Dancing glimmers of broken sky dotted the world in which she walked. The world was quiet, muted as the clouds overhead brewed and blackened. Much like her decision had muted life in and of itself, silence was her sole companion during the slow, and rather pitiful descent down the mountainside.

It was for the best, of that Amaya could only hope.

If things continued just as they had been, she would surely wind up dead.

Amaya's feet lead the way through the trees and streets, following the wordless thoughts that scarcely occurred to her. The world towered around her, and for once, she was fine with the idea that she was powerless beneath its encroaching shadows.

Sometimes the best solution was the easiest one, the one with no resistance. She was sure that this was one of those times. Even if it was hard for her to willingly give up like that, it was still easier than fighting against forces she couldn't handle anymore.

Before long, Amaya found herself walking down streets she couldn't seem to recall the names of, though they were familiar in a sense. Bags of shopping she scarcely recalled even buying hung from her hands, a small amount in spite of the searing pain that was ripping its way through her arms. Her gaze traced the pavement beneath her feet as she ambled along with no real comprehension of which route she was actually taking.

'Oi!!! Amaya-san! There you are!' A voice rung clear across the street from behind before long, and then a second later she found herself stopping to turn her head towards the sound of frantically moving feet. 'I haven't seen you for a small while, I think Daniel wa--...AUUGH!'

A thoroughly startled Isshin practically yelped out as he noticed the bandages wrapped around her head, and the hint of bruising running up the side of her neck as she'd turned to face him properly.

'Hello, Isshin-san.' Amaya greeted the startled man softly.

'Wh-what on earth happened?!' The man practically demanded as he seemed to struggle with the situation he found himself witness of, and his usual closed-eye smile was wiped well off his face. 'Daniel said you never came in yesterday, but we both assumed you forgot or something! Are you alright?!'

'I'll be fine, I just look worse than I really am.' Amaya responded lightly as she shifted her weight on her feet. 'I just shouldn't do much for a few days, I've been told.'

Or rather, she knew from experience.

The startled man seemed to blink for a few seconds, before a more composed form of his closed-eye smile eventually spread across his face, albeit with a rather wry edge to it.

'I see, well you should come in and sit down. I'll call for a taxi to take you home.'

'Thanks but it's fine. I only live a few blocks away.'

'Then you should come in and have a rest.' Isshin responded seriously as he reached over to gently lift the bags of shopping from her hands. 'You probably have a concussion, and you should really take every opportunity to rest, even for a minute. Daniel was wanting to catch up with you about his project, anyway.'

Well... she guessed she could afford that.

She could just imagine the look Karma would give her if he so much as caught wind of her forgoing the recommendation to rest at that moment.

She was escorted just a few meters back down the street into the gym she hadn't even realized she'd walked past. Everything appeared to be rather normal everything in it's proper place, though little would change in just a few days.

'Daniel!' Isshin called out as he gently deposited the few bags of Amaya's shopping onto one of the wall-length benches. 'I caught a wild Amaya-san and wrangled her inside!'

'Aye! Good on ya, Isshin!' Came Daniel's voice from within the break room.

'I know.' Isshin responded pleasantly as he waved Amaya to go sit down.

'Isn't it a school day, though?'

'Think her school's given her the day off.'

'Huh. Well that works out great, then!' Daniel's voice rung out, along with the approaching footsteps that signified the blonde's movements. 'Let's see... where did I put those--Aha! They're probably in the other box1'

Amaya fixed Isshin with a curious look, who only shrugged in response.

Whatever was going on, Amaya had no clue.

She could only let out a breath as she lightly tugged the hood free from over her head and let it fall loose around her shoulders.

'Did you lose something again?' Isshin called out as the seconds ticked by towards minutes.

'No, I just-- Oh! There it is!'

'Did you finally find your brain after all these years?' Isshin questioned mockingly.

'Isshin, will you shu--' Daniel's rebuke was cut short as he stepped out of the break room and spotted Amaya sitting there silently with her hands tucked into the pockets of her jumper. 'WHAT IN JESUS--?!'

And all Amaya could really do was fix a marginally exasperated look upon the startled blond as he frantically cut his exclamation short.

