of a trance.

“Sorry about that rush, I did not want anyone to catch us and ask too many questions,” he said with a smile, his voice once more soft and melodies, no longer conveying the stress and worry that he was starting to show in the classroom. The sky where started to darken, not from the passage of time, but from the silent marching of storm clouds, Unaru turned his blue eyes up upon the heavenly intruders, a growl bubbling up in his chest and escaped him only briefly before he caught himself, “I hate the rain, it was raining the day Sara died in a car crash and Gart went missing,” he could already smell it in the air, that fresh smell that hinted at approaching rain, “and if it’s raining hard enough, my powers activate on their own, the rain becomes nothing more than a curtain that my visions are projected upon, I lose all sense of my physical surroundings, like I have travelled to that point in time.” He carried on walking, not wanting to get caught out in the rain.

They passed flats and an array of small shops and restaurants, the smell of Raman noodles drifted down the street along with a mix of other food associated with other countries. It was one thing Unaru liked about this area was the verity of takeouts available to him, for someone who was a non-cooker this was a blessing, two high rise buildings could be seen looming high overhead, the peaks of the gray buildings almost being lost in the grizzled sky. The crowd on the streets where thin, forecasts of bad weather deterring them from going out in the open, despised self indorse rank of the supreme race on earth, humans where oddly frail beings, no match for something as simple like wind and rain. It was not long before the two towering apartment complex stood before them, an outside walk way coiling around its form was clear to see by any passersby, like a snake slithering up a tree, yet the walk way was open to the elements, the only shelter was that of the floor above and a railing that made sure no one would fall off.

Unaru lead Chesha to the tower block on their right, and up the stairs to the 3rd floor. The place did not have a welcoming feeling about it, not did it seem to have much privacy sound wise, talking, TV and radio noise could be heard as they passed each door, even arguments and.. Sounds that should not be heard to anyone under the age of 16 slipped though the cracks around the doors. Luckily as they continued on down the walkway the sounds faded and only street noise could be heard, Unaru came to a stop at number 28 before placing his briefcase on the ground and pulling a key out of his pocket and quickly unlocking the door. “Here we are, home sweet home.” He announced, pushing the cobalt blue door open with his shoulder.

It was just a small and simple one room apartment, seemingly too small for more than one person. To the left of the front door was a small kitchen area, complete with skink, fridge and a microwave, a countertop running along the wall along with a small breakfast bar that neatly separated it from the rest of the place, just to their right there was another door leading off into what appeared to be a small bathroom. The main living area was a wide, open space, or at least it would be if it was not being occupied by a pull out sofa bed, still unfurled in its bed form, that was unmade as well, clearly showing that he was not expecting any kind of company, or simply did not care about the mess regardless. However it was the thing over on the far wall that seemed odd, the far wall was made mostly of two large windows, but the one on the right was open slightly and in that gap sat a strange black form, like a strange splodge of ink on reality its black form stood out against the turning sky.

“Sorry about the mess,” he said almost half heartedly, like he said it like he was meant to say it, not that he was really sorry about his living quarters. He placed his briefcase on the breakfast bar, next to a laptop, whilst he slipped his guitar off his shoulder and propped it up against the wall out of the way, “and that, over by the window is Thor, he is a raven and has been my companion since I made my own way in the world.” Upon speaking his name the black form seemed to come alive, glossy eyes shined with a well rested energy, slowly it stretched out its left wing followed by its right before half gliding, half jumping onto the bed, it looked at Chesha, keenly taking in everything about her.

”Welcome home kid! And who is this?” it squawked, yet only Unaru would be able to hear his vice using human words, to Chesha he would only be making the calls of a raven.

Locked within the school setting, Chesha picked up her tail and cuddled it to her right side as Unaru captured her left hand. Surprise coursed through her as she stared at the touching limbs with absolute fascination while her body moved to keep up with his automatically. Her expression could've reminded someone that of a young child's as they wonder where they're going, or innocently curious about the holding of hands for one of the first times in their consciousness. As they rounded the corner she spied the teacher slipping into the room they already vacated and a mischievous, but small smile curled her lips as they continued slinking off without further notice. Stupid little man. If he didn't learn to cool it a bit, then she'd see to it he knew when to back off in the future. This sensation of having family again made her elated just as much as it caused her to become protective, a troubling child who sensed “bad people” when they saw them. Rather than scream at them anytime they tried to pick them up, she would see to him in other, far worse methods.

As they walked by people outside her mind linked up to the devices to see what they were chatting about and doing, ruining a few game scores accidentally even as she read conversations without truly meaning too. Her expression became a little dazed and cleared back up once they lost sight of the building and grounds. All the time in the world without school and other teenage distractions, and yet she had yet to practice control. 'Dangerous,' her mind whispered as she promptly forgot soon thereafter. Left her mentally fatigued for a short time, so when she caught eyes with an elderly woman, it gave off the impression of her being a mentally problematic girl tired after a long day in the “special class.” The woman offered Chesha a soft and knowing smile as she and Unaru crossed over to the other side of the street and Chesha returned it on instinct.

She accepted his response, recalling vaguely the principal entering that room after they left, and she didn't particularly care to linger in that establishment. In her mind it was nothing more than a trap, a means for people to question who she was, why she was there, and then find her. Why bother going to school when she spent so much time reading things online anyways? Not just junk sites, but proper educational ones, even slinking into those online classes from time to time for pure amusement and intrigue. Then he mentioned the changing weather and she smiled ever so slightly while staring up as they walked. Unaru disliked it, ”Its often gray back home, even if it doesn't always rain. Mum and Dad and Dad, Mum, and Sis all died on gray days...but I like the rain. The rhythm is nice...” On those days the sky cried Chesha obtained a rare sense of concentration she otherwise only saw when building one of her new metallic buddies. A clarity she used every opportunity to maximize learning and activity before it left and she was again forced to fight the electronic battle.

