Hollows Eve

Chapter 6

.: HOLLOWS EVE EPISODE 6 :.

3rd Person

So now we return to the world of the living, in the beautiful Japanese prefecture of Kyoto, where the sun began to shine its bright, everlasting glow onto the city. With the tenure of the sun's glare shining down on her and kissing her lovely face, Kaila had awoken from her nightmare that had seemed all too real, so real that in fact….It was her life now. She was just ordained as the grim reaper and slayed her first demon….but that wouldn't be the only challenge that she'd have to get over, as many more would obviously face her now that she has a big responsibility on her hands. But the challenge facing her right now…..was a bit different…

"Ughhhhh….what a crazy night. *sigh* at least it's finally morning, now things can finally return to normal." Kaila said as she was laying down looking at the ceiling.

She then proceeded to lay upwards at an angle with her hand on her head and her eyes closed, but then hit something on the way up.

"Ow! What the hel-" She then stopped completely silent. As what she saw not only surprised her….but terrified her and confused her. ALL at the same time.

"Hey…..nice mornin' ain't it? Heheheheheheh…" Jack was sitting on her bed side, staring her directly in the face with a devious smile on his own. And he was in his pumpkin monster form too.

Kaila's eyes widened, they were filled with so much shock that the only that that could happen next is….

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Yeah….that.

Before you knew it, Kaila's mother Kaguya was racing up the stairs to find her daughter, she busted into the room immediately and asked her daughter what the problem was.

"Kaila!? Is something wrong?! What's the matter?!" Kaguya said frantically, as Kaila looked incredibly spooked, like she had seen a ghost or something, yet at the same time she also looked incredibly nervous in a comedic way.

"MOM! There's some pumpkin headed freak in my-" She pointed right in front of her, but nothing was there. Kaguya couldn't see Jack right in front of her daughter. And strangely…..neither could Kaila herself!

Kaila had turned around and saw that nothing was there, her mouth was agape and her eyes had turned to blank anime circles of shock, as if to say" WHAT THE f**k?".

"Honey….there's no one there. Were you having a nightmare again?" She asked her.

"But-bu-bu-bu-b-b-b-but-but-" Kaila continued stammering, swearing that she had seen Jack right in front of her greet her in the morning, it seemed as if as soon as she had screamed, Jack disappeared without a trace.

Kaila's mother sat next to her and consoled her. "We really need to get you back on your meds if you're starting to see things. Now why don't you get dressed and get ready for breakfast downstairs?" Her mom kindly asked her, still dressed in her night gown.

"But I saw….He was….I was…*sigh* …. Yes mom." She said, eventually just saying "f**k it" so her mother wouldn't think she's crazy. Lord knows she wouldn't want to go through that "I'm not crazy" Debacle that people go through when they see things than no one else sees. She's already been through enough.

Her mother then kissed her forehead, and went off on her way, going downstairs to make one of her spectacular breakfast spreads. But Kaila remained suspicious, she knew what she saw. So she took one look to the left…..and then another look to the right….still nothing.

Without a second thought she thought to herself…..knowing that he could hear her…..

"I know you're here…come out you bastard!...Don't try hiding again!"

Kaila said in her own mind, she then proceeded to look again to the left, and to the right, but Jack was nowhere to be found.

"Stop hiding asshole!" Kaila roared at Jack in her own mind. "Who's hiding?..." She heard Jack's voice in her mind. She then turned around quickly….

"Boo." Kaila stumbled off of her bedside, yelping in alarm. "YAAAGH!" She then proceeded to crash on the floor head first, with her covers and pillows covering her.

She scrambled through the pillows and the covers, and looked up at Jack. "What the hell do you want now you bastard?!" Kaila yelled at Jack.

"Calm your t**s. Or else you'll give me away like a gift." Jack raises his hand to tell her to stop yelling so Kaguya wouldn't come back up and he wouldn't have to hide again.

"Then answer me dammit! What do you want now?! Did you follow me back here?! Did you try to kill me in my sleep?! *gasp* DID YOU TAKE PINTS OF MY BLOO FOR STEINMAN'S EXPERIMENTS OR SOMETHING?!" Now she's just being paranoid.