'What is it with the two of you and practically screaming at the sight of me, today?' She couldn't help but ask.

'Have you even seen yourself this morning?' Isshin asked curiously.

'Well, no, I can't claim to say I am capable of appraising my own appearances like a snail can.' Amaya responded seriously. And entertainingly enough, Isshin chuckled slightly. However the scowl that was quickly spreading across Daniel's face showed that he certainly was not impressed.

'You look like a corpse from a slasher movie.' Isshin commented with a light grin.

'Gee, thanks for the compliment...' She muttered sarcastically.

'No problem~'

'You've been to the hospital at least, I hope.' Daniel questioned as he turned to forage through one of the lockers just by the door with that scowl still plastered right across his face. 'Those bandages had better not be their work though.'

'Uh no, they're not. It's mine after a shower.'

'Well your handiwork is bloody awful!' Daniel responded as he tugged out what looked to be a massive first-aid kid paramedics owned and slammed the door of the locker shut. 'Turn around on the bench and I'll redress it for you.'

'But it's fi--'

'Let me redress it for you, or I will be calling an ambulance so that they can take you to the nearest hospital where you will have it done there, instead.' Daniel responded seriously as he held up the first aid kit in one hand, with his cell phone in the other. 'Which of the two evils would you rather?'

'Umm, neither, to be honest.'

'You should concede and let him do what he wants, Amaya-san.' Isshin remarked with a wry smile. 'It will be less of a headache that way, no pun intended.'

Damnit, it felt like she was dealing with a warped version of Isogai and Maehara.

And while she was tempted to argue, in truth it felt like so much trouble.

'Fine...' Amaya gave in as she turned slightly on the bench.

'Good.' Daniel spoke as he set the first aid kit on the ground just by Amaya's feet and popped it open. 'Isshin, get off your ass and go fill this up, with warm water please.'

'As you wish.' Isshin responded lightly as he grabbed what turned out to be a curved water-dish and left to do as he was instructed.

And then, Amaya felt the faint shifting of the bandages around her head and resigned herself to sitting as still as possible.

Seconds ticked by towards minutes as Amaya sat silently, with her eyes slowly drooping shut on her as she felt very little in the form of tugging around her head, and indeed no sensation of slacking bandages falling upon her shoulders, either. In fact, the only shift of movement she felt was the shift of air as the heap of bandages were tossed across the room to land nearly in a nearby wastebin.

'That's quite a lot of damage you've got.' Daniel remarked sourly as he gently shifted strands of her hair aside so he could get a better look at her injury. 'It looks like an impact injury, though I'm surprised at the amount of stitches they've put in.'

Amaya winched slightly as she felt the small shift of her hair tug at the tender skin of her head.

'How big is it?' She asked.

'About three inches. Bone-deep without a doubt, considering where it is.' Daniel spoke seriously. 'Did somebody get the jump on you with the back of an axe or something?'

'I ... fell, I guess.'

'You fell?' He repeated in disbelief 'I wasn't born yesterday, Amaya-san.'

'I fell backwards into a wall.'

Whatever Daniel said in response was lost on her as Isshin's shouted complaints in the next room drowned him out. The shuffling of contents in the first aid kit echoed next, and before Amaya could count to ten, Isshin had re-emerged with a steaming hot container of water in his grip.

'Here's your water~' Isshin announced as he set the container onto the bench right next to Amaya.

'Aye, and how about you get some ice to go along with that water?' Daniel responded seriously.

'What? But you wanted warm water!'

'That's not warm.'

'Well it's certainly not cold.'

'I can't believe I have to explain this, but when I said warm water, I meant water that is at human body temperature, not fresh boiled from a kettle! Do you want me to burn Amaya-san or something?'

'It'll cool down!'

'Then I'll leave it to you to stick your hand in it to check for me every two minutes.'

'But then it won't be clean water.'

Daniel turned to fix Isshin with a rather severe glare.

'If you'd just gotten warm water to begin with, there wouldn't be a bloody problem, you lunatic!'

'Well excuse me, there's no need to get hostile.'

'I'll be getting hostile if you don't hurry up and sort the water out!'

'Alright, already! You're nagging like my mother would!'

And in spite of the agitation that was seeping from Daniel's form, Amaya couldn't help but smile in spite of herself.

