I winced, my mind pounding at every breath. I struggled to look around, my head lolling from side to side at if lacking a support, which, all in all, I wouldn't contradict. My body was paralyzed, whether in fear or simply fatigue, I had no clue.

"Hello?" I called into the dark, damp room, my voice echoing and reverberating, twisting into a vile form of its once conceivable beginning. A constant stream of noise found it's way to my ears, drifting from one to the other, as if the sounds were moving in circles around me.

I cried out when a sudden, crippling kick was delivered to my spine, and I heard the distinct cracking of bones. I forced air through my lungs, as each breath became more and more painful.

"Why?" I rasped, my voice cracking from pain and fear.

"Well, my dear Alice," A soft voice drifted down to my, sounding almost loving, "Only so you can never be another's lamb, of course. So sit back and relax, my bride, and wait for the wolf to redeem you..." The voice took a sharp turn at the end, the sound of 'redeem' being spoken was reminiscent of a knife ripping through tough cloth. "Now rest, princess, you will be saved soon..."

The sound of footsteps caused my to look to where my captor was headed, and I caught a glimpse of the man's eyes. They were the eyes of a bloodthirsty villain, of a murderer.

They were the eyes of a wolf.

I rose groggily, stretching my arms over my head as my nightshirt ruffled at the ends, raising to show my abdomen. Light filtered through the slats in my window blinds, and my soft, blue comforter radiated heat, causing me to relax into it, yawning awake from my previous night's rest. I glanced at the alarm on my bedside table and sighed.

'Time for school again,' I thought, sitting up and ruffling my hair. I stood slowly, allowing my clothes to fall roughly into place. The wrinkled bedclothes were soft and comfortable, a light shade of violet. I grabbed my school clothes and began to get ready for school. A few minutes later I had my things ready, wearing black jeans, a red hoodie, and pulling my light brown hair into a high ponytail, I arranged my books right before my alarm went off. At the same moment, I hefted my bag onto my shoulders and went to shut it off, only making it halfway before tripping on something on my floor and landing painfully on my side.

"Ouch..." I groaned, getting back up, I looked to see the perpetrator and saw nothing. 'Huh,' I thought, 'I could have sworn something was there, I didn't trip over my own feet.' I sighed for the second time since waking, and rubbed my forehead, which had taken the brunt of the fall. 'This has been happening a lot recently...' I pondered on the past, remembering other times the same thing had happened. 'I must just be clumsy or something.' I concluded, finally shutting off the annoying drone of the alarm.

"Alice!" Her father called from downstairs, "Come on down, or we'll both be late!"

"Okay, dad!" I called back, and finished grabbing my stuff before jogging downstairs. "I'll eat breakfast at school." I told him when he raised an eyebrow at my from the kitchen doorway.

"Alright, hun," He answered, and followed me out the door, grabbing his briefcase and keys on the way out. His fresh-pressed suit sat comfortably about him, and a gleaming name-tag on his breast read:

Brian E. Malice
eTech CEO

I beamed at him as we entered his gleaming black Porsche. "Got a busy day today?" I asked him, and he grinned as he combed his fingers through his hair.

"When do I not?" He responded, stowing his briefcase at my feet so it wouldn't bother his driving. "You've got a test today, right?" He asked as he pulled out of the garage, glancing into his rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, in World History. I should do well enough..." I looked to him, "I did study almost all night, so I'd be surprised if I didn't."

"That's my daughter!" He chuckled, and looked to me, "If you plan on being the successor of the company, you've got to keep that up, alright?" He said seriously. I grinned and nodded.

"I know, and I'll do better than best to earn the title of CEO."

We soon found ourselves chatting about many different topics, mostly the company's rising popularity, and joking about how it'd take over the industry and then the world. Time flew by as we drove, and we eventually found ourselves at my school, just a few minutes before the bell.

"Alright, dad, I have stuff to do after school, I'll text you when I'm done." I said as I climbed out of the car.

"Alright, Al, be safe, and ace that test!" He rolled his window down and revved the car before pulling back onto the road, headed to his company's building.

I turned away and huffed, looking to the large array of school buildings. "Time to get busy," I murmured to myself, walking towards the building, "and no slaking off!"

I walked through the double doors, and my day had finally begun.

