TWILIGHT DESCENDED ITS BRILLIANCE LIKE A REFLECTIVE SEA OF WARM HUES AS IT TOOK AWAY THE LIGHT OF DAY, SWITCHING ITS PLACE IN THE SKY WITH THE MOON EVER SO SLOWLY. The evening crows cawed as they always did at the same hour, flying into the horizon along with the burning setting sun.

Anari sat on the edge of the slope river bank, the world's hues were a magnificent color that she'd never want to miss unless she had to or unintentionally forgot. It was a spot to perfectly view the sunset's reflection of the rippling water underneath the bridge.

Everyone always told her she was too young to be thinking about life, and her only reply to them was that they were too young to become delinquents.

"Whatcha thinkin about Rin?" The voice from above her echoed.

She looked upward to the bridge railing above her head. In an unzipped jacket, a white t-shirt and track pants, the usual attire, as well as the usual lopsided grinning and smirking face. "About how much I want to push you into this river to see if you can swim or not." Anari replied cheekily.

Mikey waved his hand, signaling Anari to move over. She did as warned, and out of nowhere, Mikey had hurled himself over the railing, landing perfectly on his feet in sandals on the patchy grass spot beside the girl. His knees were propped up as he rested his arms on them. "Me, Baji, Mitsuya and Draken made a present for you!"

"Are you here to pick me up?"

Without warning, the blonde boy had tugged her hand, causing her to scramble to her feet as they walked upward. "Look, look~" In an abandoned parking lot, Mitsuya sat on the top of a brick wall, while Baji and Draken turned around at the sudden arrival of the new two.

"You have to go up to where Mitsuya is to see the present!"

It was always an oddity with the four of them, Mitsuya was a rather strong individual, despite his lanky and skinny stature. With one arm alone, Mitsuya pulled her upward without a care in the world. Only then did Anari tilt her head sideways and her eyes widened.

"You guys really are insane but .."

Draken grinned. "Like it?"

With the group of rival middle school boys they had beaten up, bending the boy's limbs and shaping each of them into three letters. Letters that spelled out Anari's shortened name-- also known as the nickname given by Mikey : Rin.

The dot above the 'i' was made using a baseball cap that Mikey grabbed, spinning it around his index finger.

Third Middle School had a group of delinquents who liked to pick fights with everyone, making them an enemy of all. Usually, Mikey would let them slide until he had an excuse to be provoked-- but Baji didn't like the game of patience and instead, when passing by the lot of them in a park he and Mikey used to play with in their childhood, he slugged one, and it started a fight.

For those at first glance would assume this was just a small kind gesture-- but rather it was the very opposite. It was a torturous embarrassment.

"Hey! You in the neon orange shirt, scoot over to your left by three rolls." Anari demanded as she pointed at the boy who's spine was bent to symbolize the curve in the 'R'.

The only good thing she found a lesson out of this .. work .. was that they knew their kanji, thankfully.

When he didn't move, Draken stepped on his hip. "You deaf or somethin?"

Immediately, the boy did as told and rolled three times to the left as Mikey let out a whine. "Now its ruined!"

"Good riddance." Anari mumbled as she leapt off from the wall, Baji tossing her a black spray bottle as she watched the black liquid paint leave the nozzle. Its trail traced along with every shallow movement and dip, an ebony obsidian plague splattered onto the wall, bleak as the velvet charriot of night that rode across the sky.

She outlined the black in an off gold color, dull, almost similar to a mustard copper.

With that, she tossed the paint back into the bag as they admired the symbol of the group's marking. The manji crux.

"Cool! We got our own marking!"

Anari only nodded her head, yawning. Time always passed by faster in a world of color. Too busy admiring everything to the point that time becomes a diluted delusion, only another crimson droplet to be parted with the droplets of condensation.

Which brought them to the next day.

A day in which nature raged and ravaged, Anari stayed home, like the hermit she was. Occasionally at least.

The house was quiet. Her brother had come home from his two week trip just three days ago, only to stay for two days, and leave the next.

The hurling rain drops made the windows cold as she rested her forehead against it. She never had the air conditioning on, nor lights, hence all the open curtains and blinds.

