Once the night had fallen and the clock had turned to the single digits, the house had become silent. Everyone had gone to bed in an attempt to relieve the physical and emotional exhaustion of the day. The silence was disturbed by the occasional snoring, sleep talking or other habits they had and a silent tossing and turning of someone who couldn’t seem to find the right position to lie in. The girl had been rolling, tossing and shifting for hours, until she finally decided to give up on trying to sleep. It was no use anyway with all the thoughts she had on her mind. Emptying her mind wouldn’t work and bringing herself to sleep with her powers was too dangerous, because it would need too much concentration. The chance of screwing up midway was too big.

In the end she decided to leave her shared room with Chaima and get some fresh air. Baeri changed out of her pajamas into a her comfortable tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt, before tiptoeing out of the bedroom and down the stairs with cat-like soundless steps. Once down, she let out a sigh before she resumed walking. The dark haired halted in the hallway and gazed in between the front door and the kitchen door, pondering on which destination to pick. Her head glanced around at the other doors and she noticed that the door to the living room was wide open. Peering through the opening, her eyes fell on the glass on the other side of the room, leading to the big garden. The moonlight shone in a bright dazzling light through the window as the only thing that provided the light for her to be able to see in this darkness.

Baeri had decided on a destination and made her way to the garden, without much further thinking. She really didn’t need something else to worry about adding to the current rain of thoughts in her mind. Once at the sliding doors that lead to the garden, she opened it with a swift motion, shivering slightly at the cold breeze that made her skin tingle and her hairs stand up. Baeri inhaled the fresh scent of grass, wood, leaves and flowers, before stepping into the slippers and onto the grass. The cold oversized rubber material at her feet made her shiver once more and this time she wrapped her hands around herself and cursed herself for not wearing something over her t-shirt. She couldn’t be bothered to go up again to get one. Moreover there was a chance that she would wake up someone, which was also not part of the plan.

With a sigh she closed the door behind her and walked forward as she gazed up at the sky. The visible stars made Baeri relax unconsciously. Her eyes wandered the sky seeking one star in particular, the star that was connected to her. She heaved a relieved sigh when she found it, taking in the nostalgia of its light. When was the last time she had actually paid attention to it? The last time she took time to stare endlessly at the orbs of light that seemed so little from where she standing, but were huge according to scientists. Baeri didn’t know, nor did she want to know. Just being able to stare at the stars, especially the one that bound her to her destiny, was enough for her. Its presence was of utmost importance to her and her ability to spot it without a problem in the sky was as well. It gave her a feeling of security, a feeling of being alive.

A cold breeze blew by, softly caressing the girl’s skin and hair with its icy touch. Baeri wrapped both arms around her and took hold of her upper arms, rubbing them in order to warm up a little. She exhaled deeply and noticed that her breath was actually visible in a misty puff, signaling the girl that the night was more merciless than she had expected. Upon the sensation of a sudden weight dropping on her head, Baeri instinctively glanced upward in time to see the sleeve of a jacket fall into her face and a hand hovering above her hand. She turned around, while she grasped the jacket on both sides of her face, as it still lay on her head and was met with Gikwang’s curious gaze. Baeri noticed the tiny droplets of sweat running down his jawline and the strands of wet hair that stuck to his face. He had probably been training and working out by himself.

“Can’t sleep?” Baeri was the first to ask the question on both their minds.

Gikwang nodded with a sheepish grin and Baeri couldn’t help but mirror his expression.

“Want to spar?” She asked.

“You already owe me lunch. You want to add up to your debts, Banolim-shi?” Gikwang taunted playfully.

He winced at the punch he received on his chest from the shorter girl and let out a light laughter.

“Just watch me kick your , Gigong.” Baeri retorted with a playful scowl.

In the end they really did start throwing punches and kicks around as they jumped and dashed from place to place. They became blurs in the night as they collided their limbs with the other’s body in an attempt to win the spar. Baeri was especially fired up as she had to let out some steam and Gikwang had read this in her behaviour as well. The suggestion didn’t come unexpected either. You might say that he purposely didn’t go to bed and started a training session by himself, without the intention to sleep for the night, knowing that the girl might appear at some point. It didn’t matter that he seemed creepy or anything at that moment, because this girl right in front of him, was one to pile up her feelings without showing them, until they burst and caused her misery. It had happened before and he, as her friend and family, wanted to prevent her from hurting herself in this cruel way.

