Yes, to anyone wondering, this chapter is before the flashback arc so the siblings are still pretty young and not super close as of yet. I'll get to the afterwards part later (probably), but I'm not sure I'll do much shipping. It just seems creepy to me with how Tatsuya has viewed Miyuki as a sister for so long, so I might turn this into an alternate universe as time goes on.

Uryu, sixth grade basketball player extraordinaire, sat frozen in fear at his desk. It was not because of a bad grade (he wouldn't care), or because of his parents (they were out of town for the nine schools' competition), or even because of another kid at school. No bully would be stupid enough to pick on a kid who was confident, tall and could make five baskets in a row. It also was not due to love, as he knew the only girl he had a crush on barely knew his name.

Instead, it was that girl's brother who was causing him to remain rooted to his seat in terror.

During break, he and his friends had decided to, like usual, play basketball together. They got out onto the courts before anyone else had even reached the playground and began their match, drowning out the rest of the world for the game. Eventually, Uryu noticed the girl of his dreams, Miyuki Shiba, had sat down to watch them with her friends Homura and Kyoko, but sat just a little closer than she should.

Miyuki obviously did not know the rules regarding where the ball danger zone was, but Uryu was confident he would be able to keep the ball away from his crush with his flawless skills.

He realized, later, that it might have been more accurate for him to have put "flawless" in air quotes.

Uryu made a pass to one of his teammates, but soon realized he had miss-fired slightly. His friend's fingertips barely touched the ball, shifting its movement slightly so that it headed directly above Miyuki Shiba.

The girls, who had been excitedly gossiping and watching the game until just then, suddenly froze with wide eyes as the sun was blocked off by the heavy ball falling towards them. Uryu flinched and looked away. The ball came down on the girls at a high speed. He waited for the crushing smack and sound of tears.

*BAM*

The distinctive sound of the speedy ball colliding with flesh rang in his ears.

The crying never came.

Slowly, Uryu blinked opened his eyes and saw his teammates doing the same. They looked toward the girls, who had leaned back on the ground, staring up at the person in front of them.

Uryu cursed every god he could as he realized who was standing in front of them.

Tatsuya Shiba.

Shoot.

Part of him, admittedly, felt relieved that someone was able to catch the ball before it hit Miyuki and subsequently ruined any chance he had of being with her. This was amplified by the fact that this person was her brother, who was not a romantic rival for him either. (Though that also meant he would probably have to face overprotective brother mode when he officially got together with Miyuki).

Another part was confused. Not in a 'I-don't-get-this-problem' sort of way, more in a 'how-the-hell-did-he-get-over-here-so-fast -when-none-of-us-could-do-anything?!' way.

Those emotions, however, were soon overwhelmed as the vast majority of him was filled with a sort of crushing fear at the expression on Tatsuya's face. Once, when Uryu was younger, his family made him watch a nature documentary clip for no good reason. The only part he had liked of that was the part where the two male lions had fought over the future of the pride. The lion who won had been terrifying, unchallenged, and powerful. The last person (lion?) you would ever want to cross if they were annoyed or hungry.

Unfortunately, neither annoyed nor hungry fit the expression on Tatsuya's face. Pure rage would be a bit more accurate…

At first Uryu wanted to protest; the girls were the ones who broke (did not know) the rules, why was he glaring at them? But even his (completely rational) desire to redirect blame was drowned out by the fear he felt from looking at Tatsuya.

Having scanned the surrounding situation, Tatsuya looked up at Uryu and the two of them made eye contact. The piercing blue eyes looking at him were shadowed; demanding an explanation of who to blame.

Bu-bump. Bu-bump.

Uryu's heart continued to beat in his chest, but he did not know how long that would last. His breathing became jagged. Frantic. Short, breathless gasping. Even the girls looked uncomfortable now, and everyone else was frozen where they stood.

Bu-bump.

Tatsuya would not actually hurt them, right? They knew he was really athletic, but he was not the kind of guy to get into fights for no good reason. Uryu did not even know if he could fight, but was sure the smartest guy in their class was not such a violent person that he would kill them all over this…

Right?

"Uh-well… um," Uryu tried, managing to, at least, make a sound. He immediately regretted it, however, when Tatsuya turned his full attention to him. Any remaining words died in his throat.

An invisible pressure crashed down on him, rooting him to his spot.

The world became suffocating.

Bu-bump.

He could not speak.

Bu-bump.

He could not look away.

Bu-bump.

He could not move.

Bu-bump.

He could not breathe.

Finally, finally, Tatsuya seemed to realize what was happening and blinked once, before taking a deep breath. Suddenly, the pressure disappeared and Uryu could breathe again. Even while keeping his eyes on Tatsuya, Uryu noticed several of his teammates sink to the floor or fall to their knees, panting more heavily than they had after last year's championship game.

Tatsuya casually tossed the ball back, but when Uryu caught it he had to fight back a wince at the pain which tickled his hands from the impact. The other boy- still relaxed and casual- began walking closer to Uryu. It was only when Tatsuya stood directly in front of him that Uryu once again felt the pressure, though luckily much lighter this time.

"Uryu Hattori, could you explain what just happened? I'm afraid I don't completely understand."

Uryu spent several seconds gaping- both at Tatsuya knowing his full name and because of the lack of air in his body- before he took a few breaths and tried to answer.

"We-we were just, we were just playing and we lost the ball for a moment. It-I um, it won't happen again."

"Can you truly promise that?"

Tatsuya had somehow found a way to remove all emotion from his voice and still freeze Uryu to his spot. Rather than seeming computer -generated, it reminded Uryu of the assassins in some of the games he liked to play. Uryu was just a job to Tatsuya. Boring; not even high enough to be worth being considered prey.

"I-no, but- but I…"

"Is everything alright over here?"

Uryu's salvation came in the form of their homeroom teacher, who had probably noticed they had all stopped playing and came over to investigate. For a moment Tatsuya continued staring at Uryu, maybe deciding whether or not to just kill him and be done with it, before he turned to the teacher.

Uryu will never try to deny how his mouth dropped at the expression Tatsuya showed the teacher. It was calm, confident, and so him that for a moment Uryu wondered if he had just imagined the last few minutes.

"Yes miss, sorry. They were playing and the ball went a little crazy. Miyuki was almost hit, so I got worried and came over, though I might have overreacted a bit."

"A bit?" Uryu heard one of his teammates kneeling on the ground quietly breathe out, and he privately agreed. Luckily, he knew better than to say anything in such close distance to Tatsuya or the teacher and remained silent.

"I see. Girls, you might not know the rules- we really should put a sign up- but do you see that yellow line?" As she spoke, the teacher pointed to a painted box which surrounded the courts, "We ask that spectators stay outside of that box for their own safety. Do you all understand? I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Uryu was about to shout that they had just been in much more danger than any of the girls, but a quick glance from Tatsuya killed the protest before it began. The teacher left, and Tatsuya walked over to the girls, offering his sister a hand.

Miyuki looked at him oddly, looking back and forth between Uryu and her brother as if trying to understand how Tatsuya could have been so intimidating. Then, in a gesture completely alien to the Miyuki he knew, she stood up, refusing to take her brother's offered hand.

Her two friends stared at her in shock, but Miyuki spun on her heel and walked away, ignoring everyone else. Now that he thought about it, the two siblings never acted close, but Uryu had never taken the time to notice the invisible barrier that seemed to exist between the two.

Then again, why would Tatsuya get so defensive if there was nothing between them? The more Uryu thought about it, the less sense it made to him. He knew he was not close to being the smartest person in the class (a.k.a Tatsuya), but he had thought he was pretty good at understanding relationships between people.

His skill, however, did not do anything to clear up what he had just seen.

Even as Miyuki walked off, Tatsuya did not show any of the dangerously short temper Uryu had just discovered. Instead, he remained as calm as usual and offered help to the two (now blushing) girls in front of him.