"Stop ye squealin'. I ain't come here to kill ya. I'm supposed to protect ya' remember?" Jack said while standing on her bed folding his arms.

"Yeah, well I can protect myself thank you very much!" She said while giving him a soft pouty look.

"I'm damn well aware of that. 'Specially after how you killed that Jikininki demon, but one thing YOU'RE not aware of is how Lord Death transports spiritual messages between worlds." Jack said to her, which confused Kaila.

"Huh?...Spiritual messages? Wait so…." She said as her look began to change.

"I ain't your babysitta'. I'm your messenger. Your daddy made me come 'ere so I could alert you when it's time to go back to the world of the living. Other than that, there's another reason why I'm 'ere. It goes like this…." So a little flashback starts.

While Kaila was asleep during that night, and YES she was asleep it's not like we just jumped right into the morning, jack had conversed with his master on how they would approach Kaila's training. In the midst of his throne room, Lord Death sat on his throne while Jack stood on front of him with the blue torches burning brightly and lighting up said throne room.

"Jack….There is a certain aspect of Kaila's training to be the true grim reaper that she must learn on her own. I wish for you to help preserve her during her time as grim reaper. In addition to protecting her, I want you to make sure that she is well kept mentally, so that she does not crack underneath such great pressure." Lord Death spoke to his Familiar Servant, as he bowed before him.

"Yes M'lord." Jack bowed before Lord Death without questioning him. One thing you had to hand to Jack was that he was incredibly loyal to his master.

"There is a certain fear that lingers within her still…..if we were to find a way to remove that fear from her heart….she could use it to control all of her emotions and harness the true power of the Reaper Claw. I want YOU to see to it that she overcomes her fears and strengthens her will so that she may learn properly." He said to him while looking down at him and raising his claw slightly, the one that hasn't been cut off by Jack himself.

Jack then looked up at his master and said "How should I go about that M'lord?" He asked him, still in a bowing position.

"There is only one way in which I've observed that Kaila's fears and insecurities can be overcome….." And then without revealing a thing, the flashback is over, as Jack's face is seen smirking before the scene fades back into Kaila's room.

"So now it's you and me Midnight. I'm hopin' you've got room fo' one more, because you've got a spiritual guardian on your hands. Heheheh…." Jack laughed his signature creepy laugh.

"I don't want you for a spiritual guardian! How could YOU guard ME?! You tried to kill me twice last night!" She said, sounding quite pissed while also having an angry expression on her face, coupled with a vein mark to top it off.

"Ahhhh…but I didn't, did I?" Jack said, like that will give him any credit.

"That's true….Alright fine. But I have to lay down some ground rules first." Before Kaila could even lay down said ground rules, Jack's itchy trigger finger pointed one of his huge hand cannons at her face, causing her to yelp and tense up with a nervous beat of sweat following afterwards.

"I don't listen to you. The only person I listen to is my master. I follow my own damn rules. So rack off with that shit." Jack then retracted his pumpkin pistol.

"Will you at least assume some kind of human form so my mom wont freak out?! I can't exactly live with a guy that has a pumpkin for a head y'know!" She said while getting up on her knees.

"Huh…I guess you're right. Alright then, it's been awhile since I could enjoy the pleasures of life anyhow…." Jack said, which actually pegged a question from Kaila.

"Wait…if that's the case then does that mean my mom will be able to see you? And what do you mean it's been awhile? I thought you were dead?" She asked him, generally a little curious.

"I am dead. But not the kind of dead, you'd think I am. We hollows can assume an astral body that projects a physical presence onto the world of the living. Sometimes they can see us, other times they can't. It's like a vanishing act that we control at our whimsy." Jack smiled when he said that, almost taunting her.

"Like the one you just pulled?" Kaila said to Jack.

"Guilty as charged. Heheheheheh….." Jack said tauntingly, eliciting an annoyed grunt from Kaila.

Jack then held out his hand at his side and then after a purple puff of smoke explodes in his hand, a purple-colored Pumpkin bomb is seen in his hand.

"What the hell is that?" Kaila asks Jack. "It looks like a….."

