Kai’s Apartment, Present Day:

“Kai…hey Kai! Come on, anybody home?” Kokona knocked on the top of his head, trying to grab his attention. Finally, he snapped back to reality. 

“Hmm? Sorry, I was just...thinking,” he said. 

Kokona sighed and sat next to him on the floor. “You know, it was your idea to have me stay here tonight.” 

After they had left the school Kokona expressed her concern about returning home. She couldn’t face her parents, not after...that.

“Right, sorry. What is it you asked me?” 

She sighed, turning to look at him. “I know how hard this is, Kai,” she said softly. “Neither of us want to believe it, but that record said my brother murdered his partner, and Himari said the only person with the clearance to even try and destroy that record is the director.” 

Kai nodded. What had happened? Just 20 minutes ago he had been the voice of reason trying to calm Kokona. Now he was a mess hardly able to keep it together. 

“We really don’t know anything, Kai, and I’m not about to give up hope that it’s all some kind of misunderstanding.”

Kai nodded as he stood up. “Yeah, you’re right. Now…what were you asking before?” 

The mood in the room changed as Kokona slapped her hand to her face. “You really are hopeless,” she muttered before moving her fingers. “I asked where I’m going to sleep, you idiot!” 

“Oh yeah, well, you’ll sleep in my room. I’ll sleep on the futon here in the living room,” he said as he started walking towards the couch. Suddenly he felt a tug on his shoulder, then he completely lost his balance and fell on his back. 

“Not a chance! I’m sleeping on the couch—otherwise you’ll be all grumpy in the morning!” 

Kai shook his head as he rolled to his knees and sat up. “Okay, but did you really have to knock me flat on my ass?” He looked up at Kokona who was already setting up the bed.

“I had to knock you out of that mood of yours. Now go to bed, we have a long way to go in this,” she said, pulling a blanket over her face. 

He sighed as he got up slowly and walked down the hall towards his room. “Oh man, what a pain in the ass.” He entered the room then closed the door behind him and lifted his shirt over his frame. Sighing, he walked over toward the bed, catching something in his peripherals. “Oh, crap!” 

Suddenly there was a knock on his door. “What’s going on, are you okay?” came Kokona’s voice from the other side. He sighed and stood outside, leaning his head on the door. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just got a glimpse of my calendar and tomorrow is Himari’s birthday.” 

There was a moment of silence before she responded, “So, you’re going over there, right? I’ll go too. Goodnight.” 

Silence fell upon the room again before he walked back over to his bed and pulled the blanket up over his face, a small smile spreading on his lips.

Later that Night

“No…. m….m…. mommy!” Kai bolted up as the door to his room flew open and a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders. 

“Kai, wake up, wake up damn it!” 

Suddenly a hand came across his cheek, shocking him awake. “Wh...Ko...Kokona...” He sat up holding his chest as it heaved up and down, sweat pouring profusely down his face. 

“What the hell was that?” 

He sighed as he wiped his forehead. “I’ll be fine, I’m used to it.” 

She got off his knees and scooted next to him, shaking her head. “Not a chance. You’re going tell me what that was, and you’re going to tell me right now.” She could see that sweat was still coming off his forehead. 

“Since I was a kid, I’ve had the same dream. It takes place in an old house, the one I grew up in. Someone is covering over me as this shadow figure...looms over...the ground stained red...” He heaved a heavy sigh as he looked up at the ceiling with clenched fists. “It’s the same dream every night...for fifteen years.” Without a word Kokona got up and left the room, returning a minute later with a glass of water. She sat down next to him again and handed it to him. His hands were shaking as he wrapped his fingers around the glass and lifted it to his lips, but the water splashed past them and splattered onto the mattress. 

“Easy now,” she said as she grabbed the bottom of the glass to stabilise it. He nodded and reached over to put his glass on a table next to the bed. 

“I’m fine, you can go back to bed now.” He felt her fingers wrap around his hand. 

