I swear to gods I will finish this thing if it kills me… DAMN THE LATENESS! UUUUGGGHH! Hopefully this will make up for it all.

Disclaimer: Any character REMOTLY belonging to the House of Night franchise belongs to P.C. and Kristen Cast… I just gave the ghost girl a name and a fanon back story…

"Ni-Ro!" Cindy yelled out into the dark forest from her usual searching spot. She had made it home from school, but she didn't feel like being comforted by Sally, or to have her tears dried by mother or her sisters. She wasn't even in the mood to have her father try and cheer her up by taking her anywhere she wanted to go to play whatever games she wanted.

The moment she arrived home she dropped her bag and saw the edge of her now secret forest and couldn't help herself. She just left her bag on the porch and ran without a second thought.

Her face still felt wet.

"Ni-Ro!" She called out louder this time, hoping with every ounce in her that he would show up this time.

"Please come out this time Ni-Ro! Please!" She cried out, nearly sobbing.

There was only the sound of the wind rustling leaves and twigs mixed with her own sobbing breath.

"Please!" She called out again, hoping he would hear her call.

Again there was no sound to indicate that there was someone else present.

She knew she should just turn around and go home. If she wanted to cry she could just run strait to her room and cry her eyes out if she wanted. That wasn't something she did often, but at the moment, she hardly cared about what she did or not. However, her body did something totally different than from what her mind wanted her to do.

While her mind said to turn around and walk home, her body stood firm, facing the deep dark part of the forest in which she knew that just beneath the darkness Ni-Ro was being housed.

"F-fine!" She said stubbornly.

"I-if you won't come to me…" She said, hesitantly taking that first step. "Then I guess I'm going to have to come to you." She said taking another step towards the Darkness.

"NO!" A strange, yet familiar, animalistic cry was heard.

The next thing Cindy knew, a dark black shape came out from the darkness and entrapped her within his arms. She nearly screamed if not for the sense of overwhelming familiarity within the feel of his body as well as his voice.

Ni-Ro came back.

Nisroc could not believe this!

She actually came back searching for him. She almost came to track him down! This mortal girl really was foolish!

For one reason or another, Nisroc could feel a slight tug to move, and hadn't realized where he was being led to until he heard her desperate cries. Had it been anyone else he would have crossed them off as pitiful, but because they came from her they just somehow… Weren't. Granted he still felt them pitiful, but not for the normal reason he usually did. In fact it was almost like a new feeling all together, like he wanted to take away her pitifulness. He had never felt that way before.

And then when she started threatening to search for him personally, all he could think about was how his brother would slaughter her and how badly he would be mocked and how much pain either option would leave him feeling.

Barely giving it thought, he leapt from his hiding spot in the shadows and enveloped her in his arms; preventing her from coming any nearer then she had to.

He had expected her to scream, to cry out in fear or even pain; he didn't expect her to clutch his body around her small, frail one. Nisroc also didn't expect her to start crying into his feathers as she gripped him with her tiny hands.

Not knowing what else to do he just let her cry, thinking that once she was spent she would want to run away.

"Please don't do this again Ni-Ro…" He heard her say through her tears. And that was it; she was practically begging him to leave her life forever, as well as she should. He was about to let her go, if not for the fact that she just hugged him tighter, her grip on his feathers just as tight.

"Don't leave me alone like that ever again. Please don't make me feel so alone to search for you again." He heard her plead this time.

His eyes widened.

She wanted him… To stay? Why would she want that?

"Want that… Why would you?" He couldn't help but ask, being overwhelmed by shock.

"I want you to be my friend Ni-Ro… You are my friend right?" She told him like it could explain everything. He had never felt more confused.

Friends? What on earth was she asking of him?

"F-fr-friend?" He asked, not used to the word so it came out as a beastly hiss that he never paid any mind to.

"Uh-huh… You're the only person people hadn't already decided I should like or not. And… I… I… Like you." He heard her say and he couldn't believe his own ears at her words.

She called him a person?

She actually likes him?

Everything about her reasons made less sense to him than this whole situation.

"You…. You… Like me?" Nisroc asked, unsure if this whole scene was really real. But either way he couldn't hide the strangest feeling inside of him at the thought. It was that light feeling again, but it seemed clouded with uncertainty.

He wanted to ignore it, but when he did he felt a sense of dread of what were to happen of if she was just playing him for the fool and rejected her feelings for him.

It was a feeling that Nisroc hated beyond every other feeling.

"Ye-yeah… You're interesting. And… And… I just want to be with you!" Cindy exclaimed, hugging him even tighter, though Nisroc didn't feel any discomfort this time. It felt… nice. True it was still weird, and felt a little off to him, but it still felt nice.

Nisroc had no idea what to do, so he just continued holding her like this, trying to figure out why her small embrace felt so… nice.

Not coming up with any answer, Nisroc just sighed in annoyance and, being mindful of the child in his arms, sat down.

What he didn't expect was Cindy to start sobbing again. Why was she weeping now?!

"Why do you cry now?" He asked, though he meant to phrase it in a more annoyed tone, he sounded genuinely curious.

"It's…. It's nothing…" Cindy said, and it was obvious that she was lying. "I'm… Just glad that you're my friend." Cindy said in a more cheery tone.

"You're lying" Nisroc said with a hiss. "There is something that makes you weep." Nisroc said solidly, not even bothering questioning himself on why he knew her second statement wasn't a lie either.

"I…. I…" Cindy started stammering, she was unsure of how she should put into words what she was feeling today. But she didn't want to keep Ni-Ro waiting for his answer.

