Yay! Glad I finished this uber hard chapter of all! Chapter 7-Nightmare! Yes, this is the chapter that is going to change it all. I'm so happy I finished it before Xmas day. Ohohoho! Consider it my Xmas gift, dear readers for having the patience to keep up with my slow updates. Sorry, college girl here you see. But don't scowl like that, this isn't just the gift I laid in store for you. "Secretly Foxy" also now has its own page in Facebook, like it and see the updates and pics of my OCs. Another thing, I spend the last month making this story trailer video for Secretly Foxy and you can watch it in Youtube; the link is in my profile. To see the whole summary of Secretly Foxy and the memorable quotes of my lovely OCs, you can visit my blog Dweirdizmify.

Hope everyone have a happy holidays! Thanks for all the reviews and support! And for that, I have another surprise for you! Ohohoho! And that is a special story of how Yotsuba and Shuichi first met! Its going to be posted a day after Xmas! Hope you look forward to it!

Now without further adieu, let me proudly present you the latest chapter of Secretly Foxy, Chapter 7 - Nightmare.

7. Nightmare

SOMETHING FELT OFF that morning from the moment I opened my eyes. My body felt heavy, lethargic as if I didn't have any sleep. Every muscles and limbs felt stiff like I haven't moved the entire night. Surprising how in the course of less than six hours I was turned into a full personified sloth. I moaned. I just wished this sluggishness wouldn't lead to sickness. I couldn't afford to be sick, especially not now when the school festival was about to come around.

I sighed and sat up to look at the window. To my surprise, it was still dark; the sun hadn't even peeked over the horizon yet. Disoriented, I turned to the digital clock on the desk, flashing red numbers: Four six A.M.

I held my forehead and groaned. No wonder I felt off. I was never used to waking up this early—well, not back in our house. It seemed like something in the Minaminos residence always caused me to wake up at the crack of dawn.

Sloppily, I laid back into the bed and rolled to my side. Since it was still fifty-six minutes earlier for me to go get up from bed, perhaps it wouldn't hurt if I just close my eyes and take a nap for a while…

I didn't know if I had totally conked out or was still lightly sleeping when my vision changed from total darkness into a dead forest. A familiar ominous forest… the same place I had been strangely dreaming for the past two consecutive nights. But as I started wandering around the forest, I became quickly aware that this was not going to be the same dream. For one thing, there was no cave but only myriad of unnerving-looking distorted trees. And second, was the eerie howling sound in the wind. There were no sounds in my past dreams.

A second later, a certain movement caught my peripheral. I turned into its direction and totally froze into my place to what I saw; it was a dark ominous shadow…approaching me. Panic shot through me, my instinct telling me that whatever that shadow was, it was dangerous and it would bring harm. And I should run. But I was completely glued into my place, couldn't move my feet, my hands. I couldn't even shout.

I closed my eyes and tried to pray in my head, calling for whatever celestial entity was out there that could spare me from this situation. Gradually, the eerie howling faded until it turned nothing more than a low hum then ended.

Under the impression that I was safe, I slowly opened my eyes and saw bloody red eyes staring at me, lips curving into a menacing smile.

!

I jerked upright out of my bed, panting for breath.

It was just a dream.

Just a bad dream, I thought as I tried to calm down.

I was in my room, completely safe. Not in that ominous dead forest, no, I was no in that dark place. It was completely bright in here with the clear yellow light streaming through my window coming from the morning sun. Morning sun—why did those words seemed to ring in my ears? Oh. Crap. What time was it already?

I threw a frantic look at the digital alarm clock and almost screamed. It was already seven-fifteen.

Harried, I scrambled out of bed, almost tripping over the pile of books lying on the floor on my way to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth then took my shower, trying to be thorough and speedy at the same time. As soon as I was finished, I shut off the water, toweling hastily, rushing again.

Getting my uniform from the closet, I pulled on my white shirt, cherry-red skirt and knee-length black socks. I didn't know which one I should be worried about, being late in class or having to walking Shuichi on my way to school. Neither of them sounded good to me.

I rubbed the towel through my hair, and then yanked the brush through it quickly. I threw the towel in the hamper and flung the brush in my bed. Finally fetching the blazer to my uniform, I shove my arms through the sleeves, yanked my leather bag and then race out of my room with the intent of leaving the house unnoticed. Yeah, it was rude but it was the only way I could do to avoid going to class with Shuichi.