After all, the neighborhood was rather frugal, so frugal that burglars themselves knew there was absolutely nothing to loot. Security was also a bare minimum, as was furnishing and anything else in a home. The only sound that rung out still was the sound of Draken's light snores after an attempt to pull an all nighter.

Draken had helped the girl go grocery shopping, only to find no way back home to the red light district once it began pouring.

Anari found it more comforting with him staying with her. At least then she'd have someone to cook for.

Before Hiro had left, he left a small envelope of cash underneath the salt shaker they stole from a restaurant.

Sometimes Anari was unsure if he was ever even going to return. He had all the money he needed to move abroad and leave her behind, and she had enough stability for him to go. It made no sense for him to continue coming back, over, and over, and over, only to leave again.

There was an unpleasantness that swept in with the storm, it brewed the hot pot of tea the girl poured out. At first, Draken didn't like tea. His opinion of it was, "flavored water but bitter." Once she had informed him that there was caffeine in it, he started to take a slight liking to it a little more, knowing that it'd help him sleep less and do more.

But just in case, Anari slipped in a few packets of sugar into his cup.

With the eerie crawl down her spine that tumbled the core of her being, there was a pounding at the door, and then a shallow knock on the glass window.

The shattering of glass rung out through the small home as Anari stared at the ground dully. Crystalline shards covered both in front and on her bare feet. She squatted down, staring at her own distorted reflection, poking at the glass until a small fragment lodged itself into her thumb.

"Huh ..?" The drowsy boy awoke from his nap by the loud noise-- either Anari's accident, or the intruder at the front of the home.

"Huh!?" Draken darted to the door immediately unlocking the sliding chain lock and swung it open. The thunder clap at that moment caused Anari to flinch, as well as Draken to hurriedly usher the two in and slam the door shut against the brace of the zephyr wind.

"What are you guys doing around here?"

"Grandpa sent us out to buy persimmons, it started raining a lot, so we ran to the nearest place we knew .. or at least Mikey did." The softer and higher voice of a new stranger eluded the air. Draken nodded in understanding until he blinked, realizing someone was missing. "Anari?"

Mikey slipped off his coat, and grabbed his sister's as well, folding it and placing it onto the bench.

"I'm .. stuck." The girl's muffled voice sounded out from the kitchen.

Before Draken could even take two steps in, the moment he had seen an iridescent light shine upon the clear little glass, his instincts brought him to a full stop. "Oh my god!" The girl cried out, seeing crimson droplets that slowly dyed the glass into a cathedral's hue of story-telling.

"How the hell did you drop a cup!" Draken reached over the counter with his long extended limbs and tore off two paper towels, slowly sweeping up the majority of the glass into one corner. Thankfully neither of the two siblings had taken off their shoes yet, due to the fact that they had gotten distracted.

"Oh, hi there." Anari clumsily smiled.

Mikey furrowed his brows. "How come you like my sister more than me? You've only just met her!"

Emma became lost in a swift instant. "Thank you for helping Mikey pick those flowers." Anari spoke with a friendly tone as she allowed Draken to press a napkin against the bleeding finger-tip. Snapping out of a trance, she realized she had yet to give herself an excuse for the mess she had caused.

"I was making tea and the knocking scared me a bit and I dropped the cup." Thankfully it was one she had bought at a garage sale, only a few cents.

Mikey looked around the house. He'd admit, but not aloud, that it wasn't what he had expected. It was more .. desolate, and empty than his original thoughts.

"I heard that your cooking makes people grow--" Mikey's eyes flew to Draken with a grin.

"So make me grow!~" Emma stared at her brother before sighing and bowing her head apologetically. It was like something Anari would do if Draken ever bothered someone. Surprisingly enough, it seemed like they would get along like two peas in a pod.

"Yeah right! She's been working on making me shorter!" Draken barked, wrapping his cousin's finger with a baby blue band-aid. "But she's already made you this tall .." Mikey muttered, pouting like a child-- no, they were children, and still are.

Most of Anari's home was painted a dark olive green with a white outline. Furniture, decoration and all seemed minimal. The house itself smelled like cedarwood, not a bad scent. There was a small boxy TV with cables and wires tangled within it, and in front of it was a small couch, fit for one Draken to nap on.

