Kimiko nodded as she swallowed another bite of her food. "It's really annoying. The other day he threw a pillow at me because mom told him to wake me up. He's always getting into my stuff. You're lucky your brother's the same age as you. Any time I get annoyed with him my mom takes his side because he 'doesn't know any better' or something."

Kimiko looked up at the clouds as she thought about it. She really loved her brother, but living in the same space as him was way too hard. She wished she could afford her own place. Not that she was old enough to rent...

Yami just laughed at her comment. "Boys are worse, when they get older. Roko is such an ass to me. I have to bribe him with money for a favor." Yami kept on eating his fries. It felt nice to talk about his family with someone else. He wish he could tell her about his family's history. It would be nice to have someone else's perspective. He then opened up his second burger and bit into it.

Kimiko frowned at that.  "Great.  Something to look forward to."

She could only imagine how terrible it would be to share a room with a teenage Haku. His fairly innocent pranks could get way worse if he really tried to put his mind to it. All the more reason to get out of that place as soon as she was 18. Of course, that would mean getting a job to be able to pay some type of rent. She'd have to cross that bridge when she got there.

She took a few more bites of her hamburger before it was gone. Well, that was a nice meal and a good distraction. "Thank you again for the food.  It was great," she said, wondering if she should get up or try to finish their conversation. Eating and running was supposed to be rude, but it seemed like their conversation had just hit a wall. Welp, it's not like she was that polite anyway... 

"I should probably go."

Yami was surprised at how quickly she finished her food. She hated to see her go. It was nice talking to her. Then something dawn on him. They needed to work on their project. Also if she came home with him his dad would leave him alone. A prefect shield.

"Actually," he spoke. "we should work on our project. Why don't we head back to my place?"

Kimiko groaned.  Why did he have to bring up that stupid project.  She had enough of a hassle working on it at school.  She didn't want to work on it during her free time.  Then again, Yami just treated her to food...  She probably owed him something in return.

"I guess that would be a good idea," she murmured unenthusiastically. At least it gave her a reason to be out late.

Yami just lightly smack her on the back of the head. "You'll never get anywhere with that attitude." He stood up and led her to his house. 

Once there, Yami unlocked the front door and they walk inside. He closed the door behind them and motion her to follow him. They walked down the hallway and went upstairs. He found it odd that his dad wasn't in his living room sitting in his chair. They entered his room and luckily Roko wasn't here. 

"Make yourself comfortable," Yami spoke and monition to his bed. He grabbed their textbook off his desk and his history notebook and a pen. "I made several notes. Why don't you make more notes?" He then grabbed his laptop off his desk and sat down next to her. "I'll get started on the powerpoint." He opened up the laptop and booted it up. The log on screen popped up and he entered his password. Before he could anything else the door swung open. Ryoko was standing there.

"Yami," she said. "Dad wants a word with you."

"He does?" he replied with a groan and stood up. 

Ryoko noticed Kimiko. "Oh? Who is this? Your girlfriend?" She gave him a playful smile.

Yami's face turned a bit red. "No! She's just a friend!"

His sister just laughed. Yami then gave her annoyed look and walked passed her and left the room. Ryoko quickly poked her head out in the hallway. "Oh, he's in his study by the way!" She then turned to face Kimiko. "I hope I didn't embarrassed you."  She walked over to the bed and sat down next her. "It's fun to tease him. Normally he doesn't bring anyone else home besides his friends Eric and Jeremy. I'm Ryoko by the way. His sister."

Meanwhile Yami went downstairs and walked through the living room to get his father's study. He slowly opened the door and was immediately thrown into a hug. His father then patted him on the shoulder. Yami looked so confused.

"Good job," he said with a grin. "I'm a bit shock that you turned so suddenly."

"Turned?" Yami question still with a confused look on his face. His father noticed.

"You...don't know?"

"Know what?"

"That you brought the Lunar Guardian home?" His father was trying to stay cool.

"I did?"

"Yami!"

"What?"

"You're telling me that you don't sense magic from that girl you brought home?" 

"I'm not using my magic right now." Yami crossed his chest with his arms. He was currently shutting off his magic abilities out of fear of transforming. "How do you know I brought a friend home?"

"Because I'm using my magic," he replied and smacked him on the back of his head. "Our family always needs to be on guard, Yami! You never know if a demon is disguised as a human. Hence why I have special barrier around our house so no one can detect us."