But as always, luck was allergic to me. Halfway down the stairs, I heard Auntie Shiori called my name from the kitchen.

"Yotsuba…?"

Crap. She heard me. I thought and smacked my head. Now what?

"Hai, it's me, Auntie Shiori," I answered her, hesitating. So much for leaving the house unnoticed.

"Don't forget to eat your breakfast," she reminded me.

My ears perked up. Breakfast—right… Shuichi might still be eating his breakfast. I could still avoid him. 'Just say to her, you're going late for the baseball practice and had to skip breakfast', my conspiratorial side implied. Yes, that was perfect.

I tiptoed my way to the kitchen, fastening the buttons of my blazers and brushed its sleeve to smooth it out from any wrinkles. I stopped in front of the doorway and looked inside only to be surprised to see little Shuichi and Auntie Shiori in the table minus Mr. Hatanaka and the Red-head devil, Shuichi.

"Uh…good…morning," I stammered, looking around to be certain he wasn't around.

"Good morning to you too, Yotsuba," Auntie Shiori said, pulling the chair next to her. "Come and join us."

"Where are Shuichi and Mr. Hatanaka?"

"Kazuya left earlier to organize an appointment with some of his clients while Shuichi has to meet with his classmates for a special project."

I nodded, quite taken-aback for the sudden hit of luck. So he went to school earlier.

Turning to my watch, I decided it was okay for me to eat first before going. Besides, I could just skip going to the baseball practice today. I owed the captain to be free from my disturbing presence once in a while.

I sat in the table next to Auntie Shiori after putting my leather bag aside and joined them for breakfast. I complimented Auntie Shiori for the delicious, crispy golden brown waffles and fondly noting little Shuichi's appetite for them. It was a light atmosphere to be in, having breakfast with little Shuichi and Auntie Shiori there. Since I was going to school earlier for the baseball practices, I never really ate breakfast with the Minaminos/Hatanakas during schooldays. It was kind of nice to have a change—of course; it was because Shuichi wasn't there.

After we finished eating, I left the house with little Shuichi.

The weather was getting colder due to the coming season, and I knew there was no sense fretting over the gloomy clouds darkening the skies but something about them seemed to bring back the strange mood I felt earlier.

Little Shuichi noticed.

"Hey, something wrong, Yotsuba-chan?" he asked as we passed across the street.

"No," I lied to him. "Why'd you ask?"

"Uh…nothing," he said his tone unconvinced. "You just looked kind of agitated or something."

"Agitated which means… I look like hell?" I asked him, sarcastically, but putting a hint of humor in it.

"No…" he trailed off then guffawed, "Worse than that."

I smirked and tried to ruffle his hair. We continued teasing, poking each other in the ribs as we walked, lightening my mood a bit. Little Shuichi was fun to be with, like Takeshi he had this warm vibe making him easy to get along with. Maybe it was their cheerful side. Whatever it was, it was certainly of use for the gloomy Gus.

But as little Shuichi went on his way to school, separate from mine, the strange mood slowly crept its way back to my bones. It made me nervous for no apparent reason as if something wrong was going to happen any second and it felt like I was waiting for it to pull the rug over me. It was disturbing. And it seemed to go overboard when I reached school.

I was changing my shoes to slippers on the locker area when suddenly I felt a cold chilling sensation slithered on the back of my neck like cold fingertips trying to tickle me with the lightest touch only it didn't felt that way. It prickled like tiny needles and freaked me out. I almost jumped off my skin, dropping my shoes on the floor.

A guy near me saw this and putted a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, eyeing me curiously.

I blinked twice and nodded.

"Yeah… I think so…" I said as I picked up my shoes and rubbed my neck with my other hand, trying to warm it up.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I just felt cold," I lied to him and tried to smile.

With that, he smiled back and left.

I placed my shoes inside the locker and continued rubbing my neck. Jeez, what on earth was that? And where the hell did that breeze came from? It wasn't like Meio could install an air-conditioning system overnight.

After closing my locker, I looked around and searched for any air vent that could possibly explain where the odd draft came but I couldn't find one. Suddenly, a slithering sensation crept in my whole body which made me shudder and instinctively felt the need to hug myself.

Freaking hell, what was happening here? Was it just this place beginning to be creepy or was it me trying to freak myself out with a silly draft?

Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and exhale. There must be an explanation to where that cold breeze came. It was probably just my strange mood that was causing all this anxiety—an erratic mood that might have been caused by my irregular sleeping pattern lately. Yes, that was it. There was no other explanation than that…other than, well, PMS.

