Format Post Testing

[MythicalYoko]

http://www.zerochan.net/1072608#full

“You are just ruthless, little brother.”

Eventhel paused, just halfway down the marble hall. He turned and spotted his brother halfway hidden behind a doorway, smiling at him. “Ruthless?” Eventhel repeated, looking in the direction he was walking in and then laughing. “I thought I was particularly polite to them, all things considered.”

“Don’t say you weren’t hiding knives in your words,” Ashthelim stepped out and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “It’s not fair, you know, to be a murderer on the battlefield and with your words.”

“That’s what we were born for, Ash.”
“Of course it was,” Ashthelim tapped his fingers against the wall. “Just don’t let yourself get too caught up in because Mom wants you to be.”

“I have to be,” Eventhel shook his head and made a small wave. “I’ll speak to you afterwards, Ash.”

“Of course, of course, I will see you afterwards, don’t let her tear you a new one, hm?”

Eventhel continued, humming to himself and stopping just before the door. It swung open and his handmaid almost walked right into him. She managed to avoid him by swerving hard to the left. Eventhel caught her and he could hear her almost hyperventilating as he set her on her feet. With a quick blubbered apology she bowed and walked quickly past him, face red.

He watched her over his shoulder before stepping in, his mother Zos already sitting upright on one of the many pillows. He waited two seconds before sitting down across from her. Zos mixed the tea in front of her, face placid when she eventually looked up. “You did well today, Eventhel,” her lips quirked. “Here we’d thought you would have been the weak one.”
“It was thanks to you.”

“I certainly tried hard to make you stronger,” cups clinked as he picked up a cup and set it on his lap. “But I think in exchange I’ve lost Ashthelim. Oh well, though, you can’t have everything when you have our careers…”

….

“If you weren’t the person who was supposed to be there then why would you set,” Eventhel stepped closer, lips and nose curled. “Yourself in that position?” There was no answer. “Listen to me,” his voice went low, “listen to me, little feather, you twig, so easy to break, I will snap you in half if you even so much as a cross a line with me again,” he tapped their chin and they looked up immediately. “I am here to make sure things get done, and only the goddess can help you if you even so much as come close to getting in my way again. Pray that you understand every word passing through these teeth because I will not repeat them again. One warning, and then I bite your precious throat out.”

….

It always worked like this. The highs, the times when he had to split himself away from his emotions, his morals, and simply become what he’d been trained to be since birth: A soldier. It was in something much deeper than his blood, it was ingrained in his mind, within the very wrinkles of his brains the instinct had been implanted and soaked within his bones, muscles, veins, tendons and skin. While most soldiers missed their shots he aimed to kill. There were very few who had delivered as many fatal shots as he had. The stains of fresh blood would lead him into an empire of pride, of duty; not just for himself but for his family. The Ivilaras would rise again and they would come closer to that crown, the light. He did not care so much about wearing the crown himself as he did about bringing his family to their prime, to their glory. The country would know their names. The stars would know them.

The downfall was that in the moments where he breathed nothing but the blood misting through the air, he lost himself, sometimes for days. As it was now it had been weeks, maybe even over a month, at this rate he couldn’t even begin to try to remember the last time he’d felt the bite or sensation of any feeling that went beyond physical. Even as he sat in bed, legs pulled up and arms free to fight, he could barely recognize the faces of his family.

He knew their faces but he did not understand them, he could not remember them in the sense he had before, and judging from their expressions they did not understand him, either. In the long nights, in the moments he went into deep sleeps, he would wake up to the raw sound of shrieking, screaming, swearing- and realizing it was him and being unable to stop even once he knew. He knew there was blood somewhere, enemies hidden within the corners of the floors and walls, in the shadows. It was always a struggle for him not to murder the people who entered his room, in far too much of a rush that made them look exactly like prey, like enemies, like murderers with blades in their hands- if he didn’t think he knew he would have killed them. Eventually they leaned to enter his room slowly, as slowly as possible, so that he wouldn’t try to add their insides to the décor.

Therapy barely helped. He didn’t care to listen or respond, because it wasn’t his job to do so, it was his job to accomplish the mission and kill. It wasn’t until the therapist asserted themselves as the command that he started to listen, take their advice as words of command, the status quo.

When he finally started breaking, the shield that had been welded between himself and his emotions, he’d gone from being ready to take action to being terrified. He saw everything in the same way as before except instead of feeling ready to handle it, he experienced almost every movement in fear, with tears and lashing out while shrieking and not knowing what to do with himself. His therapist fought to calm him down, eventually forcing him into sedation.

The sedation did not lessen his fear so much as it numbed it. He could feel the amount of it but not the feeling of it. It was like having a limb numb and being able to feel the pressure of a pin p***k but not the pain. His father would sit with him in bed and brush his hair, like he used to when Eventhel was young, humming and petting and encouraging him to come back, where he was waiting- where family was waiting.

Ashthelim was there, too. He would watch him from the doorway, looking at him as if he completely understood yet not recognizing the person in front of him. When Eventhel had eventually recovered enough to not try to attack things or people, Ashthelim had led him through the house, arm in arm. Ashthelim didn’t speak until the end, when Eventhel asked him what he was going to do about his missing arm. Ashthelim said he was making a new one with their father and asked if Eventhel wanted to see it. Of course he had.

[MythicalYoko]

Toris could not sleep. The first night he’d passed out without even remembering the trip to his room and since then, his fight with sleep was one he might compare to some of the battles of his glory days. He wanted to say that at least then he’d had the confidence and power to take control, but- he bitterly reminded himself- he’d still been Poland’s stepping stone during their Commonwealth.
Tension followed him from the bed to the rest of the house and even out of it. It was like the presense of a phantom which hovered around him with the persistence of a wet leaf. At least he could peel a leaf off but this stuck to him as if it were a breath on the back of his shoulder.

Mr. America and the rest of the house felt like as spirits as well but somehow they were less tangible. The tension was something he could feel in the muscles of his hands and sore feet, but Mr. America did not have the same… texture… as that did, nor the rest of the house. Even when Toris pressed his hands against the white tiles of the sink to cool his fingers, the tiles didn’t feel real. It was as if the sensation was conjured up and what his fingers touched and his mind perceived were two different things.

To take his mind off these problems, Toris did his best to memorize a daily routine. Mr. America was out of the house from 8 AM to the late afternoon, returned somewhere between 5 and 7 PM, depending on traffic and whatever business it was America tended to. During that time Toris was left alone, in a house which was altogether too large for someone as small as he was. His time alone was spent cleaning, mostly, and his only company was the radio and his own discouraging thoughts. The first day he’d washed all of the laundry (he was still absolutely amazed at electric washing machines, they saved him hours worth of time), hung them out to dry, washed all of the dishes, started dinner and then pulled the laundry down to fold it.

