"You should be more careful, Alondra. This looks like a pretty serious injury. You should make sure you let it heal. I have the wheelchair over here." I grimace as the nurse brings forth the chair I decided to leave behind.

"But I don't like burdening people in helping me in my weakened state." I mumble to myself as I go to sit on the wheelchair.

"Well, isn't he here to help you?" She questions looking over at Ichiru.

"Ah, well. . .I don't-"

"Right. We'll head over to class." Ichiru grabs the handles to the wheelchair, and pulls me out of the nurses office. Completely confused.

"Huh? Ichiru, why are you helping me?" I question turning my head to look back at him. He simply looks ahead with a blank expression. Geez I always seem to say something that makes people shut their mouths. Yes, sometimes that's a great thing, but not when I really want to know something.

I roll my eyes as Ichiru and I arrive in my Child Development Class. We'd missed gym, so now it's off to first hour.

You're probably wondering why I rolled my eyes. I rolled them because there are only two guys in the class, and Ichiru is the only good looking one. Unlike Justice. He's not much to talk about. I don't want to be mean, so I shall keep my mouth shut! Though, I suppose I already said something pretty mean. Curse this vain eye of mine!

"Oh, are you jealous, Alondra?" I look back at him with a glare.

"No way! Why on earth would I be jealous? You're my frenemy, remember?" Ichiru stops at our seats, and looks at me now with a confused look.

"Frenemy?" I blush, and scratch my cheek.

"Oops. I said it out loud." I say to myself as I try to figure a way out of this blunder. I have seriously got to start thinking before I talk. "Never mind. That has nothing to do with it. Now hush up, and let me listen to the reproduction of babies." I say waving my hand in front of him before turning to face the front of the class. Using my longish bang to hide my flushed face.

                                           ~0~

"Boy I haven't seen you laugh so much before. You look prettier when you do." Ariel says to me as Ichiru had left to get our work supplies to make our Chinese Minority Group poster. I blush, and avoid her blue eyes.

"Well, this is my favorite class. The people here laugh at my brutal honesty, and they respond well to it." I say with a shrug.

"You know I thought it was because of Will-"

"Are you crazy?! He's an underclassman! You know I don't like guys younger than me." I say with a frown.

"Well, I see that now. I think you like Ichiru." I give her the best stupefied look I could conjure up. Well I didn't have to fake it or try it. It was an honest reaction.

"What? The? Fuck?" I question her in disbelief. "How the hell do you get something as stupid as that?!" I glare at her intensely, and she rolls her eyes at me.

"You said yesterday that he was your boyfriend." I blush remembering that small detail.

"Oh! Haha. Right! I'd totally forgotten!" I feels so stupid right about now.

"Wow you're a bad girlfriend." I drop my head. I'd so love to deny it, but I just proved myself an awful fake girlfriend. Hopefully when I get my first real boyfriend I won't forget he's my boyfriend. Whoever he may be! But if things keep going like this for me. . .I might just become a nun.

"I know. Leave me alone. You know this is my first time having one." Although it really isn't.

"Hey, I haven't seen your nekos either. What happened to them?" I open my eyes wide. Should I lie, and make sure Ichiru hears or do I tell her the truth, that my parents basically threw them out without my okay?

"Meh, I threw them out. I have new plans, and I don't want them to stop me." Okay. The lie is out. Now to stick by it. Lying cramps kicking in. Ow! I gotta keep it together.

"What?! But you were so overprotective of them, and you'd always hurt someone if they touched them." I shrug.

"Things change." I tell her with as much of a blank expression as I could put on. I thought I'd gotten rid of the masks and lies, but I'm back to square one. I'd finally learned to open up, but I'm going back to being the old me.

"Markers, scissors, and glue." Ichiru says placing all that stuff on my Precalc book. I sigh.

"Are you going to be like my other partners? As in are you going to let me do all of the work?" I question Ichiru.

"I thought you liked doing things on your own." I grimace.

"Right." I reach for the marker, but he grabs it first.

"I was kidding." He says taking the poster, and writing down the English, and leaving the Chinese characters to me.

"Well, now. This doesn't look as plain as most of the posters I've made." I say aloud for my other former partners to hear.

"But I can't write." Will says making me roll my eyes at him.

"Yeah, but you can at least glue!" I complain to him playfully.

"I read the poster! Doesn't that count!" I move my head side to side seeing that that is a semi-good reason, but not enough. I then laugh at his bad attempt at a sorrowful face.

I gasp as a hand turns me back to them. "You're being vulnerable. That's not good when you have a target on you." Ichiru says for my ears only. Ariel had probably overheard, but she has no idea what he means. Like everyone else, she doesn't know about what I really am. Who I really am. It's better if everyone here remains in the dark of the dangers I have to face to protect them, and my family.

I lock eyes with him, taking his warning seriously. My guard is far from lowered.

                                         ~0~

I roll around the outside of the school as I wait for Kaito to show up, and pick me up. I wish I could get my car back, but I'm injured, and it was destroyed that time I last saw Yagari-sensei. My dad hasn't gotten around to fix it, and he won't let me use the truck since he needs it to get to work. We need to invest in a new car.

I should really get a job, but I need to focus on other things. Things that prevent the Vampire Senate and Purebloods from finding me.

I've managed to escape Sara and Shizuka's grasps. I'm surprised Shizuka hasn't made her presence known in my mind. Maybe I managed to block her out after all.

"It's about damn time." I complain as Kaito pulls up in front of me. He helps me in, and I jump startled to find Zero hop in from behind me.

"Eh?! Zero?! What are you doing here?!" I question him. I look around, but I don't see or feel Kaname anywhere.