But she understood why he hated it from his demonstration earlier and explanation now. Not unlike her walking anywhere outside of the wild today, especially when they left the school grounds. Control...how she yearned for it, to function far better than she'd known for years as her powers grew. However delicious smells caused her mind to break a lot of those connections as her stomach obtained control over her mind to fantasize over various foods. She wondered what they'd eat for dinner, but didn't ask aloud quite yet. Behind those scents lay the threatening smell of rain ready to fall any moment in the air, the distance betraying the sight of the moving storm though had yet to reach them. The small shops gave way to homes, Chesha staring back in almost longing for the noodle soups and bread covered in sauce and cheese. All of it smelled so good and looked good compared to the rising abodes ahead of them.

Walking by the doors she heard a variety of fun and funny sounds – funny to her because she always felt so distant from them. An arguing couple served only to make her giggle any other time because it had nothing to do with her: like using real people in lieu of TV show ones. Sounds unfit for her ears still taunted her, and thanks to the internet she already knew what they were doing, but paused in front of the door anyways as though curious before Unaru's tugging hand kept her going. Going until they arrived around the end and he opened the little room for them to enter. With a quick sweep of her eyes it told everything it needed too: bachelor pad. No luxury life for Unaru, and that was fine with Chesha. Besides her attention span quit working once it hit upon the bird as she plopped her bag by the door and walked towards the futon as if entranced.

Plopping in front of it she continued to stare at the bird as though stuck in awe of the small beast. Knees hit the ground as she sat in front of the bed, closed her open mouth, and tilted her head for another look at it. Quietly she whispered, ”A croooooow,” and leaned over to put her fingers on the bed and rest her nose on it to stare at the ink-colored bird. Greedy little eyes watched and waited for him to do what she really wanted to see: do that funny hopping run crows often did. For some strange reason she loved that, more so when birds in general did it...but preferred crows because they made fun sounds to go with that funny run. Easy to misinterpret though as her tail flexed outwards behind her and swished slowly side-to-side as a cat waiting to pounce. Thin pupils didn't help either as she watched keenly, attention absorbed enough to not accidentally turn the microwave on. He squawked though, causing a course of amused pleasure to race through her as she smiled like the Cheshire Cat against the bed's side.

Who was she to know the bird said something coherrent: to her ears he might as well be saying “Mine” like the seagulls from some movie. How she loved that, because it seemed like something they'd say. ”Do you use him for witchcraft? Telling the future better? Does he hold a special power, so if he poops on someone it burns like a strong acid?” all her questions came out as a low whisper, louder than her earlier statement of the bird's species, and still with that awe note. It was either something along those lines, or he was one hell of a fine pet. Personally Chesha would've opted for a dog or cat if only because they were fluffy. She liked fluffy, while she adored watching birds, especially the colorful ones.

Unaru let out a hearty laugh at Chesha’s questions, after all Thor was to him that Sarynn was to her. “Not exactly, he is more of a familiar if anything in that respect; one of the powers of The Sight allows me to pass my mind into an avian’s body, like a ghost possessing someone in stories, it allows me to see through their eyes and experience everything they do. I believe I passed a feeling born from that sensation to you when we first meet; the feeling of flying, freedom without boundaries, a truly uplifting experience,” he wishes he could feel that sensation right now, normally he would fly on Thor’s wings when he got home, almost like he was trying to fly away from the day’s events, fly away from the fact every word said to him by the students was a reminder that he was not human, “we also have the benefit of being able to talk, when Thor speaks I don’t hear the cries of a raven but human words and he also can understand human speech. He also acts as my mentor someday, as he knows more about my family’s legends then I do, because of the nature of my bloodline all our history was oral, and we entrusted it to the birds.” Unaru sat down on the bed next to Chesha and Thor, the shadowy bird hopping around as the bed dipped, not once over the years did he get use to such a soft and easily manipulated surface.

“So you finally found someone like you, I told you they were out there,” the raven said, puffing its chest out proudly, “but is she a little too young to mate with? I mean in the eyes of human society, not that we are bound by their laws.” The tone of the bird’s voice was almost innocent as he said it, after all preserving ones bloodline was a natural thing in his eyes, and for any kind of beast if a female could be made pregnant then they were old enough to mate with, a line of thought that was far from true with humans. Unaru almost chocked on his own saliva as Thor said about mating, how could he suggest such a thing? Chesha was what? 16? 17? And the way she acted when she saw Thor made her seem even younger, Unaru shuddered, there was no way in his mind that he could see her as anything but his little sister. “N-no it’s not that, she is too young and anyway I’m still young I’m barley in my 20s! There is no need for me to rush off and do something like that!” lucky the blond could keep his embarrassment as bay from the raven’s comment, not blushing but still looking very stunned, even the fact that Chesha was only getting one half of the conversation.

Thor looked too Unaru then to Chesha then back again, to anyone eyes he would look normal but Unaru could see it; Thor was confused. The bird tilted its head to one side, giving off a small soft cry, a sigh, they had been together for years now, had shared the same body time and time again yet; the bird was still no closer to understanding humans, he knew that Unaru was the sole remaining survivor from the Yochimu clan, the last one to hold his powers and thus had to breed to stop that power from being lost. But he knew that Unaru’s earlier statement was right, he was young and thus, still a bit rebellious and unaware of the bigger picture, they had talked about it before and the human would boil it down to one thing ‘too dangerous’, for his mate and their offspring, the raven lowed his head, making an action that seemed like he was shaking his head, like a human would do when they were disappointed. “If you are going to bring this up every time I bring a female home I may not bring them here anymore.” Unaru chuckled, lightly stroking the raven’s inky feathers.

