Young Writers Society

Katherine looked at them and then looked down at her food.

"We don't bite." Skylar smiled as she sat down. "Well, not you." That made Katherine laugh and she smiled.

"Sure, it'd be nice to have some friends around here." She replied looking down a little.

"I know what you mean. Up until a little while back only friend I had was Kai. Even then I drove him up the wall." She laughed.

The rest of The Aushalten came to their table soon after to get to know Katherine, too. They all talked and ate their food until lunch was over. They all felt they had left a good impression on the girl. Elise had even managed to talk Katherine into going shopping with her after school, just the two of them. Ryukin and Tala had succeeded in their job as well, to befriend Katherine's Tsurekin.

Elise left with Katherine after school to go to the mall while everyone else got ready to go back to the mansion. When Kai and the others came to the front doors they saw a large group of kids standing out front smoking some cigarettes. It looked like they were waiting for something, or someone.

They recognised some of the kids there as the ones who were harassing Katherine at lunch. Skylar was the one to say, "Great, looks like the brought their buddies to try and teach us a lesson."

Kai turned to Ty and said, "Call Ivy and have her send the limo to pick us up behind the school. We're not leaving through the front doors."

Ty nodded and got his phone out, but Cedar said, "Why? We can beat them no problem."

"We would have to use our powers to overpower them. I won't risk exposing ourselves over something this petty."

Skylar frowned and followed them towards the back of the school. "He's right." Elise said walking over to her.

"I know, I just hate having to run from them when we could easily put them in their places." She sighed, "but that is life for now."

"That it is. Just be happy we made friends with Katherine today." Elise smiled.

"Good point." Skylar laughed as they slipped out the back door.

(Elise already left with Katherine to the mall, she's not with the group right now.

I'll post later, I just got back from camping about half an hour ago.)

(I was thinking we could do a switch of point of view to Elise and Katherine at the mall after the rest of the group goes back home.)

The group passed by the dumpsters on their way to the parking lot. They were startled when Ryukin popped his head out. "Ryukin, what are you doing in there?" Cedar asked.

"Looking for Kai's Ipod," Ryukin answered.

"But I don't have an Ipod," Kai said.

"I know, but it was a good enough excuse to root around in the garbage with Katherine's Tsurekin. His name is Lavos, by the way."

"You met him? Where is he now?"

Tala poked her head out of the dumpster next. "He already left, said he needed to follow his master." Everyone started snickering when they saw a banana peel hanging off of Tala's head. "What's so funny?" Tala asked, totally oblivious.

((Sounds good to me))

Skylar bit her lower lip but her laugher bubbled out.

"What?" Tala demanded.

"Uh, you might should shake your head." Skylar laughed. Tala did and the peel flew off. She growled and jumped out of the dumpster.

"I don't know how dogs and stray cats can climb around in those things!" She hissed.

(Okay. Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention: Shigure's brother is going to be living with them in the mansion from now one. His name is Hiorimaru, in case you had forgotten. It's been a while since we've mentioned his name, after all.)

"Hey, you did good today, Tala," Kai said before turning to his own Tsurekin and saying, "You, too, Ryukin."

"One thing's for sure though," Tala said. "I'm not going back into that dumpster."

"I think we can convince Lavos to stay on the roof with us from now on," Ryukin said. "Now that he knows we're not enemies there won't be any reason for him to hide his scent by sitting in the dumpsters all day. I'm sure his master would be happy if he didn't come home smelling like trash every day, too."

"Speaking of which, how did it go with Katherine?" Tala asked.

"Everything went according to plan," Kai said. "Elise is with her right now, they left a little while ago to go shopping together."

"That must have been what Lavos meant when he said someone else was with her master just before he left," Tala said.

Ryukin crawled out of the dumpster finally. He shook off a bunch of used tissues from his body, as well as a discarded coffee cup that had gotten stuck on the end of his tail. "Do you think that was wise?" Ryukin asked. "If Lavos gets close enough to Elise he'll smell Mira's scent on her."

"Have you forgotten how much perfume that girl wears?" Cedar asked. "Lavos would have to be standing right in front of her in order to notice it."

The limo pulled into the parking lot while they were talking. The driver honked the horn in order to get their attention. "There's our ride," Kai said as he led everyone over to the vehicle. As they climbed in, he asked, "So, does this mean I have to buy an Ipod now?"

**Can you post again? Sorry I didn't pm you, but I gotta get off and this was easier to get to. It's been a LONG few weeks. Hell is more like it.**

(I understand. I'll see if I can think of something tomorrow. My family and I just got back from watching The Expendables.)

(I was planning to switch perspectives to Elise and Katherine at the mall, but I remembered something else I wanted to do with our main characters. Plus, I'm drawing a blank as to what to do with Elise and Katherine or what they should talk about.

I just remembered something I wanted to ask you. In the Double-Trouble Writing Huddle's main menu it says the only moderator is Big Brother. Why isn't your name up there anymore? I guessed it had to do with all the stuff you've been going through interfering with your moderator duties, but I didn't want to assume without asking you myself.)


The limo pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive toward Ivy's mansion. Everyone chatted amongst themselves throughout the ten minute drive. The chatting stopped once they got home though. Parked in the street beside the front gate were a couple of police cars.

"What are the police doing here?" Shigure asked. She didn't sound worried, which was normal for her.