When the shrieking of the bell signaled the end of class, sighs of relief were punctuated by groans of complaint. The test was finally over, and I was certain I had done well.

"Well, students, head to lunch and report to your next class at one. You are dismissed." The nasally teacher said, pushing her glasses higher up her nose and adjusting her ash-colored hair. The sounds of rustling and zipping filled the class as students finished packing, handing the teacher their test papers as they went. She smiled at me as I passed, and I nodded to her out of courtesy.

I began to weave through the crowd when I noticed a particularly large clump of students standing in a circle around someone. The boy seemed indifferent, as if such a thing happened daily, as his peers bombarded him with questions.opposite

I sighed and went around them, but was stopped by a hand clasping around my arm. I swiveled around, facing the owner of it, and scowled. "What?" I demanded, before realizing the student who had been crowded was the one holding my arm. He chuckled and looked me over.

"Miss Malice, I'm pleased to meet you. I am Shade Green, however, you can call me Shade," He greeted me, "I am glad I found you, I needed to speak with you specifically." He waved the crowd away with his hand and, as they dispersed, began to pull me the opposite way of where I had been heading.

"Hey, thanks for the politeness, but please let me go," I said, tugging on my arm. He didn't relinquish it. "I'm sure you know me through my father, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to be on his bad side, so let me go!" I tugged more harshly and he let go at the same time, causing me to fall for the second time since waking. I braced myself for the landing, but it never came. I felt warm arms pull me back to my feet, and the boy who I'd just met embraced me.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Malice, I should have been less forceful," He apologized, and I looked at him suspiciously. "I only wish to show you something." He added, nodding in the direction he was taking us before I stopped him. "Don't worry, you'll get your lunch." He assured me, a smile playing at his lips. I rubbed the back of my head, running my hand through my ponytail,

"Alright, but first I have to ask..." I said, looking him over as he had done to me before, "How do you know my father?"

"I am his general assistant, of course." He responded immediately."Mr. Malice is my boss, and asked me to meet with you since I am currently enrolling in this school." He added, his grin widening.

"And what was with that crowd?"

"Well, you don't see someone like myself every day, plus I'm the 'new kid in school', so naturally I'd draw some attention." He answered yet again. I looked at him again, raising my brow.

He had seemingly natural black hair, and his eyes were a piercing blue. He had a narrow waist that a woman would die for, and a scar running from the elbow of his left arm to his wrist. He wore fairly expensive clothing, and he seemed to have an elegant air about him. I nodded. "Yes, of course, now we should go. I'll follow, so no need to pull me around."

"Again, sorry if I caused you any harm at all." He said again, seemingly remorseful. I followed him as he started again at a brisk pace.

'How,' I wondered, 'Did this high school boy become my father's assistant? Even that alone is high enough ranking at eTech. They only have the best!'

We wound through the corridors until he seemingly found what he had been looking for. He entered a room with no nameplate and switched on the power. The bright lights blinded me momentarily, but when my eyes adjusted I immediately forgot all doubt about the boy. The room was fully equipped with technology created at eTech, and the majority was the higher-scale and even unreleased devices. He lead me to the computer at the far left corner of the room, and began to swiftly pull up file afteer file of information.

"So what is it that you wanted to show me exactly?" I asked, the files coming up too quickly for me to see their purposes. 'This is probably why he was hired.' After a few more minutes of file surfing, he turned in his chair.

"Your father asked me to entrust you with a problem the company is currently having and he figured you, a person without a solid employment in eTech and yet a desire to see it prosper, could easily help to resolve it." He explained, and gestured to the files. "These are all the information regarding the problem, and everything connecting it to the company. Now, your father assigned me as your temporary assistant, so feel free to ask me anything about anything." He  stood and pulled another chair to the desk.

"So what is this problem, and why can't he figure it out himself?" I asked, sitting in the chair he had brought me.

"Well... The problem happens to be a person, and seeing as he can barely pull time out of his schedule to eat his meals, I doubt he has the time or patience for such a task, also, his researching the topic could arouse suspicion around the company, so he felt it was best left for you, the future eTech CEO."

"Alright, what is this person doing to mess with the company?" I inquired again, seeing how much I could learn from Shade before looking into the multitude of files.