The second day Toris had set about cleaning the entire house. He stood on stools and tip toe to reach high places that were covered in dust, brushed them and slowly worked his way down. He dusted, scrubbed, brushed and mopped every corner and surface of the house- which included the windows, cracks in the floor, corners and more- except America’s room and the artifact’s room. When it came to washing the hardwood floors, which had been drowned in a rug of dust from the furniture, walls and ceiling from his dusting; Toris had swept the dirt and dust up and then gotten down on his hands and knees to scrub it. He even began the dirty task of cleaning all of the grim and muck beneath the oven. By the time he finished his back, knees and shins ached as if he’d spent the hours on horseback whacking his limbs on tree branches. (One mischievous stallion, back when fighting was done by blade, had done that to him for weeks.) He was reminded of his true age when he’d had to slowly force himself to stand up and felt and heard his back crack multiple times when he straightened it out. With less than an hour before 5 left, Toris dumped the dirty soap water he’d used, tossed the rags in the dirty laundry and marched off to make dinner without so much as a pause for a break.

For dinner, he followed a recipe book he’d found hidden amongst Mr. America’s shelves and found himself muttering over a word he didn’t know in front of a boiling pot when America came home. When the door slammed shut Toris’ hands immediately began to shake as he realized he hadn’t finished dinner anywhere near on time. Something that sounded like a cross between a cry and a gasp came from the hallway and Toris’ shoulders tensed up as his eyes went wide.

“Holy-” America gasped and Toris could hear his feet heavy, like iron stones, on the floor. “Lithuania, did you do this?”

It took Toris a while to find his words until he heard Mr. America’s feet at the doorway to the kitchen. “Y-yes, I…”

“It’s amazing!” America burst out into laughter as he turned around and began to walk briskly through the house. “You even cleaned my thingies!”

This went on for another ten minutes and Toris would have used America’s distraction to finish cooking, if America hadn’t forced him away from the stove so they could look through everything together and oh god the pot was still boiling and all his progress would be burned away.

Throughout America’s dragging him around, Toris was caught between fear and pride. It was as if he were a mouse in a narrow crack, successful at finding safety yet trapped by only one escape route. He thought a part of him would break when America beat him suddenly on the back, and it wasn’t until America threw his heavy, muscular arm on Toris’ knife thin shoulders that Toris realized the hit on his back had been a hearty pat and not a malicious blow. When America even added he was excited for dinner and did not seem at all unpleased it had not yet been finished, Toris let out a mechanical, high pitched laugh that frightened him more than anything else. The startled expression on his employer’s face made Toris want to jam his house slippers down his throat so he would stop cackling.

This cleaning and cooking routine was settled by the end of the week, though the cleaning was not as extensive as it had been on the second day. It was a similar rhythm to the one he’d had in Russia’s house: Make breakfast, this time with coffee and not tea, do the dishes, check the dirty laundry to see if there was enough to do a load, dust, wipe, brush, mop, pick dinner, cook dinner, do the dishes and then sweep the floor and wash the table while America spent time in the backyard, in front of the radio or talking. Every so often this schedule included going out into the vegetable and flower gardens to pull out weeds.

Amidst all of this, there were things about America Toris picked up once he’d gotten used to the super power’s rhythm. Part of the wild rhythm was America’s nature; that brass, no-nonsense nature to do whatever popped into his mind. The adjective most people would use was impulsive, but even that didn’t quite do it justice. Impulsive behavior suggested the actor possibly felt guilt or saw error in their actions. Such lack of confidence was nowhere to be found in America, it was as if every bit of Toris that was doubtful and confident, America was the antithesis. It was terrifying, in a way, how little fear Mr. Jones possessed.

The second half to the odd rhythm was that America’s people were oddly friendly- not to say Europeans or Russians were constantly cold, he could never say that about his own people, but with American’s their kindness was extended almost without discrimination. After a while, Toris deduced this down to the fact that for them, anyone who was not their enemy was their friend. It was unusual to have so many random faces smile or talk to him as if they had been good friends for years. They were a people who prospered, not suffered, and even while basking in their own freedom, Toris was not sure they truly appreciated how unbound they really were.

Even as he learned more about his surroundings, sleep still refused to come. Or maybe it did, he just couldn’t tell when his thoughts belonged to his awake mind or his sleeping one. America and the house still seemed off to him, even though they had slowly begun to take shape. Toris' discomfort did not go unnoticed by America.

The additional house help was unbelievably great and each day that passed, Alfred felt more and more grateful towards Arthur for making the suggestion to bring Lithuania into his home. Lithuania's tension was contagious, though, to the point that Alfred started to feel guilty whenever he was around him, for whatever reason. Part of it was because any sense of accomplishment Alfred wanted to feel for hiring Lithuania was dampened- more like horse leg powered kicked- by Toris' appearance. Even though the other wasn't as gaunt as he used to be, his skin still had the color and look of strength as tissue paper. Alfred wasn't sure if Lithuania was sick or if Toris just wasn't sleeping, but just like the yellow apron, grey circles beneath his eyes were forever present. In addition, there wasn't a moment Alfred saw him that he didn't look incredibly uncomfortable. It was like every movement he made he was preparing to either face a physical attack or flee from it. Alfred tried to give the other space, thinking maybe he just needed to readjust to being inside a new house, but even as the weeks went by, nothing changed. He looked about as fragile as he did the day he'd first come.

There was one place, however, that Toris looked even remotely relaxed, which was in the backyard.

The backyard was about double the size of the house and had a fence only on its sides. Its back faced a line of trees and from there Toris had no idea how much farther America’s property extended. As a matter of fact, it went about as far as one could walk for about an hour. There were also the gardens, filled with a variety of flowers and vegetables. Once a week a gardener came to tend to the plants and Toris made it a habit to put out a cup of coffee for him.

About a month had passed since Toris’ arrival in the quaint house and America was sitting on a bench in the backyard, reading, after dinner. America had left his brown suit jacket on the table since it was getting warmer. Nevertheless, Toris brewed a pot of coffee and brought out a cup on a tray with some sugar and cream. Black, with three spoonfuls of cream and just one of sugar. Even though Toris knew exactly how to prepare it he still brought the cream and sugar anyway, just so the other had the option of adding more if he wanted to.

Toris set the tray down beside America and turned to leave. “Hey,” America interrupted. “Would you like to sit down?”

“Wha- um, pardon?”