For the rest of lunch Uryu (and all the other basketball players for that matter) closely watched Tatsuya. They watched him as he went to get a drink of water, they watched him as he sat down in the shade of a tree to read a book, they watched him as he pulled out his homework and they watched as he went to get more water just before the break ended.

All in all, it was quite possibly the most boring thing Uryu had ever done during his break period, but none of them could bring themselves to look away. They could not stop the feeling that if they looked away for a moment calm-Tatsuya would instantly change into scary-Tatsuya and send them all to an early grave.

The fact that Uryu was sure Tatsuya somehow knew he was being watched had not helped.

And now? Now Uryu just wanted to go home. But even as the bell for the end of school rang and people began to file out Uryu remained frozen in his seat. His sister would come looking for him soon, and then he could leave. It would be a new level of embarrassment for him to need someone to pick him up when he was already in sixth grade, but he refused to leave alone. In fact, all his friends shared the same sentiment.

Because, depressingly enough, Tatsuya was still there.

Miyuki had started to gossip with her friends about some store or another and they all knew Tatsuya would not leave without her. He was not even doing anything; he just stood, calm and silent as ever, by the door, waiting for her to finish. Not even Uryu's Mom had that much patience, and yet he was doing that for his sister.

What was wrong with that family?

No, wait, Miyuki was only weird when Tatsuya was involved; he was the only one she acted distant to. A better question would be on what was wrong with Tatsuya.

Suddenly Tatsuya glanced over, making eye contact with Uryu and clearly expressing 'I know you're watching, don't think about trying anything'. Uryu immediately looked down at his desk. Minutes ticked by at the speed of an hour, but Uryu refused to look up again until help came.

"Uryu?" For the first time in several minutes the boy looked up from his desk and toward the door. Uryu had never been happier to hear his sister's voice, even as confused as it was. He flew out of his seat and walked (ran) to her, grabbing her hand as soon as he could and pulling her out of the classroom.

"Can we go home now?"

"Sorry?"

Uryu realized what he said must have sounded more like 'canwegohomenow', but was in too much of a hurry to repeat himself. Even the embarrassment caused by running out of the classroom could not compare to what might happen if he stayed in the same room as the Shiba brother for too long.

Despite his sister's questions, Uryu did not say a word until they had reached the car and left the parking lot. His sister began driving them home, giving him strange looks for the first half of the ride.

By the second half, she had apparently decided she had waited long enough- high school girls have very limited patience for their brothers- and spoke.

"So, did you embarrass yourself in front of a girl or did you try picking on the wrong kid and finally get taught a lesson?"

"I wasn't picking on anyone!"

Uryu felt his righteous spirit and near-insurmountable bravado falter at the unimpressed look she gave him.

"Mmhm. So you were just sitting down and not bothering anyone and then someone walked over and taught you a lesson?"

"I didn't do anything to deserve it!"

"Mmhm."

"Really!"

"Mmhm."

Rightfully annoyed at his sister for not understanding the gravity of the situation, Uryu ignored her- no, he was not pouting- for the rest of the ride home. She had not been there, she did not understand what Tatsuya was capable of if he was pushed. Not that Uryu understood, but he now knew not to try and find out.

They pulled in to the garage and Uryu unbuckled his seatbelt, ready to leave, but his sister grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Can I can an actual explanation now? Or are you going to keep acting like the child you are and ignore me?"

"I'm not a kid!"
"Mmhm."

Uryu glared; she knew nothing bothered him more than her 'Mmhm's when he wanted to tell her something. But he was not going to be able to get to his room without talking to her, so he scowled at the ground, squashed his pride and told her what happened. He explained how he and his friends had messed up a bit when playing basketball and might have sorta almost hurt Tatsuya's sister and then how Tatsuya completely unreasonably exploded at them.

"Exploded? Like he started yelling at you or tried to fight you?"

"No, but he looked at us and would have killed us if the teacher hadn't been there!"

"Mmhm."

He continued his story, ending with the lie Tatsuya told the teacher about only overreacting "a bit". Uryu felt better having gotten it all off his chest, but his sister did not look impressed.

"Haven't you mentioned Tatsuya before? Mature looking? Smartest in your class and super athletic?"

"Yeah, but that's not important. What's important is that he's dangerous! Can you teach me how to fight? You do kendo, teach me how to!" The stuck-up look his sister gave him at his demand was far from reassuring.

"Kendo is a martial art meant to help refine technique, not for getting into fights. Besides, from what you told me it sounds like Tatsuya was in the right here and only being a good big brother."

"You didn't see him!"

"Uryu, I want you to really think about what happened and who was in the wrong here. Did you tell those girls they should have stayed out of the line?"

"No, but he overreacted and was super dangerous."

"Mmhm, go think about it when you have a chance. And really? Only looking at you isn't even close to what I would have expected from your reaction."

Then, to a gaping and righteously offended Uryu, she left the car and headed for her room.

For several seconds, Uryu stood watching her. How could she possibly think he was in the wrong here? He was a victim! And, on top of that, she was not going to teach him how to fight to defend himself! Tatsuya was going to kill him and she did not even care!

He needed a plan.

Uryu quickly walked into his room and pulled out a terminal, calling all his friends who had been at the scene during break. The calls were picked up right away and Uryu positioned the holograms so he could see everyone at the same time. All of his friends still looked intimidated by what had just happened, but also seemed much braver than before.

Uryu smirked, "Well, earlier today I think we all became aware of the danger posed by one of our own classmates. Now that I had some time to calm down, I realize we need to do something about this."

He got various nods of agreement and relaxed. They had all been scared at first, but taking a break from being in his presence helped them strengthen their determination. They were all ready to begin the counter attack.

"Um, but, maybe we should not let him realize we're doing something about this?"

Strike that, all except one were ready to counterattack.

Seeing the reactions his suggestion got, Uryu's friend was quick to rephrase.

"I mean- we obviously have to do something. But I- when I told my dad what happened he told me we were at fault and I should 'toughen up', even though we didn't do anything wrong. So maybe as Tatsuya won't do anything that's obviously wrong, and as long as he's like that we'll keep getting in trouble for trying to do anything to him. The adults will always take his side, even if we're the victims!"

Uryu scowled, remembering his own experience trying to get support. "So what? We can take him! Are you scared?"

Unlike the blustering refusal Uryu had been expecting, he received an absolute silence to his question. He looked around, but all his friends were looking down instead of at him.

"Well, okay, me too." Several of them looked up at that, "But if we can't do anything to him then what's the point?"

"I didn't say we shouldn't do anything! But, like, until we figure out a way to fight him we should get the adults on our side! We know he's the smartest guy in the class-" every boy nodded in agreement "- but if we're going to defend ourselves we need to make sure the adults know how dangerous he is. If we can show them what he's actually like, then we can prove that we were right from the beginning!"

Various smirks could be seen on the faces of Uryu and his friends at that statement. It sounded like the work detectives used to do on the old cop show most of them liked, so they were more than ready to try out what they had learned in real life.

Uryu looked up at his friends, feeling his confidence rise with the knowledge that they could do something against Tatsuya. Feeling suddenly reminded of a scene in the cop show, Uryu looked around at his gathered friends with a smirk.

"Well, it's going to be a pleasure working with you all."

Tatsuya lay with his back on the ground, gasping for air. He had finished his guardian training- in record time- but everyone had insisted on him continuing to train with some other guardians. He voted for this- though he doubted his opinion mattered- because it gave him a chance to train with some of the strongest magicians in the world. He could not confirm, but he had a feeling everyone else voted for this in order to have an excuse to attack him.

Though, it worked out for him, and he had quickly decided he did not care. If he was able to simultaneously get training in and help alleviate some of the family's fear by doing this then he had no reason not to.