“Lay down and shut up. This is for helping me over at the school last night, all right? Just...lay down and shut up,” she mumbled as she shifted her body over, lying down next to him. He felt her hand clenched around his as he finally settled down and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning the sun came through the windows as Kai blinked his eyes open and closed, trying to let his pupils compensate. Damn, I forgot to black out those windows. He sighed as he kicked his legs over to get out of the bed before feeling a tug. Oh, right. He turned to look down at Kokona, shaking his head before he reached over with his other hand and flicked her across the forehead. “Wake up.” 

Suddenly her eyes opened and narrowed. “Why the hell would you wake someone up like that, you jerk?” 

He shrugged as she let go of his hand and he rolled off the other side of the bed. “You expected me to act any differently?” he asked. 

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just go make breakfast or something while I change,” she said, slowly getting up. Raising an eyebrow, he was about to protest when suddenly he felt something wrap around his ankle. Looking down, he noticed a root crack through the floor. With a flick of her wrist he found his leg being ripped out from under him as he dropped like a pile of bricks out the door. 

“What the hell?!” he asked, rubbing the back of his head as he sat up slowly. He could see the smirk creeping across Kokona’s face. 

“What, you really expected a different result?” she mocked as she closed the door.

Walking down the short hallway into the kitchen he went over to the fridge and peeked inside. I have half a mind to put bugs in her meal, he thought as he pulled out the carton of milk. He placed it on the counter then walked to the pantry and grabbed a few more ingredients before turning on the stove. 

About thirty minutes later, he had pancakes, bacon, eggs, and some noodles on the table, but he was still missing his house guest. He sighed as he sat down and waited. About 20 minutes later he heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked up to see Kokona. 

“How is it that you have magic, and yet it still took you almost an hour to get ready?” he asked with a slight grin. 

“Shut up,” she said, glaring daggers as she sat down at the table. Thinking he was in the clear, a small chuckle escaped his lips, but just then he felt another root. He bolted up from his chair, stepping back quickly as he shot his hands up in the air. “All right, truce!” he said, a little sweat dripping off his brow. 

Kokona merely crossed her arms. “Never ask what takes a woman so long to get ready—got it, fang-face?” He just nodded as he sat down again and stuffed his mouth full of food. “All I’m saying is that it’s kinda cold now.”

“So, today is Himari’s birthday, right? Please tell me you got her a gift,” she asked, clearly ignoring him as she snapped her fingers. A small flame travelled between her thumb and middle finger which she waved over her plate, warming her food. 

Kai shook his head as he picked up the glass of water he had poured for himself earlier. “I was just going to stop by the store and get her something on our way there.” 

Kokona rose from her chair, getting right in his face as she snapped her fingers. A small, spiralling flame appeared on her fingertips. “Do that, and I’ll burn you alive.” 

He quirked an eyebrow slightly. “The strangest part of all this is, before last night, you didn’t even really like Himari.” 

With another snap of her fingers the flame disappeared and she stepped back. “It’s not actually that I didn’t like her, I just didn’t like the fact that she babied you all the time. Seriously, she had the personality of a pillow, and it annoyed the hell out of me. But now I kind of understand there are certain times when I should be careful what I say around you. That and, well, this whole thing—this ordeal—it kinda puts all of us on the same level.” 

Kai grinned slightly. “You know, she wasn’t always like that—there was actually a time when she was more or less like you. In fact…” He got up and started walking towards the living room. 

“Hey!” she said, following him. 

He made his way over to the stand holding up his TV and opened one of the cupboards. Kokona kneeled down as he revealed albums all stacked on top of each other. 

“I never took you for such a sentimentalist.” 

He turned to look at her, shaking his head. “I’m not really, but I’m not heartless either. These people are the closest thing to family I have, remember?” he asked. He pulled out a thin, black album with a gold spiral binding and scooted on his knees toward an old wooden table at the center of the room. He placed the book down, flipping quickly through it until he stopped on a particular page. A smirk turned up the corners of his lips. 

Moving over a bit so Kokona could see, he revealed a picture of a teenage boy, probably around 13 or 14, carrying a girl on his back in the snow. “She gave me hell that day,” he said with a slight chuckle. 

“Didn’t you tell me you broke her leg when you were like six? Just how many times have you broken that poor girl’s leg, anyway?” Kokona chimed in.