Perfect concealment:

Okay, stay calm. I may have been reborn into a completely different universe, am currently a four year old, oh, and I'm apparently the twin sister to Skull, the one person I actually pity the most in the whole anime of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Well, no time like the present to actually stake my claim on my brother and make sure he has some skills when he is inadvertently pulled into all this mafia shit. And i might as well get better with this fighting shit, too. I would only be a liability to my poor brother like i am now. I might not like fighting in my past life, but i did know, that fighting was par of the course for this world.

Ten years later, we are both competent fighters. I have convinced my brother, that I have awesome ideas and unconventional ways to see things and figured out, that I have flames. Orange ones. I'm doomed! Well, to consider things, I found out, that I actually have orange flames, which means sky flames. And I can feel a bond in my chest with my brother. Which means, he can't harmonize with Luce, which means throwing the whole time line into chaos!... Ineed to calm down before my brother comes bursting in and asking what happened to cause me such panic. For a pacifist, he is astonishingly willing to beat anything down that makes me sad or hysterical.

Okay, I have calmed down a bit. Now, how to teach my brother about the fire and make sure he keeps it a secret...

When I turn nineteen, I know my brother will be picked for strongest cloud soon. I actually help him out sometimes with his shows when he runs out of ideas. He is not the most creative thinker and I have established, that I am a free thinker, therefore he comes to me if he hits a snag with his shows and they become repetitive. Personally, I have become a circus acrobat and I love my job. Sure, it is not the most paying job, but I get by. It also makes me extremely flexible. Combined with my flame dance, as I have titled my fighting style, it makes me actually deadly and entrancing to watch. Combined with my long, dyed orange hair and naturally orange eyes, I'm something else. Cherep, as is my brothers birth name, copied me by dying his hair purple to match his own purple eyes when i said i wanted to keep orange hair to myself. After a bit of pouting, Cherep gave in and dyed his hair purple, at my suggesion, to match his own eyes.

I have not yet found other elements to fill my sky and my brother is constantly away, I actually need to be able to protect myself properly so I don't fall into any traps and become a puppet with no free will. I'm a free thinker! I would wilt in the mafia world as a boss! So much paperwork would bind me to a desk and I wouldn't be able to practice any more and oh my God that would be horrible! My brother supports me in whatever I wanted to do, if I became a boss he would follow me there and I don't want him trapped in that kind of life anymore than I want to be stuck with it! So, fighting it is. I already dispatched a few dozen men who wanted to kidnap me. I like, that my flames are sensitive enough, that i can detect, if something is wrong in my surroundings.

My brother suddenly breaks all contact after giving up stunts. I am not amused. Feeling vindictive, I actually sent a distress signal over our bond to him. I feel my brother freeze, the worry come over our bond. I ignore the call he makes to me. I actually feel the panic he is feeling right now, so I answer the next call he makes. After reassuring my brother that I am fine, I scold him for ignoring me. He promises to come visit me very soon and I agree. I want him here in a week, though. Cherep sighes, then agrees.

When my brother comes, I hide my features, my very flames, as my brother was followed. I suppress a sigh, then scribble down a note, letting it drop after making sure he sees me, then I walk away. Cherep picks it up, then reads it. I can read the rage in his flames and sent soothing feelings down our bond. Cherep calms down, but burns the paper with a flash of purple flames. We meet up the next day, when Cherep is not followed. We catch up, he explains why he is a baby now. I cry for a bit, hugging him, but i accept it. I always knew, that it would be ineviable. Sadly, i let him go a few hours later. I know, that Cherep needs to be alone right now, to get used to the situation. I get him to promise visitng me sometime, though.

Suddenly, I'm a thief. I don't know how it happened, but I'm now part of a group lead by a weak, flame active mist to steal things. I was never so glad, that I learned how to suppress my flames from being felt by other flame users. It could have turned ugly fast if they knew I was one of the rare skys.

I'm trained up a little bit, then the heist happens. Apparently I'm needed, because of my flexibility. Go figure. Well, I'm good at bending at unnatural angles, so I guess it was because of that. I literally dance through security, get the thing, then dance right back. It actually is exciting, so I am now stealing stuff on my lonesome. I even developed a flame pocket dimension in one heist I had to quickly let the loot disappear. Which was awesome. No one suspected the willowy looking girl to actually hide several tonnes of gold on her person and not seem affected by it!

