Their eyes met and for a moment, neither said anything.

Sora stared into Drake's black eyes trying to fight back the fear that was taking control over her once more. It can't be a coincidence. The thought crept into her mind before she could shut it out.

Drake broke the gaze first. "Nice dog," he said, so naturally that Sora felt annoyed but managed to mumble a thank you.

"I hope I didn't scare you much," he went on.

Sora grew more irritated with his mundane comments. "Scared? Who me? It'd take much more to scare me." She forced a smug smile.

He traced his eyes up and down her figure before finally resting his gaze on the vase she was still holding. Sora looked down as her cheeks flamed red. She quickly placed the vase on top of the kitchen table. "I was just bringing it back to its rightful place." The explanation felt ridiculous, but she didn't want to admit how terrified she was just a moment ago.

In fact she still was.

She sneaked another peek at his black eyes and immediately felt thoughts of fear crawling back into her head.

"You are in my class, right?" His attempt at friendly chit chat put her at ease. If he was going to harm her, he would have done so by now. Or perhaps he is just a very good actor and he is hiding a chainsaw behind his back, she thought and laughed at her own stupidity. Hanging out with Katie sure brought her paranoid side to the surface more.

Unable to gain control of her thoughts or her speech, she opted to just nod.

"You sit right behind me," he continued with a friendly smile, seemingly unaware of her distress.

Sora noticed Kiba sitting next to the stranger completely unfazed by his presence. Traitor, she thought as she willed her thoughts to penetrate into Kiba's conscience, but of course, with no result. She finally decided to trust her dog's instincts, they were usually much better than her own. "My name is Sora," she said extending her hand, a faint smile finally made its way on her lips.

His smile grew bigger, finally reaching his black eyes. "Drake," he replied as he shook her hand. "You have a very unique..." He didn't finish his sentence because as his skin touched Sora's, a jolt of electricity shot between them, and they both drew back their hands in alarm.

Sora rubbed her numb fingers on her jeans. "I hate when that happens," she murmured. Static electricity always made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

She glanced at Drake and noticed he looked confused. She reached to reassuringly touch his shoulder, but he pulled back. When he lifted his eyes to meet hers, she realized that it wasn't just confusion she saw but fear and anger too. "You," he mouthed barely audible.

Now, she was back to being scared.

"I have to go," he said, and before she could answer, he was already out the back door.

Sora sighed heavily and sat down. Kiba nudged closer and rested his head on her lap. She placed her hand on his big muzzle. "I guess he is a psychopath after all."

After a few moments, Sora settled her jittery nerves enough to walk Kiba out to the yard, lock the door and race up to her room, right before her grandparents came home.

She was reading a book when her grandmother knocked on her door. She knew it was her because her grandfather's knock was always rhythmic and playful, probably in secret code, but she never knew for sure. Her grandmother, on the other hand, only knocked once.

"Come in," Sora said and rested the book on her lap.

Her grandmother entered holding a vase in her hands. It was the vase. Sora's eyes widened when she saw it. "Would you mind telling me what this was doing on the kitchen table?"

Sora rose from her seat and shrugged as casually as she could.

"Well, it didn't move on its own. Or do I need to chain it to the side table?" she asked and smiled.

Sora let out a small chuckle. "That wouldn't be such a bad idea," she said and opened her closet to avoid looking her grandmother in the eyes as she diverted the conversation. "Oh, and by the way I think it's time we get a baseball bat. You never know when it might come in handy."

***

Shadows danced and swirled around her.

The inky forms swirled past, ignoring her as they all seemed to have their own purpose. The building around her began to collapse, but she didn't care.

She peered down at her empty hands, and when she looked up again she was standing in front of an office door. She felt the rage taking control of her as she slammed her fist against the rectangular window. The anger swelled inside her when the glass didn't even crack. She slammed her eyes shut and clenched her fists as she willed the fury to ebb. When any attempt to calm herself failed, she gave up, daring to open her eyes again only to discover that everything around her was on fire.

Inexplicably, she reached out and grazed the wild orange flames with the tips of her fingers. Sora expected to feel the hot lick of flames, fiery and destructive on her tender skin, but instead the fire was cool to the touch. She fanned her fingers through the flames and noticed that the fire moved with her.

A strong hand grabbed her shoulder, awakening Sora from the strange spell that held her. She turned to see who had pulled her from the fiery dream, and she met the same pair of black eyes that had haunted her for months. This time the eyes belonged to a face, a face that was familiar once his features took shape and she recognized them.

***

Sora jumped out of her bed. A word still echoed in her mind and in the walls around her. She realized she had screamed upon awakening.

Drake.

That name was the reason she was now awake. She rolled over to face her alarm clock whose blaring red numerals warned her it was one minute until six. She positioned her hand above it, waiting for the inevitable ring.

Is there any way it's true? Could he be the one who saved me from the fire? The one who knows that it was all my fault? she thought to herself as she chewed her lip.

The shrill squeal from the alarm clock interrupted her thoughts. She leapt out of bed and pushed all thoughts of Drake and the dream from her mind as she dressed for Kiba's morning walk.

