Central High

12.1 Home Is Where The Heart Is (Mustangs)

The bell rang for second period and Lydia noticed that the corner was absent of a certain mouse who had been there in the morning. As Fear walked in, Lydia commented on such and Fear was as puzzled as her. Ái kasai was certainly not one who would ditch her classes; her mother would never have raised her as that kind of person. They both had seen her that morning and with her brother at brunch. "Maybe something came up?" Lydia asked and Fear shrugged, not sure what to make of her sudden absence. "Hope everything is alright, she's a pretty nice person."

"She's also a buffet of fear. I like her to an extent."

"Whatever you weirdo... Hope nothing happened..."

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The day had passed by fairly easily and quickly. Alex had gone back to all the classes Ái had and got anything she'd need from them and drove home, unlocking the door and dropping his bag by the dinning table. The house was mostly dark and it was completely quiet, not a sound to be heard. He walked quietly down the hall to the second door of the hall, where his sister dwelled. She felt most safe there with her brother and a dog. Sitting like that, she couldn't feel safer or more comfortable.

He quietly opened the door to her room and saw her laying there, still peacefully asleep, arm around Black Hayate's neck as she slept, the dog comfortable and dozing off himself but still alert, looking at Alex as he peeked into the dark room, the curtains drawn and blocking out the bright rays of the sun that threatened to disturb her rest. She was obviously sick if she was sleeping during the day as she normally can't even nap when she's tired.

A caring smile graced his lips as he shut the door and headed to the dining room to work on a sign-off sheet he had to fill out for PE due to his wound from the war. He always had paperwork to fill out for school; Phys. Ed. leave forms, Independent study forms, and cleared absence due to military duties forms among others. Read this, sign that. Needless to say, he understands why his father hates paperwork. It's annoying and takes forever. Not to mention that it's the same stupid forms that have to be updated yearly.

It wasn't more than twenty minutes before Alex heard the soft sound of foot steps, the soft padding telling him that the feet were bare. He glanced over his shoulder as the approaching steps stopped by the hall archway. Ái stood there drowsily as he looked at her, the girl dressed in shorts and a long sleeve shirt, Black Hayate at her side like he always is, a familiar guard around the home for her. "How ya feelin?"

She gave a sleepy yawn and rubbed her eyes, glasses absent from her face. "Ok, just sleepy."

"Well, we need to make sure that your cough doesn't come back. Come sit by me. You look like you're going to fall over with how tired you are." She gave a soft smile and padded over to the seat by him and sat in it, glancing at the paperwork he had laid out. 'Mitllary Relaase Form' she read. Mitllary Relaase Form. It took her a minute to correct her problem. She had one negative gene from her father that was quite annoying; dyslexia. She was often reading things wrong. I's, L's, and T's often got mixed up. O's and C's. D's and B's. U's and V's. It was no fun but she, like her father, had learned how to cope, substituting the letters in her mind. She usually just automatically substituted the correct letters due to all the time she'd spent reading in the library while growing up.

"The usual pile of paperwork?"

"Yup. I have no idea how dad spent years as a colonel doing this kind of thing daily for several hours a day. Twenty minutes and I'm getting annoyed." He groaned and grabbed the last packet. Ái smiled and gave a small laugh, interrupting herself with a small yawn. He reached over and ruffled her hair gently and she gave him a dopey smile and rested her head against his shoulder as he filled out all the information that the school required. "If you're that tired, you should get back in bed, or lie down on the couch at least. I'll carry you if you want."