Later, I realized, that i harmonized wih space, to bend it to my and my flames will. I expanded on that to make bigger pockets in which I hid all manner of things i needed to live. I only carried around a bag with me for show, most days now. At least Cherep was suitably impressed, when i told him about my trick. He was much less enthusiastic about me being a thief now. It was inevitable, though, that i would end up in the mafia. I was a sky, and flame active skies went into the mafia. One way or another. I choose to be aware of what would, possibly, be my greatest enemies. Reluctantly, Cherep agreed to my point of view, then threw himself into learning all about the political climate in the mafia to relate to me. I loved my brother to death and back, but he was such a puppy sometimes!

Years went by and I aged with grace more than just grace. Apparently, my flames are strong enough, that my aging is slowed down by quite a bit once I hit 20, probably also because I'm a cloudy sky and share the insane propagation with my brother, though it hurts me quite a bit to move with a broken leg or so, while his is healed quickly, leaving him no pain besides a bit of a sore feeling. I envy that sometimes. Anyway, I have aged physically about a year and lived 10. Which, okay, I'm apparently stronger than Yuni, Byakuran and Tsuna combined. Which is seriously creepy! Or, I don't know, my brothers trick with never dying is translated to slow aging for me on top. I don't know! What I do know, is that the pool of flames I have allows me to imitate what Tsuna does with his X-Burner a few times before I feel even a dent. Crazy, I tell you! And it is only because of my free thinker attitude and reading tons of fanfics that I even had an idea on how to control my flames. Otherwise, I would have needed to rely on others, with was a big, fat NO for me. I did get fighting lessons on mafia land regularly when I didn't have any heists to pull, though. I worked them into my flame dance on my own, when i was in the mountains and away from anywhere I might attact the attention of others.

My brother becomes head strategist for Carcassa while I start my career of being a thief. Once I got onto mafia land and joined the hall of thieves, I really started. Everyone was amazed by the things I could get done. All thanks to the trick I figured out. By infusing my surroundings with my flame a tiny bit, I could actually make it, so I harmonized away my existence. I still existed in memories, but I could, effectively, hide where I was at any given point. I tested it out on mists and other flame users, but they could only tell, that a sky was in the area, not where I was. Which was totally awesome but still gave away, that a sky is there and I don't know! I just buckled down and trained some more. It was still creepy to me, that I could effectively erase my entire presence. Cherep agreed on that matter. HE was my sole guardian, but he himself couldn't pinpoint the exact location i was in.

When I saw my brother leading an attack on mafia land while I was there, I swiped him up and then hid with him. We caught up with each other, and once the Carcassa famiglia made a retreat, Cherep said good bye, until next time, then turned into Skull and bounded after his own famiglia. I smiled after him. Skull was a mask that he put on whenever not with me. To protect himself. I undorstood that. After all, no one expects a weakling, coward and egomaniac to actually save the day. I even agreed with the sentiment. I just made clear, that I wanted to be with Cherep, not Skull, when he was with me.

I had become infamous. No really, my thief persona had become infamous for completing ten high risk and time sensitive missions in half a year. Cherep congratulated me, sent flowers to me even, and promised a visit. I hugged my brother when he made the promised visit, we caught up with each other again, he congratulated me on my new title and managing to hide my true identity all the while behind both a real mask and a personality one. I congratulated him on making the Carcassa famiglia into a semi organized bunch of people in return, which was hard, because they were the most unorganized bunch of people I had ever heard off before. I still disliked him being in the mafia, but didn't mention it. It would be highly hypocritical of me to do so. I did make plans to pluck him away once he was back and out of the curse, to settle down into more civilian oriented business. I suspected, that Cherep wouldn't mind too much, if he could stay informed about what his friends were up to.

Cherep actually blushed at the compliment. I just ruffled his hair. "Remember though, if you ever want out, you are my cloud, and by mafia law, if you want to leave your famiglia to join me in whatever the heck I do, you just have to say the word and I'll get you out. It is my right to have my only element around me." Cherep actually broke down and cried when I said that. He wanted to keep me a secret, though. Shame, I actually would like to have him around some more.

Byakuran took over the world. I had no longer something I could do, as mafia land had been sunk. Luckily, I had quite the amount of money stashed away all over the world, so it wasn't all bad, but still. Feeling my brother and cloud slowly dying, though, made me angry. I actually came and got him away from Carcassa without his say so. We lived our lives in a small cabin in the woods, up in some mountains, I filtered the poison out of the air and masked the pacifiers presence with my flame trick over the little house. Cherep and me were happy. We actually trained our asses off, so we would be able to help, should someone challenge Byakuran, so we might be able to chip in. We did not like Byakuran one bit.