"Some people saw our Tsurekin when Skylar and I were getting mugged after our date," Kai said. "They must have tracked us back to her mansion through the reservation she made for us."

"What if they see the others?" Skylar asked, her voice a little higher than usual as she started to feel the beginnings of a panic attack.

"They won't," Kai said. "They would have seen the police before they even got to the front door. Everyone is probably hiding in the forest behind the mansion's outer walls." He moved up to the front of the limo and knocked on the window between the passenger and driver's areas.

The limo driver pressed a button to lower the glass, but he didn't take his eyes off the road as he drove into the mansion's long driveway. "Yes?" he asked.

"After we get out, take the limo and park it in the garage so the police don't see Tala or Ryukin when they get out. Help them find someplace to hide in there until the officers leave."

The man nodded as he continued driving. Kai quickly thought up a cover story to explain why there were so many kids at the mansion. He had a solid idea of what he would say by the time they were climbing out of of the vehicle. There was one officer standing at the front door. It was likely there were a couple more officers inside speaking with Ivy.

The cop stopped them before they could get inside. "Might I ask what you kids are doing here?" he asked.

"I live here," Kai said, "and I brought my friends to hang out for the afternoon."

"I was told Ms. Stone doesn't have any kids," the officer said.

"I'm her nephew," Kai lied. "My parents died a couple of years ago, and Ivy has been taking care of me ever since." Although he didn't enjoy it, Kai was getting better at lying. It was necessary if they were going to continue keeping their Tsurekin a secret from others.

The police officer seemed to think for a moment, as if weighing the believability of Kai's story. He finally nodded and said, "All right, I was just making sure. We're just here to ask Ms. Stone a few questions, but you can never be too careful."

Kai nodded back and led the others inside. When they were out of earshot of the officer, Kai said, "Everyone, wait in the game room until the police leave. Skylar, come with me." Kai and Skylar made their way toward Ivy's office to help her with answering the police's questions.


(Ivy is going to be sitting at her desk talking to two other officers. Akira will be sitting off to the side on a couch. You remember Akira, right? She's Ivy's colleague, the Japanese woman with the tiger Tsurekin.)

Skylar kept pace with Kai as they walked to Ivy's office. Her heart was pounding but she kept her face normal acting as if nothing had happened. She took a deep breath right before the knocked on the door and then slipped inside. Ivy smiled at them as the officer's turned around and looked them over as if trying to calculate whether they were a threat or not. Skylar mentally shook her head, she really just needed to relax. Nothing was going to happen, they were going to be fine end of story.

That was still hard to due, this place was all Skylar had and she may have helped put it in jeopardy. Kai squeezed her hand and she forced herself to breath normal, to focus on everything in the room. She saw Akira sitting on the couch a little out of the way, she wasn't saying anything just sitting there watching everything. Skylar envied her at the moment. She would rather be the one that was blending into the scenery like it was nothing.

"How was school?" Ivy asked like there weren't any officers in the room.

"It was alright." Kai replied. "Whats going on?"

**Sorry, all I could come up with right now.I may *crosses fingers* have internet where I live now, we'll see if it lasts. **

(That's okay, I'm just happy to be writing with you again. )

The senior looking officer turned to the kids and said, "We received eye-witness reports from a restaurant last night of a young couple getting mugged in the parking lot. According to what was reported, the man was chased off by two metal creatures. The reservation made for the young couple led us here."

Kai tried his best to look surprised. "Metal creatures? Don't tell me you believe those rumours?"

"In any other situation we would have dismissed the report as being a hoax, but after the increased sightings of these things we've been forced to investigate the subject more thoroughly."

"And, exactly what would you do if you found one of these creatures?" Skylar asked, becoming increasingly worried as the conversation continued.

"We've been given orders to use any means necessary to capture and detain them should we find solid evidence of their presence," the senior officer said. "Though, after what happened at the carnival a few months ago there's no way I'm going to risk my men going up against one of those monsters."

(thanks)

"I heard about that on the news, that things was huge!" Skylar said looking over at Kai who nodded. "Wasn't it supposedly as tall as the Ferris wheel?"

"I'm not sure it was that tall." The officer replied. "But it was very big."

"What are they?" Skylar asked looking at the officers. "They aren't aliens are they?"

((Sorry, lol))

(That's okay.)

Kai risked a quick glance at Skylar. She was doing a good job so far, feigning ingorance. If they kept this up they should be able to get through this interview with the police without too much problems.

"We don't know what they are, only that they're dangerous," the other officer said.

The senior officer asked, "So, are you sure you two don't know anything about what happened?"

Kai and Skylar shook their heads almost symotaniously. "No, I'm afraid we don't, officer," Kai said.

The officer cocked his brow before pulling out a note pad. "That's strange, because you both fit the discription of the couple that was saved by those creatures last night. Would you mind explaining why that might be?"

(Thanks, thanks a lot. Now I gotta figure out a way to explain that. ))

"We didn't leave the restaurant until it was dark outside." Skylar said looking at Kai. "Maybe they mistook us for the people that were saved by the....what are those things called?"

"They don't have a name that we know of." The officer replied.

"It is possible that we could've been mistook for whoever was saved. I don't remember seeing any metal creatures." Kai replied.

"I know if I had I probably would've fainted or something." Skylar laughed with a smile. "Why would they save people if they are bad?"