I shook the thought off and headed upstairs to our room. The hallway was almost clear of students besides from those who had just arrived like me, who were already running. Confused, I glanced at my watch and was horrified to see I was about to be late in my first class, and ended up running as well.

But when I arrived in the room, only a few number students were there. Even Takeshi was not there. I slowly closed the door and looked for a familiar face I could ask to what was going on and where were the others. Was there an event or activity for today I failed to remember? But Naomi, my remaining other friend, was nowhere to be seen either.

I went quietly to my chair and sat down; that was when I notice a timid-looking girl out of the corner of my eye—Hana Sumeragi. She was one of Naomi's hundred of friends if I was not mistaken, a member of the Science Club. I remembered once commenting about how she managed to keep up with that club together with its weirdo club president and his two psycho sidekicks. According to one story, those three once tried to do their damned-nest to get Shuichi to join their club even going further by cornering him in the laboratory. Fortunately, Shuichi's friend, from that notorious school across the city, came to his rescue. I even heard that he literally broke the door of our lab to stop them. Of course, I didn't bother to know if the story was true or not, but it did made the three infamous.

Well, away from that, Hana Sumeragi was also a transferee student from Malaysia. Naomi told us once that her family migrated there when she was young for her father's work. Like Naomi, she also had a brother here in school, who was a freshman student.

I shifted my chair on her direction. It wouldn't be hard to talk to her even though I was here. The classroom was barely noisy.

"Hana-san," I called out to her but she didn't turn to me or respond. It seemed like she was busy doodling shapes on her notebook or sketchpad, whatever that was.

"Hana-san," I called again, making my voice a bit louder. This time, her head snapped up and she turned to my direction.

I perked up a smile. "Hi!"

She gawked at me for a moment as if unsure that I was talking to her, and then recovered herself, blanking rapidly. "Uh…hello…" her voice was barely a whisper, I hardly heard it. If not for the movement of her lips, I wouldn't have understood what she said.

It might had been a surprise for her that I was talking to her which I rarely do (especially if the matter wasn't school related)—well, not only to her though but to the other forty-one students in our room except Takeshi and Naomi…and the blond-imp, Megumi Kasegawa, which I hardly had a nice conversation with, anyway.

"Where are the others?" I asked her.

She looked around the room first before turning back to me. "The hall monitor went in minutes earlier and announced Ms. Sawada isn't going to be here. Apparently, she got flu. He told us to either stay here or we can choose to go to our respective clubs."

"Oh, I see," was all I could reply.

She smiled.

So Takeshi might still be practicing baseball while Naomi could either be stuck writing articles for the school newspaper or surveying the school halls for juicy news.

I looked back at Hana, who was still looking at me. Though I was barely unacquainted to her, I had this comfortable feeling towards her. It was the friendly smile on her face and the candor of her soft brown eyes. I knew she was someone that could be trusted and was worthy to be called a friend.

"Thanks," I smiled at her, stood up and then sat to the empty chair next to me, closer to her. "I saw you being so focused drawing something."

"Oh, this one," she pointed out to the notebook on her lap which was actually a sketchpad.

"Yes, I didn't know you can draw," I said, trying to peek at her work.

She blushed. "I love drawing, actually."

"Can I see it?" I asked her. I didn't know if I was making her comfortable with what I was doing but if I was being candid, I actually want to know more about her. I knew I earned a not-so decent reputation when it come to socializing, being the sarcastic and cynic type, but that didn't mean it was impossible for me to befriend this girl. I knew when to be charming when I wanted to be.

She hesitated for a second and then handed me the sketchpad. It was a picture of a guy with long hair, wearing casual clothes and was sitting on a bench. I never knew so much about drawing or sketching and never had an interest on it but I could tell her drawing was good. It was better compared to others. Takeshi could draw but I bet even he couldn't draw anything like this. His drawing skill was hopelessly stuck in the stickman category.

As I took in the drawing, my brows pulled together as I tend to notice something. The guy in the drawing looked familiar; with its long locks and androgynous face, he really reminds me of…

"Uhmm…what do you think, Yotsuba-san?" she said, her voice a tad nervous.

"You know, Hana-san, I do like it but…" I trailed off, not wanting to offend her with I was about to say. I didn't know exactly what she felt about that guy in the first place.

"But what…?" she raised an eyebrow.

