Chapter 4

“Yuki!”
Yuki turns around and sees her friends heading towards her.
“Hey!”
Rika and Miu catch up to her and immediately spot the golden ball hanging on her school uniform.
“Where’d you get that from?”
Yuki opens her mouth to speak, but then remembers the talk she had with Jen earlier in the morning.

“Remember, people don’t believe that beings such as myself exist. If you say it’s my star ball, they will think you extremely weird. You’d best come up with a much better answer. Probably related to your mother, since she is overseas and all.”

“My mother had sent this to me, it came yesterday.”
Rika looms closer and lifts it up, examining it.
“Wow, it’s real pretty. Not a single mark on it.”
Miu takes a look as well.
“It is. You’re so lucky having a tour guide for a mother.”
Yuki lightly laughs.
“It seems like it at times, but when she’s rarely around, it gets to be lonely.”
Her friends throw an arm around her and remind her that she isn’t alone.

Watching from a distance, Jen grinds his teeth at how two mortals had touched his ball.
“This is too much, why must I have to go through this humiliation?”
He growls lowly and continues following them, his coat tail billowing behind him when he moved onto the next rooftop.

As they enter the building, Rika looks at Yuki.
“So, what are you going to do with it? You know that we’re not allowed any decorations or accessories on in our uniforms.”
Yuki blinks, not having thought about that.
“Uh, well… I’ll put it in my locker.”
She nods and heads straight to her locker. She opens it and hangs the string on the hook within and closes it. Rejoining her friends, they start walking again until they get to the first hallway and part to go to their classes.

Jen watches Yuki and her friends enter the school and then decides on the best course of action. He jumps off the roof of the store closest to the school and lands on the ground. The handful of people on the road look at him in surprise. He flashes his teeth and looks at them.
“What?”
The people continue walking, not wanting to get involved with a person looking for a fight.

Jen starts walking around the fence of the school, following it to the back of the school building. He leaps over the fence and lands in a crouch. Getting up, he heads to the air conditioning unit and stands on it. He crouches down and pushes upward with his legs.

The air whizzes past as he leaps all the way to the roof of the six story building. He lands in a crouch, with the coat tails flopping down onto the roof.
“I despise this, waiting for this girl to finally give me mine.”
He goes to the enclosed stairwell that leads back into the building and gets on top of it. He lies down, closes his eyes, and folds his arms over his stomach.
“Several million years won’t live this down.”

Yuki goes through her uneventful day of school and starts to head home. She hears something hit the ground behind her and turns to see Jen there.
“Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
Her eyes widen as her heart races.
“You weren’t that close.”
He starts walking towards her house, and she begins to follow him. She strokes the star ball and catches his fist clenching before relaxing.
“You don’t like people touching this, do you?”

He doesn’t turn when he replies.
“No I don’t.”
She jogs until she gets beside him.
“And why not?”
He feels her touching the ball without having to look, his brow furrows in annoyance.
“It’s solely mine, and has no right to be with in the hands of mere mortals.”
She touches her cheek with her right index finger in thought.
“Even though it was taken from you?”

He stops and turns to glare at her.
“Exactly. It was taken, without my consent. And you simply have it because of a promise of protection given to that thief of a great-great grandfather of yours.”
Jen sulks and turns to continue walking back towards the house. Yuki turns her nose to the side as she walks with him.
“You’re horrible company.”
Jen smirks.
“Then why don’t you walk home with those friends of yours?”

Yuki stops and opens her mouth to say something, but finds no words to say.
“Oh, that’s right, they ditched you.”
Jen laughs and continues walking. He stops after a few steps when he notices that she had simply stayed still. He turns around and looks at her.
“It was meant as a joke.”
He sees the tears in her eyes and he shuts up.
“Well it wasn’t funny!”

She runs past him and continues towards her house. He easily keeps up with her but remains silent. She gets to her house and unlocks the door before closing it behind her and re locking it. She leans against the door and tries to stop crying.
“You know, you’re taking this way too seriously.”
She opens her eyes and sees Jen standing against the hallway wall, arms folded across his chest.

“I don’t care about your opinion.”
She takes her shoes off and goes upstairs to her room. She slams the door behind her and lies down on the bed.
“You know, temper tantrums really don’t suit the image you put up.”
She growls and throws her pillow at Jen, who managed to get in when she was closing the door. He catches the pillow and walks to her, setting the pillow back in its spot. Still bent over, he looks at her red and tear stained eyes.
“Nor does that face.”

She screams and kicks out at him. It misses completely as he vanishes and reappears above her, bracing himself in the corner above her bed against the walls and ceiling.
“The kind you try to show is far more beautiful, though extremely shallow and lifeless.”
He pushes off the walls and twists his body to land on his feet. He looks over his shoulder to see her.
“Not like there’s much wrong with this side of you.”

Yuki sulks and turns to her side with her back to him.
“Why did I have to inherit such a pain?”
Jen shrugs and moves to lean against the desk next to her bed.
“Blame your great-great grandfather.”
She snorts in disgust and crawls into a ball. He sighs and walks to the bed, sitting down and placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugs it off, but he places it back on.
“Don’t touch me.”

“Believe it or not, I’m not here to make your life harder.”
She doesn’t say a thing, just lies there and continues to cry. He sighs and gently squeezes her shoulder. She withdraws from him and her head touches the wall. He frowns lightly and lies down next to her. She cries herself to sleep and tosses around while dreaming. Jen looks over and pulls her to him, putting his arms around her to try and stabilize her. Eventually, she calms down and rests easily. He closes his eyes as well and decides to take a quick nap.