Thor could not help the happy sigh that escaped his beak, he always enjoyed the feeling of being petted; he could see why cats always made that purring noise. “Don’t worry about it; we still have time ahead of us.” Unaru’s words reassured the bird, who hoped out from under his fingers to look him in the eye. “So you are waiting for her to.. What’s the human word for it? Mature?” again the birds words where oddly innocent sounding, but Unaru did not come back with a retort, no, he just rolled his eyes. Thor however was now interested with this girl, after all she was the first superhuman he had seen, outside of Unaru’s blood relatives that is, and was intrigued at to what she was like, what she could do. The raven lowered his head and hoped towards her, coming to a stop just before her fingers, he stood there and stared at her.

“Sorry about that, he is always concerned with my wellbeing and so on, until you came along he was the only family I had; we would stay up late when I was younger and he would tell me all the stories of my bloodline, if you want I can tell you some if you are ever interested.” Unaru had been wishing to play storyteller to someone for some time now, the closes he can do up till now was tell a story though song. But to sit down and tell a story like his grandfather use too, that was what he wanted to do.

Chesha couldn't fathom flying herself, but a lot like if she could place her soul inside Sarynn or Cassiel and booster off...nah, not quite then either. The flapping of wings and feeling it wouldn't occur in either of them because they didn't feel anymore, merely 'knew.' But she wasn't capable of such feats, at most able to see a bit through the other's eyes while still fully within her body: a confusing existence for any length of time. Initially she might've allocated the bird to being similar to Sarynn...only to realize he fell somewhere between Sarynn and Cassiel. Sarynn advised her more, but when it came down to it only she understood Cassiel's animalistic talking because she could go into his mind and obtain impressions of what he wanted or meant. Just because she quasi destroyed the souls a bit much and lowered their capabilities didn't mean they were completely bereft of intelligence.

Thor hopped about, Chesha's mouth pursing in absolute delight and ears pricked up higher as her tail curled backwards. For a moment one could forget about her feline nature and relate her to a Shiba Inu. After a series of caws this impression came undone as the tail flattened and stayed against the floor as her little mouth lost its smile and took on intrigue at Unaru's reaction to the noise. Whatever the bird said was good enough for a silly reaction, and she wished she could speak bird – or crow, whichever gained her to desired result. 'Maybe I can design a translation device...though be difficult. He could say “Hello” and the machine would hear “Screw off”...but someday.' Her mind had a vague idea involving age, but honestly once you hit your twenties many options opened up. Get laid? Drink? Gamble? Buy cigarettes? Rent a movie? At best something alarming that'd cause some to be embarrassed, so probably not a normal movie for renting.

'Maybe he suggested buying us liquor? Do birds like alcohol?' She suspected the bird smarter than average birds because of the otherworldly influence, but Chesha held no proof thanks to lack of hearing it, only capable of discerning through Unaru's reaction and the bird's movements. Hard for her to tell when it sighed, and the head shaking and turning made her suspicious without concrete proof of its reactions to Unaru. She couldn't help herself after Unaru's comment after the bird's previous statement, tilting her head to ask oh-so innocently, ”What did he talk about? Sex?” Between romance novels, porn, and badly written fanfiction Chesha surmised that's what Thor talked about anytime he brought over a “female.” If Unaru brought over a male likely the conversation would be different since that wouldn't provide offspring.

The promise of “story time” almost made her delirious in happiness. Occasionally her first set of parents read stories to her, and told them. Rarely though because half the time they wanted nothing more than to watch from a distance and try to reassure themselves those parts that didn't belong were fake. Then usually they'd fail to find her “real ears” so they wandered off to pretend out of sight. Her second pair sometimes did, but usually the nights were filled with after dinner conversation and regaling of funny events or the day's events. Now that she had new family, and learned from her past that family could disappear she promptly yelled, ”Wait!” Time stole previous families and she only possessed voice recordings – among other things – of the previous one.

For a rare moment in time she stopped to think herself, turning to whisper to Thor – she didn't want to hurt his ears – ”Err...don't...freak out?” Most birds tended to freak out, or at least have that annoying habit of hopping or flying away at the slightest provocation. Thor didn't mind them getting close, but their soon-to-arrive guest was something else entirely. So just in case she warned him before calling out to Cassiel. As a claw appeared to rip through the middle of the room, ripping the very fabric of space and...atmosphere, Chesha also recalled Cassiel sometimes appeared in a similar fashion as Hollows. At least the tearing of air, though they often ripped far larger holes. That eyeless, long head poked out to growl slightly before the rest tore and the larger body followed suit. Wings flapped and stirred up the blinds at best and then folded back as he padded towards the trio.

”Cassiel I need the recording equipment, its story time!” The beast snuffled at the order, his chest plate folding open to lightly scrape against the floor as something hit the ground a second later. The object flew out from under him as the plates snapped shut securely and he twirled about as a dog before getting comfortable on the floor with a final snuffling noise. Hands never moved to grab the object, buttons pushing themselves and the recorder coming to life a little ways from Unaru and floating independently from Chesha. A small microphone extended out towards him as she crossed her legs and leaned against Cassiel, ”Okay now I'm ready for story time! Unless...you don't want me to record it?” It was “family” history, so she wouldn't be surprised. More than anything she really just wanted his voice on tape so as not to forget it in case something happened to him down the road.