"He's sort of looked like…Minamino," I told her.

"Really?" she asked and to my surprise, she was rather flattered by remark. "Wow, you're the first one who actually noticed it. I never really think it looks like him at all."

"Is that so," I feigned on a nice smile at the girl, masking my disappointment.

Great. Another Shuichi fan. Damn, their population was getting bigger. I wondered what was stopping them from creating a sissy fans club of their own. I wouldn't mind being an ass and play the role of their main adversary.

I decided to change the topic and asked her about some other things instead. We talked about her family and the life she had in Malaysia. I figured out we shared some things in common too like how she loved reading books and listened to the same genre of music. We kept talking until the bell rang, signaling the end of the first class.

"Hate to cut our talk, Hana-san, but I think I should go back to my place now before Hibari from Hell arrive," I told her as I stood up. "I don't want to tick that one off considered he's not my biggest fan."

Hana giggled. "Don't worry. We can continue talking later at lunch, if you like?"

"Sure, no problem," I smiled at her and sat back to my chair, contentedly.

I took my Calculus book out of my bag and placed them on the table then watched the students entering the room, waiting for Takeshi and Naomi to arrive. After a few seconds, Naomi came in together with her camera. When she saw me, she waved and smiled before sitting at her chair. It seemed I was right about her running around looking for some hot stuff to write in the school newspaper... But where was Takeshi? He didn't mention anything about him being absent today. I wondered to myself if his practice was running late—until I saw Oda Imamura, Takeshi's teammate, entered the room.

Anxious, I stood up from my chair and waved my hand at Oda.

"Hey, Oda," I called him.

He heard me at once and turned his head.

"Where's Takeshi?" I asked. "Did he attend the practice?"

Oda shook his head. "No," he answered and then smirked. "I thought he was with you."

I ignored his jibe and sat down as desolation hit me. If Takeshi didn't attend their morning practice then that could only mean one thing, he really was absent. I deeply sighed and rested my head on the table.

Unexplainable bad mood, one hell of a bad dream, freaky experience in the locker area and absent best friend… Sheesh, what a freaking great day it is!

My morning classes passed slowly, dismally. I tried to concentrate on my classes, but not even English could hold my attention. When Ms. Hisami questioned me on the passage of William Wordsworth we were reading, I splayed my hands because I didn't have the answer she was looking for. I could tell she was startled by it since I excelled in this subject and she favored me well.

The same went for my other classes. Thankfully, none of the teachers questioned my abstraction and let me be. Even Hibari didn't waste any of his precious time on me. In ordinary days, this would make me happy, but today it meant nothing more than a consolation for this gloom day.

At lunch time, my mood worsened. I grew increasingly nervous, anxious, worried. Even though Naomi and Hana shared table with me, I couldn't eat more than a mouthful or two of my food.

Naomi noted this and scolded me for playing with my food.

"Don't do that in front of the table," she rebuked, shoving my hand where I was resting my chin on. "It attracts bad luck."

I frowned.

Attracts bad luck? Was she trying to make me laugh? Bad luck was a part of me. I didn't need to attract it because I myself was a charm for it. A bad luck charm—that was. And I would take a shot to assume that a great deal of my existence had to do with humoring the inhabitants of Heaven. It was the sensible thing I could see as an explanation for giving me such an appalling gift.

"Jeez, Yotsuba, look at yourself," Naomi continued, reproaching. "It seemed like some entity seeped all the energy out of your body. What's wrong with you?"

I slowly turned my eyes on her, resting my chin back on my hand, "Nothing."

"It doesn't seem that way," she answered back, sarcasm rich in her voice.

"Yes, Yotsuba-chan, you actually looked pale," Hana finally spoke, worried. "Are you sure you're not sick or what?"

I looked at my new friend and felt a stab of guilt. Here I was acting foolishly aloof while this two were worrying about me. Naomi was used to my sarcasm and I knew she would let it pass. But Hana was a different case. It would be prudent of me to quit being a jerk especially if I want to continue our developing friendship.

I shook my head and smiled a little smile, "I don't know. I just feel off."

"Because Takeshi isn't here," I heard Naomi muttered, giving me a snide smirk. "Come on! It would be healthy for your relationship if you guys cut a slack once in a while. You two are always together. I'm impressed you two aren't tired of each other yet."

"It's because of the thing you called friendship, Naomi," I replied, deadpanned.