The house itself had three rooms, and instead of Anari's perfect scores pinned onto the fridge— there were payment dates for certain people.

Although Draken didn't grow up with parents, he grew up with enough love from the people who worked in the brothels to form a close enough familial relationship for his cousin. Mikey who had Emma as well as his grandfather and elder brother had an abundance of love in placement of his parents.

And Anari? She grew up with a different type of love. One not of affection, but indirect protection.

Along the delirious run-down anchor fed and oxidized by a past as bright as a spring crawling out of its winter hibernation, they found themselves to be closer friends than at first glance.

Draken and Emma were out on the wooden patio with umbrellas underneath the roof shingles of the home, while Mikey, as creepy as could be, sat on the kitchen stool as he watched the girl. "If you keep watching me like that, I'll end up cutting my finger again!" Anari frowned as she pointed a ladle at the boy who popped his minty gum without a care in the world.

"You're blushing."

"I'm blushing because I'm embarrassed and creeped out!"

Maybe this was the true form of Anari's character. "So, what's the super cool magic ingredient you put in your food to make Draken that crazy tall?" Mikey rested his chin on the palm of his hand.

"There's no magic ingredient, it's just because the food is made by me." Anari remarked. She was taller than Mikey as well. Emma was the same height as her brother, but that'd likely change around the time she hit puberty, considering girls went first after-all. Anari would make it there in one or two years.

However when Draken hits puberty .. she couldn't bear to imagine how tall he might even become. Maybe a skyscraper?

Anari poured some of the miso soup into a sampling bowl and slid it to Mikey who licked his lips after sipping the liquid, nodding his head in approval. "You got an older brother?" Mikey didn't touch the fridge, but somewhere underneath the calendar he spotted a tattered picture, blurry, creased and wrinkled.

And just with the slight intricate layer of observation, there was a small girl and a taller boy. Not pale enough to be Draken, and a hair-color that didn't match.

He could see it from the roots of Anari's hair that she had bleached it.

"Yeah."

"My older brother would probably think you'd make an awesome wife." Mikey grinned. Somewhere in his message, Anari knew he wasn't just talking about her cooking-- considering he'd never actually tried an actual meal of hers, and he'd witnessed her cut herself like an idiot who decided to touch sharpened glass.

He, who had a sister knew better than to be a misogynist. "You're pretty damn cool."

Mikey had heard from Draken about her mini-business in school, taking advantage of teachers with a pearly white smile and a shy, hard working persona. And on the double edge, she was paid to change grades of students once gaining the trust of teachers.

Unbeknownst to her, it was like she herself ran a small gang.

The people who paid her, also respected and protected her from snitches, and in return, she helped them pass classes with smiling and proud parents praises.

He found himself growing interest in her. Although she wasn't strong nor did she fight-- she was like his brother.

Anari only kept quiet. "Not a wife for him duh. For me." Mikey continued.

The blonde girl turned around with some-what of a grin. It was the same toothy grin that meant she had come up with a smart mouthed reply. "Maybe one day when you grow taller than me-- which'll be never."

"Y'know you shouldn't start a challenge you know you're gonna lose."

"You're already so small, and I haven't even had my growth spurt yet. It looks like this is a won game." Anari only poured the soup out into a large bowl and brought it out to the kotatsu table with large burned oven mitts.

"That's a deal then right? When I grow taller than you, you and I are going to get married?" Mikey pointed a finger at her.

Anari slipped off an oven mitt and held out her pinkie. "Deal." As Mikey reached his arm over the counter to seal the promise, he had also intertwined his fingers with her. "I'll come everyday to eat your cooking and I'll grow the hell taller than you."

After the meal, the rain had let up. A blinking sun peeked through the dreary clouds still dark and grey like athenian eyes that were almost a hue of ashen. The sun hadn't been out long enough to start the early stages of humidity, so the air was fresh and cool.

Mikey and Emma slipped on their shoes and jackets while Anari gave them a clear umbrella previously belonging to her uncle. "Return it next time you guys come." Emma only accepted it graciously and waved to Draken.

Mikey spared Anari one last look before grinning, turning around and following his sister down the steps.