Unaru had to wonder was his facial expression where like for her to get it, he made a mental note to try and control them a bit more; even more so when talking to Thor. “err well, yes,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “you have to keep in mind that he is not human, and so things have different meanings for him, when I brought you home it was like a animal bring a female back to their den or nest, that is only for the sole prepress is to mate with them – not that I would try to do something like that to you, ” he said looking away briefly, “but he is concerned about my bloodline, after all I’m the last one left so if I die without leaving any children The Sight will die with me.” For a moment he thought about it, and maybe his power dying with him would not be such a bad thing, with all the corrupted humans out there if one of them got a hold of him, of his powers, it would been the downfall of so many. He wondered for a moment if his offer of a story would be passes up in favour of being told more about Thor, not that he would have mind, seeing as just talking to her made him feel better about a multitude of things.

Her cry of ‘wait’ startled him for a moment, from its suddenness rather than the volume. The feeling that only could be described as the air disappearing, like a hole in a balloon, the dark ripping of realty put him on edge, he had seen it before when the masked fiends would appear yet something was different about it; there was no malice. He relaxed when he realised that Chesha was not reacting to the oncoming entity, the strange, black, metallic dog? He could not think of any other form that he could call it by, but he knew that it was one of Chesha’s creations and therefore had nothing to fear from it. What she did with the recording equipment did not surprise him, already getting use to, if you could call it that, the way she interacted with technology, “I don’t mind you recording it, if they find the recording it means someone has found you and at that point I would have more to worry about than something that could be dismissed as a fairytale.”

He pondered for a few moments, trying to think of what story to tell her; the creation story? Na he felt like saving that, the tale of the emperor’s oracle? Na to complicate for an evening story. The story of his grandfather’s victory over a hollow? Again he dismissed it; it seemed to lack the mystery of the older stories, so that brought him to one. “Ok then I’ll tell you the tale of Akegata and his sister Yuuyami. They were the first children of the clan founder and like their farther they held with him the power of the sight.”

“Akegata and Yuuyami lived in the same village that their farther lived in, despite their mother being of royal blood. A humble life was said to be The Sight’s curse or payment as it where, but despite their shared mother and farther the siblings seemed to be worlds apart, both of them had black hair and hazel eyes but Akegata was blessed with an unnatural grace and beauty, his voice was soft and flowing like a gentle stream in the summer’s light he had a kindness to him like he could see what a person was suffering from, his gifts seemed to only rise his sister’s ire. Yuuyami was considered hideous, her black hair was always wild and untamed like a birds nest, her face held no trace of beauty and her movements where always jerky, she never spoke, as when she did only a harsh, rasping sound left her lips.” As Unaru described the two siblings his movements became slightly animated, like his grandfathers did, when he talked about Akegata his set upright and held his head high, like a proud stag, and when he talked of the sister he became hunched over, drawing his hands up to his chest, there was even a glint of jealousy in his eye, getting into the rhythm of the story. “Yuuyami wanted nothing more in the world than to have a family of her own, to hold her own child and to feel the loving warmth of a husband, yet with her appearance and demeanour no man would come near her. Akegata saw the pain within his sister and tried to comfort her, offering up his warm feeling of love for her ones of pain, yet it was not enough, in the night he could hear her sorrowful wailing, ‘arrooo, arroo’ her cries went out, like a wounded hound left to die. In the morning Akegata went to talk to his sister, to heal her voice and that is where he started to become aware of his sister’s true nature, ‘my dear brother,’ she said to him, ‘why are we given this gift? Why are we forbidden to use it to strike down the ones who do us wrong?’” Unaru put on a fake voice as he spoke Yuuyami’s words, his voice becoming horse and croaking as the words passed his lips.

“He could see the growing darkness within his sister’s heart but was torn at what to do, he did not want his sister to suffer any more pain, yet he could not allow any harm to come to the villages. He thought long and hard but in the end he could not make up his mind, to he sent his raven, Shirokami, to keep watch over her.”

Unaru’s discomfort over talking about mating and explaining his partner’s way of thinking amused Chesha: he looked so adorably embarrassed about it. Animal instinct demanded people pass on their genes, not to be confused with jeans though sometimes those passed along too, but humans began fabricating rules for acts on mating. Some wrote manuals, others decreed laws, and some decided “screw the rules I have green hair” and some variety, and listened to neither. Depended what society a person lived in as well as to the rules on mating, marriage, and the like since some countries let clans and villages decide that, and other countries demanded all follow the rules or suffer jail time. Or another punishment, and Chesha was fascinated that back in the day it used to be the woman’s fault more often than naught towards breaking said rules, or more disgraceful – still disgraceful on some fronts.

The thought of genetics and passing on The Sight for him caused her to ponder if her technology-based affinity might be a trait capable of appearing in offspring. So long as they made their special friends instead of trying to take over hers unless she liked them enough. Their freedom could be possibly gained after her death though, with or without technopathic tendencies because Chesha possessed that bizarre trait with a hold and special brand to their soul clusters. After that she won their hearts over so they stayed rather than forced to inhabit the bodies, though to be fair to the two she had now, one chose and the other stayed out of instinct. Those after posed possible problems due to free will issues, though she had an idea how to handle the shinigami ones.

The worrying was waved off since chances of people getting hold of it struck her as slim to none. One of those things she’d listen to during absolute solitude and quick to disappear if that solitude stood to be disrupted. After that they’d have one heck of a fight trying to obtain her precious treasures since they all floated freely within Cassiel’s realm, and from there only he could will an object to his presence. Anybody else would have to float around like an astronaut in space and pray they could find their way back to the main platform in that scary free space. ”Takes more than finding me to gain my treasures. And I have back up plans in case I’m found by less-than desirable people.” The promise of story perked her right up even as she tried to lean back and relax against Cassiel. In the end she had him summon up a large pillow and stuffed it between their bodies for more comfort as she slouched more against him.