She rolled her eyes. "Sell that to somebody else. Why not start with the baseball team?"

I immediately processed what she was trying to imply and I scowled.

"Do they actually think something's going on between the two of us?" I asked in disbelief.

She nodded, smirking. "Not just them but a number of Takeshi's admirers as well. You would be surprise at the statistics of those who are itching to rip your hands off of him. And you know what, I think the only thing saving your butt is the fact that most of them thinks you're a tomboy."

I gulped and looked outside the window. I certainly didn't want to talk about these things. I knew it wasn't wise but it was better for a paranoid-prone individual like me to remain ignorant about it. I didn't want to suffer looking over my shoulder for stabbers every freaking second of my entire life.

I heard Naomi sniggered at my speechlessness and Hana telling her to stop teasing me. I ignored them and tried to amuse myself by looking at the clouds hovering in the sky. But not even they can suppress the bad feeling; actually, they looked ominous and threatening from here—being all dark and gray. You could just imagine those clouds being on top of a haunted mansion. Watching them only made me more disconcerted.

I might have really looked bad because before Mrs. Suu teacher of the next subject started her lecture, she noticed me and remarked that I looked sick. She was even humane enough to ask me if I was okay

"Ms. Shiratomi, are you all right?" Mrs. Suu asked.

"No," I answered her in a weak voice and shook my head. It was true, I wasn't feeling well. My chin was resting against the desk and my body seemed so heavy. Maybe I was coming up with a fever or flu, whatever it was one thing was sure, I was going to be sick.

"Are you feeling sick?"

"Yes," I muttered, raising my head.

"Can someone take Yotsuba to the clinic, please?" She called.

"I will," I heard Hana-san said and I could only thank Heavens enough that she was the one who volunteered to take me to the clinic. If Naomi was the one who did that, I'd suffer more of her nagging.

Hana helped me get up from my chair when suddenly vertigo hit me and I almost fell down. Luckily, I happened to held on to the desk just in time to support myself.

"Are you sure you can walk?" Mrs. Suu asked.

"Yes," I whispered. I could feel everyone staring at me now.

Hana assisted me on our way out of the room to the corridor. When we were about five rooms away from the room, another hit of vertigo struck me. This time it was immense that I nearly fell off my feet if Hana-san's arms weren't around me.

"Hey," a different voice called from a distance. "What's wrong with her, Sumeragi-san?"

"She's dizzy," Hana-san answered.

I tried to raise my head up and saw two black-haired nerds looking worriedly at me and another silhouette beside them which I couldn't recognize as my vision swirled and turned to a chaotic haze of red. I slumped over my side and closed my eyes. Damn, what was happening to me?

"Whoa, you need some help there?" another voice spoke, stressed.

"Oh my, Yotsuba-san, you look so pale," Hana-san said nervously.

I tried to smile at her, "Give me a minute, please?" I begged. I rested my cheek against the cold damp cement of the sidewalk and breathed slowly in and out through my mouth but even that didn't seem to help at all.

"I will carry her," this time the voice that spoke was hard not to recognize. No wonder my eyes saw red, the other silhouette belonged to him—Shuichi. Why of all people did he have to witness this? Now, it was impossible for me to keep this incident from Auntie Shiori. I groaned.

I heard his foot step closer and I cringed. There was no way not in heaven or in hell would I let him carry me to the clinic looking like a pathetic damsel in distress.

"No, no, no!" I cried, grabbing Hana-san's shoulder and force myself to stand up. I was glad Hana-san didn't stumble on my weight.

"Don't bother, I can walk," I said firmly though my knees felt like marshmallows. "You don't need to do that."

"Are you sure?" he asked. His voice was close to my head, and it sounded anxious. He was so close to me that I could feel the heat from his body. He smelled good, similar to a floral like scent but for some weird reason, it made my stomach rolled. I flinched away from him and clung tighter to Hana to get a hold of myself.

"Yes, yes," I whispered, still inching away from him without looking at him.

I felt him moved back and it quite relaxed me. I took a deep breath and turned slowly to Hana-san and told her, "Let's go," and she nodded.

With her supporting half of my weight, we continued walking, feeling their stares bored behind our backs. When we entered the clinic, I could hear Mrs. Yakama, the nurse gasped.

"Oh my, what happened?" she cried and immediately helped Hana-san to lie down on the nearest cot.

"She's a little faint, I think," Hana-san said. "She's been feeling a little off since lunch time."