"You're hopeless. You didn't even notice my presence there, but I'm not surprised. You were so busy being Ichiru's girlfriend." He says glaring at me.

"Oh. . ." I wince as I realize I didn't get into that small detail with them. I never told any of them that someone had started the rumor that Ichiru and I had a thing, and I just embraced the idea in order to get him to trust me. I'm so stupid when it comes to feelings.

"It's part of the plan. I just need him to trust me, so I can get information on Yagari Sen-"

"Either you're a really great actress or you're starting to take this plan way too seriously!" He yells out jumping out of the car, and landing at my feet. I can feel anger escaping his small body as he continues to glare at me, but now that I look at him closer I can see pain. I have a soft spot for twins, and instead of trying to get Ichiru on our side I'm only building a bigger rift between brothers. But I don't know how to behave if one or the other has feelings for me. I guess I just have to ask directly.

"Zero, if you're jealous then tell me, and I'll change the plan." His eyes open wide at my remark. He looks away from me, but I drop down from the wheelchair to kneel in front of him. Grabbing his chin gently to look up at me.

"Tell me. I'm not a mind reader, and I suck at reading emotions." He keeps avoiding my gaze. I shouldn't have added that lie. I can tell he's jealous, but I want to hear it from his mouth.

"Should I come closer, and let you kiss me?" He meets my gaze, and I smile down at him. "Sorry. I needed your eyes on me. I'm sorry I'm hurting you, but I have to do these things to protect the ones I care about even if it means hurting others that matter to me. Don't give up on me yet. I'm going to find a way to get better at this, and save those that are trying to protect me." I put my hand down to my lap.

"You've reopened your injury." I look over at the blood sliding down to the concrete ground.

"Ah, I really need to learn patience and restraint." I slide my fingers on the blood that runs down my thigh. Kaito kneels next to us, and looks at my bleeding injury.

"You really are a reckless idiot." I nod my head. There's no point in denying that truth.

"I'm trying to stop that part of me, but it's a lot harder than it looks." Kaito sighs, and pulls out a first aid kit from his pocket.

"This injury is healing way too slowly. I'm going to call over another hunter who specializes in the medical field to check on you. Maybe using that method will heal your injuries faster." I nod my head, and let him pick me up when he finishes bandaging up my leg.

Zero sits on my lap the whole way. Taking my hand, and stroking my fingers gently. I really hope he's unaffected by my bleeding thigh.

"Maybe it's not Ichiru I'm seeing. It's cruel of me. Yet I can't stop it. I don't want to break apart what's left of these brothers. Not only them though. Kaname too. I'm hurting him as well. Yet I can't think of relationships now. I have more important issues to worry about. Like finding Yagari-sensei. I can't think about me at the moment. I have to though. But if Kaito is right I can heal fast, and go on my official search for Sensei.

                                    ~0~

"Here's the problem." The doctor that is checking up on me says as she finishes removing my stitches. "You have strong vampire genetics, so this injury should have healed a long time ago, but these stitches were keeping your wound from closing. This helps regular humans, but you're a different case. If we stop the bleeding, and you rest this leg for today. . .It should heal by tomorrow morning." She tells me. I look at my reopened injury impressed.

"Huh, that's awesome. Wait, but how am I supposed to get home without moving my leg, and making myself bleed?" I question the doctor. She puts a finger to her lower lip.

"I'm afraid you must remain here." I wince.

"My parents are not going to like the sound of that. They'll hunt me down, and drag me by the hair back home." I tell her. She gives me the look that I'm over exaggerating, but if she knew my family. . .she wouldn't say a thing. But, they're not the physically abusive type.

"Are you having woman troubles or relationship troubles?" I look up at the doctor surprised.

"Wh-what makes you say that?!" I question her as I feel a blush crawling up my neck.

"You seem to be trying to find an excuse to get out of here. Is Kaito causing you trouble?" I shake my head.

"Not Kaito, that's for sure. He's a different kind of issue that I'm not ready to process yet." I say glancing away at the simple thought of that mean man.

"It's better if you speak about it with another girl, right?" I feel my lips form into a thin line.

"I think I can handle it." I say with an unconvincing tone to my voice.

"A secret between girls. I promise." She says raising both of her hands.

"Well, it's guy troubles alright. You see there are a couple guys I'm having trouble understanding. If I'm too nice to one the other gets jealous. I don't understand! I'm so busy worrying about Yagari-sensei that I don't notice the other important things around me. It makes me look cruel, which I might be, but I-I'm just new to this kind of stuff. I've never actually. . .Well, maybe a couple times, but the guys that have come after me never sparked an interest in me. Yet, Kaname and Zero. . .maybe even Ichiru too. They're making me feel odd things." I finally find an ending to my rant, and I see the doctor give me a sympathetic look.

"Ah, yes. The signs of a young woman, who is learning what love is for the very first time. It is a very difficult thing to understand. Especially when it appears that the three men you are torn between are compatible to your tastes. Eventually things will develop to the moment where you find that the one you love is closer than you think." That's not helping at all! Especially all this deep poetic talk! I can write poems, but I write things how they are not something with a hidden deep meaning.

"I'm sorry if this isn't much help, but things will make sense, and when you look back at this conversation you'll see what I meant." I sigh heavily.

"Maybe. Thank you for treating me." I tell her. She smiles, and starts packing up her stuff.

"Remember to stay off your leg until it's healed, alright?" I nod my head, and lie back on Kaito's bed. Well it's mine now.

"Goodbye." I wave my hand at her, and look at the white ceiling above me.

"How can I. . .Only one way. I'm going to have to let Shizuka back in my mind, and talk to her. I have to convince her, and get her to talk." I reach for the light, and turn it off. Letting the darkness sway me into the depths of my dreams. The only place I can find Shizuka.