"Relax. It's a pumpkin bomb, but not the kind of bomb that'll blow your tipsy off." He then proceeded to throw it down and purple smoke exploded in the room. Kaila covered herself and once the purple smoke faded, Jack had become an entirely new person!

Kaila's eyes shot out of her head, as Jack had actually assumed the form of a dark-skinned human with long orange hair, yellow eyes and orange eyebrows! Wearing the same clothes as he wore before!

"What?! YOU CAN SHAPESHIFT TOO?!" She said surprised as ever?

"Hehehehe. Heaps of crazy ain't it? We're gonna get bloody comfortable togetha'. I can feel it. Now what's for breakfast! I'm hankerin' for that good dingo." Kaila was seriously creeped out and annoyed by his accent.

"Your gonna have to stop with that aussie accent. It's really getting on my-" Jack pointed the gun in her face again.

"What was that?" He asked her while she was tensing up like a baby. "NOTHING! NEVER MIND! I'M SORRY!" She said. With that the two of them went downstairs for breakfast.

"Kaila honey! Time for breakfast!" Kaila's mother called down with her normal housewife attitude. She had made some special Tamagoyaki with Yakizakana, or in other words a Rolled Omelet and Grilled Fish.

"WOW!" Kaila exclaimed as she came downstairs, excited to see her mom's usual spread of intense breakfast flavor and flair. "Your breakfast spreads are delicious as usual mom. I could use something good to eat in order to take my mind off what's been going on." Kaila exclaimed as she began to eat.

"Well I'm glad I could help sweetie." She said as she smiled brightly, but then looked to her left, wondering who the person sitting on the wall was. "Uhm…Midnight…..who's that?" Kaguya pointed to her, Kaila immediately looked up from her Tamagoyaki dish, to find that Jack was sitting right on the wall near the entrance to her home.

"Ello there. Name's Jack. I'm a friend of ya' daughters." This earned Jack a sneer from Kaila with a depressing gloominess added in for good measure, her look was rather dark and disdainful.

"Oh…I didn't know Kaila had friends over…Well welcome!" Kaila looked at her strangely, wondering why she would just blindly accept someone randomly entering her house. But she decided not to bother with it, considering she had enough to deal with already.

"Thanks Ms.A." Jack said as he sat down right next to Kaila, with Kaila giving him a pout, and Jack smiling at her. "Oh by the way…." Jack began to say as he started chowing down on the great food, stuffing his mouth.

"Oooh….he's certainly a vigorous eater." Kaguya said….with a nervous beat of sweat trickling down her forehead.

"Mmmh! Sorry, been a long time since I've tasted food this good!" Jack said as he kept stuffing his face, some food even got on Kaila as the vein mark on her forehead grew, and grew, AND GREW.

"Mmmh!" Jack chewed his food. "So as I was sayin'….I might be stayin' 'ere for the next few mon-" Jack's ear was then pulled on by Kaila.

"Excuse me mom I gotta get to school, I mean WE have to get to school." With that she dragged him away and made off for school.

"EY! Let me go ya she-harpy, or else I'll damn get my breakfast, I ain't havin' the dingo's breakfast! Damn you vile woman let me go!" Jack continued to proclaim as he kept murmuring angry sayings at Kaila while she dragged him away.

Kaguya simply blinked at him and wondered why Kaila had left in such a huff. But then she looked at the picture of their entire family, with Kazuyama included and said…. "*sigh*…..Kazu…why did you involve HER in this?..."

*******

"Would you mind telling me what the f**k YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" Kaila said while walking to her usual spot where she meets her friends with Jack.

"Ey, I had to introduce myself to your mum. I'm your guardian aren't I? So I had to make sure she knew the breaks." Jack said as they continued to walk.

"Well you can't just up and say "OH I'M COMING TO LIVE WITH YOU FOR A FEW MONTHS." That's not how it works in the real world Jack!" Kaila said.

"Hey. Don't tell me how to live Midnight Bliss. I was alive once to y'know. And I know that's not how it works, but I don't give a rat's arse. We're stuck together. Whether you like it or not. So I'm gonna be livin' with you from now on. We can make this easy, or hard. Your choice." He said, sounding rather serious about what he said, like he's trying calm down her apparent rage at him.