Gikwang was thrown on the floor and let out a pained groan when his chest and face collided with the grass. His right arm was in Baeri’s grip with a knee on his shoulder blade. His other hand was propped next to his torso folded close to his body as his palm pushed the ground in an attempt to get up. With a jerk of his legs and torso he rolled to the left, carrying Baeri’s weight with him as well. He took chance of the moment of surprise she was in and flung his arm around her waist, pushing her to the ground underneath him, face down as he sat comfortably on her back with a smirk. His hand curled into a light fist as it moved to her head, knocking the back of it lightly, but enough force to hurt her a bit. Her hair and probably his as well was filled with grass blades, that were stuck in between the strands, from all the tossing and rolling over the ground, as they aimed for each other with kicks and punches while trying to escape the attacks as well.

“Yah, you’re heavy!” Baeri shouted and attempted to free herself by violently squirming.

Gikwang just laughed. “You owe me two lunches now.” He noted and ruffled the girl’s hair before getting up.

Baeri uttered a sound of approval and relief, which sounded close to a mixture of a groan and sigh. Amused Gikwang stared down at the girl for a while, before grabbing a hold of her waist with both hands and lifting her to her feet. Baeri looked up at the male who flashed her a mocking grin, which ticked her off. She returned it with a disapproving scowl and watched him trying to hold back his laughter. The girl was slightly aghast when Gikwang’s smile suddenly disappeared, leaving a serious expression on the face that was laughing foolishly seconds before. He gazed down at Baeri with a piercing intense gaze, that made her freeze on spot. The concern his orbs displayed was evident and Baeri bit her lower lip in acknowledgement that it was all directed to her.

“You know you can talk to me right?” He asked the rhetorical question in a husky whisper.

A silence fell as Baeri stared in surprise at the beast tamer. She was used to Gikwang seeing right through her, when she piled herself in worries until it caused something, that could be defined as misery. Usually she would talk to Chaima about it, but this time around the pyrokinetic was not quite herself either, which made Baeri reluctant to turn to her with her own mess. Gikwangs words give her a sense of security. She had someone she could console when even her best friend wasn’t available to rant to, but she felt bad about putting him up with her worries. He had his own right? Was she selfish enough to stack her burden and share it with him? After a moment of silence the girl nodded, extracting a content small smile from the male.

* * * * *

The next morning Paro woke up to a sweet scent, that was lingering in the air. She sleepily sat up in her bed, with her hair wildly situated in a style that could be fitting for a horror movie. She ran her hands through her locks, taming the wild strands to a more presentable state before climbing out of bed. Still in her pajamas she stepped down the stairs, as the sound of chattering and laughing was caught by her ears. Confused the girl scratched her head for a moment and when realisation hit her, a smile found its way to her face. She ran down the steps, beaming gleefully and thrashed through the kitchen door. As she expected, the group sat there enjoying a nice breakfast made by Baeri and Gikwang, who tood side by side at the counter still working. Baeri seemed a lot more cheerful than the day before, which relieved the girl.

“Morning.” The dark haired girl greeted happily as she sloppily rubbed her eye with her tender fist.

Heads turned to her greeting back.

“Aigoo, have you even washed up, little Apple?” Doojoon stepped into the kitchen behind her.

He had noticed her appearance and shook his head in disapproval. When Paro just smiled innocently, showing her guilt the girl turned back to the door to disappear back into her room for her daily morning routine. It took her about fifteen minutes to reappear in the kitchen and claim her breakfast from the cooks of the day, Gikwang and Baeri. She received scrambled eggs with some sort of tomato salad and fresh orange juice. Baeri first wanted to give the girl milk, but she pulled off some of her killer aegyo, to get juice instead. If there was something Paro disliked, it was milk. She hated the taste and the heavy feeling it left in and stomach after drinking a whole glass. It also ruined the taste of the other things she was eating.

After breakfast Paro received permission to go to the park with a few, whom escorted the girl. She was happy to be able to walk again and Yoseob, still in his fairy form and Junhyung in his Tanuki form went with her, since they didn’t want to be left behind in a house full of tormenting brats, who targeted them since they turned into these. This was the reason, creatures other than human’s hated the monthly check ups at the headquarters. To grade their power level and measure it it was necessary to drain every drop. Because taking on human form needed their powers, the two changed into a different shape which consumed less energy once their resources were completely exhausted.