Then, Byakuran found us. I hid the true strength of my flames, hugging Cherep to me, and keeping only a small amount of flames around us, so my brother would not be weakened. I was at most a civilian sky on the others radars. Keeping my identity hidden had some unexpected perks, I admit. Cherep was ripped from me and before I could do anything, he battled Byakuran and nearly won. Then, a lucky coincidence happened and Byakuran ripped Cherep's pacifier off. I admit I was too shocked and filled with grief to do anything about it right then and there. Then Byakuran and everyone else disappeared with the purple pacifier. I lost it. When I came out of my untypical rage, the mountain we had lived on was reduced to rubble, as were the surrounding ones.

I went to the Vongola's VARIA and became an assassin for them. They gave me a bit of training, sent me on missions and when I returned after ten or so, they gave me the full routine of training. I became one of the best they had and one of the most trustworthy. All I had to say, was that Byakuran had killed my cloud, my only element, on accident. The VARIA boss Xanxus and Vongola boss Tsuna shot me semi sympathetic looks, gave me a few more high profile missions, then cut me loose on the enemy. I had a communication device for recall and regroup purposes, but it was one use, that's it. After i got back safely, I would get a new one. I helped out, dropped by regularly with goods they needed but couldn't get themselves due to still being one awesome thief and wreaked havoc on Byakuran's forces by myself. I was that furious with him for taking Cherep away from me.

When it all came to a head and a younger Vongola boss had been summoned, I came and gave him a few tips, from sky to sky. Tsuna the younger was adorable. And he actually harmonized with me a bit as equal sky. Which surprised me quite a bit, I admit. It did, in fact, surprise everyone else. I then pulled Tsuna aside. "Tsuna, you are not properly bonded with your guardians. You have to accept that flames are a part of you. They help you, not hurt you. If you can feel your guardians emotions behind your own, then you have real elements." I advised. Tsuna actually seemed to consider my advise, then his face suddenly became one of awe. Due to the bond between equal skies, I could feel, that he had found his own elements. Weel, more like really accepted them.

"Thank you." breathed Tsuna, in total awe of the feeling filling him. I smiled, ruffled his hair and sent him on to learn that X-burner technique he was training for at the moment.

"Remember, you fight to protect. You are the last line of defense. If you fall, no one else will be able to stop Byakuran. You have the opportunity to train right now. Everythign you do not learn right now, you will have to get on the battle field. Before you battle Byakuran, you will fight others, but it will only be helpful to hammer out any mistakes you make before facing the big bad." I said quietly. Tsuna nodded his understanding. I wasn't surprised, when he got it down pat within this very day.

I skulked around the base until the confrontation between Tsuna and Byakuran. I watched, as Tsuna defeated Byakuran. When Skull was revived, though, I had to hold myself back from running over and hugging him. No one knew Skull was Cherep, my twin brother and cloud.

When I woke up in the past, I immediately called Cherep. Who answered and agreed to meet with me. He told me how I had my memories from the future, I told him what I did after his death. Cherep frowned when he knew I had become an assassin, one of the very best. He agreed, though, to give Tsuna a message from me. I would come around sometime in the future, but to not expect too much from me. I did mostly help just because I had a grudge against Byakuran, after all. I went on with my thieving hobby, and it was a hobby now, as I truly had enough money stashed all over the world to get by comfortably for the rest of my life. And if I ever needed cash, what are bank robberies for? I did train my ass off to regain my skills as an assassin, though. Who knew when I would need them?

I found myself dawdling for a bit, but then headed to Namimori in Japan in early august, around the same time the boss watch battles would be about to start. I managed to get right into the preparations and gleefully declared Skull my partner and took the boss watch. The VARIA eyed me carefully, as did some others that remembered. I was wearing my face mask I was wearing in that future, but my eye and hair color made me stand out a bit. They also confirmed it was, indeed, me. Unfortunately. Fortunately, Skull was now treated with a bit of respect for knowing and me and being enough of a friend for me to have me joining Skull over my somewhat harmonized equal sky Tsuna. I had the boss watch, however. And I'll be damned if I let anyone get it from me, too!

When the Vindice warped in, I found, that my technique even hid me from their senses to my utter glee. I picked up Skull and held Enma's hand, enveloping them in my technique, then pulled them away, leaving behind confused Vindice guards. I suppressed my giggles the whole way away from them. Now, if only Enma would step quieter to avoid someone noticing we were making a getaway, it would be perfect. My technique did not cover sound, after all. That was my own skill at work.