Kaila simply glared while turning her head, and then looked down. "Fine….." She definitely didn't trust Jack, but she had to live with him….For now. "Ey, Don't be a cut snake now midnight. Gimme a fair go. Down the road you'll find I'm not such bad bloke." Jack said while looking at her.

"Yeah I'm sure." Kaila said with a little contempt in her voice. This looks to be a promising relationship right? Let's hope so….

Meanwhile, it seemed like the day had just begun for Kaila's friends. All of them were there, Tomomi, Reyabe, and even Gajenma. Who made a declaration to himself that today he was going to accomplish a goal that he's been working on his entire life.

"Today….is the day of all days…..the one day where i…Gajenma Iteru…..WILL ASK THE BEAUTIFUL MIDNIGHT PRINCESS KAILA AMIYUKI OUT ON A DATE!" His eyes comedically shined as he rose his fist to add emphasis to his mighty proclamation.

This earned a head scratch from Tomomi and a scoff from Reyabe. "Oh come on Gajenma, you say that like ALL the time. Why don't you just ask her out already?" Reyabe says.

"Are you kidding?! One does not simply ASK the midnight princess out on a date! You have to approach her with class and finesse! I've been practiciiiiiing! And today's the day! Where I'm not going to be afraid!" His eyes shone with the intensity of 1000 suns! He was ready to finally ask out the girl of his dreams!

"Today's the day that I shall become the prince to my glorious princess!" He declared.

"Your delirious I swear." Reyabe stated, folding her arms. Tomomi then patted her back.

"Aw come on Reyabe, he might have a chance this time. Who knows? Kaila just might say yes." He says, using a bit of sarcasm.

"Yeah now you're talkin' dragon boy! WOOHOO!" Gajema started to jump up and down excited.

"Hey! I told you not to call me that!" Tomomi despised that nickname for some reason. He didn't like being called "Dragon Boy", as he was called that a lot when he was a child. The only reason Gajenma called him that was because he could feel the sarcasm in his voice.

"Sorry Tomomi. Guess a little of Kamina rubbed off on me. But don't doubt it! Today's the day! I know it is!" Gajenma stood proud and firm of his declaration of LOVE.

"Well good luck. Your gonna need it." Tomomi said as a beat of sweat dropped down his forehead.

"Hey by the way Tomomi, when's your girl getting here? She said she'd meet us here-" Reyabe's voice was cut off by the sound of Kaila running up to the tree of life.

"I'm here guys!" Kaila proclaimed, as Jack followed her up to the tree.

Tomomi hugged his best friend, while Gajenma & Reyabe joined in the hug. "Boy am I glad to see you guys. You wouldn't believe the terrible nightmare I had last night." Reyabe gave her a look that communicates that she's heard this story a thousand times before.

"Oh boy, what kind of crazy nightmare did you have now?" Tomomi said, poking fun at her while chuckling with Reyabe.

"Hey! I'm serious! It felt all too real this time too!" Her story was interrupted by Jack, who cleared his throat and folded his arms, waiting to be introduced.

"Oh yeah…..This is my….uhhhhhhhhhhh…..adopted…..brother….Jack. He's a foreign exchange student…from…..Australia." Kaila was stormed with weirded out looks of confusion and big eyes.

"Foreign…exchange student?" All three of them declared.

"G'day mates. How's the weather?" He said simply with his hands in his pockets. Reyabe suddenly got chills down her spine.

"I get like the creepiest vibe from this guy….just looking at him sends chills down my spine…." Reyabe said, thinking back to herself, as she examined Jack. Who smiled back at her.

Suddenly, then Reyabe saw a scary, violent flash of Jack in his pumpkin monster form with glaring red eyes, his haunting pumpkin smile, and he was completely black surrounded by a dark aura, jump-scaring her to death and sending static up her body.

"AAAHAHAHAAAA!" She screamed while looking at Jack. "What's your deal?" Tomomi asked her.

"Guess she's no ace at first impressions. Heheheh….." He chuckled, like he knew he was scaring her.