Akegata reminded her of Unaru immediately, deciding he must either descend from that character in the story or gained the traits of him if the ugly sister ever mated. The video recording kicked in, Chesha suddenly decided she wanted the whole theatrics on tape even if she sometimes fell asleep to nothing but the sound when away from him. Already she knew they’d suffer time apart because she wandered too much, and had no intentions to stop. Now she merely had a place to return too, able to follow him like a creepy stalker through banking and payroll.

Unable to help herself Chesha butted in just then: curiosity demanded answers, ”But why didn’t he fix her before? Or maybe offer up a makeover? Hair can be cut and styled, even in older days. And if he could heal her voice why not do so sooner? Would it be so wrong to help her even in a dark moment?” It made little sense to Chesha because if the girl had nothing to wail about anymore, then maybe she wouldn’t turn down the lesser road. But then again, sometimes one couldn’t beat human nature no matter the amount of kindness offered. Her mind still wanted to know if he’d acted soon enough perchance her attitude could’ve been saved somehow. Impatience arose too no thanks to the same bout of curiosity, ”And how would she harm the village and the people in it? Through The Site or normal, human methods? Like torching crops or poisoning water sources?”

“Peace Chesha, peace,” he laughed, Peace was a word his clan would always use when they wanted someone to settle down, be it from curiosity like his sister, or from something stronger. “To fix something implies something is broken, and broken too mean that something is not as it once was. Yuuyami had always been ‘bad’, her appearance was not something that could be fixed with a makeover; she was always described as ‘having a face like melted wax’, and as for her voice. Akegata was not going to change it, as it was always gruff since the day she was born; he simply went and relieve her of the soreness from her night of wailing, and if you are wondering why she could not do it herself, it is simply the way the power works, if you try and heal anything when your heart and mind are full of hate and anger you would only do harm, simply, if she tried to heal herself she would only be killed by her own hate, now settle down and you will find out how she acted.” He said with a joyful chuckle in his voice, loving every moment of playing storyteller.

“Akegata’s raven watched over his sister for days, witnessing first hand the cruelty of humans to one who was ugly. More and more Yuuyami refused to leave her room, only appearing to the world when the moon hung high in the sky, till one night, Shirokami lost track of her. panicked the raven franticly searched around the village, yet he could not find her, it was like she had simply disappeared into the darkness of the night, at a loss the raven returned to its master and told him what had happened. Akegata did not seem worried, knowing that his sister would return before sun up, yet as the golden light broke the sky Yuuyami was nowhere to be seen, now witch the sun on his side he looked for her, even stopping as a stream to use his power to try and find her, yet she remained hidden from his eyes. The brother returned home, defeated but hoping that she had returned when he was out looking, yet he was not welcome back with the knowledge that his sister had returned home, but with an angry mob, a weeping woman near the front. He could hear their angry shouts, demands that Yuuyami come out, before he reached his home.”

“’What is going on here? What do you want with my sister?’ he asked, starting to worry,” like with Yuuyami Unaru tried to mimic his voice, sounding firm, yet having a hint of softness behind it. “They demanded that Akegata bring out his sister, stating that she snuck into the house of a new mother and stole her babe. He was shocked by this claim, yet part of him could not help but think that it was true, after all he knew first hand his sister’s wish to have children; he entered the house with the intention to look for her, hoping that she would be there and show that their claim was nothing more than a lie, but as he checked room by room, he failed to find her. The angry crowd gave out a shout as he returned empty handed, he told them how he had not seen her last night, nor did she return home in the morning, the group was not going to simply allow it to rest there, despite Akegata telling them about his search, they broke up into smaller groups in order to hunt her down, Akegata was naturally worried for the safety of his sister he joined one of the parties, hoping that if they could find her before the others that she may remain safe.” Unaru’s face showed light signs of sadness, already knowing what was going to happen, “later that day they found Yuuyami in the woods, where she was holding the corpse of a newborn to her chest. Everyone became enraged by this, wanting to kill her as she killed the babe, yet her brother would not allow it.”

“Yuuyami was banished from the village; her life was forfeit if she dared to return. Yuuyami sulked away into the darkness of the woods, hate became her friend, ‘I was wronged!’ she would scream to the sky, everyday she said to herself that this punishment was nothing more than a grave act of miss justice upon her. A year came and went, and the village moved on from that dark event, Akegata had married and his wife was already heavy with child, their offspring was due any day and both where looking forwards to the event, yet something was string within Akegata, a feeling of foreboding that even The Sight could not help him find out what lay at its roots. The next day his wife gave birth to a little babe boy, yet that was not going to be the most dramatic event of the day; Akegata was out in his garden, the sun already starting to set over the land, when a black and white form caught his eye, a Magpie had come to pay him a visit, perching on a tree not too far from him. ‘Congratulations’ the bird crowed, ‘mistress passes on her love for you and your newborn, she will be pleased to know that all went well today.’ Akegata was shocked at the Magpie’s words, for he knew that only a bird touched by The Sight would be able to talk to him like that, and only one other person help the power of The Sight. But just as he was going to question the bird it flew off, seemingly startled by a scream that emanated from the village, Akegata ran as fast as he could towards the commotion, to find a villager stumbling around, he was blind; for it was clear that he had clawed out his own eyes. ‘She is back!’ the man screamed, ‘She is back and the dead are with her!’” it was clear at that point in the tale of who was back, so like his grandfather and Odin did he never dictated who it was.