"Whatever," Yami muttered rubbing his head.

"What's the girl's name?" his father asked ignoring his attitude.

"Kimiko. We're the same class together. I brought her home to work on a history project together."

"Has she said anything to you about magic?"

"No."

"Ah. Her magic is probably too weak sense any types of presence. Yami, you'll have to train her."

"Train her yourself," Yami spoke and was half way out the door.

"Yami!" His father roared in anger and grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back in. "I am not the guardian anymore. It's your responsibility now."

"No it's not." Yami just pushed him away and left.

His father was about to go after him and heard a small chirp. He turned and saw Aidan sitting in the windowsill. "I think it's best we leave him alone for now. Pushing him won't help."

"Do you think he'll accept his fate?"

"Yes I do."

Yami's father let out a sigh and sat down in his chair. "I hope you're right."

Kimiko sighed as she opened up the book to write more notes. As if she didn't write enough of them at school. It's not like she was good at writing them either. She had no idea what made good notes. Thankfully, they were interrupted before she was too far into the chapter.

She raised an eyebrow when Ryoko implied that there was something between the two of them but she kept her mouth shut as she realized it was a joke.  And then she and Ryoko were alone. Oh joy.

Kimiko shook her head at Ryoko's apology. "No problem. I figured you were joking. I'm Kimiko. I'm just here for a history project."

"I see. It's nice to meet you. Do you have any hobbies?" Ryoko asked. She was obviously in for a longer conversation. Kimiko inwardly groaned.

"Uh... Not really... I like to be outside but that's about it." She didn't want to mention the fact her family wasn't exactly rich while sitting in the middle of a very nice bedroom in a very nice house.

Ryoko smiled cheerfully, not seeming to pick up on her hesitation. "Do you do any hiking?"

"Not really. I just kind of walk around the city and hang out in the park. The fresh air is nice." Kimiko looked down at the history book after answering.  She really didn't feel like talking. Where was Yami? At least he would be quietly working on their powerpoint...

Yami slowly walked back to his room. The thought of Kimiko being his partner was racing through his head. She didn't seem the type for this job. She didn't put much effort into school... He sighed. They were doomed. He got to his room and found the door was still opened. Ryoko was sitting on the bed talking to Kimiko. His sister loved to make friends with everyone.

"Sorry about that," he said to Kimiko. "My dad was being a pain." He then looked at his sister. "We need to work on our project so can you please leave?"

"Sure! See ya Kimiko!" Ryoko said with a smile and ran out.

Yami sat down on the bed. "I hope she didn't annoy you. Ryoko likes to make friends with everyone."

Kimiko shook her head. "It's fine. I'm just not much of a people person.  She seemed nice, though." She answered. It was true she was annoyed with having to exchange small talk with his sister, but she hadn't done anything that would make Kimiko dislike her.

"I also didn't get any notes done yet... I guess I'll start on that." 

The rest of the evening consisted of her trying to write decent notes while Yami occasionally looked over and told her how to write better notes. It felt like an exercise in futility, but at least it gave her time away from home.

Finally, it was late enough that she knew she should leave. Kimiko shut the book and handed him the notes.  "I need to go. My mother will be wondering." With that, she let Yami show her out and refused any company for her walk home. She didn't need to be walked home and it would be super inconvenient for some random demon to attack her in his presence.

She was halfway home at the first sign of danger. The subtle tremor of the ground beneath her would have gone unnoticed if she wasn't already on high alert. Japan had varying degrees of earthquakes all the time. Luckily for her, the demon made the mistake of attacking head on rather than from behind.

Kimiko jumped back and called out, "Lunar power, transform!" as the demon burst from the ground. It was decidedly less humanoid than the previous demon; instead taking the form of a rather large spider with a human face. A liquid she could only assume was some deadly poison dripped from its jaws and burned little holes into the ground. Thankfully, no one was in the area to see this nightmare inducing monstrosity.

The demon reared on its hind legs and fell back to the earth causing the ground to crack open and rocky debris to fly towards her. Kimiko dodged as many of the larger rocks as possible but her breath was swiftly beat out of her as one large well timed rock hit her square in the stomach and threw her backwards.