The nurse nodded and turned to me, "Do you feel sick?"

I weakly nodded.

"Okay, just lie down for a minute, dear; it'll pass."

I sighed, putting an arm to cover my eyes. The nausea was fading but the headache seemed to worsen. My head whirled and I could hear the blood pounding faster than normal behind my ears. It felt like a vein in my head was about to burst any second. I took a deep breath and my nose wrinkled at the strong scent of medicines, I never liked the smell of it, it always disgusted me but I hardly in the position to complain so I chose to breathe in and out slowly through my mouth instead.

I felt the nurse put a pressure cuff on my arm, it tightened for a minute and slowly loosened as she checked my blood pressure.

"Hmm…are you kind of anemic, dear?" I heard her ask.

"No," I answered, feeling my brows pulled together. From the fast pounding of blood I could hear behind my ears, it was more probable that my blood pressure was high rather than low. Was the pressure cuff broken?

"Your blood pressure is low. You should take iron supplements and avoid sleeping too late at night," she stated. "I suggest you go home earlier for today and have some rest."

I was lost with the things she was saying, a small part of me wanting to logically debate and deny her findings, but I chose to nod instead. I didn't feel arguing this time with me feeling all dizzy and wobbly.

"Dear, can you kindly fetch her things from your room," the nurse said to Hana-san. "I'd rather she go back home earlier. What is her name?"

"Shiratomi, Yotsuba," Hana-san answered.

"Shiratomi, hmmm…" I heard the nurse murmured then a shuffling of papers. "Ah…here is her record. Give this note to your current teacher for her to be excuse from her remaining classes."

"Okay," Hana-san said and I heard the door opened then closed.

I stayed still in the cot and continued breathing slowly. I felt a little bad that Hana-san had to go with all these trouble because vertigo suddenly decided to play with me. I could only pray she wouldn't hate me for this.

"Can you give me the number of your parents, dear, so I can call them?" the nurse asked.

I frowned, "They happen to be in another country…"

"Oh, I see, then how about a number of your guardian?"

I bit my lip. There was no way I was going to involve Auntie Shiori with this thing. I didn't want her to worry. Besides, I know I could go home by myself.

"No, I don't have a guardian," I lied. "I live alone."

"You mean your parents left you alone?" the nurse asked, her tone held a note of contemplation, "For how long?"

"They're gone for a month," I reluctantly said. "They think I'm responsible enough to handle myself."

"Hmm…parents these days," I heard her clicked her tongue. "Oh well, do you know anyone who lives near your place? We could ask them to take you home."

Drat. That would be a great idea if I was going to go home, in our own place, but I was not. I was staying with the Minaminos and I hadn't lost my mind yet to let anyone know that—not even the nurse. Na-ah!

"Unfortunately, my best friend's absent too," I said to her.

"Hn, it seems your sickness hit you at a very wrong time, dear."

"I know right," I murmured, sarcastically, as if bad luck chose a proper time.

"What is that? Are you saying something, dear?"

"Nothing, I just think, I am fine now," I said, sitting up—just a little bit ringing in my ears, no spinning. The clinic walls stayed where they should. "Don't worry, I can go home. It's not far from here."

I could see she was about to make me lie back down but she didn't had the chance to as the door opened and came in Naomi with an angry momma hen's face towing a breathless Hana-san.

"What happened to you, huh?" Naomi demanded. "What are you doing to yourself? Hana just told me you were anemic. My, Yotsuba, I just wish Takeshi wouldn't hear of this or else you're a dead meat."

I frowned. Oh great, Momma Hen arrived just in time.

"You know you should have just stayed home when you felt something was wrong with you," she continued to scold, not bothering to notice the nurse's presence in the room.

"Excuse me," the nurse coughed. "And may I know who you are?"

"Oh," Naomi stopped and her face turned as red as a ripe tomato, "Sorry, Mrs. Yakama. I am Naomi Kazuya from Class 4 – 3. She's my friend."

The old nurse tried to smile decently at her.

"Here are her things, anyway," she said and brought down my bag. "Is she going to go home by herself?"

"Yes," I answered before the nurse could open her mouth. I hopped down to the cot and bowed at the old nurse. "Thanks for taking care of me. I'll go straight home and take iron supplements as you said."

I grabbed my leather bag then maneuvered out of the clinic with Naomi and Hana trailing behind.

"Jeez, I thought you were dizzy," Naomi remarked as the clinic door closed. "You were as fast as a fly."

