[khfan429]

((Sure thing ^^.))

After finishing his food, Kasui yawned audibly, then leaned forward and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Ah, looks like someone's pretty tired." Hikage chuckled, standing up and picking his little brother up. "I'm gonna go tuck this kid in, Neko-Star-chan..." he said, heading upstairs.

[aamya]

The next day...

It was the third day of the school year, and it was raining outside. Kyoko, Kirara, and Vera were eating oatmeal and a bowl of grapefruit for breakfast. Of course, the old wolf had to start her morning with some green tea. Tenma was on the phone with Umi.

~~~~

Neko-Star was perparing pancakes, and eggs for breakfast before going off to work. She was using a cook book, just like her mother had told her to do. Ellen went off early that morning, without a word to anyone.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[khfan429]

Kage teleported downstairs and took a seat at the table, the bags under his eyes indicating he hadn't slept. "Morning everyone." he said wearily.

----

Hikage was already downstairs, and Kasui soon arrived as well. "Good morning." he said quietly.

[aamya]

"Umi? I have to talk to you at school...Okay. Bye." Tenma said, and hung up the phone.

"Dad? Why do you look so tired?" Kirara asked Kage.

"Yes. I want to know the exact same thing." Tenma said, folding her arms. "I thought you went to bed last night."

~~~~

"Good morning, Kasui! Have a seat. Breakfast is almost ready." Neko-Star said, just barely picking up his voice. The half wolf was back to his quiet, shy voice.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[khfan429]

"I did... but I was too busy thinking about... the little issue that came up yesterday to sleep." Kage replied, not wanting to worry Kirara about Siana's disappearance. "No matter which way I look at it, it keeps coming out to one completely preposterous answer."

----

"Okay." Kasui said, climbing into a chair next to Hikage.

"Morning, little bro!" Hikage exclaimed cheerfully, ruffling Kasui's hair. "You sleep okay?"

"Yes, thank you..." Kasui answered with a nod.

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku yawned and sat up. He was surrounded by mossy trees and plenty of grass. Suddenly with a painful jolt, he remembered where he was and why he was there. He had skipped the entire second day of school to train himself in what little things dealing with his elements that he did know. One thing he had learned, much to his satisfaction, though he passed out by the end of it, was how to move at the speed of light which was not at all an easy task, not for him atleast. He stood up from the ground and shook off fallen twigs and leaves that stuck to his clothing and nestled in his hair. The first thing that came to his mind, was to see Kirara, his first and practically only friend he had made on the first day. "But first..." Shoku thought aloud. He ran back to the school and found his dorm, changing into a pair of simple black jeans and a white shirt with graphics of all kinds of what the public called, mythical creatures though he knew for a fact some of them weren't entirely myth. He opened up the window to his room and jumped out, using darkness as a type of void to stop him from hitting concrete and rather a dark unexplainable substance. He quickly decided that he'd keep using his powers for the rest of the morning until school started. Shoku started running and a white light surrounded his small figure the more he ran, the faster he became, the more intense the light was until he was no longer viewable. The hardest part of learning this was keeping control of his element while still watching where he was going. His eyes adapted to the wind that whipped at his face as he ran. Before long the Inn was within sight, but as he approached the entrance he tripped over the smallest of rocks and instantly his concentration was shattered, he fell and his velocity sent him crashing through the inn, door and all, and laying in a dazed state where everything seemed like a dream to him. He felt no physical pain but his body refused to move and he couldn't think straight.

[khfan429]

Kage instinctively created a giant sword of darkness as someone came crashing through the inn door. Once he realized that it was Shoku, however, he allowed the sword to dissipate, walking over to the boy.

"Geez, Shoku, where's the fire?" he asked somewhat sarcastically. "Are you okay? Anything broken, bruised, cut, displaced, or otherwise injured?"

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku looked at Kage, seeing him in three's until his mind re-focused. He turned red as an apple and chuckled nervously, "Heh, yeah I'm fine. Sorry I'm afraid I was testing out a trick and it well...backfired. But! I take full responsibility and will make up for the damages." Shoku slowly stood up and glanced around. Though he was familiar with everyone in this house he was here for one person in particular. He didn't tell Kage because, he being Kirara's dad, would probably break him in half if he found out Shoku had come all this way simply to see his daughter. "So, anyway good morning sir! I thought I'd drop by and say hello to the people in the inn since it isn't quite time for school yet. Now if you'll excuse me." He quickly slipped past the older demon and found kirara along with others he had met from his first day around here. "Good morning all!" He shouted out with enthusiasm

[aamya]

"Good morning, Shoku!" Kirara said in happy tone. She quickly finished her breakfast, and made her way to the stairs. "I will be right back! I need to grab a few things for school."