"Well, whoever it is is not only threatening the safety of the company's future, but also that of the company's employees. Many have already quit under his or her pressure, so what we need is for it to stop, and for it to stay under the police radar. The person threatening the company warns that police involvement would result in, in his words, 'immediate termination'."

"Do we have any leads."

"Just one." He sprinted through the files and found what he was speaking of. A folder of pictures showed one threatening message, done in a red liquid I safely assumed was blood. It read: 'Down With Sin' in large, blocky letters. "In the graffiti targeting eTech, we found a Tentarch pattern fingerprint seemingly belonging to the suspect's right index finger. This makes matters simple, seeing as it's one of the rarer patterns, however, when we ran it through the system we found more suspects than initially expected, eight to be precise, and none of them have a particularly 'clean' record besides one Amanda Briggs, so the search is narrowed down to seven suspects with largely varying alibi. Three of them were nowhere near here at the time of the crime, so four are left. Beyond that, we can't find much more info, so we plan to let you investigate further." He sighed and turned to me. "You are our only hope."

I looked him in the eyes, looking for any sign of deceit, and saw none. "Alright," I said with conviction, "I'm on the case."

Soon after that, Shade and I sat at a long table with devices scattered around, small places emptied so we could eat what he had brought for us. I grinned at him as he pulled out a large bag and began unpacking various foods.

"Take what you'd like," He said, laying out sandwiches, chips, salads, Chinese and Mexican food, and a squares of meat and cheese impaled with toothpicks. "I made it all, so don't let my time go to waste, eat your fill."

I looked at him in awe. "You made all of this?" I motioned to the food and he nodded.

"Yeah, of course,"

"We could have just eaten in the cafeteria, you know, or there's a restaurant nearby that has great lunches for cheap."

"You don't want my cooking?" He asked, looking a bit deflated.

"Yes, of course I want your cooking, it looks delicious, but you don't have to go through so much trouble just because I'm your boss's daughter." I told him, smiling.

"If that's what you're worried about, don't sweat it. I usually make about this much for your father anyways, and some of it is for me after all." He chuckled. "I forget sometimes that I don't really need to make double portions all the time. I sometimes find myself on vacation with one portion too many, so..." He blushed slightly and I found myself holding back a laugh.

"It's alright, I can understand that much at least, seeing as my father probably eats more than his portion regardless."

"Yeah, you can say that again." He laughed and I joined him, and we settled down to eat before the bell. "Anyways, we will be meeting in here during lunch periods daily, if you have no problems with that." I thought over my current lunch over cafeteria lunch and the choice was obvious.

"Alright, fine with me, just as long as you don't over work yourself." I add the last bit in a bit of a worried tone, seeing dark shadows under his eyes, making him look as if he hasn't slept well in weeks.

"Ah, of course. I'll actually have a smaller workload since I'll be working with you, thankfully, so I should be fine. You make sure to do the same, I don't want you sleeping during lunch."

We lapsed back into silence as we ate, and I savored the taste of a homemade lunch. We chatted about random things, recent events, school work, etcetera. By the end of our lunch period, we probably knew each other well enough to call it friendship, but that would have to wait for later, when we were no longer working. We departed to our separate classes, and the day went on as it had been, yet everything seemed tinged in a morbid excitement.

'So this,' I thought, 'is how detectives feel.'

I continued through school and found myself thinking more and more about the case. 'Four suspects,'  I thought, my mind reeling, 'all of which could possibly have done it on the evening that it happened...' I pondered for a moment. 'But how could I possibly tell which one actually did it?'

Behind me, a hand brushed my shoulder. I winced and turned to see who had wanted my attention, but the crowd seemed to have tightened, and I had to continue along or else be swept away without remorse.

"So," A voice I recognized to be Shade's said near my ear. "Do you want to meet at the coffee-shop downtown?" He asked, and I found his inquiring face but inches from my own.

"Sure," I answered nonchalantly, keeping up the ploy that we were simply friends, nothing more nothing else, and grinned. "How about 'Mugs'?" I asked, naming one of the shabbier, less frequented shop.

"Alright, see you there in twenty." He said before walking away. I sighed and threw my books into my locker as I passed it, keeping only my homework with me, and headed out the door.