“Would you like to sit down?” He repeated and lifted his eyes from his book. The sharp blade of America’s deep blue eyes caught Toris off guard. “I thought- well, you’ve been working really hard all this time and we’ve never really had the opportunity to just sit down together, so if you’d like to sit down, you can.”

“Oh, I-“ Toris blinked and felt as if something snapped when he broke their eye contact. That thin plank of bench wood was an odd shade of dark brown. “I still cooking, ah, preparing dinner…”

“Preparing dinner?”

“I-I mean f-finishing the dishes,” Toris corrected quickly, a hand gripping his yellow apron. “Still many dishes to finish.”

“Oh, okay.” America smiled and started to read again, glasses balanced perilously on the tip of his nose. “Just tell me if you’d like help with the dishes tonight.”

“Fine, thank you,” he nodded quickly and headed back in doors, with a speed in his step one might see from a person trying to flee somewhere without being noticed. Alfred glanced back and sighed as he pushed his glasses back up.

Ten minutes later, just as Toris was setting the last plate to dry, America came inside and stood with one hand on the corner of the hallway. “Hey Toris, would you mind helping me pull out weeds in the garden?”

“The gardener came this morning and took all weeds out.”

“Oh… well would you like to sit down and talk?”

Toris blinked, brow wrinkled as he wondered if he’d done something wrong. The expression made Alfred regret even asking. “Ah, certainly, what would you like to talk about?” The plate clinked as Toris put it away. He folded the moist drying towel, hung it on the bar of the oven and turned around while smoothing the wrinkles in his apron. It was difficult to meet America’s gaze, even as he stood against the wall with the nonchalance of a cat. Heavy, muscular but with calm ease. His shoulders rolled as he shrugged. “Anything.” Anything.

Anything.

…All right then. “Did you, uh, enjoy dinner?”

“Yeah, thanks, dinner was great,” America smiled and Toris’ eyes darted to the table. “Did you cook a lot in your home country?”

“Ah… no, I’d been living with Ivan." He pronounced the v with a mixture of a b and it took Alfred a moment to realize it was the Russian pronounciation. It was perfect, actually, and it made him wonder if Toris would be able to pronounce English without his Lithuanian accent, grammatically and all... thinking about it already felt like a loss. That accent was kind of an interesting flare, if that could be used to describe him. With a sharp flutter of the hand, Toris correct, "Russia, I mean.”

“That’s right, I forgot. Sorry,” he chuckled a little, nowhere near as tense as Toris, and sat down, with Toris automatically following. “So how long did you… ah, live- I mean cook?”

“About two hours.”

“Really? Huh. Well you did a good job at making dinner, it was really good.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. So,” the chair creaked as Alfred leaned back. “How’ve you been enjoying yourself? Do you like it here?”

“Very much,” Toris smiled, uneasily but naturally, for once. “

[MythicalYoko]

Hideki Yukio

"TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK." TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT

"TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK. TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK. TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK. TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK.

TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK. TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK TALK." TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT

[MythicalYoko]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/CrypticRequiem/Gaia/8c45d01352f3283d8a17877b7ada28eb68983036.jpg

[MythicalYoko]

My dreams are a masquerade. After donning
a mask, I rush with a leaf’s speed down
a river to setting and sometimes recognize
places from other dreams. One was a castle
with translucent holed veils, perhaps once a house
for my prayers.

It was the site for a dream where I was once myself.
I was running through it from teethed and clawed
ghosts and demons with two friends. We would
teleport to a car and drive 90 MPH until impact
to escape. The blood and muscles in me wanted to scream
and leap out the car before we became meaty fireworks.

We regenerated until I left them to go to the final
room and there was the demon king, Labaris.
Skin corpse leather white, bald, lips torn off
to show dried blood gums and glass shard teeth,
I stood to the belt of his tattered stranded survivor’s pants.
We became friend. In the morning
I hung from his arm as he brushed his teeth.

Another dream. From river to air, my grey
white-tipped wings opened to greet the world
as I flew round a Golden Gate Bridge.
When I landed my pigeon hawk body my feathers
hailed away and I was a teenage boy.
This mask is painted tribal enemy’s guts red.

My bare feet scrapped the cement bottoms
of the bridge until I found the sea green haired boy.
Hands interlocked he led me to a cave, where sand
was cool as dew grass and timid waves mirrored
light on his face. Through the stone was the cacophony
of cars and people but we barely listened,
enraptured in his space for dreams.

In the midst of it my mask disintegrates and I wake.
Sometimes I get up to write my new story or hide
Beneath my black and red quilt to return, back
to the places I unwillingly left for aching sunshine.






My dreams are a masquerade.
After donning a mask, I rush with a leaf’s
speed down a river to setting and sometimes
recognize places from other dreams.
One was a castle with translucent holed veils,
perhaps once a house for my prayers.

It was the site for a dream where I was once myself.
I was running through it from teethed
and clawed ghosts and demons with two friends.
We would teleport to a car and drive 90 MPH
until impact to escape. The blood and muscles
in me wanted to scream and leap out the car
before we became meaty fireworks.

We regenerated until I left them to go to the final
room and there was the demon king, Labaris.
Skin corpse leather white, bald, lips torn off
to show dried blood gums and glass shard teeth,
I stood to the belt of his tattered stranded survivor’s pants.
We became friends.
In the morning I hung from his arm
as he brushed his teeth.

Another dream. From river to air,
my grey white-tipped wings opened
to greet the world as I flew round
a Golden Gate Bridge.
When I landed my pigeon hawk body
my feathers hailed away and
I was a teenage boy.
This mask is painted tribal enemy’s guts red.

My bare feet scrapped the cement bottoms
of the bridge until I found the sea green haired boy.
Hands interlocked he led me to a cave, where sand
was cool as dew grass and timid waves mirrored
light on his face. Through the stone was the cacophony
of cars and people but we barely listened,
enraptured in his space for dreams.