A subordinate of Hayama walked in, gathering the attention of Tatsuya and the guardians who had been training him. The man looked slightly surprised- obviously new enough to not have had his emotional reactions trained out of him- at the various injuries the large group of guardians had compared to Tatsuya, but recovered quickly.

"Maya-sama requests an audience with you."

None of the guardians argued as Tatsuya stood up to leave in the middle of their training period; a request from the "Queen of Night" was not to be ignored. Or treated like an actual request.

Tatsuya's face remained blank and calm as he and the butler walked down the hallway. The only sound in the area was the continued quiet footsteps of the butler, Tatsuya having been trained to walk silently long ago. Several times the butler turned his head to make sure Tatsuya was still following him, getting increasingly frustrated with the unnaturally-silent child.

Tatsuya ignored him.

Finally, Tatsuya stood in front of the door from behind which his aunt stood. The prospect of seeing her always made him hesitate, despite his lack of strong emotions. For all that Tatsuya would soon be capable of defeating his aunt in a one-on-one battle, he would never be able to push the head of the Yotsuba family into that situation. This made Maya the single person with the greatest ability to destroy the happy life Miyuki was living.

But, unfortunately, keeping her waiting would not do anything to help prevent that.

Pushing the slight traces of fear away, Tatsuya opened the door and walked inside, giving a small bow. As expected, she already knew he was here. Tatsuya took a deep breath.

Miyuki's involvement allowed Tatsuya access to emotions of a level he could not feel otherwise, and he was having difficulty maintaining his mask as he stood in front of his Aunt.

Unfortunately, she seemed all-too aware of that.

Their stare-off lasted for several long, agonizing seconds as Maya's amused smirk clashed against Tatsuya's military, apathetically cold expression. As the silence reigned on in the dark room, Tatsuya found his fear becoming increasingly harder to hide.

Why had he been called? Based on past experience, it was probably either a job or a punishment.

A job would be fine. It usually involved assassination, but mostly of underworld leaders who attempted to break a contract with the Yotsuba family. They were fairly easy for Tatsuya to take care of and did not impact Miyuki what-so-ever. But, based on how amused his aunt seemed with him, Tatsuya was leaning toward the latter idea.

Crushing down the flood of panic that filled his mind, Tatsuya tried to think of reasons why Maya would have called him. Was it what had happened that morning? He had not broken his cover to an adult and no one would believe the story the children would try to tell without any evidence. Their secrets were safe.

So then what was the problem? Miyuki was angry with him, but she was always annoyed when he jumped into her life unexpectedly. What could he have done to get a private meeting with the Yotsuba head?

The dark room reminded Tatsuya far too much of his Aunt's night for him to relax. Miyuki would do almost anything her aunt asked of her, even if it made her unhappy. She could easily ruin Miyuki's life and it would be all Tatsuya's fault unless he figured out the problem and found a solution.

But, suddenly- finally- Maya decided to take pity on her nephew and began to speak.

"I'm sure you guessed this, but you scared quite a few of our prized magicians earlier today. It was completely undeserved too, all they were trying to do was keep an eye on you and Miyuki. Tell me, Tatsuya, why don't you have the self control and subtly to resolve these sorts of problems acceptably?"

"My deepest apologies, Maya-sama. I shall work to correct this immediately."

She nodded along, obviously having expected that exact answer from him. Tatsuya also relaxed slightly, realizing the problem was the fear he had increased in the short moment he had shown his rage. Nothing that could not be resolved.

Maya's nodding stopped, though her deadly smile remained.

"Good, good… I'm sure you've already realized what you did to cause this, so I won't spell it out for you. Instead, I'll explain what's about to happen."

Tatsuya simply nodded, waiting for his instructions. Luckily, an amused Maya meant she somewhat approved of his actions and was only doing this so as to not create needless conflict between him and the other Yotsuba family members. Ironic, considering she had done nothing in previous years to stop their fear of his magic.

"The children are not an issue. Without you actually doing anything, and with the adults viewing the situation as they did they are not a concern. I suppose, given that they are part of Miyuki's life, that you wish to leave them alive?"

Tatsuya, again, answered with a single nod.

"They are children, so I'm sure their curiosity will get the better of them and they'll attempt to look into you. Do not let them find our secrets…" she paused, emphasizing the treat and unspoken punishment for failure. "Beyond that, feel free to ignore them; they are not a concern."
Again, Tatsuya nodded.

"As for the fear you generated among us… I have decided to agree to a suggestion made by one of the butlers who watched you. If they train hand-to-hand combat with you they will get a better idea of how to defeat you if you try to rebel against our family. I have decided to honor their request."

Tatsuya was smart enough not to mention how Maya knew he would both never defy Miyuki and did not specialize in hand-to-hand combat. The Yotsuba family had no real defense against a long-range attack from him, sparring would not change that. It was a pitiful excuse, especially for the Yotsuba family.

"It should go without saying, however, that you will not genuinely fight back. You can use hand-to-hand combat all you want, but even if some of the guardians pull out their CADs you will not retaliate with your own... abilities. Allow them a chance to delude themselves into thinking they could handle you if you rebelled, and leave it at that."

Another nod.

Maya's amused smirk returned, but Tatsuya now understood why it was there. She found it funny, how her prized magicians were so fearful they would settle for a weak illusion of security. Funny, because the family had the same fear of her, only expressing it as love and admiration instead. She had always said they were alike, and Tatsuya was starting to understand what she meant.

"Dismissed."

Tatsuya bowed, leaving the room and ignoring the dangerous eyes which followed him until the moment he closed the door. The smirk which followed him out never wavered, even after he had left the room.

Miyuki could not help but smile as her mother's guardian put the finishing touches on her outfit. It was going to be the first time she had seen any of her extended family in a while, so she wanted to dress up for them.

Though she was slightly annoyed at how everyone who saw her kept calling her 'cute'. Was it really too much to ask for them to describe her as 'beautiful' for a change?

Apparently, for someone her age, it was. At least according to Sakurai-San.

Miyuki took a deep breath to calm down; she would not let herself act like the child they were all accusing her of being when they called her cute. Once she was confident she had a perfected her mature smile, Miyuki walked into the dining hall, curtsying politely to her Aunt just as she had been taught to. Her polite (cute) smile was returned by the woman- though it looked a bit more like a smirk, coming from her. Miyuki did not really understand what the smile meant and moved to take her seat as quickly as possible while still being polite.

Miyuki sat next to her Mother, who was sitting next to Maya. As this was not an official meeting, Miyuki and her mother were the only people in line of succession at the house, and she wondered why her aunt had spontaneously insisted on having a family dinner that night.

Then again, it was also a little nice. The entire family was focused on MIyuki, her aunt, and her mother, making Miyuki feel a little embarrassed. She was used to people staring at her, but not with the kind of awe and worship she could find from the members of branch families.

Sakurai Hitomi, her mother's guardian, was also there, though she was forced to stand along the wall with the rest of the guardians. It seemed a bit unfair to Miyuki, but every guardian seemed perfectly content with their lives of service, so she knew better than to say anything.

(She had asked before, but Hitomi did not have the heart to tell Miyuki that, after the training they went through, something as minor as this did not even register to them.)

(Reminding her that her brother had gone through the same thing would have been even worse.)

Miyuki continued engaging in polite conversation with the members of branch families, enjoying how respectful even the adults were to her. It was not something she was used to yet, so Miyuki found it a little funny.

The food was served and everyone began to eat, but even then Maya did not say anything. It seemed like she was anticipating something, but Miyuki had no idea what that could be.

Eventually Miyuki's gaze wandered to her brother, and she had to do a double take in her surprise. His face was still as calm as ever, but peeking out from under his left sleeve Miyuki could see that a disgusting deep-purple bruise had formed recently. It was almost hidden, but not quite enough.

She looked him over again and saw that his right hand was also sporting a bluish-purple lump and how, even half-way through dinner, he seemed slightly out of breath.