As the seconds ticked by and Daniel had begun to open up packets and apply ointment to padding, Isshin eventually came back with a bag of ice tucked beneath one arm and a pair of tongs in his other hand. Amaya could do nothing but watch as Isshin pulled out a massive chunk of ice-blocks and deposited them straight into the steaming dish of water with a grin.

'There you go~' Isshin remarked brightly as he straightened up on his feet. 'Your water has now cooled down!'

Without so much as lifting his gaze from the first aid kit he'd resumed foraging through, Daniel merely grabbed the dish of icy water and cubes and threw the contents over Isshin's lap, earning a high-pitched yelp from the man as he jumped and dropped the ice.

'GAAH! THAT'S COLD!' Isshin practically whined as the icy water soaked the front of his gym clothes.

'Aye.' Daniel responded dismissively as he picked himself up to head into the break room.

'Why are you being so cruel to me?'

'Because you're a dick!' Daniel shouted back.

And at that moment, Amaya couldn't help but laugh, earning a cheeky grin from Isshin as he moved to clean up the ice he'd scattered across the floor. Presumably, his mission had been completed at that second and there was no need to keep ailing Daniel so much.

A few seconds later, Daniel returned with a dish of water and set about tidying up the mess left of the back of her head. The prominent scowl he was wearing did not go unnoticed by Amaya in the least. His frustrated mutterings as he redressed the head injury were in a language Amaya wasn't the least bit familiar with, however she had a fair enough idea that the topic matter was either something to do with Isshin's antics, or the injury he was currently tending to.

The unpleasant sensation of cold wound ointment against the tender skin of her head threatened to cause her to flinch, and shortly after, a thick piece of padding was placed over the gash in her head before bandages were firmly wrapped around her head several times until eventually the whole thing was carefully pinned off at the side of her head.

Needless to say, the bandages this time were quite firm, and were quite the far difference to Amaya's own rough attempt.

'That's the bandages done.' Daniel remarked as he stepped aside to forage through his first aid kit once more.

'Th-thank you.' Amaya responded sheepishly as she looked towards her few bags of shopping sitting neatly on the far end of the bench. 'I guess I'll just--'

'I'm not finished with you.' Daniel was quick to cut her off, though he didn't once lift his gaze from the medical supplies. 'You haven't shown me your hands, yet.'

'My hands?' Amaya was legitimately surprised. 'There's nothing wrong with my hands.'

'You haven't taken them out of your pockets even once.'

'I usually keep my hands in my pockets, though!'

'If there's nothing wrong, then just show me your bloody hands.' Daniel responded seriously as he turned to look at her.

An exasperated sigh escaped Amaya as she pulled her hands from her pockets with her arms deliberately brushing against her sides to pull the sleeves further down over her wrists.

'See? There's nothing wrong with them.' Amaya questioned as she held her hands out, as instructed.

And yet all Daniel did was lift a hand and casually hook the side of her sleeve, tugging it back to reveal more of her arm and the smallest edge of bruising the sleeve had previously hidden from sight.

'Nice try.' He remarked as he went back to his first aid kit. 'Off with the jumper and sit the other way.'

A wonderful string of muttered curses escaped Amaya as she did as she was told, though thankfully she had an easier time of hiding her difficulty than she thought. She barely winced as she forced her arms to bend and shift more than they appreciated, though that was likely attributed to her current frustration.

Wherever Isshin went, she didn't know. She merely guessed he'd wandered off to toss out the bag of ice he'd dropped over the floor.

'Right, now lets see what...' Daniel trailed off as he'd turned his head to look down at her arms, and for a few seconds he seemed to stare at the unsightly bruises running up the whole length of her forearms. ''What in Gods name did you get done in by?'

'It's not that bad.' Amaya responded with a sigh.

And yet the look Daniel gave her was a mix of utter horror and disapproval.

'Really, it's not.' She reaffirmed.

'I've seen victims of gang-beatings with less contusions than you have.' Daniel replied seriously as he grabbed her by the arm and proceeded to examine the damage inflicted. 'You obviously got these from blocking something, judging by their placement and the shape. You got them checked for fractures when they sewed your head back together, right?'