Chocopanda: On that note, I need to work out the Dark Knight's background and I also want a different name for them.
Chocopanda: I've entertained the idea that they're a special but very unpopular division of an army, but I'm not sure how well that'd work.
Rikdickulous: A specialized mercenary force seems better for that purpose.
Chocopanda: [nod]
Chocopanda: A specialized mercenary force could work.
Chocopanda: Before they were just kind of their own little cult type deal but I think merc could work better.
Chocopanda: It might also help fuel the tension between them and Paladins. Bad history from the start and then it could transform into a competition/rivalry type deal through the ages.
Chocopanda: Hmmm.
Chocopanda: Maybe they're like uh.
Chocopanda: Part merc, part actual... people... group.
Chocopanda: Like, they're a group that support themselves via mercenary work.
Rikdickulous: You kind of got it, there.
Rikdickulous: If I had to make it work, I'd make them into a reclusive society that hired out mercenary forces, which then probably kick back about 60-80% of all income to the community.
Rikdickulous: That might be where the tension between the DK forces and Paladin forces originates.
Rikdickulous: Paladins are light and have purpose.
Rikdickulous: Sacrifice, nobility, honor, etc.
Rikdickulous: Those are pretty core to the entire Paladin image.
Rikdickulous: Dark Knights or their equivalent will likely be equally skilled and educated, but considered brutes or immoral because they hire themselves out like common thugs.
Rikdickulous: Ideally, the DK forces would have restrictions and limits as to what they will do for pay.
Rikdickulous: You'd also probably want them to be extremely skilled and powerful or just have a very useful and powerful specialty in combat.
Rikdickulous: I mean, enemies should stumble into the aftermath of a battleground and say, "Dark Knights did this."
Rikdickulous: Without question.
Chocopanda: [nod]
Rikdickulous: If they're rare and reclusive, it allows them to maintain some mystery while serving the actual purpose of keeping their dangerous activities (I'm assuming that there's some danger in even training to use their powers) safely away from the populace.
Chocopanda: Hmmm, okay.
Rikdickulous: This is all suggestion.
Rikdickulous: It's how I'd do it, but it also might be too cliche for your purposes or world.
Chocopanda: I'm also talking to my friend Echo about this to help pull together as many ideas as possible, and she's saying that they could have three hundred or so at their central compound at any time, with mobile forces a few more hundred at a time.
Rikdickulous: -nod-
Rikdickulous: Defense force, mercenary force.
Rikdickulous: That's a solid idea.

[MythicalYoko]

Magic is done via contracts.
Contracts are an agreement between a user and a spirit. The user will provide something in exchange for the spirit's use. This is usually something like food, money or materials.
The Dark Knight's tend to use blood magic, which is widely regarded as a dark form of magic.

Their Queen:

Lilith Ishtar Daciana Valdis Gwenevere Ovet

Race: There are rumors that those of the Ovet royal family are more than what they seem to be. Lilith, however, looks human.

Age: Eighteen.

Weapon(s): Lilith uses a sword and a buckler. She can also use a bow as she was trained to use one when she was a child for competitions. She picked up the sword and buckler after the war started.

Magic/Abilities: Lilith uses no magic.

Appearance: Lilith stands at about five feet and seven inches. She has a smooth face and frame with lively crimson auburn hair that rolls down to between her knees and waist. Her hair is usually held back or tied in a bun. When she's relaxing, however, she'll usually let her hair hang down. Her eyes are a deep ink black framed with long eyelashes.

[MythicalYoko]

My Little Pony
Vocaloid

Adventure Time
Kingdom Hearts
Hetalia
Tiger and Bunny
Marvel - DC - Avengers
Celty from DRRR
Hunger Games
BBC Sherlock
Doctor Who
Supernatural
Final Fantasy - chocobo
Mass Effect
Disney
Harry Potter
Avatar/Legend of Korra
Pokemon

Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Tales of Symphonia, Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Hetalia, Code Geass, Card Captor Sakura, Vocaloid, Pokemon, Death Note, D.Greyman, Fruit Baskets, Hellsing, Persona 3 and or 4, Okami... Durara, KON, BRS

[MythicalYoko]

My name is Caiside.

It has been very long. But I have no story to tell. Only duty.

Rudolpho Gregorovich.
Alk Versk
Uron
Viidik

[MythicalYoko]

Okay, here are all of the edits I found. Some of them are errors I found but a lot are just things I thought could be reworded. Of course you don't have to take all of them, it's just what I saw and thought I should point out. (: Hope these help!

Page 1
3rd panel: "when I thought grey is anything but..." I'd change the "is" to "was" for past tense, since Black is referring to memory.

Page 2
Last panel: "A color that is full of heartaches, confusions and misunderstandings" change "confusions" to "confusion". You might want to consider changing "heartaches, confusions and misunderstandings" to "heartache, confusion and misunderstanding".

Page 3
3rd panel: "Everybody chose to be grey" to "Everyone else chose to be grey" or "Everybody else chose to be grey".
4th panel: "Left all colors" to "Left all other colors" or "Left all of the other colors"
5th panel: The "it's" should be "its." Usually for possession we use the 's, but for the word "it" putting the 's makes it "it is" instead of marking possession.
Last panel: I'm not entirely sure what you mean with "hung up." I understand the meaning but it's still a bit confusion.

Page 7
3rd panel: This is something that could work as it is, however it might flow better if you change the "Do I?" to "I don't?" On the other hand White IS a little boy so you could keep this, since it is kind of juvenile.
5th panel: "That is a cowardly way to deal with it" is kind of clunky. Try using contractions to make it looser. "That's a cowardly way to deal with it" reads smoother.

Page 14
Bottom of the page: "I left home after highschool and I'm living alone." This isn't something you need to change, really. Just take out the "I'm" in "I'm living alone."

Page 15
Top of the page: "I'm living in a small studio apartment in the 3rd..." change to "small studio apartment ON the 3rd..."
"Mr Masmar offered me his eldest son's (Ty) studio which he used back in his college days; studying architecture." Might want to change it to, "Mr Masmar offered me the studio apartment his eldest son, Ty, used back in his college days when he was studying architecture."
Middle of page: "I want to own my place someday but this was my only option because my parents felt better knowing I'm living with their friends at the age of 18 when I left." This reads weird, so I'd advise changing it to this: "I want to own my own place someday, but this is my only option, since my parents felt better knowing that I was living with their friends when I was just 18." I don't know if this sounds very Black-ish but I hope it works.

Page 16
6th panel: "Yeah, I fell asleep with my laptop on the bed and I knocked it off on the floor when I woke up!" I'd take out the "off".

Page 17
3rd panel: "...creeps the hell out or me". I'm assuming you wanted to put "hell out of me."

Page 18
3rd panel: Capitalize "dad". The only time "dad" isn't capitalized is when it's "the dad" or "my dad," but when it's by itself it's spelled "Dad."
4th panel: "Like; dropping off the kids to school every other morning or so." To, "Like dropping the kids off at school every other morning or so."

Page 20
Last panel: I'd remove the "How I" at the start, without that it sounds more natural.

Page 21
This is just a maybe, really, but you could change the "did" to "had." It fixes the tense. "Did" puts it in present whereas "had" puts it to past, and since Black is reflecting it works better.

Page 22
4th panel: Since Black has already mentioned he wanted to make a quick call, having him say it again in the 4th panel is kind of repetitive. Try rephrasing the part on the 4th panel to something like, "And for the call." It seems to me like he's giving them the money to pay for the call and candy.