He had not come late, Miyuki saw him walk in with Sakurai, so he must have gotten his injuries before he entered. How though? He was really athletic- Miyuki knew every team at school wanted him to join- and he was a Yotsuba at the Yotsuba compound. Nothing should be able to hurt him.

She glanced up at his face and saw him looking back at her, causing Miyuki to flush and turn away. How long had he known she was watching him? She subtly glanced over again and, to her annoyance, saw that he had re-adjusted his sleeve to hide the bruises on his arms.

After a few deep breaths to calm herself, Miyuki's expression morphed into a scowl (pout). He was always watching her, but he never told her anything. She barely knew anything about him! She knew some of her classmates better than she knew her brother.

And then there was what happened earlier that day. He avoids her and does nothing to become closer to her for years, but then jumps in to rescue her? And the way he had acted- even as a guardian he did not have to act so protective! Now her friends had crushes on her brother, and some boys in their class were terrified of him. He could not just pretend to be the caring, overprotective older brother after years of not trying to get to know Miyuki.

And yes, she might have overreacted with how she stomped away from him (as soon as she calmed down she cursed herself for how childish she had been), but he had no right to do that!

It was highly inappropriate for someone of her status to talk about or look at the guardians while at the table, so Miyuki looked around and saw everyone was still deep in their own discussions. She turned to her mother and pulled the woman's sleeve.

Yotsuba Miya glanced down at her only daughter, raising an eyebrow at the 'come closer' motion her daughter made with her hands. Deciding to oblige the girl, Miya leaned in and let her daughter whisper to her.

"What happened to Tatsuya?"

Miya froze. That had… not been what she was expecting. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her sister smirk at Miyuki's comment and glance over at Tatsuya. Miya looked over as well to see a silent conversation happen between her sister and her son.

Maya glanced down at Tatsuya's sleeve, then looked up with a raised eyebrow.

You let her find out?

Tatsuya gave a small, barely-noticeable bow.

I apologize. It will not happen again.

A slight tilt of the head, coupled by a dangerous smirk.

If you are making mistakes here, do you really think you will be able to keep your secrets hidden at school? She glanced at Miyuki from where she was sitting. Perhaps you need some help looking after her.

Miya watched in shock as her son straightened up and glared at her sister, daring her to go through with her unspoken threat. His reaction seemed to amuse Maya, who leaned back into her seat, an unusually content smile on her face.

Whatever entertainment Maya had been hoping for when she arranged this dinner, she had apparently just gotten it. A familiar, dangerous hate overwhelmed Miya for a moment at the thought of her sister, but she quickly suppressed it. At least until they were out of the eyes of their family.

Miya turned back to her daughter, who was giving her a confused look and wondering why Miya had turned to her sister for so long. The content smile on her aunt's face also seemed to fill Miyuki with a mix of confusion and fear.

Good, she was learning not to trust the head of the Yotsuba.

"I think he left a little while ago and got into a fight. He doesn't have magic, remember? There isn't much he can do against people when they want to attack him."

That was a complete lie, but Miyuki did not need to know that. The monster that Tatsuya had become was not something she wanted her daughter associating with, so a white lie would have to do.

The little voice in her head which whispered to her that she was the one who turned him into that was steadily ignored.

Miyuki seemed satisfied with that answer, nodding once and turning back to her food and conversation with her extended family.

Meanwhile, Miya sent her sister a barely noticeable glare which, if anything, only seemed to amuse her even more.

Miya really hated her family.

Tatsuya remained silent as he stood outside the house, keeping an eye on Miyuki's room through elemental sight. His sister had spent the last two hours talking to her friends, and, for once, they were actually discussing useful information. Uryu, the boy who had spoken up against him when his group almost hurt Miyuki, was gathering allies for 'revealing all the secrets Tatsuya had before the end of the school year'.

Miyuki was about as impressed as he was with that suggestion.

Though, for her, it more had to do with the fact that she believed his only important secret was his family than anything else. The idea of losing her family's privacy bothered her, and she made sure to discourage her friends from doing too much. It appeared she had very little confidence in Tatsuya.

Well, that was only to be expected; Maya constantly 'asked' Tatsuya to keep Miyuki from finding out about his abilities. So long as he could still protect her, he could simultaneously be reassured that Miyuki would not act carelessly due to a belief that her brother would always be able to protect her.

At least, that is what Maya had told him, and why Tatsuya kept Miyuki from finding out. Only she truly knew the reason why she had ordered Tatsuya to do that.

From the conversation Miyuki was having with her friends, it seemed as if they would be participating due to developing a level of affection for him. A small, muted flash of guilt rushed through him; he would never be able to return those emotions to them, he was physically incapable of that.

Luckily for Tatsuya, the girls were so excited that they began carefully detailing the plan for Miyuki. The boys would try to surprise him to get him to react in a way that revealed his true 'evil nature', while the girls would stand at a distance and film him. Once that happened, they could show their families and get the adults to 'take care of him'.

Miyuki asked what the boys meant by that, but neither girl seemed to know.

It was not the worst plan Tatsuya had ever heard of, but it was about what he expected from children. He was especially amused with their idea that - once the adults became aware of how dangerous he was - they would be able to take care of him.

Well, they were kids, it was to be expected.

Tatsuya took a deep breath, suddenly realizing how arrogant that line of thought was. He had already been caught off guard once and revealed part of himself, it could always happen again if he was too confident. Miyuki's safety could be put in jeopardy if too many secrets were revealed, he had to be careful.

The wounds he had sustained while 'training' with the other guardians were almost healed, so Tatsuya stood up and began practicing. He would usually practice systematic magic- his greatest weakness- at night, but that night Tatsuya decided to do more combat training. He would need to be as prepared as possible for when the children began to investigate him.

The sheer absurdity of that (unfortunately true) statement would have to be ignored for the time being. He would have felt more confident being ordered to destroy a country than he did going to school and keeping his secrets without ruining Miyuki's current life.

Well, Maya always loved to see what she could do to challenge him, he would just have to view it as a training exercise.

After all, regardless of what Uryu thought of him, to Tatsuya he was just another variable to consider in his sisters artificially ordinary life.

Uryu walked through the gates to school with his head in the air. As his sister yelled 'bye' to him several of his teammates joined him on their walk through the gate. Before, Tatsuya had been able to make it seem like he was cornering all of them individually, but that would not happen again. No, now they were united.

Their allies (the girls) would film Tatsuya's true self. They could get the adults on their side and then they would be able to make everyone see that they had been telling the truth.

Besides, Miyuki had not seemed to like Tatsuya very much; she would probably be grateful if they could reveal the truth about her brother to the world.

The idea of a grateful Miyuki turned the flame within the boys into a roaring determination, eating away at their other priorities.

They. Would. Not. Fail.

Even as Tatsuya walked into the room, their confidence remained. The boy seemed to be completely distracted by a book he was reading, only putting it down when the bell rang for class to start. His expression was normal, calm, near-emotionless. Uryu could see how Tatsuya was able to trick so many people into thinking he was normal.

"Tatsuya, could you read for us where we left off?"

The teacher's request was- as always -met with immediate compliance from Tatsuya. A detailed account of the early appearance of magicians was explained to the class, easily ignored by the members of the team. Rather than focus on the words, Uryu and his friends spent their time observing Tatsuya for things they had not noticed before.

In the place he was meant to be annotating the book, Uryu began typing down notes on his discoveries.

Tatsuya seemed to have no trouble reading, even with complicated magic-terms which anyone else in the class would stumble over.

(Except Miyuki; she never stumbled over anything).

His posture was impossibly straight and military, his feet spread the perfect distance apart to react to anything. For all that he was reading, he seemed to be simultaneously aware of everything around him, calm and alert all at once. Based on his quick glance back at the beginning of the period, Uryu was sure he knew they were watching him. Despite this, he continued confidently reading, his attention never waning.

