I'm not even going to try to explain my horrible mistreatment of you guys. I am a horrible, terrible, completely and unforgivingly horrendous excuse for a writer.... Ok pity party over now. I'm baaaaaack~! and better yet, I have a new app that will help me keep up on my writing as well as let me track word count ^^. I'm gonna do some shameless advertising now: The app is called Werdsmith. It's free and it lets you keep track of things better than the notepad app that apple automatically gives you. You can set a goal for your writing and it gives you a status bar to show how close to your goal you actually are. It also tracks word count and reading time length.... whatever you wanna call that. Alright done advertising.

I'm giving some love to one of the other beast boys now. I'm actually kinda concerned that my second favorite has had like absolutely no face time in this story while one of my lower on the totem pole biases has been reigning supreme. I finally realized that this is based off of a yu yu hakusho daydream/fanfic that i was making in my head that just got adapted when I got bored with Anime for a while. So bonus points go to anyone who can figure out which characters match Hiei and Kurama. It should be easy now i guess lol. Those are the only ones that came up though.

COMMENTS:

@dashLah: Your wish is my command lol.
@nyokopuppet: omo jinjjah? you like yyh too? awesome ^^ *glances up at previous paragraph* you are exempt from bonus points.... lol kidding. and as for your question: Yes ^^ and how you know?
@nyoko: yea i discussed that comment with you already.... and thanks anyways for the belated belated birthday. here is your belated (x5) update ^^
@nyoko: I need to update more so you can't get multiple questions in obviously... -_-' and yes... kinda
@Kwonnieskitty: Thank you and i is super ashamed of myself!!!!!! i am a horrible person.... forgive me?
@nyoko:day-um 4 comments for you. thats almost obnoxious... but i do that too so it's perfectly ok ^^. and my reason can only be wrter's block but i refuse to write author's note chapters and get your hopes up for nothing like some people do. that annoys me to death so i refuse to do it.

Ok i'll let you read now but make sure you read the title because it actually is a big spoiler for the next chapter. and no it is not monday in the story. *starts humming manic monday by the Bangles aka those people who wrote walk like an egyptian*

You walked with Addy and Michelle to the split hallways and waved as they turned to the right. Taking the left hallway, you easily navigated back to the room you were seeking. You stopped hesitantly in front of the door. Cautiously, you pressed your hand against the cool maple surface, easing the door open.

You stared around in wonder at all the shining spines of the books. Your eyes traced over the well-stocked bookshelves in front of you, sweeping from the left side to the right side over the dark stained cases in clean rows and the black leather armchairs set comfortably around a central fireplace that somehow was sending smoke straight up an invisible chimney out of the room. You followed a puff of smoke up the assumedly magic chimney and felt your heart skip a beat and drop into your stomach all at the same time.

Stifling a gasp, you silently closed the door and ducked behind a bookcase. Levitating in the air near the second floor balcony was one of your masters, the one you had scarcely seen since the first day. You quietly curled into a ball behind the shelving case and prayed that you wouldn't be found. You wondered for a moment why you hadn't simply dashed out when you had the chance rather than sneaking around.

Pushing apart a couple of books, you peeked up at the figure currently surrounded by around ten floating tomes from which he appeared to be reading, or perhaps scanning. He was wearing all black, and his eyes were glowing white as he used his powers. You could see the energy pulsing around him like a tangible fog. The energy spiked, and for a moment, you could actually feel the dark magic sweep over you, making you shiver. You shifted over until you could see more clearly, around the bookcase instead of through it. To your horror, Junhyung had descended while you were crawling along to your new hiding place. You hadn't a clue where he was now.

"Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean I can't hear you." The voice was startlingly close. Suddenly, Junhyung stepped around the other corner of the bookcase. "For someone who's supposed to be mute, you make a lot of noise." You froze like his eyes were pinning you to the spot. It didn't help that he didn't seem to be looking at you but rather through you. He turned away to send all the books back off to their resting places, finally allowing air back into your lungs and movement into your limbs. You stood up quickly and bowed low, not daring to make a move to stand back up. You felt the familiar pressure of a gaze on your back, and you froze back up.