I rolled my eyes at her, "You could say will was a bit helpful, I didn't want to stay there for another second."

"You sure you're going home by yourself?" Hana-san asked me, still worried.

"Yep," I nodded.

"Lost her mind," Naomi sarcastically muttered.

"I called you both later, considered that you've got Hana's phone number," I turned to Naomi. She nodded. "Good. Now time for the two of you to get back to class, don't worry about me, I can handle myself. Thank you especially to you, Hana-san."

I bowed at them, strapped on my school bag and left.

"Take care, Yotsuba-san," I heard Hana-san said after me.

I waved back at them and made my way to the locker room. I rushed to change my shoes, quite paranoid that the earlier incident might repeat itself. Though a bit dizzy, I managed to coherently make out my way back to the Minaminos Residence without a sweat. It was a long walk but I managed to remain upright until I reached their front door. I took the spare key under the eave, which was pointed out by Auntie Shiori in any case I happened arrive with no one home, and unlocked the door.

I was only about to step in when the hair on my neck suddenly rise and a nauseated feeling hit my stomach. Sudden fear overwhelmed me. I rushed inside the house, slammed the door hard and locked it.

My heart was beating so fast, I could hear the blood rushing behind my ears, making my head ache at the same time. My knees were trembling and I was panting for air. It was all illogical for me to feel this, but there was a dreadful fear creeping in my bones slowly, torturing me as if there was something nasty near me, watching at me, waiting for the perfect time to devour me.

It was downright silly. Maybe I was losing my mind… but I couldn't make myself calm. It was as if my reflexes were the one controlling my whole body anymore.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I tried to think rationally. I looked at the grandfather clock and calculated the hours remaining before little Shuichi comes home, two more hours and I wouldn't be alone anymore. Yes, two hours, that shouldn't be long. I could stay here in the living room, watch T.V. and wait. Yes, that ought to be it.

I exhaled and released the door knob. I walked slowly toward the sofa, dropped my leather bag when I felt a strong force hitting the back of my neck. It sent me stumbling down, my wrist hitting the hard edge of the coffee table but before I could even feel the pain it caused, my line of sight slowly darkened turned to complete nothingness…then into oblivion.

In my dream, it was very dark. No light, not a speck of it. I couldn't see anything even my own hands. A dream that had no visuals, only sounds: a clanking of metals, light steps near me, some breathing and some murmuring voices. It was a very odd dream, but what made it stranger is that I could feel as if my I my whole body was lying in cold cement, I could smell the damp dirt and I could sense my nose wrinkling from it. My hands and feet felt cramped as if they are tied by something similar to a rope or a belt and the pain it was causing to my wrist and ankle felt real too.

I wanted to open my mouth but I couldn't.

It had no visuals but it was starting to freak me out.

I was about to try move my hand when I heard a chilling menacing voice near me and stopped me instantly.

"You think he'll come for this human?" the voice said.

I tried my best to remain still, whoever it was speaking, it was very near me. And some protective instinct told me it was safer to play dead instead. A logical part of me wanted to ignore this since this was just a dream, but my body wanted me to obey. I just couldn't resist it.

"Of course, he will," another voice spoke, but this time it was smaller, less menacing. "If not then we know what we ought to do with this one. This human seems special, a bit special than the others. I bet you could sense that?"

"Hmmm…" the first one said as if inhaling a delicate wine from a glass to distinguish it. "Smells good too, I bet her flesh would be one hell of a delicious meat for us with the plus side of making us stronger. I should complicate the fox for having quite a fine taste for seeking a human mate."

Fox? Mate? Her flesh? Good heavens, what are they talking about? Are they talking about me? Eating me? Are these beings cannibals? And what fox are they talking about? Mate? I am no vixen!

This dream was becoming complicated than ever and deathly scarier at the same time. I wished it would end very soon before I become the main dish for dinner.

"He's here! He's here!" a rattling, irritating voice shouted as I heard a sound of heavy metal being moved and its friction to the ground. "He's here!"

The last one was in panic and it was very obvious, he was scared for whoever it was that was coming. I could hear some gasps and could feel a sense of danger around, my stomach tightening. I could feel the sweats forming in my forehead and a chilling feeling crawling in my spine.

I felt like vomiting.

"You came at last, fox," the menacing voice of all shouted. "I was having the impression that you wouldn't come at all, considered that your species are inclined to be selfless creatures, caring only for themselves. It appears that either this human held some real interest to you or that you became a human yourself while staying here."