They had all been subconsciously aware of these parts of Tatsuya before, even admiring him for it, but until now they had never registered how odd it all was. How he was always able to behave exactly as he wanted to- no nervous ticks or reactions- always moving with a purpose. It was no wonder he was so good at sports, no one else was always in control of their body.

"Thank you Tatsuya. Chandra, why don't you pick up where he left off?'

Uryu blinked, having forgotten he was still in a classroom. Chandra continued reading, and Uryu hurried to find their place in the text. His notes were not as detailed as he would like them to be, but he had just realized how luckily it was that he and his friends were starting then.

After all, they all had PE later that day.

If there was any time he and his friends would be able to take extensive notes on him, it would be then. They were going to be playing basketball, and there was never a time when they were more in their element than while playing. Taking mental notes on him would be child's-play. (And they were already eleven, they were not children).

Suddenly, Uryu's train of thought was cut off as an unknown feeling of dread washed over him. In a second, the overwhelming feeling of a predator leaning over him filled his mind. It's jaws opened, ready to take a bite.

Then it was gone.

Uryu looked up and thought he saw Tatsuya casually looking down at his book, not a care in the world. After all, he could kill Uryu at any time, what was the hurry?

Uryu clenched his fists, the feeling of being toyed with coursing through his body into anger. Sure, Tatsuya had not actually done anything, but Uryu was sure that had been Tatsuya. He was obviously being thought of as an amusing pet; someone who Tatsuya could torture with the full force of his rage at random intervals during class. The anger he had felt towards Tatsuya returned full force, drowning out both the fear and arrogance he had felt earlier that day.

The idea that Tatsuya had only been slightly irritated as he glanced back never occurred to him. Any mouse looking up at an irritated demon would view the world the exact same way.

It was only natural.

Finally. PE. The last period of the day. Their last chance that day to observe Tatsuya.

The girls had not been allowed to bring the cameras to class, but Uryu was sure they would be able to arrange a party or after school event or something where they could observe Tatsuya. Until then, they would not -could not- allow a single opportunity to observe him be wasted.

He belatedly realized how much that made him sound like one of the mad scientists in a show his sister watched, and vowed to never think that again.

Uryu took a deep breath, his burning desire to prove his sister wrong reigniting. The teams were split fairly evenly, with the basketball players separated so the team with one less player also had Tatsuya. They did not have an exact plan per-say, but Uryu was sure that as long as they watched and challenged Tatsuya he would show them what they were looking for.

The teams lined up across from each other and Tatsuya finally looked up.

Uryu's breath caught in his throat.

He inwardly cursed himself. Even just a casual glance- not even close to what had happened that day- was enough to increase his heart rate. Even though this was just the casual Tatsuya he was used to, he felt like he could not move. Even though there was an adult. Even though it would just be a game. Even though-

Uryu clenched his fists, shaking himself out of his frozen state. His success inspired the other members of his team to do the same (though a majority of the team had no idea why the players suddenly froze) and soon the two teams were standing across from each other, determination cementing.

Tatsuya was looking at them with contemplative confusion, as if he had never seen someone react to him like that before. So what? Did he only use that scary side on stronger people? He was just an elementary school student, who else could he have possibly used that scary side on?

Uryu's thoughts came to an abrupt end and the teacher began to start the game. A holographic scoreboard appeared in the middle of the court, displaying the current score of zero-zero.

Bellow it, a countdown of numbers appeared, and everyone tensed for the start of the match. Tatsuya seemed to have decided to put his thoughts on hold for the time being and prepared to attack (play).

"Five. Four. Three. Two…. One!

The moment the game began Uryu ran forward, preferring offensive playing to defensive. It was just for PE, so no roles were assigned to anyone, but the 'official players' all knew how each other played. He was soon blocked by one of his friends who had been placed on the other team and passed the ball to his teammate, allowing them to score.

Yes! Scoring the first basket set the enthusiasm levels of each team for the rest of the game, and Uryu allowed a smirk to cross his face. He blocked an incoming pass and passed to another one of his teammates who went in for a shot.

His happiness made him take a second longer to realize the shot had been blocked by Tatsuya. It was only when his brain registered Tatsuya had already passed him that it finally told him to move.

Snapping out of his frozen state, he and his teammates ran after Tatsuya, only to watch as the ball cleanly fell through the basket. A wave of humbled embarrassment passed through Uryu, and it was soon joined by an offended anger.

Sure, Tatsuya was only playing the game and following the rules, but it was still interpreted by Uryu as a personal attack and challenge against them. It was as if Tatsuya was standing hundreds of feet away, looking over his shoulder with a smirk.

Do you really think you can beat me?

Yes, Uryu confidently told the Tatsuya in his head. We'll get both your secrets, and win the match!

While he was having this internal argument, Uryu was sending Tatsuya the strongest glare he could muster. Compared to some of the people Tatsuya had fought it was nothing, but it did cause him to turn to Uryu and look at him in confusion. Miyuki also stared, having noticed the boy glaring at her brother.

Uryu, still distracted by his internal conversation, did not notice.

The game began again, but this time Uryu had a more important mission to think about than the score of a silly elementary school game (though winning the game was a close second). He found every member of the let's-reveal-Tatsuya's-secrets-committee (they were still working on the name) and whispered the plan.

There was a PE teacher. If they could make Tatsuya angry, then the PE teacher would know the truth about him. Once an adult knew the truth then they could tell their parents and actually be believed. Uryu would not have to listen to is sister going "Mmhm" to anything he said every again!

The first plan was simple. It was playing a little dirty, but the PE teacher loved them, so Uryu was confident they would not get in trouble. Whenever Tatsuya had the ball, the team members on the committee would push, shove, and generally bother him until he snapped and revealed his true shelf to the world.

Uryu could not help the smirk on his face when his friend (purposely) threw himself onto Tatsuya in a vague attempt at getting the ball. It was perfect;Tatsuya had just been thrown the ball, his friend had a large running start, once his friend was within three feet of Tatsuya he crouched down slightly and threw himself into the air, directly above the blue-eyed Shiba. Tatsuya paused, turning toward the sudden shadow above him, a look of mild confusion on his face.

It was as if he was watching a slowed down recording. Uryu's friend had jumped so that both his jump and gravity would pull him towards Tatsuya. There was no time to change course; no way to pull his friend out of the way. With shining eyes, Uryu watched as Tatsuya… calmly… dodged.

The loud smack of Uryu's friend hitting the floor was not quite the image of flawless victory he had been picturing.

For a half-second Tatsuya glanced at his classmate with a raised eyebrow. Then, while everyone else was still frozen in surprise, he turned to the basket and shot.

The ball went through the basket flawlessly, like always.

Another rush of embarrassment and anger flooded through Uryu as he realized they had not only failed to anger Tatsuya, but had also lost their advantage in the game. As his friend began to dribble the ball toward him, Uryu forgot about Tatsuya and went on the offensive.

Tatsuya was only one person, he could not make up for a whole team. They would be able to win so long as they kept the ball away from the powerful boy.

(Actually, if he wanted to, Tatsuya could play with the skill and power of a whole team, but that would mean going against Maya's orders and no one wanted that).

As soon as Uryu's friend was able to score a basket, the group went back to trying to trick Tatsuya. Then Tatsuya would score another basket and they would be back to trying to raise their own score. Then they would try and trick Tatsuya, then they would be back to trying to get another basket.

With half the teams being made up of girls who did not care about basketball, and the boys on Tatsuya's team not actually trying to win, it was not surprising that the game soon became a steady repetition of scoring. The PE teacher's loud yells that defense needed to step up its game was ignored completely.

Soon, the boys became frustrated with how boring the game had gotten and tried to change it up a bit. One boy attempted to use a trick shot to surprise Tatsuya, but only ended up sending it flying to the girls instead. Miyuki looked up in surprise as she saw a ball heading toward her for the second time that week.