Well, considering her head was taken care off, she didn't doubt the rest of her had been given a checkover, though really she didn't know if it was one of Karasuma's connections doing the checking or an actual doctor at a hospital.

'Yeah.' She shrugged slightly. 'I was kind of out of it at the time, though, so I don't really remember anything conclusive.'

'Aye, that's fine then.' He muttered quietly as he continued his investigation. 'It is really quite amazing that your arms haven't so much as fractured.'

Again, it was back to that.

She could only sigh as she ignored the pain from Daniel's move to twist and bend her arms to check the full extent of the damage.

'I don't know, guess I was lucky...'

'Lucky or not, the contusions are serious enough that your arms really should be fractured at the very least.' Daniel responded dryly. 'Even all the joints are working fine, which is a surprise.'

'That does actually hurt, you know.' Amaya muttered.

'Aye, and it will hurt for a while, even after the contusions have receded.' Daniel dismissed as he released her arms and turned back to his first aid kit. 'The muscles in your arms and wherever else you've been struck like that will be wrecked for weeks. Expect to have trouble so much as lifting a coffee cup for that long.'

Great .... that wasn't what she wanted to hear.

She had a damned house to run with three siblings to take care of, after all.

'Soooo what are you going to do, Doctor?' Came Isshin's voice all of a sudden, bringing Amaya to look up at the door to the break room to see the man's head poking out through the door. 'It's one thing to say all that, you know.'

'Shut up, Isshin.'

'Well how rude!' Isshin responded in mock indignation. 'I was just asking you a question!'

'For the love of God, I swear...' Daniel ground out as he buried his face in his hands.

'So? What's your verdict?'

'My verdict is that if you don't start making yourself useful, I'm going to kick your bloody arse!' Daniel retorted bitterly.

'Then give me something to do.' Isshin quipped with a grin. 'You're the one with the degree, not me.'

'Will you cut that out?!'

'Hey, just stating facts.'

Daniel let out a breath as he furiously rubbed his face with his hands for a few seconds.

'Ugh... Go get Clarissa's kitchen box, and in the bottom of my locker grab one of those smoked jars and the tea box.' He eventually instructed.

'You mean the bamboo box that isn't even used as a tea-box?'

'No, I mean the.. hang on, what? It has tea in it, you bloody idiot.'

'But it's not used for tea-tea.' Isshin responded with a grin. 'You don't even drink the tea you make with this so called "tea" box.'

'That's because I hate tea!'

'Some Brit you are, Daniel, isn't afternoon tea supposed to be your favorite time of the day?' Isshin questioned.

The particular stare Daniel fixed Isshin with made it more than just a little clear that he was currently debating whether to take offense to that comment, or just slap Isshin upside the head for it.

'What I wouldn't give for a bloody roll of duct tape right now...' Daniel muttered.

'Duct tape, huh?' Came a familiar voice all of a sudden, ripping a startled gasp from Amaya in an instance as she turned her head. 'I can help with that~'

Standing just over her shoulder was none other than Karma, who had obviously wandered in all on his own. He wasn't wearing any form of curious or suspicious expression across his face, and in spite of the bad mood she'd expected him to be in, he looked rather normal instead as he tossed a roll of tape to a curious Daniel.

'Aye, thank you very much!' Daniel responded with a grin as he turned his attention back onto a rather startled looking Isshin. 'Right! Now to deal with you!'

'Wait a second, let's not be too hasty!' Isshin pleaded.

However the ripping of duct tape was enough to send Isshin running right out of the gym with Daniel chasing after him, leaving Amaya sitting there at a loss of what was even going on.

'When did you even get here?' She questioned the redhead standing comfortably over her shoulder.

'Who knows~' He responded dismissively as he looked down at her.

'And how'd you know I was even here?'

The dismissive shrug she received answered about as much as she'd inadvertently expected, in spite of herself.

As the seconds ticked by, Daniel's muttering in a foreign language echoed from the entrance to the gym, where he came stomping right back dragging a rather defeated looking Isshin bound and gagged with duct tape. Without so much as taking any real care, Daniel dragged his friend right into the break room, where he just dropped the guy and left him lying there on the floor.