Walking downtown is no easy task, the large crowds of day workers and recently released students was largest around this time, and the only place it was quiet were the closed and practically abandoned shops. I found myself easing from the river of pedestrians and into a small trickle of bystanders, either waiting for a companion or else on their phones, finding this to be the only place they could actually hear whomever was on the line.

"Yeah," I heard one of them say. "I'm near the old bookshop and the coffee place you were talking about. Are you sure you don't want to just go to the mall?" He paused. "No? Alright, I'll be waiting here, and you'd better show up or I won't be your friend anymore!" He taunted before hanging up. "What a pain," I heard him mutter as I passed, and entered the coffee-shop with minutes to spare.

I hastily ordered a frothy latte and seated myself in the booth furthest from the front, where you'd actually have to be inside to even catch a glimpse of us.

A few minutes into my wait, and almost finished with my coffee, Shade entered the shop with his bag slung over one shoulder, and his hair tousled by the wind. He ordered a plain black coffee and received it before searching for me, seemingly assuming I would be here before him. Of course, he found me after a thorough search and a bit of assistance from my waving hand.

"Hey," He greeted me as he sat on the opposite side of the booth, placing his mug on a circular cup holder. He glanced at my drink and raised a brow, looking between the two drinks with mild interest.

"What?" I asked, "Have you never seen a latte before?" He laughed when he noticed my defensive gaze.

"No, I just thought you and your father were so similar, and yet you choose polar opposite drinks." He chuckled, looking at my cup again before sipping at his own, the steam from the cup slightly obscuring his face for a moment.

"So why'd you want to meet me?" I wondered, looking at my half empty cup before looking into his eyes, relaxing slightly when I noticed that he was focusing on his coffee rather than me. I wondered if I should be offended.

He finally put down his cup after a few minutes, and glanced up at me. "Ah, I just wanted to get to know you better, seeing as I do hardly know anything about 'you', but instead just your interests."

"Oh," I looked down yet again, feeling a bit more comforted by the fact that this wasn't, in fact, an emergency meeting. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Everything..." He answered distantly, but suddenly stood, causing the table to shake enough to spill his coffee in my direction, sending a wave of steaming bitterness at me. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" He apologized, immediately correcting his cup, but the damage was done. My once nice white shirt was stained an ugly brown from the drink, and the front of my pants were soaked. "Here..." He handed me a bunch of paper towels, but I sighed.

"No, it's fine." I said, standing and leaving the booth. "I'll just... Go." I began to walk away, but I suddenly felt myself falling, pushed by another. "Hey-!" I protested, falling onto the cushion of another booth, but suddenly found a warm, hard mouth upon mine, as my eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Above me, Shade's hair made a curtain around our connected lips, and his blue eyes were closed as his lips moved against mine. I suddenly realized that this boy had just stolen my first kiss away from me, and we were in a very *ahem* interesting position. I pushed him off me, and he staggered back a bit.

"Oh, Hannah..." Shade sighed, and pulled my out of the shop by the hand, calling for a taxi that slowed and stopped at the curb. He pushed me in and sat beside me, telling the driver an address before asking him to raise the privacy screen. "Oh God, I'm so-" At that moment, I slapped him hard across the face, and he pressed his large hand against his now red cheek. "A-Alice?"

"What the hell, Shade?!" I hissed furiously. "What were you thinking, just-!" Shade pressed his finger to my lips.

"Malcolm. Malcolm Hart was in the shop with us, he was watching us from a few tables away, so I had to get us away before he caught on to who you were." He explained quickly. "I... I just did whatever came to mind, I am so, so sorry." He bowed his head and I sighed.

"Hart, huh?" I wondered, looking to him, almost embarrassed by my actions. "So you were trying to protect me..." I sighed again and hugged him softly. "Hart is one of the worst among the four we're investigating, so I guess you did the right thing, thank you." I let him go and saw a small smile on his lips. "So where are we going anyways?"

"Oh, just my house." He answered, and I started at him open-mouthed.

"Why are we headed to your home? Is your mother even 'okay' with you bringing random girls home?" I growled, sitting back into my seat.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't she be? We 'do' need to get better acquainted, do we not?" He asked, smirking. I punched his shoulder at the double entente.

"Jerk."

"Whatever you say, Alice,whatever you say."