When Tsuna came up with his plan to free the Acrobaleno, I was behind him. Why shouldn't I be? It would free my brother from his curse, after all. He may be my older twin, but I was his sky. It was my job to make sure he was well, as it was his job to do the same as both the older one and the cloud guardian.

It worked! My brother was now pacifier free, not dead and he would grow up again! He did seclude himself away with the other Acrobaleno to get his real age back faster. Which had me pouting quite a bit until they came back. I did annoy Tsuna in that time to no end, making sure he and his guardians could sneak around with the best, name ly me, but i didn't teach them my technique. It was my signature in some ways and Tsuna was awesome enough even without it.

Once the Acrobaleno were all grown up, Cherep called me to let me know it was done and about the meeting they would have in a park, the Vongola Decimo generation, the VARIA leader and his guardians, Dino Cavalone and his guardians and the former Acrobaleno. I agreed to come.

When I arrived, I was once again given strange looks, but ignored it. I had caught up with Cherep tentatively, as there were still people around and he knew me well enough to know, that I was a rather private person by nature if others could listen in. With Cherep alone, i would tell him anything he wanted to know without hesitation.

"Who are you, miss?" asked Yuni an hour later curiously. Everyone stilled and looked at me expectantly. I closed my eyes and sent an unsure feeling to Cherep. Who sent acceptance back. I opened my eyes.

"You know me from the future that will never be." I started and everyone nodded. That was common knowledge. I was unsure if I should proceed. Skull waltzed up to me and threw an arm around my shoulders in silent support.

"You can tell them, I'm just not sure if they are completely ready for your awesomeness." whispered Cherep to me, then resumed being Skull.

"I'll do so, if you stop pretending. I hate seeing them assume you are weak, even though it makes them totally underestimate you. Because I made damn well sure you are not." I said, frown audible in my tone. Skull stopped being Skull and became Cherep, laughing nervously. I nodded. "So, I'm the sky thief." gasps rang across the clearing. The sky thief was the name of the best thief in the world. No one could run high risk and time sensitive missions as she did. I nodded, pleased that I had their awe. "I'm also Cherep's twin sister, please treat me right." I added with a light bow. Everything broke out into pandemonium.

"Did you have to say it so bluntly?" deadpanned Cherep. I flicked his nose.

"I'm your little sister, I'm supposed to be annoying!" I said with conviction. Cherep looked shocked.

"Where is my cute little sister? What have you done with her?!" demanded Cherep of me playfully. I let my eyes crinkle to show my smile. Cherep pouted. I started to say something, until my right hand snapped up and caught the hand that had tried to pull down my face mask. I looked over to see who it was. It was Byakuran. That little piece of shit!

"Do not, under any circumstances, touch me. Do not even try to do so. I have no compunctions about at least trying to kill you. I still have not forgotten you ordering the Acrobaleno poison released into the air and killing my brother in front of me. He is not only my brother, he is my cloud. And my only element. I do not care for you, so stay away from me." I said coldly, putting all my hate, disgust, anger and resentment into my tone while giving him my best glare, nearly crushing the hand I still had captured. It cowed Byakuran. "I did not spent my time in the future that never will be hunting down and destroying over half of your troupes for nothing." I added, then twisted my body and threw him into the pond. Everyone was quiet. "Well, that ruined my mood." I muttered. Cherep patted me on the shoulder in consolation.

"How dare you!" raged Bluebell. I danced out of the way of her fists.

"Him killing Cherep is the same as someone killing Byakuran for you!" I told her, still dodging gracefully. "He may be alive now, but he was dead a few years to my memories. I still dislike and hate Byakuran, I can put up with him if he doesn't come near me, though. Stop being childish." I told the girl off, then slapped the back of her head. The girl landed sprawled out on the ground and I snorted. Tsuna, the sky I had a bond between equals with, pleaded with me to calm down. I snorted. "I am calm." I simply stated. It was true. If I was not calm, if I was raging, I would have reduced the whole town to rubble.

"I don't see it." said Tsuna sceptically. Complete with deadpan. I sighed.

"When I rage, I reduce all around me to rubble. I did it to the mountain Cherep and I lived on before Byakuran came and killed my brother." I snorted. Everyone stilled. VARIA froze, though.

"There was a reason the maps had to be redrawn, kid. A whole section of the mountain range of the Himalya was gone one day, only rubble remaining, and not even much for that matter. The people there were all dead." said Xanxus in utter disbelieve.