Page 23
3rd panel: There's nothing wrong with this part, but the punctuation you use could really convey Irina's tone. See how an ellipsis or exclamation point could show how exasperated or impatient she is.

Page 25
1st panel: "He is 13 years old. YES! Ty's parents remembered that they wanted another kid after 15 years. Pretty late, huh" To "He's 13 years old. YES! Ty's parents realized they wanted another kid after 15 years."

Page 27
1st panel: It'd be more economical to just say "A thief?"
2nd panel: Some commas could help, the sentence as-is is sort of squashed together and reads as run-on sentence.

CHAPTER 02
Page 4
2nd panel: Comma after "now".
Omfg White has the ******** prettiest hand in the last panel. D: Can my fingers be that gloriously long and thin!?

Page 8
3rd-4th panel: With "I said I'll deal with this later" you could use some punctuation to convey Black's tone. As it is it works just fine, but it makes him sound pretty calm. You could try "I said, I'll deal with this later," which gives him a bit more force, while "I said- I'll deal with this later" makes Black sound a lot more impatient. So it all depends on what tone you want! If calm is what you were aiming for, then it works perfectly.
For "I'm going to meet Irina then pick up Sima and Stash from school" I'd put a comma at "Irina, then" because it's a list.

Page 12
4th panel: "It's not like I care for what people think" to "about what people think." Also, you use "twist" twice and very close together, so you might want to consider using something else the second time- on the other hand the repetition makes Black sound kind of childish, so it could work.
5th panel: The first sentence sounds kind of clunky. Maybe try "do you a lot of good"?
Also, "and many are interested" would flow better as "and many of them are interested".
6th panel: Remove the first comma. If you want Irina to keep that strong pause she has with that period, remove the "and". Keeping the comma and "and" will make her sound more forceful, whereas removing the first period will give her a more conversational tone.

Page 13
4th-5th panels: Could try adding some commas, but not really necessary. It would just break it up more. "Go ahead, we're leaving in a few anyway."

Page 14
1st panel: "Make them two please" to "Make that two please". Could also try "Make that two, please".
2nd panel: First, you use Mr. Rayed whereas in the first chapter you were writing the Mr. without the period. For the sake of unity you might want to decide which one you want to use- Mr. or Mr.
"I'm going to meet him now for a possible for you" to "I'm going now to meet him to discuss possible work for you" or "jobs for you".

Page 15
3rd panel: "I'm going to pick up the kids now then check out some computer stores for a new laptop"- maybe a comma at "now, then".

Page 18
You could convey some emotion with punctuation. Like,
"Again- with this headache"
"Again- with this headache?"
"Again with this headache?"
"Again with this headache..."
"Again with this headache-"
"Again with this headache-!"
It's fine as is, there's just a lot of opportunity to put voice and emotion in.

So many birds in these next few pages. KUH KAWWWW~

Page 22
2nd panel: "I woke up today with this memory in mind". You don't have to do this, but I think you could take out "in mind".

Page 26
1st panel: I think "shades" was intended to be "shade".

Page 28
2nd panel: "I know you will regret it" to "I know you would regret it". Although White is a little kid, so he probably wouldn't have good grammar.
3rd panel: Maybe remove the "with" in "meet with me", it sounds a little more kiddish to me.

Page 29
1st panel: Since he's a kid, I think he'd use more contractions, so maybe "there is" to "there's" in the second dialog bubble.

CHAPTER 04

Page 12
1st panel: "...friends can one has?" to "...friend can one HAVE?"
3rd panel: I'm assuming that Black is counting from 5 to 0 to try and calm himself down. If that's what's going on, then unless he's repeating 0 in his head, I'd get rid of the "0" just before the "5". The big "ZERO" in text is where the focus should be.

Page 13
5th panel: "It's wounded" works okay, but it sounds sort of unnatural, so I'd replace it with something like "Damn it! That hurts!" Saying "It's wounded" makes it sound to me as if Black is being purposely overdramatic, and I don't think that's what you want.

Page 15
3rd panel: "they've become" is present tense and since Black is referring to the past, this doesn't quite make sense. Try "Since White left Black, there was no more grey" or something.
5th panel: "Considering that we'll always have our differences that lead to fighting" to "always have difference that will lead to fighting".

Page 18
1st panel: I'd take out "wound". It's a bit formal, unless you want White to be speaking that way- in which case, it's fine.

Page 19
2nd panel: "An interview will" to "an interview would".
3rd panel: Try adding a period after "Just think about it" so that way readers know the topic is over and feel a pause. It is, this line kind of bleeds right into the next, so when I saw it I had to reread it. Putting a period there should help prevent that.

Page 23
"To both of us" to "For both of us". "To" isn't the right word to use, grammatically.

Page 32
2nd panel: "You asked what has happened with me the night before". There's incorrect tense in here, so change it to: "You asked what HAD happened TO me the night before".

CHAPTER 05
Page 01
2nd panel: For "that designing is your dream job?" to "was your dream job?" It fixes the tense. "when did you" it past tense whereas "is" is present tense, so changing is -> was puts the sentence within the same tense and makes it easier to read.
5-6th panels: There is tense confusion in this sentence. Try either, "What is the first piece you've ever sold" or "What was the first piece you ever sold".

Page 05
3rd panel: I'm not sure who's talking in the, "Do I have to be this nervous every new school year" bubble. If it's Black, then it works as is, but if it's White talking (which it seems like, because in the next panel I feel as if Black is saying "I really hate you" in response to White saying something) then change the "I" to "you". Or, you could try "Should I be this nervous every new school year?" for White as well.
Last panel: Okay! So, first, lets pay attention to the period you've got at the end of middle dialog part. Since you've stuck a period there, it's harder to just flow right into the next part. So, to work with the period, I would take out "for" in the last part "For I have to worry about making new friends" and change "have" to "had".
If you want it to flow more, remove the period and maybe replace it with a comma or ellipsis if you still want the pause. If you do this, change the last part to "Since I had to worry about making new friends" or "Because I had to..."

Page 06
1st panel: "That's no face to welcome a new beginning" doesn't quiiite make sense. Try rewording to something else. I mean, it does make sense, but when I first read it I didn't understand. With comic books you want your readers to be able to move through the panels without getting confused on little things like this, so you might want to consider rewording it. Like, uuum. "That's not a good face to welcome the new year" or something?

Page 08
2nd panel: I'd just take out the last word, "fault". It still reads easy without it, plus I don't think it's necessary, it's just an extra word that kind of threw me off.
5th panel: Last dialog bubble. As it stands, this reads as if Black is listing a separate task from the soccer game. It would flow better if you put "he will need to be walked to the park".