Muffled complaints from Isshin were heard, though of course the words were lost on them.

'You should have bloody well shut up the first time!' Daniel responded back as he began to forage through the break room. 'You were warned already, and you just had to be a bloody comedian, didn't you?'

And in spite of it all, Amaya couldn't stop the small laugh from escaping her.

'Now then, Amaya-san, you don't have any allergies to cayenne pepper or any herbs or medicines, do you? Or any allergies?' Daniel's voice called out through the door of the break room.

Cayenne pepper? Medicines? What?

'Not that I know of.' Amaya responded seriously. 'Why?'

'Just checking!' He called back with little hesitation. 'You'd better not sneak out before I finish this for you!'

Well, there goes the idea she'd got just a few seconds ago.

A frustrated sigh escaped Amaya as she reached out to grab her jumper, and it was a difficulty for her to just pull it on without a slew of curses from escaping her. She was quite aware of the silent redhead still standing right there over her shoulder, and she didn't want to risk annoying him if she could help it.

She sat there as obediently as she could, inwardly scowling a little more with every passing second that she had to stay put, though thankfully Karma had decided he'd had enough of standing over her like that and just sat down next to her.

She was tempted to ask him how he'd skipped out of class with Koro-sensei, however when she'd opened her mouth to actually voice her question, movement from within the break room rerouted her attention within an instance.

'All done.' Daniel announced as he emerged from within the break room with a remarkably large, brown-smoked jar filled with some strange mixture, which he proceeded to set on the bench next to her instead of actually passing it to her. 'Use that directly on all the contusions and inflammation, three times a day at the very minimum. There should be enough there to last you a month at least.'

'How long am I supposed to be using this stuff for?' She couldn't help but ask.

'Until it's all gone, of course.' Daniel responded.

Amaya looked down at the obscenely large jar of cream of some sort before she looked back up at Daniel.

'You can't be se--'

'You're not getting out of it, Amay.' Karma piped up all of a sudden, earning the girl's immediate attention.

'That's not what I was getting at!' Amaya practically complained.

'It's for your own good.' Daniel affirmed with a rather stern look. 'I've made that much of it so you won't need a new batch, so stop stressing.'

The retort she had on the tip of her tongue fell without voice as she hesitated, and with an almost grim edge, Amaya eventually nodded her head in understanding.

'Right... thank you...' She said, instead.

'Aye, that's all good.' Daniel remarked as he turned his head to look up at the clock. 'Now, not that I'm throwing you out or anything, but if you want to avoid the wrath of Clarissa dragging you both back to school by the ear, I recommend making tracks soon.'

Clarissa's wrath ... Amaya had heard the two men talk about her and her specific "by the book" ways, and she didn't want to witness any more than she already had thus far.

'Yeah, I'll pass on that, thanks...' Amaya agreed as she looked around for those bags of shopping she had brought, and her brow furrowed as she found that not only had they been acquired by Karma now standing next to her, but so had that jar of treatment Daniel had made up for her.

'Looking for something?' Karma asked.

'Yeah, what the hell do you think you're doing with my stuff?'

'What does it look like?' He responded lightly.

'I can carry my own shopping, damnit!'

'And probably drop it, too.'

'I carried it all the way here, I'll have you know!' Amaya responded indignantly, though it didn't help that the innocent smile plastered across Karma's face was just annoying her.

'Tell you what,' Karma began slyly as he shifted the bags of shopping out of her immediate reach. 'If you can get up without so much as flinching, I'll do any one thing for you without question.'

What the...? Was that it?

Amaya stared up at Karma for several seconds in silence, sifting through the words carefully as she tried to find any hanging threads, any catches that he would have underlying such an innocent and entirely one-sided bet.

Unfortunately for Amaya, all that time was spent in vain.

Without so much as a word, Amaya forced herself up onto her feet as casually as she could manage. Her side practically screamed in protest to the motion, and her legs threatened to give way beneath her, yet she managed well enough for Daniel to let out an impressed whistle.

'There. Happy now?' She quipped.

'Nope~' Was Karma's response as he casually grabbed her by the hand and proceeded to pull her along after him towards the door.

'What the--?! I didn't flinch!'

'No, but it's obvious you put too much effort into that.' He dismissed easily.