Then, in an instant, Tatsuya caught it. The boys all froze, half-terrified and half-triumphant, knowing they would get to see that version of Tatsuya again. The PE teacher was on their side of the court, so he would feel the full force of whatever Tatsuya had done to them.

Then Tatsuya turned and, even from the distance he was at, shot the ball into the basket.

The boys blinked and stared after Tatsuya, confusion painted cleanly across their features. He only raised an eyebrow at them in response.

Then, the game continued, ending with the Uryu's team's victory only because the warning bell rang right before Tatsuya was able to take his shot.

It sure did not feel like a victory.

The locker room was soon packed full of boys changing for their next class. Luckily having PE at the end of the day meant the boys had as much time to change as they wanted to, so long as their parents did not mind. Uryu had considered doing something to Tatsuya while they were in the locker room, but no adults were present and, somehow, Tatsuya always disappeared when it was time to change.

Though, unfortunately, his friends on the 'Let's-reveal-Tatsuya's-secrets-committee' were far less intelligent. He realized that when one of his friends came over and conspiritally whispered into his ear.

"Hey, let's go find Tatsuya. I'll bet we can surprise him while he's changing."

For his stupidity, Uryu instantly honored his position of responsibility as their leader and hit him.

"Ow! Why-"

"He always disappears when it's time to change you idiot. Do you even know where to look to find him! Besides, even if we do scare him it'll be just like the incident all over again. There's no teachers around, so we'll just be at his mercy until one of them finds us. I'm not scared, but you need to think about these sort of things before suggesting a plan!"

(The surrounding uninvolved 'civilians' who stared at the two whispering boys in confusion were easily ignored).

"I thought we could get the girls to film him! If they do, then it doesn't matter if we're alone, we'll have the whole thing on tape. And I- I don't know where he is, but he's probably somewhere he can change in, so if we just look around those places we can find him… probably… maybe?"

"And the girls are going to help us."

"...Sure."

"Nah, they always take forever to change," Uryu rejected. "But we might be able to find him right after he's done changing. School's almost over, so there would probably be a parent nearby…"

The excitement on the surrounding boys' faces encouraged him to continue.

"And- and when we find him, he'll have just changed so maybe we can- we can take his clothes or something. We'll just make him angry enough for the parents nearby to notice, and- I mean I'm staying late today 'cause my sister has club, what about you guys? Can you stay?"

The boys who could stay stepped forward, quickly splitting into pairs to look for Tatsuya. The improvised plan was sounding more and more reassuring by the second, and Uryu's determination soured.

"Dismissed!"

"Yes, sir!"

Uryu had split off into a team with the oldest boy in their squad. They were looking around the Gym end of the school- had been for several minutes, and Uryu's excitement was still at its peak. His motivation was souring; the only problem with the whole experience was that his partner was much less enthusiastic.

"Are we even sure what we saw really happened?"

They had been quiet for so long, that for a moment Uryu thought he had imagined the question. It took him a second to blink and turn to his partner.

"What?"

"Are we sure what we saw really happened?" the boy repeated, the words now coming out less like a mumble and more like an accusation, "I mean, I remember being scared, but I don't even really know what he did. Didn't we just exaggerate it to each other and raise him up in our minds. He probably didn't do anything-"

"You're losing your loyalty now?!"

"I just- it doesn't sound like him at all! Why are you so willing to believe the worst of your classmate?"

Now that Uryu thought about it, he was not sure why he had immediately assumed it was Tatsuya who had made them all scared. He had just... known somehow… felt in his subconscious that Tatsuya was the most dangerous thing he had ever seen.. For all Uryu knew, it could have been someone or something else entirely.

"And… if it was something else, we'd know why he didn't react to any of our attempts…"

"Exactly," the boy agreed. A flush of embarrassment flooded Uryu at the idea that they had done all this for no reason. He clenched his fists and turned to the other boy.

"Well then, we, I- we…" he belatedly realized that, even with his dramatic turn, he had no idea what he wanted to say. "Then we'll- let's just… keep looking. We'll look for a little bit longer, and if nothing actually happens then it's just something we imagined and we'll move on to something else."

The other boy, Yuusuke, Uryu suddenly remembered, thought about Uryu's suggestion and nodded.

"Alright, we'll just keep looking for a little bit longer," Yuusuke agreed, "Maybe we'll figure out what it actually was while we're going around looking for him."

Uryu relaxed slightly, the feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment gone. The pair walked through the school, checking all the possible hiding places they could think of next to the gym. As they continued, the circles they were making got larger and larger, until they were walking on the edge of the school's property.

By now, they had pretty much given up hope of finding Tatsuya and were deeply engrossed in a debate (argument) over which of two magic high schools was better. Even non-magicians got to watch the nine schools' competition, and it had become something of a Japanese tradition for all students to watch it.

Neither Uryu or Yuusuke were magicians, but they were both sure they were right about which school was the best.

"Are you boys alone?"

Both boys paused mid-sentence (having been talking over each other), and turned to find an adult man standing behind them. He was in his late thirties, and smiled pleasantly at them.

Uryu had plenty of time before his sister arrived, so Uryu did not see any problem in answering the man, responding with a childishly rude, "Yeah? Why do you care?!"

Annoyingly enough, the man just continued to smile. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of chocolate, holding it out to show them.

"I bought some chocolate at the store, but ended up buying too much. I was going to give it to my daughter who goes to this school, but if you want some I'd be happy to give it to you."

Uryu saw Yuusuke lick his lips and whisper, "Those are my favorite kinds."

Uryu looked back at the nice man, and had to agree that the chocolate did seem pretty yummy. And there was no one else around, so they would not have to worry about sharing with anyone else if they took some.

"Okay, thank you mister."

The two walked over and took the offered chocolate, happily devouring it. It had tasted just like Uryu was hoping for, a perfect end to a pretty bad day. The man then looked into the bag, and then gasped as he realized it was empty.

Uryu and Yuusuke blushed, feeling bad for having eaten all the nice man's chocolate, but the man just smiled again.

"Don't worry about that, I have much more in my car. While I wait for my daughter would you like to have some more?" The two boys made eye contact, excitement obvious on both their faces.

"Yes please!" Uryu ran forward, following the nice man as he brought them to the car. His excitement was practically bursting; instead of something silly like scaring Tatsuya, he was going to get a bunch of privately hoped his sister would take a long, long time to come pick him up.

Suddenly, Uryu yawned, a sudden wave of exhaustion overwhelming him. He had no idea why he was so tired in the middle of the day, but he had to blink his eyes open to avoid tripping over his own feet.

He had felt more than enough embarrassment for one day.

The man brought them off the school property and towards his car, opening the side door and leaning in to get the chocolate. He pushed around inside for a moment before he called out to the children.

"Here it is! I have a ton of chocolate, would you two like to look in and see which one you want?"

Uryu and Yuusuke were barely able to agree, fighting back heavy yawns. But, regardless, they decided to go see the different kinds of chocolate the nice person had for them to choose from.

Only to be stopped by an arm that Uryu could swear had not been there just a second ago. He looked over and followed the arm until he could see it was Tatsuya stopping them from taking another step.

Tatsuya looked over at the kidnapper and gave a pleasant smile Uryu had never seen on him before. It remained on Tatsuya's face as he looked up at the nice man and childishly tilted his head.

"What are you doing here?"

Tatsuya's voice was enough to allow the nice man to blink out of his stupor, causing him to shake his head and look down at Tatsuya with another one of his nice smiles.

"I was going to invite these boys to some chocolate I had for my daughter. Would you like any? There are plenty to share with you as well." The nice man made a motion toward his car, and if Uryu was not so tired he would tell the man there was no need to be nice to a monster like Tatsuya.

But Tatsuya made no comment on the man's suggestion. Instead, he glanced between the man and his classmates once, before looking up at the man with a smile a fraction less warm than it had been a second before.