There was a long silence and I heard the owner of the menacing voice irritatingly clicked his tongue. "Oh, how I just hate it, when you look all so smug in that human face of yours. I could just feel the desire tingly in my hands to remove that."

Another silence and then with a loud voice he shouted, "Demons, attack!"

It surprised me to hear the amount of shouting that came in the next seconds. Shout of pain, torture, death, from different voices that resembles the voice of the other being that I heard earlier. It was ear-deafening, I couldn't help not to wince, but in between those shouts, I could hear a distinct sound that was different, something that resembles to a strong force of wind, a whipping slash sound.

Seconds later, the strange whipping slash ended and only moaning of agonies was left.

"You rascal, how dare you—"the menacing voice shouted as I could imagine him attacking his opponent. There was another whipping slash sound and then a large noise of something hitting a very hard material, boxes perhaps, destroying it at the same process.

There was a painful groan from the former and then he said the words that instantly made my blood cold, "If I couldn't kill you then I will kill the girl instead."

Though he didn't directly refer to me, my heartbeat rose but what strange occurrence that I could hear the steps, the fast steps of someone running fast for me—someone rushing for me with the main intention of annihilating me.

I bit my lip really hard and then I felt a strong gust of wind directly hit my face, and I could feel a sharp pointed thing touching the tip of my nose. It was sharp yet whatever stopped it, made it in time not to damage my skin.

"Such guts you have, demon, to consider hurting this innocent girl," another voice spoke. It was so close to me, so familiar. It was impossible for me not to recognize it. It was velvety, it was soothing, and the very last voice I was expecting to hear. It was Shuichi's voice—Shuichi's Minamino's voice. "She has nothing to do with me or any affairs I had with you or your master. I shall not forgive you."

A crack of bones followed and a high-pitched shriek filled my ears. It was sickening.

"Y-y-you f-f-f-o-x…demon, damn you to the deepest pit of hell, you are a traitor, turning your back on your race to be like this," the menacing voice turned low, trembling. "You ARE pathetic, my master was right."

Another snapping sound and a loud shout of pain, "Who do you take orders from?"

"Y-y-o-u-u-ko Kurama, no matter how you hide your true form… no matter how great you act as a mere human, live peacefully here… you can never ever turn back to what you really are. To who you really are…" the voice continued.

Fox demon? Youko Kurama? I was a hundred percent sure the voice I heard was from Shuichi not from a fox demon named Youko Kurama.

"You can turn your back on those things, but they will follow you… torture you… and now they are coming for you…" I could hear the menacing tone there in his trembling voice, scarier than earlier and caused me goose bumps. "They're here…"

There was a soft gasp and then silence—the silence of death.

I heard a soft sigh from Shuichi…or whoever it was that sounded like him. Suddenly, the binds that I felt constricting my hands and feet were removed. A soft cloth brushed near my temples and cheeks away from my face and then a warm hand lie softly on my forehead as if checking if I got a fever. It stayed there for what seemed a long time until I felt a heavy lassitude suddenly seeping through my body; my brain becoming incoherent.

Two lean arms slipped under my knees and behind my back, carrying me. I could feel a warm chest undeniably close to me, heaving slowly and the faint smell of aromatic rose. My eyelids felt heavy but with all the strength I have, I tried to open it slowly, my line of vision was pathetic; every edges blurry but I could distinguish something red and green.

My eyelids closed and I let myself fall into a deep stupor.

Yes, my savior had red locks and green eyes—those of Shuichi Minamino. Of that I was sure.

So what you think, people? I enjoyed writing the last part! Poor Yotsuba being kidnapped by those malicious demons! Lucky though she didn't see their faces and the whole fighting scenes, she might end up catatonic. It was hard writing this chapter because I know nothing about action, the no visual part save me I should say. Ahahaha!

I could say this is my best-done chapter of all, not my favorite, but I consider it as my best because it was the damnest of all! Yes! Ugh! And I hate not having to write Takeshi here! I miss the guy! Yes, Kurama, I am betraying you because I like Takeshi more in this story! Ohoho!

Hmm...so what more can I say, hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Don't forget to leave reviews on your way out! Consider it as your Xmas gift for me and Yotsuba! Ohohoho! Yes, I'm crazy, deal with it.!

Happy Holidays, people! May you all have a wonderful Christmas!

X.O.X.O.

Dweirdizme