'You said if I didn't so much as flinch you jerk!'

'Yes, but that also included every other reaction that gives away pain, which you failed at, so you're just going to have to deal with it.'

'Damn it!' Amaya practically seethed as she managed to turn a little on her feet to look back at Daniel to wave him goodbye, except she didn't get that far at all

She'd turned her head to see the man standing there with an amused and rather knowing smile plastered right across his face as he waved them off, stunning Amaya entirely as the door of the gym shut behind her.

The heavy air of the city was a stark contrast to the lighter air from within the gym, weighing heavier on her shoulders as she was tugged in the direction of home. In spite of the commotion she had been distracted by, now that she was out of there all the weight of everything around her began to resurface quickly, suffocating the very warmth that had barely begun to show up in such a short moment of time.

Quickly, as her decision to leave Class E came to the forefront of her mind once more, she found it impossibly hard to even look up at Karma just ahead of her. Even though she'd made the decision, and even though she was certain that this was the best course of action for her, it didn't stop that horribly guilty feeling from overcoming her.

Karma's silence right now only proceeded to make her feel even worse as she found herself wondering about the inevitable announcement Koro-sensei would have made, in spite of herself. Now that she'd made the decision, she was rather scared of whatever his thoughts on her decision might actually be, though it wasn't like she could conveniently pry her hand out of his and wander off without him knowing.

She couldn't do anything but let him tug her along with her head hung, scarcely noticing any of her surroundings at all.

The house was completely silent by the time they'd arrived back, and even from the outside, it was easy to tell that nobody was currently awake. There was no telltale crashing and banging of Samuel slamming doors as he raced around the house, no exclamations from an irritated Yuta, or even Reiko's energetic remarks here or there. And nothing had changed from the last time Amaya had been home.

She was tugged straight through the door along after Karma, and before she could so much as blink, the door had been shut behind her, and she found herself face to face with the silent redhead as he turned to face her in an instance. It didn't help that her instinct to back up and put a bit more space between them was thwarted by the front door Karma had just closed behind her.

'So.' He began as he fixed her with a rather demanding frown. 'Mind explaining exactly what you spoke to Koro-sensei about?'

Amaya stood there stunned at first, struggling to comprehend exactly what he'd asked.

What exactly was there for her to explain? Unless Koro-sensei didn't simply say that she'd elected to leave like she expected he did.

'...About me leaving school?' Amaya responded carefully. 'Just that, really...'

'Really? I find that hard to believe.' Karma responded seriously with the encroaching edge of frustration she was more familiar with seeing.

'I don't see why not...'

And at those words, she saw Karma's gaze narrow a little more upon her.

'All we got out of him is that you're leaving, and as far as he was concerned, he supported the reasons for your choice.' Karma began, and before long every shred of that eerily pleasant mood he'd appeared to be in before disappeared from sight. 'He wouldn't explain anything no matter who was asking. He wouldn't even tell us when this takes effect from.'

...Oh.

Amaya could only let out a breath as she found herself understanding exactly why he was in such a sour mood over this, and inwardly, she was quite thankful he'd decided to leave interrogating her until now.

'Wednesday.' She answered with a small sigh.

'Wednesday?' Karma repeated impatiently.

'He wanted me to at least think on it until then.'

The immediate answers she gave seemed to bring him to hesitate on his next response, almost as if part of him was waiting for her to continue explaining further.

But of course, she didn't.

'And that's it?' He eventually questioned her. 'You didn't talk about anything else?'

'...Nothing that you weren't already aware of, I don't think.' Amaya answered before long.

The seconds ticked by as he stared her down, searching for anything in her expression that would give any further answers he was searching for. She could see the doubt there in his gaze, but the longer she stood there without even looking away from him, the more it began to fade.

A weary breath escaped Karma as he seemed to give in, and lifted a hand to gently bop her on the head, light enough where it didn't necessarily cause her any pain. Though the message came loud and clear, regardless.

'I would have liked to know that ahead of time, you know.' Karma remarked with a rather exasperated look across his face. 'It was an unpleasant surprise hearing it from Koro-sensei like that.'

'But I didn't want to--'

'I get why.' He cut her off quickly with a small scowl. 'That's not what I was getting at.'