"OOOOOOOOOK….Well then. Nice to meet you Jack." Tomomi said.

Jack then examined Tomomi, and remembers something that Lord Death told him…

"There is only one way in which I've observed that Kaila's fears and insecurities can be overcome….."

Tomomi looked at Jack nervously and asked. "Uhhhhh….something wrong dude? It's impolite to stare." Jack continued to stare at him as he put his hand on his own chin.

"This bodgy bloke is the one?" Jack said to himself….just as Jack was examining Tomomi, someone else walked up onto the scene.

"Hello?! Tomomi-Kun!" A girl with somewhat wavy pink hair, big bouncing breasts, a voluptuous buxom figure, beautiful green eyes, and a schoolgirl like outfit came running up to Tomomi, as she hugged him.

"Oh Hey Amuki! About time you came here." The two of them shared a kiss right in front of Jack & Kaila, which caused Jack's eyes to widen. He was about to take out his gun, when Kaila stopped him just in time.

"CHILL! CHILL! It's not the same one…" Jack slowly put his gun down. But even he was weirded out by the striking resemblance to the hollow Amuki in purgatory.

"This is Amuki Otsukemi….Tomomi's….. *sigh* girlfriend." Kaila said it like she hated the fact that Tomomi even had a girlfriend to begin with.

Otsukemi, since we can't really call her Amuki because she's the real world version of Amuki from Purgatory, stuck her tongue out at Kaila. "Jealous? Heheh." She said playfully.

"We should be getting to school now, formal intros will have to wait. I'm sure Kamina's just waiting to get his ass kicked again." Tomomi said, which made everyone, except Jack, laugh.

"Then let's go!" Otsukemi said with a polite smile. But then her polite smile changed to a look of contempt, she might seem all nice and sweet like the Amuki we know….but deep down….she's a queen B. THE resident queen B of her school.

And it's not that Kaila hated the fact that Tomomi had a girlfriend, it's the fact that it was HER. The two of them started each other down as a rival spark formed between them.

"Don't you stare at me midnight freak. You had your chance and you lost; now he's mine. If you don't like it too bad! Suck it up b***h!" She said in her mind.

"Don't act like what you did didn't happen….what's worse is….she looks just like Amuki. From Purgatory….." Kaila uttered a slight growl at Otsukemi, who responded with a smirk.

"Don't look at me like that." She then turned away. "Hmph! I don't talk to my rivals." And walked off with Tomomi. Who could only watch and speak to her afterwards, not wanting to stir up the tension between them.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked her. "You saw the way she looked at me. Don't pretend you didn't just to spare her feelings." Tomomi looked down, knowing that she was right.

Jack looked perplexed however, wondering just how Much Amuki Otsukemi resembled Amuki Nagasaki.

"This is a bolly of bollocks. How is there another Amuki still livin'?" He asks her. Kaila looks back at him and responds "She's not the same person. She might seem all sweet and innocent at first….but trust me….she's evil." Kaila's hair then began to flame up with comedic jealousy. "Pure…Unadulterated EVIL!" Kaila said while gripping her fists. Jack just looked on and wondered, puzzled at the fact that there's another Amuki in the world of the living.

"Hmm….this world interests me already.

*****

The School bell rings, and class lets out, And Kaila shows Jack to his locker. Explaining how the school system works nowadays compared to when he was alive is a hassle in itself. Just watch.

"Oh my GOOOOOOOD. Do you not understand lockers?!" Kaila exclaimed, very annoyed with Jack's lack of understanding of how simple things like a locker work.

"HEY! I wasn't around when this stuff was invented alright!" Jack explains.

"Ok….I'll explain it again. Just turn the dial to match your combination, turn it past the first one to the left twice, then to the right once, and finally back again to the last one directly." Kaila explained very slowly.

Jack did exactly that and opened his locker, though he didn't have much to put in there. Other than….ALL HIS WEAPONS!?

"What the hell?! Why do you have all this stuff in here?!" Kaila exclaimed, virtually alarmed at the fact that Jack had swords, his scythe and his giant pumpkin pistols all in one locker. How was he even able to fit all of that into one place anyway?