"Not one of the best things I could have done." I agreed easily. Kawahira's stare got annoying. "I much prefer hiding over announcing my presence to the world." I said. "I will support my flame brother and my blood brother in any way and shape I deem is necessary. That is all I ever want to do." I said, shrugging my shoulders. I knew just how much weight I gave Cherep to throw around with this. I didn't rightly care.

"You would have made the perfect sky..." Kawahira breathed. I narrowed my eyes at him and he backed off. A bit. "Just saying..." he deflected. I nodded. I did not want to be made responsible for that group of misfits, bad enough I stole Cherep away. My brother would be the only guardian I would ever need, but sometimes I did get lonely. Since the bond between Tsuna and me was established, I participated a bit in his filled sky, but never stopped regretting not having more guardians. I would never have more, though, because I would be afraid of them leaving me. It was bad enough with only Cherep and worrying if he would age the same as me or if I would outlive him for a long while, yet. Kawahira as a mist might be possible, but I didn't want him as my mist. I just plain out didn't like him well enough to seriously consider it. Besides, I had slowed aging, he was immortal. He didn't deserve loosing a second sky, even if he was an asshole.

"Will you show us your face?" asked Tsuna with big, pleading eyes. Probably to distract me. Not that i minded, i needed to take my thoughts away from that depressing direction. So, I tilted my head and actually thought about it.

"Hmm~" I hummed, tracing the top of my mask thoughtfully. Everyone leaned in expectantly. "Nope!" I said cheerfully, linking my hands behind my back and causing most to face plant. Even Cherep. Who, come to think of it, hadn't seen my face in quite some time, too. "I do have to maintain professionalism! I'm the 'sky thief'! I became the 'unseen assassin' in the future that thankfully will never be, I sure hope I can maintain professionalism under any circumstance! I'm a free thinker! I won't reveal my face!" I declared, not playfully, which would have invited prodding, but the deadly serious tone that declared the matter over. "I didn't hide my face for nearly three decades just to reveal my face to the Vongola, Cavallone and Corzato Decimo, the former Acrobaleno and especially not to Byakuran and his elements!" I seethed, feelings of hurt welling up in my chest in remembrance how it felt to loose my cloud. Cherep hugged me.

"I'm alive, sister, sky. Your cloud is still floating." he murmured into my ear. I hugged him back, desperate for some stability. I never knew it would be this hard to loose an element. I cried.

Once I had calmed down a bit, settling down, Cherep next to me, one arm slung over my shoulders, I finally relaxed a bit. The others looked a bit unsettled or a bit indecisive, so I smiled at them. I think my message got through, despite my mask, as the others settled down. "Cherep, I don't know what to do, though, I still look like 23. And I age so slowly..." I said, sadness in my tone of voice. Cherep hugged me tighter.

"Maybe, I will age as you do, or your aging will pick back up to normal?" he asked hopefully. I shrugged, but I knew what would happen.

"If I continue aging like I currently am, then I will only look around 70 while truly in my 5th century of living..." I pointed out quietly, still shaken. "And I refuse to go by suicide!" I added harshly. Cherep hugged me. It seemed especially bad to me, because I read quite a bit of immortal character fics. No one was enjoying their immortality except they had a lover or friends to chare it with.

"We'll figure something out, sis, like always, if I don't age like you do. Or you like me." he encouraged me. I smiled up at him sadly. Then I clapped my hands and sprang to my feet. Cherep just smiled bemusedly up at me, while I started giving out party poppers, smiling and nearly dancing around the people. Who were all confused by my 180 turn. I heard Reborn approach my cloud, and heard them conversing in low tones. Probably about me being strange and what I meant with my aging. I decided to ignore it for now. I needed to force myself to be cheerful, or else i feared to fall into a small or big bout of depression. Had those in my first life and could do without. Depressions are depressing, after all.

When I turned to Byakuran, I considered it for a few moments, then shrugged and handed him a few normal party poppers. The man was simply stunned at my behavior. "I may not like you, but I will put up with you for now. You make a move that I think threatens my cloud, Tsuna, VARIA or the other ex Acrobaleno, I will pulverize you, no questions asked." I said pleasantly, then walked away.

"How strong are you?" asked Fon me when I passed by on my way back to Cherep. I looked at him curiously. "On a scale from one to ten, ten being Tsuna at his best." he clarified. I hummed, should I be truthful? Well, okay...

