Robert went out the tub and wrapped the towel around his waist. He was still soaked when he opened the door. Angela stood there, shivering.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" cried Robert when he saw her. He pulled her inside the room. She was crying.

"Yin..." she said between sobs, "I can't find Yin."

"You ran out in the pouring rain to look for a cat?" said Robert exasperatedly.

Angela was still shivering. He took her to the bathroom and dumped her in the hot tub. Angela gave a gasp.

"Stay there," he said and went back to the room. He returned later with dry clothes. "I don't have undies... but these will have to do for now." he placed the clothes on the sink and looked at Angela still sobbing. "Dry yourself and put them on."

"W-what about Yin?" she asked still in tears.

"I'll go look for him myself," said Robert. "You stay here and dry yourself." He pulled the door shut and sneezed. "Stupid crazy kid!" he said, sniffing. "What will she think of next?"

He opened his closet and took out some clothes and a jacket. He was buttoning his jeans when he saw Yang watching him.

"Your sister's missing," he told the cat. "I think she's just as crazy as her master." He took Yang and lay him down on the bed. "She's taking a bath right now, came over all wet and..." Robert froze. "Wait a minute..." he said to himself."She's taking a bath in my tub..."

Robert suddenly flushed as red as a ripe tomato.

He looked at the bathroom door.

"She won't be wearing any undies either..." he said. "Ahh! What am I thinking?!" He took the pillow and stuffed his face into it. "I wonder if this pillow is as soft as her boo–" he gulped. "Ahhhh!!! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!"

Just then, the bathroom door opened and out stepped Angela.

Her wet hair veiled her face, the over-sized navy shirt fell off her shoulder. There was a faint smell of soap in the air and the moisture from the hot bath was rising. Robert felt his heart racing inside his chest.

"I-I'm coming with you..." Angela said between sobs.

Robert found himself gaping at her.

"I said I'm coming with you!" repeated Angela.

"Ah, no, you stay here!" said Robert turning around. "You might catch a cold or something." he took his shirt and continued dressing up, sneezing as he did.

"But Yin only comes when I call her!" said Angela. She went closer to Robert. Robert's heart pounded even harder. "And it would make our search easier if there are two of us right?"

"Okay! Okay!" said Robert giving up. "Here, take this jacket, I'll go look for another one."

He turned to her, handing the jacket over. Angela stood right in front of him, her skin so white, her lips red, the shape of her body underneath the loose shirt... it was driving him crazy.

"Thanks..." said Angela rubbing her eyes. "By the way, can a borrow a belt?" she added, "The jeans you lent me keeps slipping off my waist..." Angela pulled her shirt up and showed Robert the loose jeans. She looked at him frowning.

Robert was a glimpse of her milky white skin.

'She's not wearing any underwear...' he thought to himself, 'if that thing falls...' Robert turned around in a hurry. "I-I'll get you one..." he rummaged in his closet and handed her the belt, his eyes averted from her. "Here, hurry up and put the jacket on. I'll go look for an umbrella."

He rushed out of his room and went straight to his mother's.

"That was close..." he thought, "If this goes on any further, I might do something I'd regret later..." he looked inside his mother's closet for a jacket.

His own jacket was already wet from his trip to school that morning, and his spare jacket was now with Angela.

It seems that his mother took her jacket with her, though.

He looked around the room and saw a brown sweater on his mother's bed and decided to wear that instead.

He picked up two big umbrellas from the parlor and was about to call Angela from the other room when he turned around and saw her standing behind him.

Her eyes were still puffed from crying, her face blushed. The jacket hid her figure much to Robert's relief, but his heart was still racing inside his chest.

"Can we go now?" she asked him with a frown.

"Yeah, of course," the other replied.

They went out into the rain.

It was pouring outside and the wind was very strong. The two of them had to hold on to their umbrellas to keep it from blowing away.

"Where did you search for Yin anyway?" Robert shouted over the roaring rain.

"Just in our house, then I went around the block, when I still couldn't find him, I decided to ask for your help."

"So where do we go first?"

"I was thinking about the canal... It goes around the subdivision and behind our houses."

"You think he might be there?"

"Yeah, there's a slope behind our house that Yin might have climbed, it goes up the storage room and over the wall. Behind that wall is the canal."

"Okay, let's head to the canal then..."

The two made their way to the bridge.

There was only one way towards the the back of their houses, accessible only through a narrow path on one side of the canal. The two went over the bridge's railing and walked along it.

The brown water below was almost level to the path they were waling on, and the trash had already been washed away, leaving only a few pieces of broken twigs here and there.

Robert and Angela walked along the narrow path with Angela leading the way, the water rushing in the opposite direction.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Robert asked her after a while.

"Of course I do!" the other replied, "I used to pass here all the time when I was younger."

"So which one's your house?"

"There's a tree behind our wall, an old aratilis tree growing out of the canal's side."

"You mean that tree?" said Robert, pointing out at the distance.

The pouring rain made it difficult to see far ahead, but he could make out the figure of a tall tree.

"C'mon! Just a little closer!" Angela began to run and almost slipped into the rushing canal!

"Stupid!" shouted Robert, pulling her arm. "Don't act so rashly!"

They walked along the canal's edge and neared the tree. Just as they reached it, Angela started to climb up.

"Wait here, I'll do it," said Robert.

He closed his umbrella and handed it to his companion before climbed the aratilis tree. He was half way up when he saw something black on top of him.

"Yin!" Angela called from below. The black cat moved and started to yowl helplessly.

"Don't worry, I've got him," said Robert.

Robert reached out to the crying cat, but the terrified animal spat at him and slashed at his hand, inching farther away from his reach.

Robert swore under his breath, the slash, leaving red marks on his hand. He climbed a little higher and reached out for the cat once more. Yin swiped at him again, but this time, Robert pulled his hand away just in time. With a push, he lifted himself and grabbed the cat on the scruff of its neck.

"Got her!" he called down to Angela.

He was about to descend the Aratilis tree, when there came a load snap.

Before he knew it, he was falling fast into the canal.