"Ey, those are just extra. Just in case somethin' pops off. Y'never know when ya' might need to break out the "Big Guns". Heheheheh….." Jack laughs while closing his locker.

"If you get expelled right when you get accepted into this school, Don't blame me." She says.

"Uhm….excuse me?" A voice had rang out. It was Gajenma, who approached both Kaila and Jack as they both looked at him.

Gajenma stood nervously with his hands behind his back, swallowed his pride and said to himself… "Alright…..you can do this….you can do this!" He then walked up to Kaila.

"Sorry but I need to talk to Kaila real quick. If you'd please?" Gajenma said directly to Jack.

Jack just shrugged and said "Eh. Your funeral mate." And start to walk off.

"Hey! How about you RACK OFF!" Kaila said virtually annoyed.

"Take a joke you dodgy cow." And he walks off.

Kaila then looked at Gajenma and blinked. "Hey Gajenma, what's up?" She asks him.

Gajenma then looked into her beautiful, yet strange looking yellow eyes. "Oh man….her eyes have always been the most beautiful part of her! GGGGGEEEEEEH!...Here we go…calm down! You can do this….YOU. CAN. DO THIS!" He got himself together and finally summoned up the courage to ask her…

"Well Kaila….I um…if you're not….y'know…doing anything later….or…next week or…next month…..or….anytime soon!...Hehe….." He sweats nervously as he revealed a bouquet of white roses from behind his back.

Kaila's eyes widened a bit, but then she had a happy expression on her face. "Awww! White roses! How'd you know my favorite kind of flower?" Kaila exclaimed while smiling at him.

"I picked them from the Tree of life during lunch. I knew you'd like them….so uh…If you're not doing anything….." Gajenma put his hands together. "Kaila Amiyuki will you please go out with me?!" Sounding desperate.

His question was so loud everyone could hear him. Kaila blinked twice, but then dropped a beat of sweat afterwards. "Uhm…..Sorry Gajenma….but I don't think I can do that. Heheh…."

Gajenma heard the thundering sounds of an off-key piano playing in his head, as his expression changed from desperate, to shocked. He couldn't believe it! His dream girl turned him down right out of the gate.

"No….i've waited my whole life for this one moment…..and now it's wasted…..It's over…..I picked her favorite flowers….Tomomi says that whenever you pick these flowers something good happens…why didn't it work?!" Gajenma said to himself.

"But…But why?!" He said to her, raising his voice a little.

"Because I…I just have bigger responsibilities right now. I can't focus on love or dating. So….i'll see you later." She then runs off, leaving Gajenma devastated, and looking down to feel the sting of rejection.

"Now I know how Frankenstein feels….Why did you form a bond with someone that even YOU turned from in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred….."

*******

Later, when school had finally released, Kaila was seen walking home with her friends, however Gajenma wasn't with them.

"Where's that purple haired spazoid Gajenma? Did he ask you out today Kai?" Reyabe asked.

"Yeah he did…." She felt bad for turning him down earlier. Thinking that she was the reason why he wasn't with them.

Tomomi took notice of the look on her face as they all arrived at the tree of life. Once Reyabe said her goodbyes to Kaila and the others and shoved off, Amuki was about to head off with Tomomi as well.

"So we're going back to my place right Tomomi-kun?" She said while rapping her arms around his neck. "Sure thing! Just let me talk to Kaila first….she seems kind of down." Amuki seemed somewhat annoyed by this, but she let him talk to her. As if she had a choice, lest she show her contempt from past events, which will be explained later, don't worry.

"Fine…..go ahead." Tomomi kisses her forehead and then responds "You're the best babe." And then walks over to Kaila underneath the tree of life. Who is standing there looking up, looking a bit sad about her reaction to Gajenma's rejection.

Tomomi then tapped her shoulder and asked if she was okay. "Hey….You okay Midnight?" Kaila looked at Tomomi, then looked down, virtually saddened about what happened. She can't seem to get the thought of Gajenma being so down about it out of her head. She didn't like him like that or anything, she just didn't want to cause her friend so much pain, especially when he picked those flowers for her. Her favorites…..