"That's some pretty impressive power. Is it ancient magic? I haven't seen much like that, but I suppose it's your best bet for making someone tired if you don't want there to do any leftover traces when you're done. It's much harder to find traces of magic in a body than drugs after all. What is someone who has the ability to get his hands on something like this doing at an random elementary school?"

Uryu felt too tired to think about what Tatsuya was saying, but he was glad that Tatsuya did not seem to be interested in having any of the chocolate for himself. Well, that made sense, Uryu had never seen Tatsuya eat any sweets during break, so he was pretty sure Tatsuya did not like sugar.

The kind man seemed to be shocked for a moment before he smiled down at Tatsuya, "I'm sorry? I'm not sure what you're talking about. I was just offering chocolate to the boys-"

"Why?"

Uryu rubbed his eyes again and saw Yuusuke doing the same. Tatsuya's question sounded casual enough, but there was an underlying hint of something threatening. Dangerous. Predatory.

Uryu wanted to say something to warn the nice man, but felt too tired for it to be worth the effort.

The man frowned for a moment before kneeling and turning all his attention to Tatsuya, "I just had some extra chocolate. If you want some you should look and decide which one you want. You don't need to talk about things you don't understand to earn some. Here, have a bite."

The nice man held out his hand, offering Tatsuya a single chocolate. It was covered in a light pink wrapper, and Uryu was tempted to snatch it out of Tatsuya's undeserving hands.

Tempted, but too tired to actually try.

"You said you were waiting for your daughter. That, coupled with the feminine appearance of some of the chocolate, implies you're after young girls too-" the man looked like he wanted to respond, but Tatsuya continued talking. "It would be bad enough if you caused an incident at school and inconvenienced her, but if you might actually be after her… that changes the situation entirely. I wonder, all three of us are relatively attractive children. What would you do if you saw a young, privileged, naive, beautiful girl walking with her friends after school?"

The man backed up a single step, something almost resembling... fear dancing across his eyes. But that made no sense; Tatsuya had not changed his calm expression and the kind man was an adult. What would he have to be scared of?

Luckily, the nice man seemed to calm down and held out his hand again, "Why don't you just try one of these? It might change your mind and it can't hurt to just try one. Everyone else had some."

Tatsuya looked up at the man, still keeping his arm in front of his two classmates.

"I suggest you leave this place."

To Uryu, it sounded a lot like the kind of not-really "suggestions" his sister would make when he started bothering her. He had never heard a kid use that tone of voice, and definitely not to an adult.

The kind man glared for a moment, showing a flash of genuine anger. Uryu wondered why Tatsuya was trying so hard to get the nice man angry; all he had done was offer chocolate.

Or maybe Tatsuya just hated chocolate that much.

"Now young boy, that was-"

"I apologize, I misspoke. That was not a suggestion."

"I- you-"

"Leave."

Tatsuya and the man stared at each other, seven feet apart, all pretense of politeness gone. While Tatsuya did not have an intimidating expression, his face was completely and utterly blank of all emotion. The man was steadily becoming more and more enraged.

"Get in the car," the man growled, "right now."

"No. Leave."

Suddenly the man pulled out a white, rectangular object and pressed some buttons, causing it to glow. Uryu was about to finally ask what was going on, until he noticed the ground swaying right where they stood. A ringing sound reverberated through the area and Uryu's eyes widened at the mess of colors which covered his vision. There was noise and color and light- noise- loud- bright- too much- it hurt- sound- bright- too much-

Uryu fell, colliding with the ground. Pain soared through his body along with an towering wave of panic.

It was Tatsuya, his subconscious helpfully supplied. He's doing this.

They were going to die.

A loud bang resounded, and Uryu lifted his head from its spot on the ground to see what had caused the noise. It was Tatsuya, sitting with his knee on the man's back, his arm pulling the man's at an awkward angle.

"I'll ask again," Tatsuya said, his voice quickly losing its emotionless, calm state, "Why. Are. You. Here?"

"I- because… what was..." He must have been quiet for a second too long, because he suddenly began screaming in pain as Tatsuya continued to move his arm.

"I will break it. Answer me."

The man continued to hesitate, before muttering, "This is a fancy, privileged school. All I- I just, I was going to blackmail parents for money." Tatsuya continued to push his arm up. "I- ow!- got the money and magic stuff from my parents- they're rich. They want me to join the army with my power, but I didn'- AH!- I didn't want to go to war! That's all that happened! And yeah, I- if I saw a cute girl I would have taken her too, but she probably would have made it out aliv-"
The words died in the man's throat. Even if Uryu did not feel so tired he would not have been able to say anything to help the man; Tatsuya's expression had surpassed even the monsters in Uryu's wildest imagination.

The sky seemed to blacken, but Tatsuya's eyes glowed with power. Suddenly a pressure- not like a solid weight, but more like a thickness in the air- filled the area as Tatsuya stared at the man, calmly considering whether he deserved to live. The pressure was suffocating, sending Uryu's body into a panic, but Tatsuya continued to gaze down at the man.

In the tense silence, it was obvious once again; they powerless compared to the boy in front of them. All they could do was wait for him to decide their fate.

"Give me your CAD. Tell me where your other ones are."

The man was so shocked- relieved- astonished- at being allowed to live that for a moment he did not say anything. And, based on the scream which came shortly after, that was a moment too long for Tatsuya.

"Five… Four… Three," Tatsuya counted off, and Uryu realized five seconds had never felt so long before it was this Tatsuya doing the counting. "Two-"

Whatever frozen state the man had been in, he was able to snap out of it at the last second, screaming, "The car! It's in in the car. I have one at home, and, and, I have one in my hand, but that's it! I swear, this is all that-"

The man trailed off, staring in astonishment at the spot where his car had been. Uryu stared too, as he had seen the giant lump of metal glow and turn to dust the second Tatsuya turned his eyes to it.

Uryu glanced down again, and saw that the CAD that had been in the man's hand was also gone.

Uryu forced his eyes away and saw that Yuusuke was also kneeling on the ground, shaking in fear. For several seconds Uryu tried to speak, but all that came out were scared, rasping gasps.

"I will always be watching."

Uryu saw the man's eyes widen, coming to the realization that his prayers had been answered and Tatsuya would allow him to live for a little longer.

"However, if you ever come near students at this school again, there will be no group, organization, or country that can save you from me. Am I understood?"

"Ye- yes, yes, of course. I'll leave- I won't come back-"

"Well, we'll have to wait and see what happens, won't we?

Then, Tatsuya stood, waiting for the man to leave the school grounds. The man turned to the street before remembering what Tatsuya - because it couldn't have been anyone else - had done to his car. He stood for several seconds in confusion, but saw Tatsuya's patience was quickly running out and left on foot.

As the man left his sight, Uryu noticed the pressure had disappeared. He took in several large gasps of air, imitating a fish on land with this desperate, needy breaths. .

However, despite now having access to air, the sleepy feeling, stress, and sudden absence of that stress had left Uryu more than a little light headed. He saw the world tilt before he realized his legs had failed him, the last thing he saw being Tatsuya's cold gaze staring down at him.

When Uryu woke up he had to blink a few times before he could see. He was in the school's health office, with Yuusuke laid down on the bed adjacent to his. Apparently noticing he woke up, the nurse walked over to his bed and sent him a smile which told him nothing about what he was doing there.

"How are you feeling right now?"

"I- um, fine? A little tired? Did I fall asleep in class?"

"Do you know how you got here?"

Uryu blinked and tried to remember what had just happened. He… had been with Yuusuke, and they had been playing baske- no they had been… looking for Tatsuya. They were doing their jobs in the organization and then….

No concrete memories continued on from there.