He let you suffer for a few more moments before he said, "You can stop that now." You slowly straightened up but left your eyes on the ground. "If you're done spying..." Your head jerked up at those words with your hands following. "Don't even bother trying to deny it. You know that is exactly what you were doing." Your hands dropped back down to your sides with your gaze falling back on the floor. "As I was saying, if you're done spying now, I think I can make far better use of your time." You peeked up in confusion. His head was tilted to the side while he stared thoughtfully over your head. "I intend to teach you at least enough about our laws, so you will know where you stand in our world." He turned and started walking away. He gestured toward the door as he passed it and said, "Or if you don't like the idea, you can walk out now. There are no other options. If you intend to disturb my peace, then it will be on my terms." You stared after him in wonder. Intrigued by his idea, you made the decision to stay and learn. "Either follow me or leave," he said roughly. You hurriedly complied with the orders and dashed off after the dark Mage. (You knew he was a magic user of sorts but not what kind. Magi was just a general term over all of them.)

He waved a hand and three books flew off the upper shelves. They flew down to a table in the middle of the room. Another book came flying over your head and hovered over the table top, opening to a page in the middle before falling to rest. He led you to the table and pulled out a chair. "Sit," he ordered, and you sat obediently. "I'm going to assume that you know little to nothing about our laws regarding human enslavement, even though it is a matter that should greatly concern you. Can you read?" You nodded hesitantly. "Demon writing?" You thought for a moment and shook your head. The book in front of you snapped shut and flew back off to its shelf. A book from the bottom of the pile to your right came out to take its place. With a wave of his hand, Junhyung made the book open to a page filled with the familiar characters of the human language. You leaned forward and looked over the page.

"To put it simply, humans cannot be kidnapped, but they can be sold." You looked at him in confusion. "They get around the kidnapping offense by setting up bases. Some demons work with human scum. The scum kidnap little boys and girls like you and sell them to the slave traffickers there by avoiding breaking any laws. Some demons with high-level powers just trick humans into coming here on their own. Then, they're free for the taking." You stared in horror at the book in front of you as a feeling of fear for human-kind swept into your being. If it was that easy to get around the laws set up to help humans, then there was no way this would end anytime soon. You had lost hope for your own escape, but a part of you had hoped that others would be spared the pain of being turned into the playthings of demons. "The worst problem is that our government does absolutely nothing to enforce these laws at all. They used to, but now, there's no point." There was silence while you stared at the table and Junhyung stared at the fire. You thoughts were echoing around your head in the silence. "Alright, that's enough for today, I think," Junhyung said lowly, interrupting your train of thought. You nodded numbly and stood up and pushed in your chair. You turned to your dark master and bowed.

He picked up the book and put a marker between the pages before shutting it and throwing it toward its shelf. He tapped your shoulder as he passed behind you, prompting you to stand back up. He grabbed the stack of books and tossed them back toward their homes as well. You watched him curiously as he used his powers, still wondering what branch of magery he followed.

"I'm going to leave. You are welcome to stay and browse through our collection of books. You may not, however, take any books out of this room without specific permission." You nodded obediently, taking comfort in rules and boundaries. Junhyung started toward the door but stopped in front of you. "You should talk to Hyunseung about this," he said as his hand passed dangerously close to your abdomen. You stiffened automatically and felt your throat close up in fear. You couldn't move or breathe as if you had been frozen. "I can practically smell the black magic on you. You know it won't heal on its own." With that last word of advice, he walked out the door.

The door closed with a quiet thud, and you crumpled to the floor. While no pain had been inflicted on you, the threat was still there, and the knowledge that someone in a place of power knew about it had you shaking violently on the floor. A long span of time passed before you were able to pull yourself back up. Your hands and legs were still trembling slightly, but you managed to stay up by holding on to the table. Your eyes settled on a red, leather-bound book in the center of the table. You traced your finger over the gold writing, The Brothers Grimm Book of Fairytales. Your lips pulled into a half smile. You hadn't read the stories before, but you knew that they brought new meaning to the words 'cruel fairytale'. You picked up the book and started thumbing through the pages. A small piece of paper fell out of the book and fluttered down to the table.

