We pulled up outside my apartment and just sat there for a minute. Kaoru opened the door and got out so I could get out. When I did, he instantly put his arms around me. "Be careful please. As soon as you find out what's wrong, tell us. We are all worried." He didn't let go until I hugged him back. "Promise me?" He said and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I... I promise..." I said. I walked up the steps of the apartment complex and looked back at their car. They were waiting for me to go inside, and I smiled at that thought. I turned and walked inside to go to my apartment. I walked through the front door and went straight to my room. My sister was still up doing homework.

"Hey, what took you so long? Why are you home late?" My sister growled at me as I walked by. I froze right in front of my door.

"I... uh... I was... " I tried to find the right words.

"And who was that boy that dropped you off in that fancy car?" She yelled. I cringed and started tearing up.

"I got caught up in club stuff... a-and that was Kaoru Hitachiin and his twin brother Hikaru. They drove me home b-because they were worried about-"

"Worried about what?" She cut me off in the coldest tone of voice.

"Uh... To make sure I got home safely because... it was dark..." I quietly turned my doorknob and slowly opened my door. It creaked and I froze, waiting for her to yell at me again, but it never came. I heard her sigh a heavy breath. It was finals week for her and she was probably on a stress overboard. After all, she was still in college.

"Just... just go eat and head to bed. We have to go to the shop early in the morning. You have a pour or two to do before we open." She said and started putting away all her papers and computer.

"Okay..." I whispered. I wasn't hungry. My stomach was still upset about the thought of what happened early today. I was too scared to tell her though. She already had enough problems on her plate, I didn't want to overstress her...

I didn't bother changing. I just turned off the light and crawled in bed under the covers. I couldn't manage to feel drowsy. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, I noticed something that I hadn't noticed in awhile. Two roses in a water-filled glass vase on my nightstand. The orange petals were withered and dying. Shriveled up and turning to dust. The light blue petals were only slightly dying. The color was only faded and the petals themselves were slightly wrinkled. It kept me up for hours, wondering why that was.

___

I woke up to the sound of Tira yelling at me from the kitchen. She was cooking breakfast... I think. It smelled like pancakes. Then it started to smell like something else. Realizing the scent I shot up out of bed and ran to the kitchen. I was hoping my nose was fooling me, but my suspicions were correct. There was a mini fire on the stove. "Tira? ... FIRE! WHERE ARE YOU TIRA!?!?!?!?" I screamed and ran to the sink and turned it on icy cold. I grabbed the spray nozzle and clicked it on, aiming in the general direction of the fire, but I think I missed. When the water shot out, I heard my sister yelp in the doorway.

"SAKURA!!! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!!" She screamed. I could practically see the flames in her eyes and her razor-sharp teeth. I re-aimed the nozzle at the fire and turned it on full blast. My sister ran into the other room and returned with a fire extinguisher. She aimed it at the fire and turned it on, unaware of how strong it actually was. Its nozzle went flying everywhere and shot me right in the face with white foam. I screamed and let go of the water nozzle, making it fly everywhere. I slipped in the foam and water and landed flat on my stomach, knocking the wind right out of me. I sat there gasping for air in about the same 10 seconds it took Tira to put the fire out. After she finally put it out, and slid down next to me, she looked at me, to which I looked at her. I burst out laughing, which made her burst out laughing. It was going to be a nice day today.

After we cleaned up the mess and got cleaned up ourselves we headed up to the shop. Tira unlocked the doors, turned on all the lights, turned all the cash register on and lit some of the candles; the daily routine. I went to the back and turned everything on myself and took off my jacket. It was going to get warm for me. I turned on the hot plate and walked over to the recipe cards and pulled out 'Apple Fritter,' a cinnamon, vanilla and apple combination scent. It was my favorite scent in the entire store throughout the entire year, and we had well over 250 scents. I just thought it smelled like toned-down marshmallows.

After the hot plate warmed up, I got just the right amount of wax out of our wax vat, added a cup of soy and set it on the hot plate. After the soy melted, I added the oil, but only one cup. Usually, I'd add the dye in first, but since it was a white candle it didn't need dye. Next, I put the wicks in the pouring votive glasses. Pk 6 was the size, and about 40-45 votives. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 10:25. The morning was going so slow...

After about ten votives in, I heard Tira talking to customers. "Good morning gentlemen, how are you today?"

"Where's Sakura?" I heard two familiar voices say through the closed door.

"Yes I'm most interested to see where she makes the candles." Another said.

"Why hello my lovely flower." Said another. That was Tamaki and Kyoya and the twins. I could practically see Tamaki's face. I knew what he looked like when he was using his charm. The sliding door slowly opened and I turned my head towards the boys. My face went tomato red and hot, although I couldn't tell if that was me blushing or the wax burning my face because I flinched when I heard the twins' voices.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I said. The twins ran to me and hugged me, nuzzling their faces to mine.

"We just wanted to make sure our precious little girl was alright." The twins said together in a snakelike voice, as always. Tamaki obviously didn't like what they were doing. My sister stared at me as if to say 'Are these the twins from last night?' and I nodded back to confirm. Her face instantly went to an evil smirk.

"Alright Sakura, why don't you show your lovely friends around town? I'll finish the pour." She said, walking into the back room. My mouth fell open and I slammed the pitcher of hot wax down on the counter, but half missed the counter, spilling hot wax all up my arm.

"AH GODDAMNIT!" I screamed and waved my arm around to cool down the wax. I set the empty pitcher down, but it fell off the counter and I had to catch it with my bare hands out of reflexes. I screamed out even louder because it was well over 80 degrees celsius hot.

"Princess!" Tamaki ran to me and started blowing on my arm to cool it down. Then the twins started blowing on my arm as well. You know what they say: Monkey see, monkey do... My sister just sat there with her head tilted, probably wondering what the hell they were doing and why. My sister got me bandages and ointment. I had gotten a second degree burn all the way up and down my arm. "Well, we should go look at the rest of the commoner's town to see what they sell!" It took him a second to realize what he said but when he did, he covered his mouth.

"Y'all better run now..." I said with a deadly stare. All of them but Kyoya ran out of the front of the store. Kyoya was just studying the candles. How they looked and smelled. "Let's go Kyoya-senpai. We'll go visit Verna down at the Galleria." I said. I grabbed thirty dollars out of the register and we headed out the door where Tamaki and the twins waited for us. I glared at Tamaki as I walked by, but of course I was joking. But I'm sure he didn't know that because he was as blind as a bat when it came to noticing things. The twins grabbed my arms and evilly grinned at Tamaki just to make him mad. I laughed and we all walked down the street towards the Galleria.