“Akegata was the first out in the woods, spear in hand, he wanted to be the first one to meet her, the one to ask her why. In the year alone Yuuyami had done nothing but train her powers, using the darkness in her heart she had gained the ability to summon The Seekers, silvery ghosts that spread panic among the living, simply the sight of them is enough to turn a normal human into a mad man, to make him turn his weapon on himself. Akegata stood before his sister, who seemed had gained a otherworldly beauty about her, like giving in to her hate had lifted the curse of her ugliness, the Magpie that had visited him rested on her shoulder, ‘I congratulate you on your child, brother, and you are lucky for its birth has put me in a good mood, join me Akegata and I will protect you and your family.’ The offer from his sister felt like an icky hand over his chest, he knew that she just wanted his child, nothing more.”

“’Never, you have to stop now, if you do things won’t have to end badly.’ At that point screams echoed around the woods, The Seekers had already made their way into the village, their cries seemed to summon a storm as lightning flashed across the sky and rain came tumbling down like the heavens where crying at what they where witnessing.” At that point lightning really did flash across the sky, the storm that they saw brewing on the walk home was now ready to be unleashed, the rumble of thunder seemed to made the windows shake, soon followed by the sound of rain crashing to earth. “The two of them fought in the raging downpour, Yuuyami avoiding her brother’s spear and Akegata blocking the mental assaults from his sister, yet whilst her powers over The Sight outweighed Akegata’s, Yuuyami’s body was still weak compared to her sibling and he was able to best her, but that is when something strange happened.”

“Akegata lifted his spear to drive it through his downed sister, but as he did so their eyes meet and Akegata found himself suddenly witnessing things from Yuuyami’s eyes. He did not know what to do when he found himself looking up at his body, yet as he found the spear hurtling towards Yuuyami’s torso he could not stop his body, nor could he end this enchantment. Akegata could feel it all, her anger, her hate and her sorrow and even the pain of his weapon piercing her flesh; finally, with her death, the enchantment ended and Akegata found himself back in his own body. A male cry of rage filled the sky, he could hear it even over the thunder so much so that he thought it was his, but then he saw it, one of the Seekers, wailing in anger.” As the rain poured down Unaru’s demander seemed to change as he prepared to imitate the ghost, “’You killed her Akegata! You robed your own flesh and blood of life! You sinner! You break my most beloved command,’ it was at this point that Akegata realised who the ghost was, it was his farther, ‘I curse you! I now give you one command to follow, and one to be passed down to all of your blood,’ the ghost stretched out a arm, pointing his finger at Akegata, ‘Thou shelt Kill!’ and with that, the ghost faded away.” Unaru remained quiet for a moment, the only sound being that of the storm outside.

“He did not really live ‘happily ever after’ yet his son did, but he is a story for another time.” He laughed, trying to lighten the moon slightly, and mentally preparing for any questions Chesha may ask.

Nothing about the poor woman could be fixed, so the woman was as wicked outwardly as she was on the inside. Perhaps the world knew ahead of time what the babe would be like and disfigured her so others might know. Except it seemed like a horrid irony for without it, perchance the woman could’ve obtained her meager desires. Such a distressing connundrum for Chesha, who allowed the rest of the story to distract her from such thoughts. It irked her still as it sounded as much the villager’s fault in this case. To barb one already in pain never amounted to good in the end: commupence. She recalled that word well, and believed the villagers may receive their just dues shortly.

Desperation caused extreme measures, and Chesha sighed for the woman who lost her child. Sad no matter how you spun it, though part of her still felt for Yuuyami too. All she wanted was a child and yet it died in her arms: had she killed it through her hateful feelings without meaning too? Perhaps she mourned for the child after its death, wishing to raise it only to possess the poison’s touch. Cast off into the shadows, she befriended a bird that shared the same family as a raven, and she pondered if they could bewitch any bird, or those of the Corvidae family. Hard to say, but she listened intently as the horrors grew shortly thereafter. These ghostly figures sounded simply ghastly! She sort of wanted to see one, to meet one, because they scounded fascinating. But would her state of insanity be strong enough to withstand such a mental blow upon seeing them? Hard to say.

Outside the weather enhanced the feeling of the story, and Chesha’s wide eyes couldn’t look away as she avidly awaited the end. What was the point behind the enchantment? Did Yuuyami want him to experience that pain, and see the sight of his determined face to bring her down? Did she wish for him to go all the way and receive the final punishment so he may live as she lived in some manner? Was it some sort of last strike before she fell, or even an attempt to swap bodies that failed? Some part of her rather detested the ending of the story, visible by her frown, ”Well that was stupid of his father.”

Her voice held an element of “matter-of-fact” to it, refusing to see the punishment as just, though she admitted what happened to Yuuyami was no better. ”Her father prefer she destroy the villagers? That his son not stop one filled to the brim with darkness and using the powers already for pain? That seems so off. Though not always desirable, there are times where you must take down family, even if it’s the last thing you wish to do,” Chesha sorely hoped that was never the case between them. Vying to pull together a new family the last thing she wanted was a future in which they all fought, or had to take down one of their own. Too painful to bear when she already lost others to foes untied to her. But she wasn’t done yet, ”Though I’m not entirely sure the villagers didn’t receive their just dues either. Life is full of opposites as well as reactions for every action. They lacked kindness in their hearts, so if anything Yuuyami is also a manifestation of their inner selves. The only one who tried to act justly and acted with kindness was Akegata. I can only imagine they didn’t learn their lesson, so Akegata probably paid the price for nothing.”

Sympathy only extended to the tragic hero of the story, and almost wished ill for the idiotic villagers. People never understood what they themselves never suffered. Being of a whole other tier and world alone was problematic, but to outwardly show you are not one of the crowd and this acts as a sign for others to mistreat you. The teacher from the school berated Chesha because of her parts, and the villagers scoffed and mocked Yuuyami because she had the misfortune to be born hideous. ’Imagine how the story might go if they acted in the opposite…but not too opposite.’ Very possible that too much pity would see the woman go down a similar path, but just occasional kindness! People found faith in the smallest of gestures, moreso when the person didn’t seem like someone obligated to do so such as family.

