"I'm very sorry I'm late," he said bowing slightly and looked up at his supervisor.  "I was held up by an unfortunate traffic accident."

"Seeing that you're new here, I'll forget your mistake this time." His supervisor said with a smile. "Just make sure you don't be late for work again."

"Thank you very much sir," He said with relieved sigh and a wide grin. "I won't be so late again."

"Good, good. You're first assignment is to..." His supervisor paused as a bellow echoed through the ceiling and rattled the pens and coffee mug on his desk. "Ahh, good, there she is now."

"S..sir?" He looked nervously up at the ceiling and back at his boss.

"Now, I have a favour to ask of you."

"I, I thought that I was going to be helping one of the teachers this period." He said with a confused look.

"You are going to help." His supervisor said with a smile. "Trust me."

"How, sir?" He said curiously. "I was told that I was just going to shadow a member of the staff and help out around the school."

"Chikawa-san," He said and leaned across his desk to look closely at him. "You are being given a special assignment."

"Y...yes sir," Yorukai said with a smile, hiding his nervousness well. "What is my assignment?"

"As you have heard, one of our staff is in desperate need of a vacation."  he said and looked directly at Yorukai. "and I have heard great things about your teachings."

"Ahh..." Yorukai said uncertain of whether he should be flattered or worried. "It is truly nothing. I just try to be a friend instead of just another teacher."

"That, and the fact that when you talk, people are inclined to listen."

"Ah...I see, that I suppose that is true but uh..." Yorukai said and said in a slightly rushed voice. "If is isn't much trouble, could I please know what my new assignment is?"

"Chikawa-san, so eager to get to work!" His supervisor pounded his fist on the desk and shot him a reassuring grin that failed to reassure him. "You are to take over some of Ms. Machiko's PE classes!  Isn't that just marvelous?"

"I..." Yorukai blinked hard for a few moments before a realization dawned on him. He wasn't fired yet, and he had a respectable position too. He grinned from ear to ear, his luck seemed to be changing.

"I get to teach the vice principal's classes??" Yorukai said with a huge grin and wide, disbelieving eyes. "Truly sir??"

"Yes Chikawa-san," He said with a conspiring smile. "And that's not the best thing."

"It isn't?" Yorukai could barely keep himself from jumping out of his chair and dancing. ~This day is beginning to look better already!~

"You," He said pointing a finger at Yorukai. "Get to tutor one of our...special...students that's having trouble with participating in school activities."

"Really?" Yorukai grinned widely at his supervisor. "What do I have to do?"

"Your only assignment this term is helping this girl to maintain a good grade standing and stay out of trouble."

"That's great!" Yorukai nodded happily. ~This is going to be a snap! All I have to do is get a girl to do her work and keep an eye on her? No prob!~

"What's her name sir?" Yorukai said happily and stood up. "I'd like to start my assignment right away."

    Yorukai felt a strange, sudden chill as he said those words and looked up at his supervisor.  His supervisor let a huge grin spread across his face as he told him two words that would have caused a wise man to flat out refuse this assignment and leave.  Unfortunately for Yorukai, he wasn't a very wise man.

"Her name is Moukuto Amefuri."

"Amefuri?" Yorukai nodded and grinned. "Great! What kind of person is she?"

"Ahh...she is quiet...strong willed and independent.  She has great potential and I want you to bring it out!" His boss said and dismissed him with a nod of his head. "Good luck Chikawa-san!"

"Thank you sir," Yorukai quickly bowed to his boss and left the room with a smile. "I'll find her right away!"

    As the door clicked shut his boss shook his head with an amused smile.  He turned and gazed out of the window of his office as the sound of Yorukai's footsteps faded away.  He said and shook his head with a smile. "You're going to need it."

    Amefuri leaned up against the cool brick wall and stared up at clouds in the sky.  This was fast becoming another one of those days that you just want to crawl into a hole and die. She tossed her hair over her shoulder with a flip of her head and sighed.  There was no way she was going to do something as humiliating as carry a bucket of water.  She was already the laughing stock of the school, there wasn't any need for her to amplify her bad reputation anymore than necessary.

"I knew I shouldn't have come today.  All of this started with that boy..." Amefuri said and rubbed her eyes. "What's wrong with me today?"

    Amefuri closed her eyes and slid down the wall into a sitting position. She was having a really bad day and was wishing that it was all over.  She crossed her arms and rested her head on her knees.  Her headache was getting worse by the minute so she relaxed herself slightly and let her her mind drift.

Shadows...swirling mists...a figure cloaked in black... ~Come my Shadow Runner, The time has finally come.~

    Amefuri's eyes snapped open as she leapt to her feet and dropped into a fighting stance in a single, fluid motion.  Her eyes quickly scanned around her searching for the source of the voice she heard.  She heard the soft sound of a foot step behind her and she sent a spinning kick at...Yorukai's head.