She coughed, gasping for breath and willing herself to move before the giant spider could make it over to her. Unfortunately, the spider was also gifted with the ability to make a nice, strong silk-like substance. The silk wrapped itself around her legs and torso as she stood, sending her right back to the ground. Her hands were, thankfully, not covered by the webbing.

"Moon staff... Moon Staff... Come on..." she muttered nervously as the demon crawled toward her. Her nerves were making it harder for her to concentrate on actually using her powers. She forced herself to take a deep breath as the spider was smirking down at her; ready to strike. 

"Moon staff!" she called again and smiled as she felt it in her hands. She didn't give the demon any time to think before yelling, "Shining Lunar Beam!" and willing the power to spread out as much as possible.  The light of the attack engulfed both the silk tying her down and the demon, disintegrating both in a matter of seconds. 

Kimiko sat up and took a moment to catch her breath as adrenaline slowly drained from her system. That had been a little too close... Where in the world were Aidan and her stupid partner? She was not equipped to fight these things completely alone. 

She finally stood the rest of the way and looked around before turning back to her normal self. She needed to get out of there before someone noticed the amount of destruction. She ducked out of sight of anyone that was heading toward the area and forced herself to run home. 

One thing was for sure. Either Aidan was going to get her partner in this fight, or she would personally hunt the girl down and make her fight. There was no way she was dying just because some girl who grew up with the knowledge and skill to fight had no interest in pulling her own weight.

The next morning Yami got up early for school and left without eating breakfast. Last night a demon attacked Kimiko and his dad scolded him for not going to help. Yami was really getting annoyed with these lectures. So he skipped breakfast to avoid his father. He slowly walked down the path to school. 

"You should befriend her at least," spoke a voice.

"Huh?" Yami turned and saw Aidan flying beside him.

"Befriend Kimiko," the little bird explained more.

Yami didn't say anything. He still couldn't believe that Kimiko was the other guardian. She didn't seem like the type at all. Yet she seem like the feisty type so maybe it made sense? He never understood how the guardian selecting thing worked. All his dad told him was that the stars pick the guardians. 

"Yami," spoke Aidan.

"Hmm?"

"Are you listening?"

"Yeah, you told me to befriend Kimiko. There's really no point to."

"Why is that?"

"Because I already was before I knew she was a guardian. I shouldn't befriend her just because she's my.err a guardian." Yami quickly stopped himself from calling her his partner. Aidan caught that and had a small smirk. He didn't point it out though.

"That's good to hear," the little bird replied and then took off.

Yami finally arrived at school and went straight to his classroom. He opened the classroom door up and saw he was the first one to arrive. He just marched over to his desk and crashed. A little nap wouldn't hurt.

Kimiko rolled away from her alarm and pulled her cover as far over her head as she could. She didn't want to wake up this morning. She didn't feel like going to school. It was one of those days where she just wanted to lay around and exist without taking responsibility for her life.

She flinched as a pillow hit her in the back of the head. "Hey, mom told me to come check on you. Your alarm's been going off for ten minutes."

Kimiko turned back over and hit the button on her alarm clock. "Now it's not. You can leave now," she said before burrowing back into her blankets. She heard Haku leave while shutting the door behind him and tried to go back to sleep.

The peace was short lived as her mother entered the room. "Kimiko, you need to get ready for school."

"I don't feel good," she mumbled. Well, she was tired and sore. That counted, right? Not that she could tell anyone why...

"Get up. Let me take your temperature," he mom said. 

Kimiko sighed and sat up. She had a feeling she was going to school today. Her mother's disapproving look as she took her temperature confirmed the inevitable.

"You're not sick. I'm getting tired of the school calling to tell me how you skipped. You're going to school today," her mother said with a rare sense of parental authority. As if she was actually trying to be responsible...

"Fine," Kimiko muttered.

Her mother left, seeming extremely proud of herself, while Kimiko stood and slowly got ready for school. She had a large bruise where the rock hit her last night, and she wouldn't be surprised if the impact had done something to one of her lower ribs.

Kimiko trudged into school right before the bell rang and sank into her seat. She could feel Sang's gaze on her side, and she sighed and looked over.

"You don't look too good..." Sang whispered.

"Just tired," Kimiko answered. She could tell Sang was curious, but the teacher began roll call and effectively cut off their conversation.

Yami felt a nudge on his shoulder. He opened his right eye and saw it was Eric. "What..?"

"Teach just started roll call," his friend whisper.