The storm outside might’ve helped to hone her concentration – as well as the gripping factor of the story – but it failed to calm Chesha’s mind. Even then she wondered, and stared back at Unaru with annoyed curiosity, ”So did the dad really curse him and his line then? If so, wouldn’t his son be cursed to kill too? And what does that curse mean, “Thou shalt kill?” Does it mean that him and his children are cursed to kill people even as they help them, or only going to be responsible for a death in each lifetime? Are you fated to kill or have you already?” Things could’ve stepped into personal areas then, and if it did she’d apologize when it came to her mind and something triggered the notion. She’d merely promise to tell him anything personal he asked in return.

There was something in the way she reacted, that matter of fact manner of speech, he had sure that he had witnessed it before, but seeing as she was the first one to tell it too he was not sure where. Then he realised that she was portraying his reaction when he was first told this story, he too had thought the curse unjust, even more so when it had descended down to him, he felt cheated, forced with a heavy burden of a power he never wanted and to add on top of that he was also cursed, the smile seemed to fade from Unaru’s face as he cast his eyes down into his lap, his hair falling forwards and casting a shadow across his face. “We are always told to question the stories in that manner, to put ourselves in them and say ‘it did not have to end like that’ and think of what we could have done to change the outcome, and then use that knowledge in our daily lives,” he stopped for a moment, to ponder on his words, “darkness,,,” he muttered to himself, “Yuuyami could not be called evil, not truly, what she did was evil yet if you are forced to do something could you be called evil? Could you call a dog evil when it bites uncaring owners? It’s true that the villages are just as guilty as her but could there had been another option open to Yuuyami? Other than summoning The Seekers...”

His mind wondered from Yuuyami to her brother, Akegata, or more precisely, the curse that way laid upon him. “The highest command that was set by the founder was to never take a life with your own hands, the life of another is no more or less important than your own, and that we all know what a struggle it is to survive in this world and we don’t need to make it any harder. Yet I don’t think it was his farther that cursed him, for The Seekers are only a reflection of someone’s memory and of their feelings, so whilst he saw and heard his farther what he only saw was an inner reflection of himself, so in realty Akegata cursed himself, maybe it was because of what he did to his sister, because he felt guilty that he could not save her.” he sighed to himself, over the years he had picked apart the story and analyzed it, yet there was one thing he could not understand, what Yuuyami was a vision of beauty when she appeared before her brother the final time.

That is when Chesha voiced a question he was expecting her to ask, yet hoped she would not. Unaru stood up, walking around the bed till he got to the window; it was still open from when Thor was using it as a perch. The stormed still raged outside, coating the windows in a thin sheet of water and already starting to soak a small patch of carpet, he effetely pushed the windows shut, blocking out the mournful weather from the room. ‘I have to answer her,’ he thought to himself, he wanted to tell her, more for himself than for her curiosity, he rested his forehead against the window, feeling the coolness on his brow, it was refreshing in a way yet as he let the silence stretch on the coldness just made him feel empty. “I have killed,” another tongue of lightning flickered across the sky, followed by a deep grown of thunder, the storm dramatising his words, “I have never held a gun, yet one of my victims was shot, another was stabbed through the chest with a frozen branch. The curse is real, though it’s not by our own hand that our victims meet their end, but always by our actions, or sometimes lack of,” he turned around to face Chesha, yet he found himself unable to hold her gaze, “the first was a boy called Lang, he was always nasty to me as I was seen as a ‘city boy’ I saw his death in the water and warned him, yet because I was afraid of him I did not do all that I could have, I tried to save him, but failed. Then there is Gart,” he said with a sigh, “after all that happened to him hate became his one sustaining force, I used my power to take that away from him, and I left him with nothing, so he turned the gun on himself. They both could of lived, they should of lived, but both died because of my actions, this is how we kill, indirectly, although this happened many, many years ago and has not happened since Gart’s death, and I sometimes forget its even there.”

Unaru crossed his arms over his torso, in a more of a self hug than an assertive manna like most adults. “I would not be surprised if this started to worry you.”

The words held truth, truth Chesha hardly cared for but begrudgingly admitted too, ”I suppose she could've chosen to forgive them or forget them...not an impossibility. A rather silly option in some respects too. One can act as a saint in life, but it takes that whole life before they obtain respect, if they do. Sometimes death can be overlooked so easily and a person forgotten, especially if all people ever did was walk all over them.” Counter arguments towards her statement mattered little since already a few came to mind: Chesha merely hated the idea of being so kind it caused one immense harm more than good. If anything she pitied such people while knowing a handful tended to be grateful for their aid and kindness. Others just took advantage in every possible way.

A hush came over her though as he answered one of the more personal questions. Yet she believed herself cheated by his answer and rolled her eyes. Yes the deaths pressed heavily upon him, but from the way he told it she hardly believed it his fault, or at least entirely. ”Their parents held as much responsibility in their deaths as you did. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” and the most curse-based part of your powers is in not knowing the catalyst. You see it, but you don't know how people come to those points in their life. If you knew it'd be your fault you wouldn't do it, which in turn would change the future just as much as if you knew it wasn't by your hand and you chose to meddle in it. I wouldn't say you killed, merely doomed to help change how they died. Kind of like saying that those souls I possess are killed by my hand in a way.”