"Hm~ I would guess somewhere around 15." and with that, I was off. Fon's dumbfounded stare uncomfortable on my back. After explaining to Cherep, the cloud about busted a gut from laughing to hard. Which made Cherep the center of attention.

"Oh sis, only you..." he managed to get out between wheezing for laugher. It was genuine mirth, so i waited for a few seconds before speaking up. I actually felt that I was justified in pouting, though. Which I did not do, that would be unprofessional, but still. This was a situation it was warranted in, in my humble opinion.

"What, it's true! While I give Tsuna props for power, I have more and I am more skilled in using it, plus I have versatility!" I said. My indignation could not be erased completely from my tone of voice. That comment somehow ended up with me and Tsuna facing each other and being expected to fight. I rolled my eyes, then lit my hands and feet on fire while Tsuna entered dying will mode after pulling on his mitts that transformed into his gloves. Then I moved. I think I never actually went full out on any opponent, not even a mass of many annoying opponents together. Not even Tsuna managed to make me go all out, but he certainly pushed me further than anyone else ever had in a fight.

I still won. Tsuna used his X-burner, I cloaked myself, then simply stepped aside, letting it fire unhindered. I then snug up on Tsuna and chopped the back of his neck, my cloak actually preventing his intuition from warning him about my sneak attack, because I belong, ignore me harmony with my surroundings actually fooled his intuition... "There you have it. I didn't even go all out." I said, then snorted. Not gone all out indeed. All out would mean, that I fought on the same level I fought Tsuna on, while under my concealment. The same one that made me unnoticeable, period. No one had yet to even detect in which general direction I was in, so no problem in me becoming rated second strongest. And if my fighting style and my concealment were to be seen through, I still had some other flame tricks I could employ to win. Like my imitation X-burner or petrification flames. Yes, I could petrify my opponents without aid of a sky lion. Shoot yourself in the foot, that was hard! I won't tell anyone how I did that. I will tell you, however, that i also figured out how to reverse the effect. Combined with my ability to see behind illusions and sense flames... No contest.

"You are ranked strongest in actual all out fights, no rules!" said Fuuta in pure awe. I rubbed the back of my head and hunched my shoulders. "And you are number one in never having to get serious in any fight!" he added in even more awe. I skillfully ignored the way everyone looked at me with surprise.

"What can I say, I still have a lot of things up my sleeve... though I doubt someone could actually beat me in combat when I engage my concealment." I said. I never explained how it worked exactly, not even to Cherep. I didn't want anyone chancing getting their paws on it or even information on how I do it. When mastered, as I had, I literally harmonized with my surroundings so much, I became the surroundings. And not even that, I became the most natural thing around, even a building in the middle of a very big city or a tree in a forest would seem more strange than me when I activated it. The brain was blacked to process me as anything but most natural thing around. Naturally, if I told people, they would be able to overcome the effect, as they would know what to look for, so I just didn't. End of the story. The most awesome part of it was, though, that once witnessed in person, my technique took root in the subconscious mind, making the logical assumption about what I had done impossible. Not even Verde would be able to deduce that! ... Which was partially the reason I used it in my fight against Tsuna. Verde was the one with the best chances to figure it out.

After the meeting in the park had wound down, Cherep escorted me to the hotel I was staying at. "So, big brother, what do you say we don costumes and ambush Tsuna for some fun tomorrow or in the next few days?" I asked conversationally. Cherep shrugged.

"Meh, fine by me. What do we do?" asked Cherep. I smiled sweetly.

"Kitsune routine!" I declared. Cherep shook his head.

"You are a bit insane, you know that? That could actually harm him mentally." he asked rhetorically. I nodded.

"Yup, but my insanity is a working insanity and if one knows how to deal with me, I'm quite the nice person to be around." I stated. Cherep nodded.

"Yes yes, now get a move on. I need my beauty sleep." said Cherep, rolling his eyes. I nodded, then followed him. It was a peaceful evening, spent close to each other. We enjoyed each others company. Simply basking in the feeling of the others presence. Me especially. I actually acutely remembered a time I had lost Cherep to death. I needed this time to center myself, as I admit, I came close to madness when I lost my brother. By God, I hope my aging either speed up to normal human standards or Cherep's slows down. I don't know, if the world would survive, if I lost Cherep a second time. I truly didn't, and that frightened me too much to think about it further. Snuggling into my brothers arms, we clung to each other when going to sleep, happy we could do that again instead of me curling up around his baby form.

It might take a while, but I fully planned to enjoy the time I had with my brother. However long that might be.