"I don't like the friends I have, outside of you. They're mean and I know that they don't like me." She finally stated, but once she started she found that she just couldn't stop.

"They're always telling me what to do, and I hate it. I'm only supposed to be friends with them since they're daddy's work for mine." Cindy explained.

"You're father… A powerful man, he is?" It took Cindy a while to discover that he phrased it as a question.

"Yeah. He is. What about your daddy?" She asked him.

Ni-Ro took a while to answer her, which confused her a bit. She knew there was something about him and his daddy, so why was it taking so long for him to answer her about his own daddy?!

"My father… Very powerful, he is… yessssss." He said it in a weird tone. Like whenever Cindy would go to church with her family and the pastor would talk about God. The tone of Ni-Ro in talking about his father reminded her of the pastor, which was weird. Well, at least it was weird to her.

Shifting her position, she still kept a good grip on him, cradling herself up against, both of his arms as well as he feathered chest, really enjoying the softness of his feathers with the contrast of the rough skin on his arm. She was sure that she looked like a baby, but she didn't care at this point; she was comfortable and was starting to feel a bit calm. Like her troubles were long gong behind her.

Nisroc on the other hand was shocked at her actions.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a genually confused tone.

She had started curling herself against his arm and chest, like an infant. It infuriated him. If this young girl thinks that she can just use him like a babe uses their mother, than she had another thing coming.

"I just…" She said in a calm voice that took him by surprise. "I don't know… I just like the feeling of you holding me."

Now Nisroc was really confused, and his confusion did not diminish when she started rubbing her cheek against his chest, giggling as she did so. This made Nisroc stiffen at the foreign content; just what the hell was she trying to accomplish?!

"Hehehe… You're feather's tickle… Hehe… But it feels nice, like a big pillow!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly again.

This just further aggravated Nisroc.

"Would you…" Nisroc said, but stopped his words when he met her eyes staring up expectantly up at him.

"What?" He asked her in an annoyed voice.

"Can you talk some more? I like the sound of your voice." Cindy said simply, which once again made Nisroc do a double take on her words.

"You want me to do… What?" He asked.

"Talk… I like you're voice… And the way you speak. Hehehe… It's different, and I really like how you talk." Cindy explained to him, but he was still confused.

"Talk about, what should I even?" He asked her starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Anything! You're favorite subject! Family, hobbies, what you do… Stuff like that." She explained more, but it seemed to arise an annoying pattern. She would explain things to him, and just leave him even more confused.

"I doubt you would find any of my topics pleasing." He said simply, hoping that she would just leave it at that. But knowing her, she would try to goad it out of him, and he couldn't allow that to happen. So thinking quickly, he came up with an idea.

"Why don't you start talking about those topics in your own life?" He said, but as soon as those words escaped his mouth, he instantly regretted it, knowing what was to come.

"You really want to know?" She asked, but he refused to answer. Though in the end run it didn't really matter since it seemed she took his silence for "Yes" anyway.

"Okay!" She said, and Nisroc and to resist the urge to groan.

'Cause that's what she did for the longest time, she just kept on talking and talking. It was as if he had broken through a dam and was paying the price by being flooded over by her words.

It was aggravating… Well… at least it was at first.

After a while, Nisroc couldn't help but… Listen to her words, and in some sort of bizarre way, that he could never in many years to come, describe himself. He tried tuning her out, but her words still rang about him like an annoying fly, so he figured he might as well pay attention. After hearing her ramble on, following many different rabbit trails in her topics of conversation was annoying at first. But he soon found it was because he wanted to hear the outcome of the first story, rather than have her just end her blather.

But after some time, he discovered that she got distracted rather easily, and soon found her distraction… rather… cute.

Cute… That was a word Nisroc had never believed himself to ever say in his lifetime. He had heard it spoken tons of times, but had never really understood the title. But with Cindy, he suddenly understood everything. And it was a good feeling.

But soon, he found her words trailing off, and being slurred together. He also saw that her eyes were heavy with sleep, and it was obvious that she was trying to fight off her tiredness.

"You're tired." Nisroc said, stating the obvious.

"No… I'm… Not." Cindy said unconvincingly, made even worse when she yawned, then curled up next to him even more so, making him cringe a little.

"Yes you are. You need rest." Nisroc said, shocking him. Why should he care about her well being?

"Okay… I guess I'll go home now." Cindy said, sitting up finally.

"If that is what's best." Nisroc said.

"But not just yet!" Cindy said, making him flinch at her words, what now?!

"I want you to promise me for real that we can see each other again. When I come back tomorrow, I don't want to be alone again… I… I don't want you to leave me alone again." This took Nisroc back a bit at her words, but he supposed if it had to be done for her absence.

"Alright, fine… I-"

"No… You promised me before and you took too long to keep it. Next time, when I come I want you to be here… And if you're not… Then… Then I'll just have to come find you!" She snapped at him, making him cringe. She couldn't come searching for him beyond this point, and part of him hoped that she would threaten to never see him again, but another part of him felt… broken… at the thought.

"Then I swear to you, you will find me here the next day; if that is what you so wish." Nisroc swore to her, feeling both forced, and that energetic light feeling again.

She gave him another quick hug, before whispering to him: "Thank you Ni-Ro." And with those words, she jumped out of his arms, and ran off home.

The moment she was out of his sight, Nisroc spread his wings, and took off, his mind muddled with various thoughts, that he couldn't even order out himself.

But there was one thing that was completely certain to Nisroc as he flew back to where he and his brothers nested.

He felt empty where Cindy had left him.

Have some fluff to make up for the lateness… R&R