"Good morning, Shoku. It's so nice to see you this morning." Tenma said with a fake smile. She was still worried about Kage, knowing that he would be very concerned about Siana. They did get married, and had a son together. Now, the inn entrance was destroied. Though, the crow demon could take care of that, later.

"Yes it is!" Vera agreed with Tenma. Kyoko was too busy eating. "Why don't you have a seat, while you are waiting for Kirara? Did you eat breakfast? Are you thirsty?"

~~~~

"That's good to know. Hurry up and eat, now. You need to get ready for school." Neko-Star said. She came out of the kitchen, and gave both Hikage and Kasui their breakfast.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku smiled at Kirara as she made her way up the stairs and then smiled at the other three girls. He was surprised Tenma hadn't said anything about him missing her darkness class yesterday, but he didn't think too hard on it, if he could get off free then today would be a good day after all. Shoku sat down and yawned slightly, he was still extremely tired but tried not to show it too much. He was already day dreaming about taking a nice nap in his dorm but snapped back to reality. "I'm not hungry, but thank you. So did anything special happen yesterday? I'm afraid I was a bit....occupied and couldn't come down here to say hi to everyone."

[aamya]

"N-no! Nothing out of the ordinary! Everything is fine!" Tenma and Vera both said, nervously. The two did not want anyone to worry about Siana's kidnapping, especially the childern. Though, there was not very much that anyone could do at the moment. Just gather information on Zake's location.

"Anyways, could you come back here after school, Skoku? I want you to do me an errand. Just to make up for the damage that you did to my inn." Tenma said, trying to change the subject.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku eyed the two women suspiciously. He was good at telling when people were lying, but not only that, those two obviously weren't good liars because of the way they spoke when they tried to lie. Even though he was curious, he let it go because he knew that no amount of interrogation would get him anywhere. He still thought about what they could be hiding from him, but his thoughts were interrupted by Tenma. He scratched the back of his head nervously and chuckled. "Yeah, sorry again for the door. But atleast I'm learning!" Shoku said enthusiastically.

[aamya]

"That is true, and I can't stop one of my students from learning. Besides, not everyone is good at their element in the beginning." Tenma said. Kirara came downstairs a few seconds later, with her bookbag on her back.

"I'm ready, now. Are you ready to go to school, Shoku?" The kitsune girl asked.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[khfan429]

Kage, who had returned to sitting at the table once he made sure Shoku was alright, didn't seem to have heard a single thing that anybody had said since. When Kirara came back downstairs, he seemed to be jolted back into reality. "Ah, right! We should probably get going too, right Tenma?" he asked.

----

Hikage and Kasui quickly finished their breakfasts, and Kasui rushed upstairs to get his backpack. "Thanks sweetie, that was great!" Hikage exclaimed, kissing his fiancee on the cheek. "I'm going to bring Kasui to school once he comes back down, so we'll see you after school."

[aamya]

"Yes we should. Umi said a new teacher is coming, and I want to meet him." Tenma said. As she walked passed Kage, she quickly whispered, "She also made a deal with Zake, nine years ago. Information that she has would be very valuable." The crow demon looked at the damage to the inn before coming back in the dining room.

"I will see you all later. You two be careful on your way to school." Tenma said.

~~~~

"Okay. You two have a nice day at school." Neko-Star said. She quickly gave Hikage a kiss on the cheek, and went into the kitchen to wash dishes.
_________________

~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[Shokuchaotic]

"Yeah, I'm ready." Shoku said. He grabbed Kirara by the arm and started leading her out the inn, waving goodbye to Tenma, Vera, and Kage. Once they were out the door, Shoku turned to Kirara. "So, how was school yesterday? I was busy training in the forest so I just skip school entirely."

[khfan429]

"Ah, I see..." Kage murmured. Then, suddenly, he turned to Vera. "Vera-sama, I need to ask you something before we go. This has been bugging me all night... you and Siana are close friends, can you think of any, any light-users that Siana knows besides yourself, Zaimuko, Theo, Kasui, and Batrica?"

----

"Will do." Hikage said, just as Kasui came back downstairs with his backpack. "You all set?"

"Yes." Kasui said with a curt nod.

"Alrighty, let's go!" Hikage exclaimed, before placing a hand on top of Kasui's head and teleporting them both to the school.

[Jinx3986]

Kesshi slowly dressed herself with her eyes closed. Waking up early was something she hated. She preferred sleeping in, which is why she was late before. Kesshi glanced at her clock sleepily and smiled slightly to herself. She wouldn't be late today. She would just be tired for a while.