Flashes of scenes, however, still appeared in his mind. He and Yuusuke had been talking to someone… that person had been amazing and nice and super cool, judging from the rush of positive emotions Yuusuke felt when he thought about the man. But then… there had been Tatsuya… Tatsuya had separated him- them, Yuusuke had been there too- from the man… and there had been a car to get into… and something about kidnapping, and the-

Uryu's body tensed up suddenly, having a vague recollection of Tatsuya attacking the nice man and bringing him down. And kidnapping… could it be that Tatsuya had been trying to take them, but the man stopped him?

"I- I think- it was-"

"Shh, shh, just calm down. Breathe, everything's fine, just tell me what you saw."

"I-" he took a big breath of air, "I think there was a man- a nice man- who I saw when I was with Yuusuke. Did he get hurt- no, wait, he left…." An image of Tatsuya glaring at the nice man until he left filled his mind, "and I remember feeling really, really tired… the last thing I saw before falling asleep was Tatsuya… I think."

The nurse nodded, giving him a serene smile. "You should be fine then. Tatsuya is the one who brought you here, you just got really tired and started walking away from school grounds, but when he tried to tell you to stop you fell unconscious. I think you need to get more sleep young man,you could have gotten really hurt."

Uryu stared at the nurse in shock. Had she just believed everything Tatsuya had told her without hesitation? He was evil! He must have been trying to take them, but the nice man made him give up on that. Uryu was sure Tatsuya was the reason he was so tired, how could an adult be so blind to that? First his sister and now-

Could it be a conspiracy? Uryu had heard his sister use the word and asked her what it was, and it sounded a lot like what was going on. If the nurse was part of or being tricked by an evil organization, it would explain why Uryu's every attempt at getting adults to see reason had been foiled. He would have to tell the other members of the squad about this.

"I think you'll be fine if you rest up a little more. Go back to sleep, I already explained what happened to your older sister when she came to pick you up and she'll try to make sure you get more sleep. She's in the lobby, how about you rest for another half- hour and then I'll check you out, okay."

Uryu nodded once, not quite able to stop himself from muttering 'conspiracy' under his breath and glaring at the old woman. She had been so easily tricked by the evil organization and might even be part of it herself! He would never foolish enough to trust her again.

"Yes, I'm sure they'll be more suspicious, but I decided that was a risk worth taking. You know it would have been much more dangerous to let that man stay near Miyuki's school than it is to let a few children think poorly of me."

"Need I remind you," asked the smooth, malicious voice of Yotsuba Maya, "That you are also one of those 'children'?"

Tatsuya said nothing in return, though he could hear Maya chuckle slightly over the phone.

"And what sort of plan do you think they will come up with to find your secrets? Will it be a danger to us?"

"No. They attempted to enact one of their plans during PE while we were playing basketball. I'm aware they are children, but I had been expecting a more intelligent plan. It will be fine."

"I see, I suppose I can leave that to you then…"

Tatsuya frowned as he listened to his aunt speak. She was one of the few people he usually had a hard time reading, her emotions rarely swaying from sadistic amusement. When they spoke over the phone, it became increasingly difficult for him to get a read on her, even with all his experience.

"May I assume the man has been taken care of?"

"You may. And I must say I am very proud of you, I was not expecting you to have enough self- control to not murder him in front of those two boys; even our mental magic would have had trouble erasing that. But there is no need for you to worry, he will not be a problem for you anymore."

"I see. And has Miyuki been told about the situation?"

"Hmm. Well, what do you think?"

Tatsuya frowned, well-aware his silence told Maya everything she wanted to know. He did not approve of Miyuki being kept in the dark about the attempts on her life, even if it allowed her to maintain her illusion of safety. It was one thing to not tell her about a stupid scuffle or accidental fight, but a direct kidnapping attempt on the kids at her school could be dangerous for her to be kept ignorant of.

Even if the perpetrator was already dead.

"...I see," Tatsuya finally said, acknowledging his silence had gone on for too long. "Is there anything else you need Maya-sama? I really should be getting back to Miyuki-"

"Oh, even watching her with elemental sight while you're less than a mile away is too dangerous for you? What a good bodyguard you are, I'm almost jealous of my dear niece."

Tatsuya made no comment, but clenched his fist slightly as he heard Maya laugh. Suppressed emotions or not, even the most powerful mental magic they had could not stop every reaction- something Maya took gleeful advantage of.

"Yes, I suppose that was all I wanted. I'll see the two of you soon."

"Of course," he calmly responded, but only allowed the tension to leave his body when he heard the liberating sound of the call ending. Now alone, Tatsuya was able to separate some of his focus and check on the state of the patients. They appeared to have woken up, and were talking to the nurse.

Tatsuya felt a spark of amusement when he noticed the whispered word Uryu breathed out, accurately guessing what the boy had just assumed. He only stopped watching them as the door opened, allowing the woman who worked as the school's nurse to enter the room and stand across from him.

"Tatsuya-sama," she schooled her expression, giving a slight bow. "There are no concerns, I have jumbled their memories enough that they do not remember the magic you used, though I expect them to be highly suspicious of you from now on. He appears to not completely trust me, but I feel as if any other reaction on my part would have been illogical."

"No concerns, he is suspicious of everyone. He would have thought the same of any normal school nurse- he just happens to be right in this case."

She nodded and bowed again, leaving the room. Tatsuya barely held back a sigh.

Maya's only emotions when around him were amusement (which she showed to everyone) and understanding (which, while it made sense, also made Tatsuya extremely uncomfortable). The branch families gave him affection (his cousins), or cold, exaggerated indifference. The bodyguards expressed their genuine fear as hate and disgust, forming a stark contrast between himself and his sister. The lowest servants, however, were the worst.

Unlike the guardians and higher servants, they knew for a fact there was nothing they could do against him. Every interaction was filled with their poorly-veiled terror at his presence and usually more-hidden hate at him for causing that fear. For all that they tried to avoid his rage by expressing it as formality and respect, it was after talking to one of them that Tatsuya always felt closest to his aunt.

And that scared him.

Uryu walked through the halls of the school, having finally been let out of the nurse's office. His sister was in a room at the opposite end of the hallway, but Uryu had no hope she would believe him.

His sister? Believe him when he explained how Tatsuya tried to kidnap Yuusuke and him? Naive.

But Uryu would find a way. He would prove who Tatsuya was to the world. He would get proof that none of the adults could ignore, that none could pretend they did not believe.

He confidently walked, but looked up as he heard the soft patter of footsteps come his way. Stopping abruptly, Uryu felt his cheeks heat up into a blushing mess as he realized Miyuki Shiba was coming his way…

With Tatsuya.

Clenching his fists, Uryu refused to look away from Tatsuya. He would declare him and his friends at war with Tatsuya. (Then maybe Miyuki would be amazed by him for standing up to her brother).

Yes, their battle would begin with his declaration of-

As soon as he made eye contact with Tatsuya's deep blue eyes the words died in his throat. They were not intimidating, but accompanying them were the still-too-fresh memories of the fear that he felt whenever Tatsuya wanted him to. Their soft glow in the darkness imitating a predator watching its prey.

"Goodbye, Uryu," Miyuki called out to him, giving a slight bow as she passed.

"Uh-yes! Thank you! Goodbye…" he turned his attention back to Tatsuya, who regarded him with a cold look.

"I won't forget," Uryu whispered as Tatsuya passed. Pausing, the brother turned toward him and glanced back with all the cold indifference of a soldier.

"Goodbye, Uryu Hattori."

"...Right, bye."

Despite this exchange, there is a lot Uryu does not say. He doesn't say how he knows the truth about Tatsuya. Doesn't say how Tatsuya reveals it in every silent step he takes. Doesn't say how he knows Tatsuya could have killed him, and doesn't ask what a monster like Tatsuya is doing at their school in the first place.

For all that he doesn't say any of that, he engranes the words deep into his heart.

Tatsuya, meanwhile, holds back a sigh at the boy's all-too transparent feelings and immaturity.