We soon arrived at what seemed to be a copy of my own home, though slightly smaller. That didn't make it any less impressive, though. "Whoa..." I found myself awed at the sight. Besides my own home, I had never seen a house with such extravagance.

"You like it?" He asked, his head tilted at an inquiring angle.

"Of course!" I nodded, and the taxi driver was handed his pay and a tip before we exited the vehicle onto the sidewalk next to the large home. "So who all lives here?" I asked, clearly in love with his exterior design.

"Me, my mom, and my two little brothers." Something told me not to ask about his father, and I agreed with it.

"How old are your brothers?" I asked, wondering if there were mini versions of the boy before me running around in the house.

"They're both nine, and they aren't truly my brothers, my mother and I adopted them when they were small, their names are Jack Casper and Neil Casper." He smiled. "They're identical twins, but have completely different personalities."

"I can't wait to meet them!" I grinned as we buzzed the front gate, and Shade called into the intercom for the gate to be opened, since he left his pin card inside. The creak of metal upon metal was hindered by constant oiling, but it still grated angrily as it swung inward, allowing us passage into the main yard. A large, white, marble fountain with doves spouting water from their beaks around a beautiful lady who occasionally poured water from an old vase stood in the center.

"They call her the White Lady," Shade noted, seeing my glance towards the work of art. "She was crafted in around the 1800s and when mother saw her at an auction she decided to make her into a fountain, so there she is." I nodded.

"Your mother sure does have a knack for art." I said, still staring at the detail on the woman's flowing dress.

"Yes, I guess she does. I think you'll like it inside if you like this."

We walked up the the front door and a man in a black tailcoat opened them for us, bowing as we passed. "You guys keep butlers and maids, huh?" I asked, watching the man close the door and take Shade's coat.

"Yes, my mother is quite wealthy, and she assumed opening a few jobs wouldn't hurt the economy." He answered, thanking the man before we continued on towards what looked like the main hall.

"How many floors are here?" I inquired, looking up to see that the ceiling was painted with an extravagant masterpiece that looked not unlike the sky. Birds of all sorts were suspended in flight, their beaks open with muted songs of joy.

"Five if you include the basement." He took my hand and led me up a flight of marble stairs, the black, wooden banister that surrounded it was inscripted with a line of text, presumably latin, the stretched from the bottom of the staircase to the very last stair. "When one's truest desires are those of all mankind, one shall succeed in his finest hour. However, a man with greedy goals shall perish in battle." Shade read it out as we climbed, pointing to the runes beneath the writing. "In a runic language they have symbols like this to show a word or meaning, so this reads: In the darkest hour only one should prevail, but whom it should be only time can tell." He smirked. "Mom has a lot of quotes from man different languages about The darkest hour."

"So where are we headed anyways?" I asked as we began climbing a second staircase.

"My room, where else would we go?" I blushed slightly at the thought of being in a guys room, and Shade's too, but I remembered that we were only here to chat, no matter what.

"Wait," Shade flung an arm out in front of me, and I paused in place. Before us, a woman with long, shining black hair and sharp eyes exited a room, with no noise from her steps or actions. I looked more closely into her aquamarine eyes to see that they looked haunted, as if possessed by a ghost from her past. She floated past us with only the swish of the loose cloth of her billowing grey dress, and seemed not to notice us as her hand delicately navigated the banister, guiding her to carefully walk down the multitude of steps.

After she had gone, I looked to see that Shade had a sad look about him. "Are you alright?" I asked, and he looked into my eyes.

"I am, but I'm more worried for her, she doesn't have anyone attending to her."

"What do you...?" He pulled me into a room on the third floor that was spacious enough to hold a small press conference.

"She's not been the same." He said. "Not since the crash." He sighed and grabbed me by the hand, pulling me to the king sized bed he probably called his own and sitting down, patting the blanket beside him. I sat and he looked at me. "A long time ago, about nine years now, she and dad were driving past a bad part of town as a shortcut. Some people in dirty clothes were along the street, and some crowded in front of them. They swerved so they wouldn't hit them, and ended up crashing into the side of a building. Dad died instantly, and mother's vision was never the same again."

"I'm so sorry..." I murmured, clasping his trembling hand.

"What for, you didn't do anything." He replied. "How about we just talk for a bit in here, and tomorrow we can hang out at the lake or something. Sound good?" He asked, looking at me with shielded eyes.