"Gajenma asked me out today….I turned him down politely and….he took it very hard. I mean….I don't really like him like that. But I hate to see him so sad…..especially when he picked those white flowers from the tree of life today. Just for me….. maybe I should….." Kaila began to say out of her mouth, with Tomomi putting a finger too it.

This got Otsukemi's attention, as she looked on, visually angry.

"Hold on…..Don't say anything more!" Tomomi then picked a white rose petal from the tree of life, as the Sakura petals bloomed with a different color than that of normal Sakura petals….

"Remember….when you pick something from this tree…..something good happens. That's the promise of the tree of life. It's intentions are pure. So don't worry….." He then held the rose petal in her hands and held them close to him.

"Just let the tree work it's magic. I think you'll find the right decision." Tomomi then smiled at Kaila. With Kaila smiling back at him as well.

"Thank you Tomomi! You're the best." She then hugged him, and Tomomi hugged back, wrapping his arms around her back. This angered Otsukemi even more.

Otsukemi then cleared her throat. "Excuse me! Can we go now Tomomi?" She said with a little bit of annoyance and attitude.

"You better go now, lest your girl gets restless." Kaila says to Tomomi. "I think I know what I need to do." Kaila says.

"I'm not saying you have to….just know that everything's gonna be alright once this tree bears fruit." He winks at her and then leaves with Otsukemi, who walks off with Tomomi. Kaila then walks the other way, and Jack, who is sitting in the tree looking at them walking off, smirks a bit.

"This IS the one Lord Death talked about….hmmmmm…"

Jack was officially interested at how Tomomi could light up Kaila's emotions so well. He had subtly decided that he'd study him MUCH more closely…

Meanwhile, on the walk back to Otsukemi's place…..

"What were you two talking about? And why did you grab her hands like that? You know how I feel about that." Tomomi was visually annoyed by Otsukemi's constant prodding.

"Hey, we go way back. I was just helping her out. Don't act like I was romancing the girl." Tomomi said with his hands behind his head.

"You might as well have been! She hugged you. Tomomi, you know how you once felt about her right?" Tomomi then brought his hands down. "Huh?! Now wait a second-"

He was then cut off by Otsukemi. "Key word being ONCE. I don't need to tell you about what happened long ago do I? I thought you got over that." She said to him.

"Hey I did! Why're you bringing it up?! Get off my back dammit!" He yelled at her, causing her to tense up a bit.

"Sorry….But….Ok listen. Just don't be so….buddy-buddy and touchy-feely with her! It alerts me. And quite frankly it pisses me off. Your more feely with her than you are with me. That's a problem." Tomomi looked down.

"Your right….I'm sorry I'll stop." He said to her.

"Good."

********

After some looking around, Kaila finally located Gajenma, who was sitting at the front door of his home down in his apartment building.

"Gajenma?..." Gajenma looked up at her, surprised to see her standing there. He immediately sprung up in alarm and said "K-Kaila! I didn't expect to see you so soon! What're you doing here, you never visit me~! Have you reconsidered?! Tell me you have please?!" He said, somewhat excited.

Kaila held the White rose petal that Tomomi picked for her….. "*sigh*…..after some thought….I decided why not? It might be fun. Who knows? Let's go." She's giving him a chance.

"YEEEEAAAAHAHAHAAAAHH! Thank god!" Gajenma was jumping up and down, exclaiming with joy at Kaila finally saying yes to him.

Kaila simply didn't want Gajenma to feel so sad, with what's wearing on her conscience now, she couldn't have the thought of Gajenma being depressed over her weighing down on her mind. She had too much to think about, although a date might not have been the best idea either, it's a far cry from just letting a friend sulk in rejection. Though Kaila didn't do it for him…..She also did it for herself.

"This date is gonna suck….But if I know one thing…..It'll make me feel better without having to deal with Jack during the night. Maybe this time I could actually sleep better if I take the roses with me….after all….something good happens every time I pick one. Gajenma picked several…..That's the gift of life huh?...I guess it's not too bad. Infact…..it's perfect."

.: TO BE CONTINUED :.