Once at the park it was easy for Paro to exhaust the two others with the amount of energy she had. The girl ran, jumped, played, shouted, sang and fooled around to her heart’s content with the two males and after hours of playing, Junhyung and Yoseob finally decided to give up on trying to keep up with her. This girl was just too much for them to handle. They slowly started to regret not taking anyone else who could assist them in watching over Paro. The two of them dropped on a bench in the park exhausted and famished while they watched the girl play some more. She had started a ball game with some kids and ran around. The scene was quite endearing and made both the fairy and tanuki smile affectionately.

“She’s really innocent.” Yoseob mumbled fondly. “I still can’t believe that she might pose a danger.” He let out a sigh when he heard a hum in agreement from the curled up raccoon dog beside him.

Meanwhile Paro who was playing with the children was forced to stop when she suddenly heard a female voice shouting. The two kids, a girl and a boy, turned to the voice calling for their mother. The woman came to retrieve them to go home, while shooting Paro a look she couldn’t really define. It wasn’t positive though, she was sure of that. Paro bowed politely and greeted, while bidding goodbye to the children who were dragged along. Even when they walked away, the woman looked back to shoot her a glare. This time she found anger and irritation in her eyes. Paro found herself slightly intimidated while a pain spread through her chest. An uncomfortable pressure started to spread in as well.

Paro walked away from the group in an attempt to distract herself. She was playing moments ago, she should continue. She came to play right? Slowly the girl began to question herself whether the park had been this crowded from the start. She squirmed innerly once eyes were on her, fearing the thoughts behind the orbs. She didn’t dare to look back into them to read them. She was scared. Her breathing became unstable and she felt her hands slightly quivering. Was interacting with others always this hard? Why did she feel like she was breathing smoke instead of air? felt dry and her palms started to become damp and itchy.

Paro was startled at the impact of a collision in her back. She turned around to a young boy, about 10-11 years old looking up at her apologetically. Paro stepped back, in slight panic. when her eyes met the boys and continued doing that until her back met with the rough surface of a tree bark. In that instant, she saw something strange, something she had never seen before. For a moment she saw a transparent version of the boy’s physical appearance splitting from him. The expression on his face was panicked and stared at her in fear, while Paro slid to the floor, scraping the skin of her elbows on the tree bark. She watched in horror as the physical image of the boy and the transparent one almost slipped completely.

Her face was pale and her jaw dropped upon seeing the boy fall to the floor as his eyes closed. He lay lifelessly on the floor and although his expression was peaceful, the transparent image of him was tearing and sobbing while hiccuping chaotically. The girl’s hands moved to her head, holding it as a pain pierced from one temple to the other, making her eyes sting and her vision blur. She restrained herself from making any sound as her eyes were still fixated on the boy on the floor. The sounds of her surroundings were blocked and the only thing she could hear soon after was a painful high beep and background rustling. The voices of Junhyung and Yoseob who had rushed by her side couldn’t get through to her mind.

The tickling of soft fur on the skin of her neck was also something she didn’t realise happened, as she was in her panic struck situation. Paro’s eyes were empty, completely dark and her expression even scared Yoseob and Junhyung. The appearance of the furred little snake-like creature with a fox head was quite surprising, but relieved both of them. It was Jeffrey’s kudakitsune. A little creature with the ability to absorb and calm the wild current and flow of one’s power. The cream coloured skin of the little fox radiated a soft light and the effect was visible. The lifeless body of the boy stirred and eventually sat back up. Paro however still couldn’t calm down, despite the boy being released from her power, whatever it was.

* * * * *

Surprised was the best way to describe the atmosphere in the house when Jeffrey walked through the front door with Paro in his arms. He glanced at the four men in the room whom approached them immediately. Yoseob was worriedly seated on Paro’s folded arms on her stomach, while Junhyung strolled behind Jeffrey through the door. Seeing Paro’s expression Doojoon, Hyunseung, Gikwang and Dongwoon were completely at loss of words. Her expression was dark, while her skin looked like all the blood was drained from it. Her whole body shivered violently and the expression in her eyes pained Hyunseung. She had a panic attack. They didn’t need Baeri to conclude that to know it.