Hi everyone! I felt bad about skipping a day, and I've skipped a couple of days by now XD It seems to me that I'm updating less than I did before. Now that exams are over, the teachers are all like, 'Now that your exams are over, you can put your heart and soul into studying for next year!' *swoon* So, back on topic, I felt bad, and so, I wrote an extra long chapter ^.^ Enjoy!

P.S I'm pretty sure a lot of you are going to skip straight past this message and begin reading the story. I like to think you all just like the story that much XD

My mind felt soft and spongy, as I woke up, blinking in the change of brightness. The bed was also soft below me, and I sagged against it tiredly.

"Morning," Mum greeted me as I entered the kitchen. "Good sleep?"

"Yeah," I nodded, scratching the back of my head. Wisps of brown hair fell into my face, hindering my line of sight.

"What are you making?" I aske, brushing strands of hair out of my face. Mum smiled secretively.

"It's a surprise," she replied. What a surprise, and she was making it right under my nose.

"I can see what you're making you know," I pointed out. Mum paused from where she was kneeding some dough.

"But can you figure out what it is?" She inquired. I gazed at the cooking utensils and ingredients around her, at a loss. A bowl of lettuce and tomato sat next to her, and dough was being kneeded under her hands. Not to mention the loaf of bread and the sausages I could see balanced on the table in front of her. How could she make a dish out of those?

"Well," I began hesitantly. "No?"

"Exactly," Mum sounded smug as she resumed her kneeding. "How about you go find your bow and arrows, while I finish this up. While we're waiting for this surprise to be finished, how about we try out the archery ranges at the association headquarters, and you can show me what you learnt. Then we can go to the park and have a picnic."

"Oh," realisation dawned on me. "You're making food for a picnic." A smile twitched at Mum's lips.

"Guess I couldn't really hide it," she admitted ruefully. "You would have figured it out eventually."

"Let me help you," I reached my arms out to the bowl of lettuce and tomatoes, to make a sandwich.

"It's fine, Saki," Mum's arm blocked me. "It's been a long time since I last did something like this, preparing for a picnic. I think the last time I did that was when you were really little. You were so adorable then..." She trailed off with a sigh, her eyes glazing over as she recalled all those joyful memories when I was a toddler. Hooray.

"Erhem," I coughed, breaking her out of her daydream. "So we're going on a picnic?"

"Yup," Mum confirmed. "Now just go and find your bow and arrows while I finish off the dough." She had already taken matters out of my own hands, so I could only go along with it.

Padding upstairs, I bent down and crawled next to the bed, reaching under to feel for the wooden case of my bow. Touching its dusty surface, I scrabbled to get a firm grip on it, before pulling it out, coughing slightly on the dust that accompanied it. Now where were the arrows?

Reaching under the bed again, unconsciously aware of the dust that lingered in the air, disturbed by my moving of the bow, I felt for a wooden surface, signalling the arrow case. It wasn't there. Frowning, I crawled over to the other side of the bed, in case the box was below the far side of the bed. Reaching under again, my finger tips brushed against a well-oiled, wooden surface. Voilà.

Pulling the case out, I moved to stand up when a wave of dizziness hit me. It was so sudden, I sat back on the floor with a thump, my head spinning slightly. In the blur of my surroundings, something appeared. A pair of gloved hands, covered and dripping with blood suddenly appeared, reaching towards me, as though they were about to grab me.

I hadn't realised I'd screamed. I was so terrified, at the sight of those white, gloved hands, dripping in the red liquid, reaching out to smother me, I wasn't aware of anything else. Mum burst into my room, Aquarius in her hand, and alert for any danger. As soon as she saw me, sitting on the floor, staring straight ahead in fear, she lowered her guard, hurrying over to encase me in a warm hug.

"Is everything okay, Saki?" Her hand stroked my hair, while I regained my senses, beginning to fall into her hug.

"I saw," I gasped, tears beginning to fall out. "I saw- those- hands...Covered in b-blood."

"It's okay," Mum soothed me. "They're not there anymore. I'm here. I'll protect you."

I'll protect you.

Like I've done for your whole life.

"Mm," was all I could gasp out, my body shaking with sobs. "T-thanks."

-

"Do you still want to go out?" Mum asked me, sitting back on her heels. "We can always do something else if you want." Her eyes were round with worry and tension. After about five minutes of straight-on crying, I had finally calmed down to a level which one could call, peaceful.

"No," I shook my head. "We can still stick with the plan we made. I need to get it off my mind anyway." No matter how much I tried, I couldn't pull my lips into a smile. They were frozen in a constant downward curve.

"Are you sure?" Mum still looked worried. I guess having a daughter that hallucinates and is on the verge of becoming insane can make someone worry.

On the verge of becoming insane.

"I'll be fine," I bobbed my head up and down in a nod. "I need a distraction."

"Okay," Mum finally accepted it. "Give me the bow and arrows, I'll take them downstairs for you. You can come as well." That was fine by me. I didn't want to be alone, in case those hands came again.