Chesha forgot by now if she explained how her special little friends came to be to Unaru or not, thinking at most she may or may not have alluded to it. However she understood some of the higher ramifications of her actions in taking those souls. ”I've killed their original future, be it going to Hell, the Seireitei, or reincarnation. I've even destroyed who they might've become, or at least some of them currently where Cassiel and Sarynn are concerned. I've changed the number of souls overall, though not the mass,” one of Chesha's defense points if shinigami ever took umbrage with her ways, ”I used the shredded souls of humans for Cassiel, and offered my second family a chance for a second life. I've hunted and been hunted by Bounts I took the souls of for the future – given them the option rather instead of me killing them. Sometimes I've even staked out fights between Hollows and Shinigami and profited from them. Only if the Hollow won though, because I'd finish the job, collect the Hollow's soul, and then the shinigami ones before they disappear. I don't know what happens to shinigami after they die, but I've thoroughly destroyed a few futures wherever they go.”

For a moment she fell silent again, letting her mind catch up and get ahead a few paces before she continued. ”So I've 'killed' too, even if indirectly as you have. Not telling you to rejoice over it either, but...well...heck you've certainly done it with less intent than I have. And aside for defending myself against the Hollows, neither of us have certainly done it on purpose towards anyone.” Messing someone's life up and killing them were two far different things in Chesha's book, as well as most unless it turned into suicide. Whether Chesha caused those once or twice due to undesirable pursuers or people who threatened her...she hardly cared to search for or even recall. It'd merely fall under “indirectly” again as a category.

Relaxed against Cassiel still, Chesha continued staring up at Unaru without a hint of worry in her eyes, ”So I don't expect you to damn me on purpose...I've always theorized it'll be something I do that sees me in the after life anyhow. More than likely it'll be based on my actions before yours. If that worries you too much though I can leave if you want.” Why she offered she couldn't say, a sudden thing too fast for her mind to think up by itself. However it oddly felt appropriate, not wanting to create another worry for someone who feared causing her end, if he worried such. ”But I trust you. Like I said, it'll be me accidentally before you on purpose. You'd sooner make me feel better than worse,” and she meant it since he calmed her down multiple times already today. Anybody else would've ejected her from their presence and dumped her back on the streets than suffer the handful she could be. Especially when she wanted to be.

Unaru stood there, leaning up against the windows with his arms till across his body, feeling like he was ten once more. He stayed there is silence for a few moments, letting Chesha’s words sink in, for a moment it felt like the rain had managed to come in and was running down his neck, yet he knew it was not weather that made his core shudder slightly, but the little Neko’s words, maybe he was just blaming himself and that things were out of his control, it was, as she said, that he only saw the cause and not the effect. He would sometimes see the effect, a month of a stranger’s life would fly across his eyes like footnotes, only for it to end bitterly, a life reduced to nothing more than a smudge on the page, in times like that, when it was someone he had never met, someone he was not attached too, he could distance himself from it and go on unaffected, like he was only getting a spoiler of tonight’s news broadcast or tomorrow’s newspaper. He poked at the wet patch of the carpet with the tow of his left boot, trying to see how wet it was; only damp enough to darken the ash gray of the material, but this was only him trying to distract himself from his original train of thought, that his guilt was born from his affection for the people around him.

He looked up at her when she talked about her ‘killings’, how she granted him a bit of insight into how she made her metallic companions. It was strange how he mentally question about how she ‘killed their original future’. To him, future was a fickle thing, he had seen a future so set, so sure than not even the end of the world could had changed yet, yet for others it seemed like their future, their fate, could crumble away with the smallest of breath into something completely different, but was not still their future? It was something that not even the endless wisdom of The Sight could help him understand. The look in her eyes reassured his spirit, the feline eyes that held no worry, no concern of what bad luck he could bring down on her, that look made a timid smile return to his lips, “You are right, you can’t understand the story just by reading the last chapter, thank you Chesha with you I think I can understand my family’s power, its curse and its riddles a bit clearer,” Unaru pushed himself away from the window, his posture returned to that more confident and upbeat stands that he had during the day, “and maybe you never robed them souls of their fate, have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, they where fated to end up this way? I have seen some strange futures so I would not rule it out.”

He walked around the bed once more, this time sitting on the floor next to Chesha and the black dog. He looked over its form and could not help but see beauty in it, after all he always admired the form of wolves and large cats, he even dreamed of being them at night, or at least he thought he dreamed of them, sometimes it was hard to tell what was a dream, and what was a vision, running with earth beneath your paws and the wind in your fur felt just as freeing as when he was flying with Thor. He could not help but reach out and lay his hand upon that dark metal form, the chill of the martial of his skin was not off-putting, like laying ones hand on a piece of clothing that had yet to be warmed by body heat, yet he was expecting to feel some moment under his hand, the a small pulse or the feeling of tendons shifting in reaction to the touch, yet there was nothing, “If anything happens to me, you can put my soul into one on your robots, but I would like to request one of a form similar to Cassiel here, I sometimes have dreams of being a wolf or some kind of big cat – but we seemed to have gotten into a bit of a macabre mood,” he seemed to say it with a slight hint of laughter in his voice, maybe as a vain attempt to lighten his own mood, “are you hungry at all? The storm is passing so I could run out and get us something to eat.”

A low rumble of thunder echoed off into the distance, like it was on the edge of their minds. The rain was still beating on the window, yet the dim flashes signalled that the storm was quickly moving away, and even though he would still get wet now was a good time to move, the street would be emptied and thus a quick run to and from where ever he would end up getting their meal from. He did wonder if she would opt out of eating, at least for now, in favour of talking a bit more, or maybe she would yell at him about taking life as a soul trapped in one of her bots a bit too lightly, but in the end he could find himself not really caring to much for one outcome over another, just as long as they stopped talking about death.