Yami grumbled to himself and sat up. He leaned back in his chair as waited for his named to be called. He hated how he was near end of the list. When the teacher got to Kimiko, she gave a weak response. He bit his lip. Yami wondered if Kimiko was tired from that fight last night. It probably was a powerful demon. Perhaps Shadi knew that Yami wasn't fighting along with her? He shook his head no way. There was no way she could know, right?

During history class the teacher let them worked on their projects. Yami joined Kimiko at her desk and saw how tired she looked. He felt another pain of guilt. He just shook his head again. She'll be alright. She's just new at this. She'll get stronger.

"Last night after you left, I combined our notes. We're almost done with our project," he spoke trying to ignore her health. But seeing her like that was killing him. "...You okay?"

Kimiko had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as Yami came up and talked about how they were almost done with their project.  She didn't really care about their project right n
ow.  But she did want to stay on good terms with him so biting his head off about it seemed ill-advised. She just tried to smile and nod, but she knew she probably didn't look too great.

His question caught her by surprise. She wasn't expecting him to be concerned. "I'm fine. Just tired. I stayed up too late," she said quickly.  Telling him she got attacked by a demon spider on the home would not give the best impression of her sanity.

"So, uh.. what else needs to be done?" she asked. She could almost feel Sang's gaze on her as she sounded genuinely enthusiastic about finishing a school project.

Yami bit his lip. He knew she was lying which didn't surprise him. Telling a person that about fighting demons might raise an eyebrow. A voice in the back of his mind was yelling at him, but he ignored it. "Right now the powerpoint, but I can do it. All I have to do is type up the notes. When it's finished, I'll show then we can decide who's saying what." Yami then made a frown. He could tell Kimiko was struggling to stay awake. "You should go to the nurse." He then got up and went back to desk. Yami couldn't look at her anymore.

At lunch Yami sat on the rooftop. He was eating his sandwich, when Jeremy joined him. He gave his friend a surprised look. "What you doing here?"

"I couldn't stand Eric and Sang anymore," his friend replied and sat down next to him. "So I thought I join you instead."

Yami chuckled." Who knew he would hit off with a bookwarm? I give then a week to make it official."

"A week? I give them three days."

Yami then looked at his sandwich. He wondered if Kimiko took his advice to go the nurse. They had a few more classed after history before lunch. Kimiko went to all them. He hoped she caved in. "Um, Jeremy."

"Yeah?" his friend replied as he was taking his sandwich out of its baggie. 

"Was Kimiko with Sang?"

"No, she said she went to the nurse."

Yami just nodded his head. He felt better that she took his advice. Yet it made him feel more guilty.

"Why?"

He bit his lip. There really wasn't any reason to hide it from him. "Kimiko is the Lunar Guardian."

"Wow! Really?" Jeremy looked shocked. "She doesn't seem the hero type."

"Yes," Yami replied. "She's tired from fighting a demon last night.."

"I guess you didn't help."

Yami nodded his head.

"Is it really that bad to turned into a girl?"

"It's not just that, Jeremy. It's only the part of the reason."

"Okay, what's the main reason?"

"I don't get a choice. Fate decided that I would be the one for the job. The same goes to Kimiko. It's not fair."

"Sometimes things aren't fair in life.."

"I know.." Yami then continued eating his sandwich hinting to Jeremy that the conversation was over.

Kimiko closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she rested on the small cot in the nurse's office. It was a welcome relief after pushing herself through the first half of the day. She couldn't miss class because her mother would assume she was faking it after their conversation that morning.

Those stupid demons were literally going to be the death of her. She had only fought three of them and here she was lying in the nurse's office, tired and sore from that last battle. She suspected there would be no rest on the way home. They were trying to kill her, and the next battle would be even harder. She needed help...

Her eyes snapped open at a sudden tapping on the window and she simultaneously quickly for her transformation wand. She only relaxed a moment later when she saw Aidan standing on the ledge outside the window. It was about time the stupid bird made his appearance.

Kimiko surveyed the room before opening the window just enough for the bird to hop inside. "Look who finally shows himself," she muttered.

"Hey.. Sorry for startling you. How are you doing?"

As sincere as he was, his question had hit a nerve. "How am I doing? Seriously? I was almost killed by a giant spider creature, and your first question is 'how are you doing'? How do you think I'm doing?" she hissed, sinking back into the cot.