But that was okay. It was better than missing classes. The worse that could happen was getting into trouble for falling asleep during a lesson, and that wasn't so bad. In Kesshi's opinion getting in trouble for ditching was worse.
_________________

[aamya]

"Shoku! You really shouldn't skip school! Even though training is good for you, learning stuff at school is very important. You could get hurt in training," Kirara scolded. "but school was fine. My class is starting to learn how to heal with our element."

~~~~

"Now that you mention it, Siana does babysit two kids for a friend. She might just be a light elementalist." Vera answered. "When I find out, I will tell you. Is that okay?"

~~~~

Zaimuko did not have breakfast at home, today. He wanted to try the food in the school cafeteria, so that is where he was, now. He had a plain begal, eggs, and a carton of milk.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku laughed and gave Kirara a toothy grin. "Wow, I'm surprised you're not a mother from how you talk. Anyway my training helps me a bit more than sitting in a classroom does, ya know?" He turned his attention away from her and stared outward, away from the path instead at the trees and the forest to either side of the path. He was focusing instead on the shadows, they wavered and moved, even when the trees were utterly still. Soon small individual shadows started moving from the trees, though there was nothing in sight to be creating such shadows. He had grown up seeing them and payed more attention them then the regular person. He vowed to find out what they were but he wouldn't be able to do that without better control of both light and dark.

[aamya]

"I guess so. Just please be careful when your training. Even though it may help you, don't push yourself. I don't want you to get injured." Kirara said. She looked in the direction that Shoku was staring at, and noticed some shadows moving. This seemed very interesting to her. The kitsune had never seen that before. There was still so much in the world for her to learn and see.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[khfan429]

"Hm... you mean Lisa?" Kage asked. "I'm pretty sure she controls water, not light. Anybody else you can think of, Vera-sama?"

----

Hikage had dropped Kasui off in front of Wind Class, and then started walking off to Tenma's classroom.

Kasui walked into the classroom, and was surprised to see that several of the girls that had ambushed him yesterday were already there. Squealing happily, they crowded around him and started hugging him tightly.

"Ohhhh my gosh, he's here!" one of them exclaimed happily.

"Yay, he's so small and soft and cute and adorable!!!" another one shouted.

"Um... hello." Kasui said politely, though he was obviously flustered by the sudden attention... and finding it very hard to breathe.

"Ohmygosh he's just so SWEET!" the three girls all screamed at once. Kasui held back a sigh. Something told him this might become a daily thing...

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku shrugged. "I'm always careful, I never do anything to hurt my-" Shoku said, cut off mid sentence after colliding into an oak tree. First him tripping over a rock, now crashing into a tree. If things kept up, he would be bed ridden for weeks by the end of the day. Shoku realized he was staring at nothing by the clear skies. He jumped back on his feet and glanced towards Kirara. 'That, in no way, was an example of me not being careful." Now embarrassed from making a fool of himself, Shoku closed his mouth and continued walking to school in silence. After long the school started coming into view. It was still too huge to believe and always had this eerie sense that something important happened here, but there was never any thing to really look into and he had no proof to be able to try and get stuff out of those who have teached there for awhile.

[aamya]

"Hmmm....I'm sorry, Kage. I can't think of anyone else." Vera said. After finishing his breakfast, Kyoko stacked the dishes neatly on the table, and joined Tenma by her side.

~~~~

Outside of the school, all the secretaries from the office were at the entrance. They were ordering all the students, and teachers that were coming to enter the building from the back. A few windows on the first floor were broken, and the sounds of fighting could be heard, nearby. On the ground were pieces of broken wood, machines, and furniture.

"Oh my! I wonder what could be going on?" Kirara said.
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~special thanks to cdawgg ^^~

[Shokuchaotic]

Shoku looked at the once beautiful windows, now completely broken, shards of glass littering all over school grounds, reflecting light from the morning sun and shining in many of the students faces. Desks and chairs that also somehow managed to find themselves flung into trees and bushes were cracked open and seemed to be used in a violent encounter. Soon, the murmurs and whispers began. Some students were worried and concerned at what was happening to their school, others were afraid of whatever caused this and the few who considered themselves rebels, were ready to push their way to the sound of fighting for an adrenaline rush. "Whatever happened here, it definitely wasn't pleasant." Shoku said, his voice being nearly drowned out by the constant talking and whispering. He grabbed Kirara's arm and led her to the back of the school. whatever happened, apparently didn't make it through out the entire school. "I'll see you at lunch, I want to find out what happened. I'm tired of being clueless."