"Sure," I answered, and smiled. "Hey, maybe we can go fishing and swim, get some sun. It'll be fall soon, so we better get what we can from summer."

"Alright, sounds good." He said, smiling slightly. He turned on one of his multitude of gaming consoles and tossed me a controler with too many buttons. "So, ever played 'Terrestria Fighter 4'?" He grinned and started the game, and to the sound of techno music, we chatted about eachother, our families, and our friends, becoming more and more comfortable with eachother as we went.

After a while I yawned and checked my silver plated watch, switching on it's backlight to check the time in the dim room. '12:27am' It read in fancy script beneath the analog clock. I sighed. "Hey, Shade, I need to get home or dad'll kill me."

"Nah, you can just sleep over here. You can wear something of mine as nightclothes, and the servants will either fix or renew your uniform by tomorrow morning, so no need to worry. You can text your dad to tell him if you need to, but he's fine with it as long as it's just us working." He yawned with a hand covering his mouth, and his eyes drooped slightly.

"Where would I sleep?" I asked.

"Well, if you don't want the twins keeping you up all night, you can sleep in here. I'll take the cot, and you can take the bed. Sound good?" I was too tired to argue, and I had to get sleep before school tomorrow morning, so I conceded.

"Alright. No doing anything, though, or my dad'll kill both of us." I said, and finally, surrounded by the smell of Shade, drifted off to sleep

I awoke in a bed that wasn't mine, a warm arm draped around my waist pulled me in comfortingly. I nuzzled the hard chest before me and sighed in a soft, comfortable trance. After waking up a bit, I realized.

"Shade!? What the hell are you doing?!" I screeched, jolting him awake. He smirked and pulled me closer, despite my struggles.

"I couldn't sleep on the cot, and the bed looked so nice, so...." He chuckled and let me go, causing me to fall to the floor beside his bed, cushioned by a soft carpet.

"Ugh, why did I even..." I sighed and stood, pushing Shade to the floor with a dull 'thump', and looked to his wall clock. It was about an hour before school would start, so I'd need to start getting ready.

"Alright," Shade said, rubbing his head were he was sure a bump would appear, "I guess I deserved that." He yawned and looked at the clock. "Why are we awake this early on a weekend?" He asked, crawling back into bed.

"Weekend, what do you mean, it's Frida-"

"That was yesterday, Alice." He rasped, sinking into his bed.

"But-"

"So what are we going to do at the beach today?" He asked, looking to me from his spot on the vast bed.

"Beach?"

"Remember? You said you'd go  yesterday, so I'm holding you to your word. We could probably play volleyball with some of my buddies, and have a few races to the dock..." He pondered on what he could do and suddenly snapped his fingers as if having come up with a brilliant idea. "We can play Ultimate Frisbee!" He grinned widely, as if that had been the most brilliant idea in the world, and I sighed.

"Alright, but you're going to have to get me home, first."

"Why?" He questioned, and suddenly noticed my state of dress, which was a long tee-shirt of his I had worn as a gown, along with my unused gym shorts. "Oh." He sighed. "Alright, but first let's get your clothes from Sebastian." He stretched widely, his limbs splaying before he stood again. "I'll drive you there, you get on some clothes, and we'll be at the beach in an hour." He said, and I grinned, having always loved the beach.

"Alright, let's get going!" Shade rung what looked to be a doorbell on his wall, and after a few minutes the butler who had opened the door for us, presumably Sebastian, handed me my now clean and pressed uniform, looking good as new. Shade showed me to the bathroom adjoining his room, and I stepped in, quickly undressing into my underclothes before noticing the state of my hair, which I began to fix almost unconsciously. After what felt like five minutes, I heard a knock on the door, and called that it was open. Shade stepped in and suddenly became a shuddering mess.

"A-Alice...?" He inquired nervously, his hands shaking. "Uhm..."

"What?" I asked, and he simply opened and closed his mouth a few times before just pointing at me. Raising a brow I looked to where he pointed, only to realize I was in my underwear alone. "Uh.. Uhm... Get out!!" I blushed vividly as I shoved him out the door and locked it, puffing embarrassed breaths. Shade, outside, was laughing.