Aidan nervously pruned one of his wing feathers; as if suddenly realizing how pissed she really was. "Sorry... I meant to ask if you were okay... I should have been there last night, but the battle was already over by the time I got there."

His apology did little to lessen her anger. "Well, let's see. I got hit with a giant boulder and would have been spider food if I didn't get my magic working in time. And you were nowhere to be found. What were you doing?  Sitting back with my stupid partner and laughing about me doing all the work? Are you even trying to get her off her lazy ass?"

Aidan shrank under her words.  He was obviously not used to handling a pissed off guardian. "I'm doing the best I can. She knows you've been attacked multiple times and that you had a rough time last night. She's going to come around soon."

"Soon? She better come around now or I'll hunt her down myself. She shouldn't be able to sit there and do nothing while I almost die every battle. The only reason I accepted this job was because those demons were going to come after me anyway..." The anger was slowly giving away to resignation. She had to fight to stay alive no matter how much she'd rather quit.

"Don't worry.  She's definitely coming around. I can tell."

Kimiko nodded. "Good... You'll go with me tonight, right? I feel like I'll be attacked again."

Aidan nodded. "I should have been with you last night too. You're too inexperienced to keep leaving on your own. I'll stay with you until Sol joins you. She doesn't need me around other than checking in at the moment."

"Thanks.." Kimiko said. Her anger at Aidan had finally dissipated. Now if only she could give her absent partner a few choice phrases to show how angry she actually was. She'd just have to wing it when the other guardian finally showed up.














Searing pain suddenly ran down her arm as a wet sensation pooled in her hand. She bit her lip to keep from crying out loud and looked at her hand.  She was suddenly bleeding? Where did that slash come from...?

"Luna, move!" Aidan's voice broke her out of her confusion, and she quickly moved to the left as what felt like a whirlwind ran past her.

Kimiko quickly transformed while looking in the direction the whirlwind had traveled. 

In front of her stood a short creature with a weasel-like face and a scyth-like blade growing out of both wrists. The demon crouched just as her transformation was complete and then flung itself forward so fast she could barely see it.  She stumbled sideways as the same pain stabbed through her shoulder above her good arm. Thankfully, this wound was not as deep as the first.

Kimiko locked eyes with the demon again. "Shining Lunar Beam!" she yelled, as the demon prepared to start its next attack. It moved too quickly, dodging her attack and slashed her across her chest. Kimiko gasped, crumpling to the ground.

'This is it... Killed by an overgrown weasel...' Kimiko thought as she looked in the direction she believed the demon was going to come from. 

Small flames suddenly littered the area, leaving a visible field of fire surrounding her. For a moment she thought her missing partner had finally made an appearance, but then she realized it Aidan's power as the bird landed beside her.

"You need to stand, Luna. The fire will slow it down enough for you to attack. We only have one shot at this," Aidan said urgently.

Kimiko blinked a couple times, trying to focus on what the bird was saying. She felt weak and was no doubt bleeding more than she would like to admit. She wondered if this was it; even as she stood to meet the next attack.

Aidan's strategy was perfect. The weasel was far more visible as it dodged the small flames that littered the ground around her.  Kimiko forced all of her focus on it and shot a final attack.  

For a second, she thought she missed as she felt a small slash right above her eye.  Then, the demon was gone as her attack destroyed it.  Kimiko let herself fall to the ground in a mixture of relief and weakness. "I think I'm done, Aidan," she murmured. 

Aidan didn't answer her directly, instead chanting a spell that Kimiko could quite catch. A light engulfed her vision and blanketed her in a warm, comforting feeling. She would have thought she was dying if it didn't suddenly subside and leaver her with a dull aching all over.

She slowly sat up and looked at her arm where the first wound had been. An inflamed red slash ran down her arm from her shoulder to just below her elbow, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. "What..?"

Kimiko looked over to where Aidan had been standing a moment before. The bird was splayed on the ground, breathing heavily as he looked up at her. "I used a very high level celestial spell. I couldn't heal you completely in this form, but I was able to stop the bleeding and speed it to the point where it's ready to scab over. It took way too much magic in this form..."

Kimiko's eyes widened in alarm. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked as she gently picked him up.

He nodded, "I need to rest, but I'll be fine. That was an emergency spell. I can't use it again in this form, so please hang in there after this. I don't want to lose another guardian."