-

"Don't worry about the hunters," Mum assured me as we walked into the domain of the hunter association. "If you're with me, you'll be perfectly fine."

"Ok." I trusted Mum. "What about the gates?"

"Gates?" Mum looked confused. "Oh, yeah, they will slam shut on you if you haven't been marked with the hunter's seal."

"I know," I replied. "Yagari had to carry me through last time."

"Did he now?" Mum sounded interested. "I'm guessing you didn't enjoy it."

"No, it was great," I replied sarcastically. "Getting carted around like a sack of potatoes, then dropped on your face is positively wonderful."

"Ouch." Even Mum sounded a bit taken aback. "Did Yagari actually do that?" Oh, here was a good chan- No. I shouldn't. That wouldn't be very nice to Yagari. Even if he was a bit of a meanie to me.

"Yeah, he did," I replied. To think that he cares about you, I silently added. Obviously I'm not the same. "But I guess he didn't have much of a choice."

"Are you and Yagari on...different terms?" What did she mean by that?

"I have no idea," I replied airily, then stopped. "We're at the gates."

The wide archway of the gates to the Hunter association headquarters loomed in front of us. The pointed bottom of the gate protruded from the top of the archway, the gate that would slam shut on me if I tried to enter alone.

"I could try and carry you," Mum looked slightly doubtful. "But you're almost as tall as me now." She had a point. How was I going to get into the association without getting spiked?

"Shina, is that you?" A voice called from behind us. I knew that voice.

"Kaien," Mum turned to the speaker in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Yuki's on a hunt for answers," he replied in a way of explanation. "I was going to help her search the archives." Yuki and Zero stood next to Kaien, slightly behind him. Zero, upon seeing me, had a fierce glare in my direction, while Yuki just looked pleasantly surprised.

"Saki," she bounced up to me. "I didn't know you were coming here." Yuki's earnest brown eyes gleamed with curiosity.

"It's a long story," I replied carefully. "But I wasn't expecting to be here either." Kind of.

"It's funny you would arrive at a time like this," Mum remarked. "I was just trying to figure out how Saki could get inside without getting spiked by the gates."

"Oh, yes, the gate security." Kaien turned to Zero. I had a bad feeling what was going to happen.
"Zero, do you think you could carry-"

"No." The two of us spoke at the same time. Zero looked like he would rather jump off a cliff rather than carry me. I too, would rather nosedive from a ten-story building than be carried by the likes of him.

"Please," Kaien wheedled. All of a sudden, the respectable headmaster as previous hunter had turned into a begging father. "She isn't that heavy."

"I will not take a detestable creature like her into the association," Zero responded, a trace of a snarl in his voice. "Find someone else, or carry her yourself."

"I can't carry her," Kaien wailed. "I'm too old." He's old? To me, he looked decidedly young. Not that I want him to carry me.

"Kaien, what are you doing here?" Oh hell no. Yagari marched into the scene and stopped, scrutinising the five of us carefully.

"You look well," he finally said. It looked as though he was addressing Zero. Or maybe Mum.

"Yagari," Kaien began to whine. "Help me get Zero to carry Saki." I cringed. He made it sound so bad.

"Why on earth-" Yagari began but stopped as he realised where we were. "Oh. The gates." Without any warning, he picked me up like a rag doll and slung me over his shoulder.

"Put me down," I screeched, but Mum smiled.

"Well, now we can get you in."

All I could do was glower as Yagari walked into the building, while everyone else trooped behind. Mum had a decidedly odd smile on her face.

After Yagari had gone a couple of metres into the building, his grip on me loosened, and I felt myself begin to slip. Clearly he was going to let me faceplant like last time. At the last minute, he caught me and set me down on my feet. Oh yeah, Mum was here. Hehe.

"So you're coming to try and find out about Yuki's history?" Mum was asking Kaien. He nodded in reply.

"I'll be going now," he waved a goodbye. "I suppose you aren't headed to the archives."

"Nope, the shooting ranges," Mum replied promptly, beginning to walk the other way. "Goodbye."

Yagari crossed his arms next to me. Looking up at him carefully, I thought I sensed a hint of regret in his eyes as he watched Shina walk up to us, her conversation with Kaien over.

"You look a bit unhappy," I gave Yagari a poke. "Jealous?" Yagari gave me a deathly side-long glare with his good eye. I clamped my jaws shut immediately.

"You two okay?" Mum reached us, looking back and forth between us, noticing the stifled expression on my face, and how Yagari looked as though he wanted to murder me. He probably did want to murder me.

Getting no reply, Mum shrugged, beginning to walk off into another corridor.

"This way, Saki," she gestured. "Do you have somewhere else to go, Yagari? You can join us if you want."

"No," Yagari shook his head. "I have to talk to one of the other hunters. I guess I'll see you around." He stalked off, his western-style cowboy hat balanced on his head. Mum stared after him, a slight crease in her eyebrows.

"Maybe he's just having a bad day," she said, more to herself than me. Turning to me, she flashed a bright smile. "Well, let's go to the ranges shall we?"