"This one, you may take. -Junhyung"

A small smile played over your lips as you read the note. It made you feel a little better about the fact that he knew the secret you were trying so hard to hide. You tucked the card back into the book and closed it noisily. Tucking the tome under your arm, you felt your stomach growl slightly. It took you by surprise for a moment since you usually could go days without eating and suffer no consequences. You had a sneaking suspicion that Hyunseung was behind this. He was probably adjusting what you ate to fix your appetite. Assuming that it was probably nearing lunchtime, if not past it, you exited the library and headed back to your room to drop the book off. You knew this was a ridiculous amount of backtracking when your destination was right down the hall, but you wanted to put the book somewhere safe before you went to eat. When you made it back to your room, you carefully placed the storybook on the vanity and closed the door. Heaving a sigh, you began the fairly long trek back to the kitchen.

Halfway down the hallway, you were accosted by someone mid-journey for the second time that day. "Hi Friend!" Emi shouted excitedly. "Are you going to lunch?" You stared in shock at the widely smiling girl and looked around for one of the others. When you finally believed that you were on your own this time, you hesitantly nodded. "Then, let's go!" She looped her arm through yours and started dragging you down the hallway. While she was chattering away, you found yourself puzzled by her demeanor. You thought about what you knew about the girl. She hadn't been here long according to Lingfei, so you were confused by her upbeat and overwhelming positive energy. Someone who'd only been out of captivity for a little while shouldn't be this well adjusted. "So that's why I think we should build a spaceship! Isn't that cool?" You nodded dumbly having missed the whole conversation and not having a clue what was going on. "You can sit with us at lunch today! Everyone eats at different times but Lingfei, Addy, and I always eat together when we're home. I heard that there's a new girl here too. Maybe she'll sit with us!"

You nodded and allowed yourself to be towed down the hallway to the kitchen. After trailing after the girl through the two sets of doors, you were led to the back right corner of the room where the other two girls were waiting; Michelle, having been put with Addy apparently, was also there. "Hello everybody! I found Laeri in the hallway, and she wanted to eat lunch with us!"

"Jie jie, did you ask her if she wanted to eat with us?"

"Of course not! I just know she wants to!"

The youngest just shook her head exasperatedly. "You can't just kidnap people and drag them to eat lunch with us, Emi."

The blonde blinked innocently. "Why not? Addy did."

Addy did not look pleased at this comment. "I did not kidnap her." Michelle nervously looked between Emi and Addy, not knowing what to do. Lingfei shook her head again and dropped the issue entirely.

"So how are you Laeri?" she asked you. You mouthed 'fine' as you signed it. "Oh, I forgot. I brought this in anticipation that Emi would make you eat with us." She pulled a notepad and pen out of her bag and set them on the table.

"That's an awesome idea! Why didn't you think of that?" Emi asked. You flipped open the pad and started writing on the top line. You scowled at the chicken scratch your writing had become.

It's impractical.

You pushed the paper away and turned it, so they all could read it. "What do you mean? It seems to work just fine to me," Emi said.

Takes too long and uses too much paper. I don't always have paper or a pen on hand.

They had to wait a minute for you to finish writing before you showed it to them. "Just carry around a notebook and stick a pencil behind your ear or through your hair!" Emi said gleefully. You shook your head and tapped on your first statement.

"I can see what you mean," Lingfei said. "But I think it will still work for us at lunch time." You nodded, consenting to the idea. Just writing at lunch time wouldn't be too taxing. Your writing could really use the practice anyway.

"So who're you?" Emi asked Michelle. Apparently, she hadn't been introduced to everyone yet. You grabbed a sandwich and an apple off the table and put them on your plate. You figured Addy could do the backstory or even Michelle.

"Um, I'm Michelle. I inadvertently ran away from my master's manor." She fiddled with her hands and stared at the table.

"Really? So escape is impossible if you try but apparently it's very easy when you don't. Does that mean if I try to be reckless and die young that I'll become immortal?" Emi asked curiously and looked around the table. You shook your head with a frown and went back to eating your sandwich, which was quite delicious by the way.

"Of course not," Addy said. "It means that trying not to die is impossible and very easy to die if you don't try." Her face was completely serious right now, but you were fairly certain that she was just messing with Emi. The normally chipper girl pouted and said, "Oh."

Lingfei made a face at Addy and looked over at Michelle. "Welcome to our house. We're glad to have you. It will be much better here than where you came from, I promise." The youngest smiled warmly at the new arrival. "You should eat something, and then I can show you around some more." You watched the events unfold in front of you with only mild interest. You were a bit preoccupied with your lunch to be too involved with anything right now.