Page 11
4th panel: "made me consider his friendship" is very formal. To make it more casual, try "which made me consider becoming his friend".
5th panel: "what they are" to "what they were". Since he's referring to the past, you want the sentence to be in past tense, not present.

Page 13
Last panel: To add more emphasis and distinction, put in "just" as the first word in the last dialog bubble and add "first" after "get to know them". That way it reads as, "I want you to have lots of friends, just get to know them first and give it time before trusting them!"

Page 16
5th panel: "and I couldn't keep any act I used to play going"- try changing to "and I couldn't keep UP any act I used to play going" or "I couldn't keep up an act anymore".

Page 17
1st panel: I'm not quite sure how to describe this is grammatically wrong, but... in the "we argued as quietly as the raindrops' falling was" it just doesn't read right. I would take out the last one or two words.
"We've been together" is usually something you'd say about a romantic relationship, so you may want to change it to "We've been friends for three years" instead.

Page 19
5th panel: change "and he was too sweet" to "and he was so sweet", it works better with "that I refused to believe he'd betray me".

Page 22
5-6th panels: Take the "a" in "You have a beautiful handwriting"

Page 23
2nd panel: "She really doesn't have to do this" to "She really didn't have to that" or "She really doesn't have to do that".
It would sound more natural if you changed the last bubble just to "She loves to".

Page 24
1st panel: It would be more economical to change "and why I'm having this unknown feeling" to "or why".
6th panel: Change "...before putting the bandages?" to "before putting on the bandages?"

CHAPTER 06
Page 01
3rd panel: "The photos of the shoot" to "The photos from the shoot"
4th panel: "The original plan was that they'd be used" to "The original plan was that they'd be sold"

Page 02
5th panel: Since you've used the word anger a lot on this page, I'd change "furiously angry" to just "furious".

Page 04
4th panel: "You are still here!!" is kind of formal, so put "you are" in a contraction- "you're"- to make it less formal.
Just below that: "A "small" reminder that I don't trust him not disappearing again". The ending doesn't really work with the other part of the sentence, so try changing it to "A "small"reminder that I don't trust him not to disappear again."
Next, you've used the word "greet" a lot on this page, so maybe put "it's a fun way to tease him" instead.
6th panel: "I wasn't abandoned by my closest friend for two years then him showing up at my balcony..." doesn't flow as good as it could. Change to, "I wasn't abandoned for two years by my closest friend or have him show up at my balcony with no sorries or any explanations, expecting me to be all welcoming and demanding a reunion hug-"

Page 05
2nd panel: "My wounds aren't that much infected" would work better if you just removed "much".

Page 07
1st panel: This is towards the end of Black's dialog. "lover" is a very formal word, so you should try saying "girlfriend" or "a date".
Last panels: "Not only you betray my trust" to "Not only did you betray my trust".

Page 08
1st panel: "And you were the one who've ruined the mood" to "And you were the one who's ruined the mood". Just as a note, saying "my mood" and "the mood" suggests two different things. "My mood" is just kind of talking about a person's mood, whereas "the mood" can have a romantic/sexual connotation to it. (At least in American English.) It's because people say "to set the mood" when they're literally saying "to make the atmosphere romantic" and so on. Normally I wouldn't say anything, but I know you struggle with people seeing Grey Is- as a BL webcomic, so I thought pointing out any possibly romantic language so you could take it out might help you.
Last panel: I've talked about the way punctuation conveys tone. Right here is another good place for it, I think. To show Black's desperation or strong desire to know, I'd stick in a dash and maybe an ellipsis. "I don't care if it's black or white- I just want to know..."
Just below that, to make it read smoother I'd change "I know he won't tell me though" to "I know he wouldn't tell me"

Page 09
2nd panel: The dialog in this reads kinda rough. Try, "people do harmful things and have no choice of fixing or explaining it, like Ameer for-"
3rd panel: It'd be more economical to say "my short temper" instead of "my short-tempered attitude".
Right after that, I think it would also be more economical to just write "people think it's a craziness of sorts".

Page 10
1st panel: "I can't escape it for it's all I know" to either "coz I can't escape it because it's all I know" or just remove "for".
2nd panel: Okay, there's technically nothing wrong with the dialog here, it's just really formal. If you'd like it to be less formal, try taking out "that" in "it's a sure thing that you can't beat his sister".
Afterwards, try "You always deal with your problems with violence".

Page 11
1st panel: You're using "about you" twice in a row in the same place, so just take out the second one.

Page 12
Last panel: It would read easier and be less clunky if you just had "I'm not holding anything!" instead of "I'm not hanging on to anything to let go of it".

Page 21
1st panel: "really hate when I can't tell what's on others' minds" to "really hate it when I can't tell what's on someone else's mind".

Page 25
2nd panel: "wounded" is a pretty formal word to use, so maybe replace it with "hurt".

Page 29
1st panel: Remove "A".

Page 31:
4th panel: It isn't necessary, however you might want to consider adding more punctuation in Black's dialog. It'll control the pace and add power to his tone.

Page 32
3rd panel: Try adding some punctuation to the 5th speech bubble. Specifically in the center. "that stayed with me for years, which I was surprised about at the time."

Page 33
5th panel: "I do talk to you about most of things" could sound more natural. Maybe, "I do talk about it to you"?

Page 35
2nd panel: Again, the first bubble could sound a bit more natural. Try, "It's torture having a friend who's still alive start changing."
5th panel: 2nd dialog bubble. There's some tense confusion and you could try rewording it. Maybe these...
"I know he'd feel so bad if you had found out when he was still alive."
"I know he'd feel bad if he were still alive and you'd found out."
Or something!
6th/7th panel: "You're the one at wrong here"- I think you meant "You're the one at fault for going through his personal stuff".

Page 37
3rd panel: "You're way stronger than to break over this" is like... kind of weird. Try rephrasing it as, "You're way too strong to break over this".
"Hell I am" works, but it would sound more natural to say "The hell I am", if he's disagreeing. If he's agreeing, then "Hell yes I am".
4th panel: You might wanna use some question marks to convey the tone and break it up. So it would be, "Can we hurry home now? Before I freeze?"

Chapter 07
Page 01
1st panel: "I'm pretty known around here" to "I'm pretty well known around here"
5th panel: Take out "These" in the first dialog bubble.
Last panel: "realize that a father" to "realized that being a father wasn't really".

