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Backdated to last Tuesday (5/4), set after this log. Alex finds an exhausted Shiro and lends him an ear. Alex's friendship is making Shiro way too cute.

Shiro had spent the better part of the afternoon and evening in the sky, sword slicing through imaginary enemies. It didn't take long for him to forget what had been bothering him, but the second he felt exhausted and landed for a breather, everything came back. He slumped against a tree, fingers clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword, as he forced himself to ignore the pain again. But when it wouldn't subside, he growled angrily and turned to kick the tree, hoping a real physical target would calm him. All that ended up doing was send a short searing pain up his leg. "Fuck."

Alex was skateboarding around the grounds, enjoying finally having the freedom again that only a skateboard can offer. He'd just cleared a fallen tree when he heard Shiro's yell. It didn't take him long to find his roommate and he did a small jump to bring his board up into his hands. "Hey Shiro, what's up, bro?"

Shiro muttered another swear when he heard Alex approach. Breathing heavily, out of exhaustion, anger, and pain, he slowly turned around to face his roommate and forced himself to look normal. "Alex. Hey."

Alex could tell his roommate was far from normal. The heavy breathing and clear exhaustion was evident on his friend and Alex knew if Shiro couldn't hide it, something was very wrong. "Dude, you don't look so good. What happened?"

"Nothing," he replied immediately. He turned around again, unable to face Alex, and bent over to pick up his scabbard and sheath his sword. "Just a . . . a long day."

Alex gave him a skeptic look after rolling his eyes. "Why don't I believe you?" Reaching up, he removed his helmet and shook out his blonde hair. "Come on, tell me what happened. You can't hide everything from me ya know?" He added with a friendly smirk.

"I am overreacting," Shiro said after a few seconds of silence, still not looking at his friend. "I'll get over it. Just go back to doing whatever it is you were. I'm not worthy of your concern. Or anyone's, apparently," he added softly.

"Wow, dude, where'd that come from?" Putting his helmet under the arm that held his board, he placed the other hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Come on man, you've always been worth my concern and you know that. So what's wrong?"

Shiro sighed. There was no way to escape it now. He sat down against the tree, looking up at Alex sadly. "You were not here for most of the stuff with Kwannon, were you?"

Alex wasn't gonna have any of this looking up stuff so he plopped down next to Shiro. "Kwannon? Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"I guess not. She was this . . ." He struggled for the right word. What was she exactly? Besides a seductive, manipulative witch. "I do not know what she was. But she possessed Ms. Braddock's body a few months ago and masqueraded as her until the X-Men could bring her back and free Ms. Braddock from her control."

"Okay, so what about her?" Alex couldn't really connect this new info about Ms. Braddock to why Shiro seemed so bummed.

"She . . . did things to some of the students and adults. Exploited them and misled them. Made us believe things that were not true just so she would be satisfied . . ." Shiro's voice trailed off and he turned away again.

"But what does that...oh..." It took Alex till mid sentence to figure out that obviously, somehow, Kwannon had exploited Shiro some how. And he knew that was not something that would sit well with his friend. And though he hated to ask, he couldn't help till he knew what she had done. "What happened, Shiro?"

The shame of his actions were almost unbearable. What would Alex say if Shiro told him the truth? But Shiro knew that he couldn't lie about this, not to Alex. "She led me to believe she loved me," he said softly, almost choking on the 'L' word. "That she wanted me. And . . . I foolishly fell for it."

Alex stayed silent for a moment, taking in what Shiro had said, or more, trying to figure out how to respond. "It wasn't foolish, it was being human. Our emotions...they do that to us, even strong samurai like you." He smiled a bit. "But I do know how you feel...and it sucks feeling used like that."

Shiro shook his head and let out something between a laugh and a snort. "No. Ms. Braddock told me that whatever part of Kwannon had the capacity to care did care for me, but that she does not share that. I thought . . . I thought that maybe whatever Kwannon had felt for me might have rubbed off on Ms. Braddock. I'm such an idiot."

"Oh..." Now Alex understood. Shiro had hoped Betsy would love him as he believed Kwannon had. And obviously she wasn't as interested. "It's not foolish still, it's understandable." Alex's tone showed he meant what he said. "Kwannon was acting through Ms. Braddock, so, in a way, you fell for her as well. And now that she's herself, she doesn't return Kwannon's feelings and that's tough. God, if I knew that Lorna didn't return my feelings anymore...I'd feel just as foolish as you feel right now, I know it. It happens dude, to the best of us. To all of us."

"Please do not give me that psychobabble, Alex. It does not make me feel any better." Shiro sighed again and banged his head against the tree. "I just . . . Is there a way to make it not hurt?" He turned to his friend, a pleading look in his eyes.

He shrugged in response to the first. "Hey, part of it's what you told me when I had my nightmare remember? Or something like it anyway." Then Alex's tone got serious again and he placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "No, I'm sorry dude. You got to let it go away gradually...heartbreak isn't a quick fix."

"I am almost tempted to ask Amanda for a potion of some sort," Shiro joked, scoffing. He instinctively tensed up when Alex touched him, and turned to look at him. "I don't know why I feel this way. And I don't like it."

"No one does Shiro. But as I said, there's no quick fix. But it will go away...that I promise." Alex added the last bit with a reassuring smile.

Shiro didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. He just looked down at his hands in his lap. He finally forced his body to relax and looked back up at Alex, allowing himself a small smile. "Thank you, Alex."

"Dude, what are friends for?" Alex stood up and offered Shiro a hand. "Come on, let's go raid Alison's Pocky stash. Lorna happened to mention where it was hidden. Comfort food is not only for girls ya know?"

That brought a laugh from Shiro, and he accepted Alex's hand. "But if she tries to kill us for stealing her food, I'm blaming you."