She walked down the stairs as soundlessly as she could manage, still weary from her restless sleep. She stopped briefly in front of her parents' last picture before heading to the kitchen. She was surprised to see her grandfather seated and drinking his tea.

"Ohayō," he said good morning in Japanese, and rose from his seat to hug her.

She hugged him back. "Good morning. You're up early," she said as she filled a huge mug with warm tea.

He shrugged at her comment. "How did you sleep?" he asked, as if he knew about her nightmares.

She was tempted to tell him everything, confess to her crimes and to ask for his advice, but the thought only lasted a moment. He is going to be so disappointed in me and probably think I am crazy, she thought and smiled at him like everything was okay.

"Baachan?" she asked about her grandmother. "Is she awake, too?"

"She left early for the cemetery", he replied and moved his now empty cup to the sink.

An image of Darkwood's cemetery flashed in her mind. Every single day, her grandparents would go there to pay their respects to the dead, while she was walking Kiba, when they got back she was already on her way to school so she rarely saw them in the mornings, but they always left a little something for her in the oven. It was strange that her grandparents were up so early, and even more unusual that her grandfather was still here.

"What about you?" she asked with curiosity. He'd never missed a visit as long as she could remember.

"I decided to stay in, it's raining too much outside," he replied.

Sora walked to the kitchen window while taking a few sips of her warm tea. Heavy clouds covered the sky, making it impossible for the light to break through them. Days like this one made it impossible to even make out the form of her school at the distance.

She finally walked to the back door, to find Kiba eagerly awaiting his walk. She scanned the sky filled with dark blooming rain clouds. Fat drops of rain were pelting the ground. When she was younger, the deafening noise of the rain used to frighten her, but now she was used to it, and even enjoyed it. Sora wrapped her fingers tighter around her mug hoping to absorb the warmth from her tea as the cold wind blew in, prickling her bare skin.

Strange, she thought looking back at her grandfather with a frown. She took a small sip as she switched her attention back to the crying sky. Very strange.

After finishing her tea, Sora dashed out the door to walk Kiba. She left behind her umbrella as she always loved the feel of raindrops against her bare skin. She even considered wearing just her t-shirt but thought better of it when a freezing gust hit her face. At first, Kiba was hesitant about the water, but once they were on the familiar path he was easily distracted by the intense smells around him.

When she returned home, she knew two things for certain. She was determined to learn if Drake was the one who had saved her, and she should be expecting a cold soon.

***

She met Katie on her way to the Academy. Katie tried to share her umbrella with Sora, but it was all in vain. "You can't possibly enjoy being drenched all day," she noted when they reached the school.

Sora turned to her, a big grin plastered on her face. "Don't worry it will soon stop raining," she stated, and before she even finished her sentence, the clouds parted and the first rays of sunlight glinted through the clearing skies, casting light upon the two friends.

Katie's eyes widened, and she looked around with such surprise that Sora couldn't help but laugh. "How do you always do that?" she shrieked still hiding under her umbrella.

Sora swiftly took the dripping umbrella from her friend and replied, "It's a secret," and she put her finger to her lips.

They found Mo waiting for them at the front entrance. "Good morning, ladies," he said, a little bit too perky for him. Mo was a lot of things but perky wasn't one of them. "You are exactly the people I was looking for."

Sora studied his expression, but she couldn't read it, not anymore. Katie just stared at him worried, like he was about to ask her to go undercover into the drug lords' hangouts. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I have an idea," he said and the accentuation on the 'I' was not missed by Sora. Mo had always been an overachiever, pushing himself hard to always be better and smarter than anyone else. As far as she knew, he had achieved all of his goals so far. Even when they were children, he was an overachiever.

"Sora could help you." Sora turned at the mention of her name, and she realized, once again that she was lost in her thoughts and not paying attention.

"With what?" she managed to ask.

Mo acted annoyed that he had to repeat himself, but his black eyes looked amused. He raked his fingers through his black hair and gave her a lopsided grin. A few drops flew in Sora's direction, and she noted that his hair was as damp as hers.

"Hey, watch it!" she joked as she pretended to dry the drops from her damp hoodie.

"Like you're one to talk," he said. "I didn't have time to look for my umbrella. What's your excuse?"

She shrugged. "I like the rain?" she said in what sounded more like a question. He gave her a wide smile flashing all of his perfect white teeth, and Sora couldn't help but grin in return. It felt nice to talk to him again like that, it felt almost normal.

Katie, who had been quietly watching them the whole time, feigned a cough. "Could we please return to the matter at hand?"

"Right," Mo said, and he took on a serious look, which made him look like a real journalist. Sora had no doubt that he would one day be a professional journalist. "So, would you help Katie with her new article?" he asked Sora.

She smiled at her friend and replied quickly, "Of course." This will be fun, she thought. It might even take my mind off everything else. "What is it about?" Sora asked them excited.

"The fire at the Academy," they both answered at the same time.

Or... not.