"What are you gonna do for the rest of the afternoon, Lae?" Addy asked sociably. You looked to the right at the notebook sitting on the table and regretfully put down your half-eaten sandwich before picking up the pen and writing

I was planning to rest in my room.

You turned the page to them and picked up your sandwich, dead set on finishing it. "Oh ok," Addy replied.

"You can join up with us if you feel like doing something else before supper," Lingfei suggested. You nodded and finished off your sandwich before you could be interrupted again. You quickly jotted on the paper,

I'm going to head back. See you around later maybe.

They waved you off with a few parting words as you got up and walked out of the dining hall, back to your room. You closed the door behind you and picked up the book you had left on your vanity. You idly flipped through the pages before stopping at a random story and beginning to read. You briefly reminded yourself to not get too worked up over the stories because they were all disturbed in their own special ways. You brushed off the slight negative mood you were anticipating and lost yourself in the written words of the brothers Grimm.

A knock shook you from your revelry in the realm of fantasy, destroying the image you had of a rotten girl cutting off her heel to stuff her foot into a shoe that would never fit her or win her the heart of the prince. You looked at the door in slight confusion, still disoriented from the abrupt switch into reality. "Laeri?" you heard Hyunseung call from across the thick barrier of wood. "Do you want to walk to dinner with me?" You wondered briefly why he didn't simply walk in. Shaking your head, you pulled yourself out of bed and dragged your heavy body over to the door. You opened it just a crack, confirming that it was in fact Hyunseung on the other side, and then swung the door out to step in front of him. You nodded, answering his previous question and staring at the flowers on your shoes.

Fingers gently pushed up under your chin, forcing your head up. You heard a barely muffled gasp and, suddenly, a pair of hands were holding the sides of your face. Not knowing what else to do, you stared at Hyunseung in shock. He smoothed his thumbs over your cheeks and asked, "Are you ok? Your eyes are red." You could have laughed. You didn't even know you had been crying. It was probably during that really sad story you had read about an hour earlier. You signed 'I'm fine' and explained the cause of your appearance. He made a face at you and sighed while crossing his arms. "You make me worry too much." You smiled brightly at him and held your hand out. He laughed briefly at your cute display and took your hand. You swung your conjoined hands slightly as you walked down the hallway and down the stairs.

You found yourself enjoying the quiet walk to dinner, while at the same time, you felt uneasy. You couldn't quite nail down exactly what was making you feel so out of sorts with yourself, but it wasn't making it easy to stay focused on the situation at hand. Hyunseung noticed your detachment and lightly squeezed your hand while looking at you with a questioning frown. You glanced side-long at him and shook your head with a shrug. For the rest of the walk, you tried to keep yourself from thinking about anything. It was thinking too much that was making you so confused.

Hyunseung dropped your hand to open the door for you with a little bow. You couldn't help the little quirk of a smile that fluttered over your lips at the gesture. You gave a mock curtsy and walked through the door. A hand settled on your back and led you over to the table. You noticed that everyone who was here had moved from their normal spots, but you didn't see Dongwoon or Junhyung here yet. You were actually glad that the elder wasn't here. Your nerves jumped at the thought of what he knew. Hyunseung guided you into an open seat and sat to your left at the head of the table like he normally did. Across the table was an empty seat with Yoseob to the right of it.

Looking to your right, you caught Gikwang watching you with shock. When he noticed you were watching him watch you, he turned to look past you at Hyunseung with apprehension. The brunette simply gave the distraught male an innocent look as if he didn't understand what could possibly be bothering the younger. Gikwang flattened his lips together and gave Hyunseung a frustrated glare which was only met with an amused smirk. You couldn't quite tell what was going on, but you knew better than to ask questions or to jump to conclusions about things you didn't understand if it involved your masters. You looked across the table and waved at Yoseob. He smiled and then sneakily looked at Hyunseung out of the corner of his eye. He started to inch out of his seat next to Doojoon and into the empty chair in front of you.

"And just where do you think you're going, Yoseob?" The blonde froze and stared at you in horror. His head slowly turned toward Hyunseung who was glaring hard at him, just daring him to move. He gulped and chuckled nervously. "Back." The simple, one-word command sent Yoseob flying back into his seat. He looked over at you and mouthed 'sorry. I tried.' You just shook your head and shrugged with a slight smile tugging at your lips.