"Oh God, Alice!" He chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, you look good nude." I growled and pounded on the door.

"You PERV!" I shouted, donning my uniform as quickly as possible and storming out. "Walking in while a lady is getting dressed, do you have no manners?!" I stormed about his room, Ranting about his crazy antics. "Why did I trust you enough to even sleep in the same house as you?"

"Hey, you did say it was, open, so I assumed the bathroom was fair game." He put his hands up defensively as I stormed towards him.

"I didn't mean... Ugh!" I sighed. "Alright, are you ready to go?" I asked, slipping on my shoes.

"Just a sec," He replied, stepping into the bathroom and slamming the door. After a few seconds of muffled ruffling, he emerged in a new outfit, complete with a loose, collared, dark velvet shirt, form-fitting black jeans, and to finish it off a pair of black tennis shoes and a fedora. "Let's go." He opened the door for me, and I stepped out, and as I heard Shade close the door behind me, a large force barreled into me, causing me to lose my footing and go tumbling onto the floor.

"Yay! A new girl!" A small, blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes exclaimed. Another of these boys with the same traits looked to me from a standing position, glaring at who I assumed was his brother.

"Jack, get off of her, you're being rude." The boy said coldly, and the one above me squirmed slightly.

"But Neeeeeeil! She's so warm!" He giggled and nuzzled my chest, and I stood up with him hanging on my arm.

"Hello, Jack and Neil. I heard about you yesterday. It's nice to meet you." I smiled at the two individually, and Neil seemed to soften up a bit.

"The pleasure is mine," The boy smiled and bowed slightly. I tilted my head a bit before Shade could explain.

"They're Japanese, so it's a custom to bow when introduced." He whispered quietly into my ear. I nodded thanked Neil. Jack, who had been stationary during the exchange, suddenly rocketed from my arm and attacked his brother. Neil gave a little gasp when they landed on the carpeted ground, but pushed Jack off of him quickly and stood, bolting down the hall with Jack trailing after him. I smiled.

"Your brothers are adorable. Dangerous, but adorable." Shade nodded and grinned at my last statement, his eyes following the boys before they disappeared around a corner. He swiftly grabbed my arm and began to tug me downstairs, and I had to jog to keep up with his long-legged stride. He stepped out, graciously accepting his coat from Sebastian, and walked into what looked like a garage, motioning for me to join him. I entered the building and was immediately amazed. Everything was there from sports cars to motorcycles to jeeps. He chuckled at my awed look and motioned to the entirety of the lot

"Pick your weapon." He said in an overly egsagerated voice. I gaped and looked at him, as if to ask if he was serious, to which he replied with a nod. Gleefully, I began to search the lot for the perfect one, when my eyes fell on a shiny black and silver motorcycles with side-bags. I immediately pointed to it and he whistled. "Didn't take you for a motorcycle kind of girl," He chuckled, pulling a large set of keys from his coat pocket. Flicking from key to key, he sighed in exasperation before he found a dark silver one with 'Akuma' engraved into the side of it. He mounted the bike and turned the key, causing it to rumble to life, and patted to seat behind him. Handing me a helmet, he went over some rules. "Keep this on until the bike stops, hug me around the waist as tight as you can to avoid falling off, and absolutely to moving around while the bike is in motion. Got it?"

"Yup," I answered, placing the helmet over my head and fastening it tightly. He revved the engine and I immediately clung to his waist, securing myself to him. He smirked through is visor and pulled out slowly, and the moment he left the garage he flew through the estate's drive way, and I could have swore we weren't even on the ground for the majority of it. we exited through the back gate, and Shade slowed to the legal limit, the speed still daunting with the ground so close and our bodies almost completely unprotected.

We slowed at a traffic light a few blocks away, and he turned to me. "Enjoying the ride?" He asked, his hair ruffled from the helmet and vibrations.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, my adrenaline soaring.

"Well, maybe I'll let you drive her, sometime." He smirked and turned to the front as the light turned green, accelerating quickly and speeding down the road. We barely talked through the few lights we passed, feeling comfortable with the silence, I dozed slightly. I didn't notice when the loud screech of tires sounded nearby, but I felt it when a speeding jeep hit us head on. The last thing I remember before passing out on the side of the road was Shade's blood, dripping from his helmet.