Page 02
2nd panel: There's a lot dialog in here and you use the word "dream" a lot, so I'd try to cut it out where it's not necessary. There's also some ways you could make it flow a bit better. So try...
"...who knew my dream perfectly and lived with it with me... day by day... I just couldn't hold onto that dream coz my fingers..."
3rd panel: This sounds a bit formal. Instead of saying "released" try "let go of".

Page 04
Last panel: The last dialog bubble sounds pretty juvenile. It works fine as is, however if you want him to sound more mature change it to "Until I'm not angry anymore!" It just depends on if you want Black to sound bratty or not~

I feel like Black's shirt is your commentary to fangirls who want Black and White. >>

Page 07
3rd panel: In the box, add "out" after "pick". "pick out clothes".
Last panel: Okay! First~
"Picking clothes for such a thing is a real crisis to me!!" to "Picking clothes out for this is a real crisis for me!!" or "is really important to me!!"
Next!
"is my lack of memory contagious!?" is a bit formal, so try "is my bad/shitty memory contagious?!"
Then~
"You should be knowing that by now!!" I think you meant "You should know that by now!!"

Page 08
1st panel: I'm not sure what White is talking about "Looks like the time needed has become longer the years", so just stick it in. "Looks like the time needed to _____ has become..."

Page 09
4th panel: "Put the clothes back in the wardrobe" would be more economical if it was just "Put the clothes back"

Page 12
1st panel: "You've even done it with Ameer last week" is the wrong tense. "You even did it with Ameer last week" is the proper tense.
Last panel: Tense again- change "you've" to "you'd".

Page 14
3rd panel: "I know this is a crisis for you" is kind of stiff. Try, "I know this is stressful for you". It depends on if you want Irina to be showing sympathy. If so, saying that she knows it's stressful for him would work better.
5th panel: The dialog here is too formal, makes it kinda clunky. Maybe this instead:
"Don't just grab me! We already fixed it!"
2nd to last panel: I think some punctuation could help Irina's voice here. "Sorry. Just thought I'd check."

Page 15
3rd panel: This makes sense but the second half is kind of muddled. Maybe "and it'd be a good step for you"?

Page 26
1st panel: "Black are you fine?" isn't what people usually say. Try, "Black are you alright?" Or "Black are you okay?"
2nd panel: Take out either "such" or "things".

Page 27
4th panel: Saying "I forgot why I chose this" makes it sound as if Black is reflection on that exact moment from the future. To put his thought at the present scene, change "forgot" to "forget".
Last panel: "hits on my nerve a lot"- think you meant "gets on my nerves a lot".

Page 28
2nd panel: "speaking of getting on my nerve" just add an s at the end so that it's "nerves".
Center page: "this free touching gets on my nerves most" doesn't sound quite right. Try, "Casually grabbing me gets on my the most".
Also, to convey how angry Black is, try to add in more exclamation marks! ANGRY BLACK IS ANGRYYY!!!

Page 29
4th panel: "He told you not to touch freely" to "He told you not to touch him freely" or "He told you not to grab him"

Page 30
1-2nd panels: The second bit of speech here is a bit odd and you're missing the w in "when". Maybe "he was with me when I was used as a punching bag for venting"
4th panel: "I can't remember what was the plan for me" to "I can't remember what the plan was for me"

Page 31
Center page: "how my life would have been a lot easier if he was there" to "how much easier my life would have been if he had been there these past 2 years".

Page 34
3rd panel: "Coming right up" just makes me think that he's talking about food, so maybe "I'm coming back!" would work better?

[MythicalYoko]

Sohma Itsuki

The Rat


This had been the worst week of his life.

There were a lot of things that contributed to all of this. First, his wife had woken up from her coma- hadn't they said she was gone?- and then he'd dealt with it by chasing down Ryota, and...

Itsuki didn't understand what was going on or his own reactions to it. Having Hanako wake up should have made him... enthusiastic?

That wasn't the right word. He wasn't sure there was a right word for it. He would have- should have- been so happy he didn't know what to do with himself. Yet he was disturbed so much that the world around him didn't make sense, nor the actions he'd taken after. There were just a few moments in life where he'd had control just taken away from his like this.

He should be happy. He didn't understand why he wasn't. He shouldn't have done that Ryota. he didn't know how to make up for it. If he could. The life he'd managed to build thus far was just ripping itself apart. A morbid part of himself was amazed at how much faster and easier it was to tear something to shreds compared to how difficult it was to make.

Now it was time to go and get Hanako from the hospital. He supposed? He still wasn't really sure what was happening. Hanako was supposed to be just- gone- first off, that's was what they had said, it was their word he'd taken to move on with his life. It had taken him a while to get used to not wearing the ring anymore, not to mention-

Itsuki shook his head, glancing up at the green light. He was supposed to be driving, not daydreaming. He pulled the finger he'd been biting out of his mouth and back on the steering wheel, slowly driving forward.

At least he'd been able to get Ryota to do that favor for him, he supposed.




"Sometimes I just prefer 'simple things?'"

[MythicalYoko]

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

revival ★ T ox K n o w x Y o u ' r e x A l i v e
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
『Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think...』

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

↘↘↘ ★ Link(ette)

Courtesy of the BOOTIFUL wife.

[MythicalYoko]

She swore that if another pretty nurse or handsome doctor poked her with another needle that she would grab it and jab it right in their throats.

She was sick of having nurses talk to her in high pitched voices, sick of the doctors coming in and evaluating her again, tired of them telling her her no good husband was going to come to see her "soon" because that was so goddamn specific.

Her hair was a mess, too. Every time Hanako looked at herself in a mirror all she could think was that the first thing she needed to do was see a hairstylist ASAP. She wasn't quite used to looking at the rest of her body yet, either. There was a nasty scar that ran along her side and her leg, a scar which she'd been conveniently asleep for the healing of, and her right pinky was gone. Must have gotten lost on the road, or something. ******** if she knew. At least it wasn't a thumb, she guessed. It was still strange to look at her hand.

A week of this went by, most of which the doctors and nurses spent simultaneously encouraging her to start exercising but to stay in bed. It disturbed her how much just getting up and walking around winded her, yet another reminder that she had spent a little over a year playing Sleeping Beauty. Every minute that passed by Hanako found herself more and more irate at Itsuki's absence. She refused to pick up the phone and call him if he didn't have the balls to do it himself. They said he knew, so he had to know, which meant it was his responsibility to just pick up the phone...

Even though she was set on refusing, Hanako wanted nothing more than to hear his voice. It was embarrassing to be so needy about it, however the more she sat and thought about it, the more she realized this was the longest absence she'd ever had from him. Since they had been sixteen they had spent almost every day together until just a year ago. If the week was so horrible for her she couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have been for him for the year... although apparently he didn't give a damn, considering he wasn't even-

Okay, so, he WAS coming today. Hanako still wasn't sure that amounted to anything.