'Then ... what?'

'It just annoys me, that's all.' He responded.

'...Sorry.' Amaya mumbled as she guiltily lowered her gaze away from him.

Of course, that didn't last too well, or for very long at all. In immediate response, she was hit a little harder atop the head, and she had a hard time holding back the wince from showing across her face.

'I'm not after an apology, Amay.' Karma remarked as he stared her down, bringing Amaya to lift her head and hesitantly look up at him once more. 'Just tell me these things, okay?'

'But you don't tell me important things, either.' Amaya couldn't help but quip, earning a rather disbelieving frown from Karma in response.

'That's not the same thing, Amay.'

'Oh yes it is.' Amaya responded in a heartbeat. 'Most of the time you don't even cough up a damn explana--'

The evil incarnate cut her off as he grabbed her by the sides of the face and firmly squished the sides of her face inwards, inadvertently forcing her mouth together to look like fish-lips. And of course, as her gaze narrowed into a glare, Karma couldn't help but snicker at her all the same.

'Nice face.' Karma commented cheekily, with a mischievous grin spreading more across his face as he continued to squish Amaya's face into rather unattractive expressions. 'What was that you were about to say? I missed that.'

'I hate you.' Amaya barely managed to speak legibly.

'That's harsh.' Karma responded lightly as he squished her face even more. 'I know you don't actually mean that~'

Stupid, arrogant jerk!

Undoubtedly, he was more than aware that she was trying not to retaliate and cause herself more pain in the process.

But then a sudden yelp from over in the kitchen caught both Karma and Amaya by surprise within an instance, bringing both teens to turn their attention towards the source of the sound.

Wordlessly and with a particular scowl written across his face, Yuta dragged both Reiko and Samuel away by their ears without so much as looking back.

'Ow ow ow owwww!' Reiko whined dramatically as she struggled to free herself from her brother's grip. 'Let go, please!'

'No.' Yuta responded simply.

'But it was just getting good! You ruined the whole thing!'

Amaya felt her face beginning to heat up as she stared at the ongoing commotion.

'I don't care.' Was all Reiko received in response.

'Big Brother Glasses, that huuurts!' Samuel cried out.

And without so much as a word, the duo at the door watched as Yuta ruthlessly dragged Reiko and Samuel right up the stairs.

'Where have I seen that before?' Karma eventually remarked with a sly smirk, earning a scowl from Amaya with little effort.

'Shut up!' Amaya snapped, earning nothing more than a chuckle as Karma merely scooped up the bags of shopping from the floor and wandered off.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Hello everyone, here's the next chapter of Marionette, and I'm very sorry it's taken me about a month to write it out, and for the fact that it's only around 5.7k worth of words. We can say that its a long standard chapter, but that still feels very slack to me since it's been a month. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the update.

Umm, and I'm sorry I've been MIA for the most part of this past month. I've, well, had some things still ongoing, and well, going to be blunt here, this has probably been the worst year I've ever had, and we're only in the first half of March. I'm so sick of funerals, and that's all I've really been dealing with. So, I've been not only absent, but I've also been lacking in an awful lot of motivation for doing anything, so really, it means a lot that you guys are still here, still putting up with this slack ass of a writer. Really. Thank you.

And I also want to thank you all for all the vote, reads and comments to date. This book just hit over 400,000 reads, and honestly, that's amazing. So thank you :) I hope you will all enjoy the future updates to come, even though they are becoming more and more sporadic as this particular year progresses...

Anyways, shouldn't keep you all listening to my woes and issues lol. Umm, while I have mentioned my Instagram earlier, this is well, yes I'm bringing it up again, but this is because I actually post a bit more status on my writing updates on there than I do on here, moreso because its just a snapshot and then it's already done? But yeah, well, if you're still so inclined, username lokiguin is where you'll find me.

Anyways, our title chapter's translation here:

Kuro to Ao - If you know your colours, you should be able to get this one. Kuro being Black, and Ao being blue, the title is written as 黒と青 in Japanese. The title is obviously in reference to Amaya's physical condition, but her emotional self can also be remarked as being black and blue all over with her life of late ^^;

All the best, guys.

<3 Loki-Roki