I hadn't finished drawing a breath when I felt the razor-sharp tips of Natsumi's claws just nipping the bare skin of my right hand with her left.

Her left hand was on my thigh, claws extended and biting through the fabric of my pants.

"Natsumi! What are you—" Yuki began loudly.

And I felt her claws bite a warning.

"Shhhhhh," I said to Yuki without moving my eyes from Natsumi. "Remember, she doesn't like loud noises."

Natsumi's claws relaxed. Slightly.

"What are you—"

Natsumi leaned closer to me. Her golden eyes were inches from mine: wide, unblinking, mystical. But there was no getting past the side that made her terrifyingly real. Her breath reeked of old fish and pot-smoke.

"Why do you smell like her?" she asked.

I had no idea what the hell she was talking about until I remembered earlier, at the onsen, with Murasaki and her lemon-ginger perfume.

I felt Natsumi's claws as she shifted her hand. She wanted to know now.

A thin line of blood wept down my right thumb. "Murasaki came by the onsen this morning to see me, and it scared the hell out of me, Natsumi. Inego warned me. He told me what she was, and when I saw her in the damn hot spring, I knew why she was there, but not what to do about it."

Yuki floated beside me. "I covered his eyes with my hands and guided him away from her."

Natsumi leaned back. I felt her retract her claws.

"American-jin has a good ghost friend. Succubus was trying to mark you, but Natsumi knows better."

Natsumi bounded from the chair, stepped lightly across the office, and picked up her bookbag where it was on the floor. Then she resettled beside me.

She reached into one of the pockets of her bookbag and pulled out a small bottle of scented lotion. It smelled like the earth after it rained.

"Hold still, American-jin. Natsumi will fix it," she said, like it was a ritual.

I watched as a smirk stretched across her lips, splitting the skin under her nose, like a cat. She leaned forward, like she was going to kiss me.

And she rubbed her face on the front of my school shirt.

Then she did it again.

I kept still as I felt Natsumi rubbing her face across the front of my school uniform, trying to pretend like this was a normal visit to the school office.

Finally, satisfied that I didn't smell like Murasaki anymore, she looked at me with her golden eyes and grinned.

She pulled away slowly, her cheek brushing my shoulder one last time, and grinned like a cat who'd just knocked a vase off the shelf.

"What?" she asked, pretending not to notice the look on my face. "Don't blame Natsumi if American-jin smells better now."

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I opened my mouth, but the words didn't exist for this kind of affection. Not here. Not for me. So, slowly, like I was offering a fragile truth, I reached my hand out.

Natsumi felt my body shift, and she backed away immediately. Then she saw my hand. I stopped it midair.

She looked at it. Then at me.

She blinked. Once.

I blinked back. Slowly. And she lowered her head and brought it up to my hand.

And I felt her rubbing her head on my hand. So, I started petting her. In the Crescent Moon Academy Office.

Before I thought the morning could get any stranger, I heard the weirdest noise coming from Natsumi's chest. I felt her vibrating.

She was purring. The sound crawled into my ears and curled up somewhere soft and wrong.

Then Natsumi and I both jumped when we heard someone cough behind us.

Kinezuka Hisame's head hung directly over Natsumi and me, like a disembodied judgmental god. Her neck stretched from around the corner. The rokurokubi's eyes burned like simmering coals, and her lips were pursed into a narrow slit.

"Ahem, if you two are going to make out, do so in your dorm room, or in a classroom, or a bathroom stall. Heavens knows you look like you belong there, but don't you dare cuddle with each other in my office!"

Natsumi gracefully slinked away from me and sat down in her chair on the other side of the office. "Nyaaa," she sneered.

Hisame-sensei turned to face Natsumi as she pointed a long, rubbery finger at her. "I'll deal with you later, Fushineko-kun."

Then she looked at me, her wider, unblinking eyes absorbing every detail she could.

"Kazeyama-kun? Back so soon?"

I shrugged, trying not to look at her rubber band-like neck.

The skin was stretched too thin. The blue veins in her neck squirmed rhythmically with her heartbeat.

"I'd like to see Suiren-sensei if I can," I said.

She snorted. "Gentleman caller, perhaps? Make it quick. We just got out of a meeting with Black-sama, and Suiren-sensei is not happy."

I suddenly felt my chest tighten.

Hisame-sensei grinned darkly as one of her long arms brought a phone receiver to her head. "I'll call Suiren-sensei to let her know you're coming."

The door to Suiren-sensei's office was straight above me. Yesterday, walking up there proved to be almost as disorienting as Shion's right hook in the park. Today, I paused in the Crescent Moon Academy Main Office and stared upwards.

"What are you waiting for?" Yuki asked.

I looked at her, annoyed. "You could've warned me about Hisame-sensei!"

She sighed, disappointed. "I didn't think I needed to warn you about making out in the school's office. Just what were you doing with Natsumi anyway? Ryu, that girl's nothing but trouble."

That's a good question: what the hell was that with Natsumi?

I shook my head slowly. "Yuki, seriously, I don't know what that was, and I didn't know she was going to do that. If I smelled like Murasaki, though, I'm glad she got rid of it."

Yuki crossed her arms. "Or so she says. Either way, you didn't have to caress her in front of the school secretary."

My shoulders slumped. But then, I felt Yuki's hand on me. For a second. And then it went through my arm, and she scrunched her face up, annoyed.

And I watched her bite her lip as she thought. "I suppose I spoke harshly. Sorry, Ryu, it wasn't my place. After all, I'm not your mother, I'm—"

She stopped, catching herself before she could begin the next word.

I looked at her, half wanting to tease her but sincerely wishing she hadn't stopped.

"Well, go on," I said. "You're what?"

She shut her eyes before continuing. "I'm trying to help."

I grinned. "There is no try."

She furrowed her brow. "What's that mean? Is that from a commercial?"

I suppressed a laugh. "Yuki, you're a tremendous help. I don't know what I'd do without you."

She smiled a little. "Apparently you're the kind of fellow who doesn't mind heavy petting in the school office."

Yeah, I deserved that. I stared at Suiren-sensei's door above me, and I was struck by a strange idea.

"Why are you waiting?" asked Yuki.

I took a breath and tried to block out the ringing phones, Hisame-sensei's half-dozen hands typing, and whining fax machines. Instead, I focused on feeling the vibrations and the sounds as they climbed the wall to Suiren-sensei's office.

Then, I felt them. Ripples. Vibrations shaking their way through the office floor, climbing through my bones, slamming into my spine.

I gasped because, as I felt the vibrations, my pupils began to stretch themselves thin and it felt like someone had taken a razorblade and was performing eye surgery with a jackhammer's precision.

I wanted to know if I could control my powers better.

Instead, I nearly collapsed to the office floor as a wave of nausea flooded my body.

Behind me, I heard Hisame-sensei's sardonic voice. "Are you sure you want to see Suiren-sensei? Maybe you ought to see the nurse instead."

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