Noon, they said. So she sat with her arms crossed and half heartedly watched the news, only partially interested in catching up with the rest of the world. There was something about Americans and babies or whatever... she wanted to know what had happened to her motorcycle. Her poor baby had probably been turned into scrap metal.

Hanako chewed on her knuckles as she stared at the television screen up on the wall. It was too cold from the AC so she had the covers pulled up to her breasts with a foot sticking out to catch a ray of sunshine on the bottom corner of her bed.

Now there was something on the TV about newborn babies. Seriously, what was up with this thing about babies being all over the news? Weren't there wars or something more interesting going-

Hanako jumped so high she thought her heart was going to try escaping out of her throat. She wiped her head around so fast she felt the muscles in her neck flare up with hot pain. Standing right beside her was a silent man, long hair in the front with piercings and that ever familiar black and white...

"Jesus Christ-" she hissed and seized the pillow behind her. She swung it at his chest and then made another one for his face. He didn't move, which made her so angry she thought her teeth would crack from gritting them so hard. [******** you! Goddamn you, Itsuki! Where the ******** have you been?"

He reached out to touch her face and she slapped it away, hissing. "You have got a lot of ******** nerve leaving me here in this ******** hospital room by myself and then just showing up without saying anything, don't you have any sense of ******** decency or those manners you're so ********- ********- [********] you."

"Are you feeling alright?" His voice sounded weak.

"Oh, yeah, thanks for asking!" She bit. "What the ******** happened to my bike?"

"I fixed it."

"That's just- that's just grand. Great. Now I can have the pleasure of riding the thing that almost killed me. Would you get that look off your face? It's ******** embarrassing."

Itsuki tilted his head and she smacked him with the pillow again. "Instead of standing there get me out of here! Been in the same spot for over a year, ******** crime for me to be in the same spot for so ******** long."

Instead of going to the door, Itsuki kicked the side of her bed and the plastic bar fell. She hissed when he sat down beside her and took her left hand, though she did not move. He studied her hand and warm shivers ran up her arm as he traced the pads of his fingers across her palm. A beat later and he was putting something he'd pulled out of his pocket on her ring finger. She pulled it back and there was the gold band that had been missing.

"I didn't want anyone to steal it," he explained, sounding much too calm as he took her other hand. She tensed and he paused, looking at her face as she looked at her hand. "I've already seen it."

"Then why do you want to look?"

"Because," he pulled her hand closer and kissed her knuckles.

"God, I hate you." She mumbled.

"I know." Itsuki paused. "Do you still love me?"

"Of course I do, don't be a dickwad." She narrowed her eyes and squeezed his hand. "Even though I want to choke you right now."

He finally smiled and she silently realized he had been staring at her throughout their reunion. "Don't- don't do that," she sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Take me home. Please."

A nurse pushed her in a wheelchair all the way to the front of the hospital, Hanako wearing a simple short sleeved blouse and a loose pair of jeans. From there, Hanako leaned against Itsuki's arm all the way back to a car she'd never seen. She hated herself for wanting to cry so much, even though she'd just been away from him for a week, it felt like it had been a lifetime since she'd last felt his body heat, his smell mixed with toxic ash, his body, heard his voice. "I went back to the Sohma estate," Itsuki explained as he opened the front passenger door for her. "I have a house."

Hanako nodded. He shut the door and she watched him walk around to the driver's side. In the car, he paused. "You have a house," Hanako repeated.

"We have a house."

"Ah. Then drive, Romeo."

Most married couples probably didn't have reunions like this. They probably kissed, hugged, cried- doing everything neither of them were doing. Hanako didn't know what to do, nor what she wanted to do. They couldn't embrace, they never could, not like other people could. Hanako didn't extend her hand to touch his, either. Instead she looked out the window, at the grey painted buildings and red folded roofs, seeing how nothing had changed in the past year she'd been "away." In the window's reflection she could see Itsuki looking at her every time the car was stopped and occasionally she had to tell him when the light was green.

Itsuki probably had no idea what he was doing either, Hanako realized. He didn't act the same as she remembered him being. Confident, a bit snarky, silver tongued, able to get just about anything he wanted with sweet words. That was the man she knew. Now, he hadn't said a single word since he'd started the car. There was something off about his energy as well. It was like he was trying to hide. Hide from her, maybe from himself, hell if she knew.

It was only an hour long drive to the Sohma Estate. Hanako had never been there before and she took a few good long seconds to study the outer walls as they drove up. "Would you look at that, I married such a rich boy." She mused and the car squeezed itself between two others.

She helped herself out of the car, ignoring him until they started on one of the pathways and she realized she didn't have the energy to keep herself standing. Hanako leaned against one of the walls before she grabbed his arm and they began walking. Itsuki spoke up, "are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"Do you want to meet one of the other zodiac members?"

"Oo, I've never met another one of them- are they anything like you?"

"No. No, not really. Not this one anyway."

They rounded a corner and Hanako started to laugh. "Tell me what they're like."

"Well. This one is named Ryota. He's strange."

"Strange," she purred.

"Yes. He's a bit tender hearted. There are others, like the Dog, Cat, God."

"If we're here for a while then I want to meet all of them."

"Alright."

Hanako chuckled and they slowly made their way through the pathways that wound through the Estate. Every house had different styles yet said the same thing, "rich." A few people passed them by and they gave both of them long looks as they passed. Hanako didn't care. "I thought you hated it here," she finally said and he stopped.

"I hate the people," he corrected and she looked at him.

"Then why did you move here?"

"We're here," he pointed to the house we were standing by. "I wouldn't bite too hard."

"Bo-ring."

Itsuki knocked on the door. They waited for a few seconds and when the door opened, a white haired head peaked out. It took her a moment to realize it was a boy with strange lilac eyes, who was badly in need of a hair cut. His whole appearance screamed "I'm strange." He stepped back to open the door and revealed a house that was... pretty damn boring.

"Um. Hello."

"Sup."

"Ryota-kun, this is my wife, Hanako. Hanako, this is the Boar, Ryota-kun."

She stuck her hand out and he stared at it before shaking it. His grip was embarrassingly soft. "So do we get to come in, or what?"

Ryota nodded quickly and stepped back to let them inside. Hanako slipped her shoes off with Itsuki and then made her way over to the couch to sit down. At the door, Itsuki stood and Ryota had his fingers laced together and looked completely uncertain about what to do. "So you transform into a pig." She stated and he nodded. "Cool. You know you really need to get an interior decorator in here."

"I uh, I-I'm saving my money."