    Yorukai would barely had the time to blink, let alone defend himself, before Amefuri's leg connected with his head.  Amefuri's eyes widened in shock as she recognized him moments before she kicked him in the head.  He closed his eyes and braced himself for a kick that never connected.  He slowly opened an eye and paled when he saw Amefuri's foot mere centimeters away from his face.  Yorukai laughed nervously as Amefuri lowered her leg and glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Amefuri growled. "Explain yourself."

"I was just coming to see how you were doing. I didn't mean any harm or to scare you.  I just saw you sitting there looking so lonely and I had to come over and say hello.  After all, everyone needs friends and I just thought that you needed one!" Yorukai spun off in a single breath.

"Yorukai..." Amefuri cut him off with a dangerous tone of voice. "Shut up."

"Ah...right" Yorukai said shutting up. "I'm sorry..."

"If you plan on living," Amefuri said shooting him a dark glare. "You'd better walk away and leave me alone."

"Well, I would but I can't." Yorukai said smiling happily at Amefuri's retreating form. "I'm your new tutor!"

"What?" Amefuri said in an acid tone. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned very slowly to give him a look of death that made the chilled him to the core. She strode up to him angrily and said in a low controlled voice that promised pain and destruction. "What did you say?"

"I'm your new tutor. " Yorukai gave the fuming girl a wide, cheerful smile that only managed to get her angrier. "It's my job to keep an eye on you and to you out of trouble and to help you to be a model student!"

"Here..." Amefuri said in a tight voice as she struggled to keep her temper in check. "Here's a piece of advice...Yorukai. Stay away from me."

"Aww....C'mon!" Yorukai whined plaintively. "Be a sport! After all you can't be gloomy all of the ti..."

"No." Amefuri intoned flatly and stormed away from him. "and stay away from me."

"...me.  A~me! " He called out and ran after the quickly retreating girl. "Wait up!!"

    Amefuri picks up a book in a bookstore and reads the cover.  She brings the book up to the counter to pay for it and sees Yorukai standing there smiling at her.

"Hey there Ame!" He grins and butts in front of her. "Let me pay for it!"

"Go away." Amefuri scowls and promply leaves the store.

"Eh?" Yorukai looks up and sees Amefuri walking away. "Ame! Wait up! You forgot your book!"

LATER:

    Amefuri walks down the aisles of the supermarket.  She pauses to read from her shopping list and puts an item into her basket.  She turns a corner and Yorukai pops out of seemingly nowhere.

"Hi! Let me carry that for you!' He reached out and grabbed the basket from Amefuri.

"Go away." Amefuri scowled and snatched the basket back from him. "and leave me alone."

"C'mon..." Yorukai said with a slight whine, "Let me help you!"

"Go away." Amefuri repeated and gave him her patented I'm-going-to-turn-you-into-a-big-messy-crater look.

"Ame...oops!" Yorukai backed right into a shelf full of detergent bottles.  He whirled around and desperately tried to steady the teetering shelf without much success.  The entire contents of the shelf came crashing down on him and onto the floor. Amefuri turned on her heel and stormed away from him with a growl.

"Uh...no one will notice, right Ame? Ame?" Yorukai said with a nervous laugh and looked around for her. "Wait up!"

LATER:

"Ame! Wait up!" Yorukai yells as he runs after Amefuri through a clothing store. Amefuri sees him and walks away from him faster.

LATER:

"Ame! Wait up!" He runs after Amefuri through a jewelery store.  Amefuri carefully puts down the porceline figure she was looking at and hurries out of the store.

LATER:

"Ame!" He runs up to Amefuri as she listens to a street musician.  Amefuri looks up at the happily grinning shock of blue hair across the square and hurries away.

"Hey, Where are you going?" Yorukai calls after her as she runs down the street.

LATER:

    Amefuri walks through the park and pauses to look into the lake.  She spots Yorukai's reflection in the lake over her shoulder and runs away as decreetly as possible.

"Ame!" He waves and runs after her as Amefuri runs away at a break-neck speed. "Wait for me!"

    Amefuri ducked into an alley way, hid behind a trashcan and watched Yorukai run past.  ~Doesn't that boy ever give up? It's like he's got a tracking device planted on me!~ She paused and quickly patted herself down just be make sure he didn't put a tracking device on her.  Relieved that he didn't, she peered around the corner of the alley. When she saw he was no where in sight, Amefuri sighed in relief ~Good, good. Now maybe I can get home.~

    Amefuri stepped out of the alley way and casually walked down the busy street towards the outskirts of town.  A strange feeling was nagging at  her all day and she couldn't put a finger on what it was. The visions of...something...at the outer fringes of her consciousness was really starting to get on her nerves. This was irritating the heck out of her and Yorukai's persistance in following her was doing very little help in figuring out what those visions were or improving her mood.

    Unknown to her, a shadow flickers past upon the rooftops above her.  It silently leaps from rooftop to rooftop in a blur of black and crimson...
 

~to be continued~