The door opened behind you and Dongwoon plopped down in the chair next to Gikwang. The elder hadn't said anything since his stare down earlier with Hyunseung. "Hi Kwangie," the youngest greeted.

Something seemed to snap Gikwang out of his stupor and he scowled at the youngest. "Yah! I'm your Hyung! Don't call me Kwangie!" A smile slid onto your lips at his behavior. He didn't often act so, well, cute. He glanced at you and then pouted. "Umma! They're picking on me!"

"Then, don't be an easy target. And Laeri isn't picking on you. All she did was smile because you're acting like a child. Stop being such a big baby." Hyunseung rolled his eyes when his speech received a look of utter betrayal. "You don't have to be a drama queen either. Why are you in such a tizzy today?"

The boy in question rubbed at his eyes. "To be honest, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm sorry. I know that I get bad when I don't sleep."

"Yes. You're horrible when you don't sleep," Junhyung said as he walked in and sat across from you. You looked away and glanced at Gikwang who was still rubbing at his eyes. Biting your lip, you fought back the urge to flick some water at the sleepy demon. You quickly discovered that you weren't the only one with that idea when evil looks were passed between Dongwoon and Doojoon. You looked to Hyunseung to see how he was going to manage the situation, but he just glanced at you and signed 'Up to you. I am just going to let this play out and take care of the aftermath.' You blinked at him in surprise. You had thought that the ultimate authority on behavior would want to keep everyone out of trouble or at least that he would keep the mischief down at dinner times. You watched the eldest pass a glass of water to the youngest and realized that whatever decision you were going to make, it had to be done quickly.

You bit your lip again and lightly tugged on the soon-to-be victim's sleeve. When Gikwang looked ever so slightly at you, you signed as discreetly as possible, 'You are about to get an unwanted shower.' You noticed Yoseob snickering quietly, but the two troublemakers were completely unaware of how wrong their little practical joke was going to turn out. Being still half asleep, Gikwang just stared at you blankly out of the corner of his eye. After another ten seconds, his eyes widened, and he jumped up and Dongwoon with a glare. He snatched the upheld glass from the youngest and proceeded to dump the contents over his head. Grabbing his own glass, he threw the water at the leader, effectively drenching him to the point that his hair fell into his face.

There was a brief moment of silence throughout the entire room. Then, it was like a cannon went off. Laughter erupted like peals thunder from everywhere except Doojoon, Junhyung, and Dongwoon. Dongwoon and Doojoon were frozen in shock at the vicious attack that had been them. Junhyung simply looked indifferent. Hyunseung was chuckling lightly while Yoseob was guffawing outrightly at the spectacle created by your simple instigation. You blinked cluelessly at the victims as Gikwang filled his glass up with more water from the pitcher on the table and flopped back into his seat.

The rest of dinner went off without a hitch. Junhyung finished quickly and disappeared out the door to go who knows where. You stayed until just you, Hyunseung, and Doojoon were left. No one asked if you were the one who told Gikwang, and Doojoon didn't seem to mind his short shower. Dongwoon had ran off with Gikwang and Yoseob earlier despite his slightly soggy condition. As much as you wanted to spend more time out of your room, you knew you needed to get to sleep soon, so you excused yourself and walked back to your room.

Author's endnote of death! Just kidding. I don't know your names and my room is a mess so i wouldn't even be able to find the death book so i guess you're safe. darn. anyway...

So was that an awesomely long chapter or what? over 4000 words. which is a record for even me ^^. i'm super pleased with it.

ok yeah i'm more excited about the next chapter because it's gonna be fun to write. ^^ muhahahaha i apologize in advance because i'm gonna bring forth my true nature. and just let it run wild. on to the sign language of the day!

oh gosh what have i done so far....

This is good to know. It's the sign for LEARN. pretend your left hand is a book. now grab the information out of the book and put it in your head. TADA! your signing^^

ok and your french, lol let's do this: Pardonez mon francais. Pardon/excuse my french. (par-don-nay moan fron-say) that was horribly written.... lol

ok bye bye peeps.

OH QUICK QUESTION:

Do you guys want shorter chapters and more frequent updates or same length chapters as now with slightly more regular (like at least once a week) updates?

Hold my hand, ooh baby it's a long way down to the bottom of the river.