Kousuke continues to walk along the street carrying Ama on his back. The young athlete’s strength was waning, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop and to be honest he didn’t really want to set her down. Jeez indecisive much? He scolds himself as he glances over his shoulder at Amarissa’s face. She really was pretty, he had noticed it before, but up until now it had always just been a trait of one of his friends.

…Ama likes me?! This fact seemed more mystifying to him then the fact they had just defeated Scorpio, and to be honest he was a hell of a lot more ready for that fight than he was for the conversation that he knew for a fact was coming. Still… He starts to wonder about what it would be like to have a girlfriend like Ama. He liked her as a person, she was hard working, earnest and a genuinely good human being.

As he feel her soft breathing against his back Kousuke begins to take notice of some things that up until now never would have fazed someone as simple and straightforward as him.

It was warm and she was moving. Those were the first two things she noticed in her half asleep state. A sudden alarm pierced her sleep drowsiness though as that sunk in. I'm moving?! But I was just... she thinks, trailing off confused. She was just what? The last thing she remembered was firing off that massive attack. Opening her eyes slightly, Amarissa can see feet moving and obviously not hers. So, I'm being carried. That's...ok. But by who?she thinks.

Now, most people would likely ask the person who they were but not Ama. "Where am I? and what happened?" she asks, her voice still somewhat sleepy and she opened her eyes wider, hoping the person would answer thereby revealing himself. The build was very male, and very nice from what she could tell. She thought perhaps it was Kousuke, but still wasn't sure considering his previous reactions to the rooftop incident.

As Kousuke continues to walk he feels Amarissa begin to stir. As she asks where she is he smiles a bit without entirely knowing the reason why though, for some reason her soft voice was comforting to him. “The fight is over, we’re making our grand and dashing escape from the military.” He replies with a tired but good humored tone of voice. He was glad the fighting was over, at least for now. Though as he walked he again became conscious of what had happened up on the rooftop. He opened his mouth to bring it up but decided the talk could wait a bit, at least until they were out of the cold.

“Sorry about this, but I’m going to bring you to my place. It’s closer by and neither of us are appropriately dressed for this weather.” He points out as he continues to trudge through the snow. He was finally back, to be honest 3 or 4 days away wasn’t actually that huge of a deal, but for some reason it felt like he had been gone for a very long time. Though now that he finally thought about it, how did he feel about Ama? He liked her, especially as a friend, but he had never thought of dating her. Hell he had never thought of dating in general. Romance was something that happened to other people to Kousuke.

Well all of this can wait. “Sorry I can’t do anything about the cold but we’ll be at my place soon. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of then.”

Amarissa sighed in relief as Kousuke answered, glad she had been right and that it wasn't someone else. He sounded really tired, as she imagined all of them were. "what happened?" she asked again, still confused on how she got here. She nods her agreement though at the suggestion of his place, though that might seem inappropriate to some. Right now, she was tired and cold and didn't care. Besides, it wasn't as if Kousuke had any ulterior motives. Hell, she wasn't even sure he liked her and therefore was even more confused by this gesture.

"You could have just left me there. The military don't know who am I, after all," she said, thinking she must have passed out and de-transformed at the same time. It was the only logical explanation to this whole chain of events, including her being in normal clothes and her hair back down, now blowing everywhere in silver strands. "But thank you. I can call my mom, maybe, to come get me then. This will be a little hard to explain though. What will you tell your parents? You've been missing for half a week," she says in her quiet but thoughtful tone.

Ama sounded tired, well Kousuke probably should have expected that, but it still bothered him. Kousuke was starting to get used to the idea that he couldn’t defeat all of the enemies alone but he still felt uncomfortable with the fact that people like Amarissa who should really be enjoying quieter lives had gotten involved too. “I guess the same holds true for me though.” He mumbles to himself, Kousuke was far from fully prepared for the kinds of things they were facing, and really the only reason that he has coped so well is because of the need for someone to watch out for the senshi. Without them…Kousuke doubted he could handle the consequences of these battles.

As Ama asks him what happened Kousuke shakes himself out of his reflection and turns towards her with a bright and confident smile. “You did great, that big shining arrow thing you shot purified Scorpio on the spot. Afterwards he turned into some kinda spirit and then the military started to move but some of the other knights got in their way.” Kousuke explains not showing a hint of the doubt or hesitation that plagued his thoughts. “Anyways in the excitement I scooped you up and now we’re here.” He explains though as he says it he teeters a bit before regaining his footing.

After a few more minutes they arrive at Kousuke’s house and instead of ringing the doorbell he simply twists the knob and walks into the house. “Mom! Dad! I’m back and I brought a friend!
He shouts as he walks in the door closes it and sets Ama onto the couch before collapsing onto the floor. “Umph~ ahh~ the floor has never felt so good~” he says with a satisfied tone.

“Oh right…Dad’s not home right now.” He mumbles “By the way Ama I’m gonna come clean to Mom, just so you know.” He informs her as he rests his eyes for a bit.

Amarissa nods as Kousuke explains what happened. That sounded about like what she expected had occurred. "Well, that's great then. No more Scorpio to worry about, though with one Zodiac down we're going to have to be much more careful. Now they know what we're capable of and that goes for the military too," she says seriously. After a moment of consideration she adds, "They don't seem very smart do they? The military. They've watched us take down several youma now, including a Zodiac, and yet still they want to try to capture us or fight us. Why can't they see we're on the same side?" Her tone is one of slight disgust at the obvious stupidity and frustration over the lack of cooperation.

Worry colored her face as they finally reached his house and Kousuke just walked in. After being sat on the couch, Amarissa couldn't quite help herself and she fell over with a strong sigh of contentment. "I don't remember a more comfortable couch in all my life," she says, relief and obvious joy in her tone and a grin on her face. Ama's face drops quickly though when Kousuke informs her of his plan. "Uhh," she says, the doubt and worry clear on her face. "That might put me in an awkward position considering you just carried me in here all of a sudden after being missing for several days..."she trails off,sounding stressed. This was not exactly how she imagined meeting his parents and she could only hope that his mom didn't ask if they were dating.

As Kousuke enters the house and makes a rummaging sound, Ayame whom was asleep upstairs scrambles to attention and picks up a baseball bat that she had kept under the bed for such an occasion. Ever since Kousuke went missing, she had been incredibly stressed out and doing everything she could to find him. The Military Police said they were looking for him, but in a city of millions along with the evils that lurked out in the world, who knew what happened. She prayed and hoped that it was some stupid teenage thing and that her boy was going to come back in one piece. Kousuke's father didn't seem especially worried about it on the phone, which drove Ayame up the wall.

As she lurks downstairs, she hears Kousuke's voice but not the words, so she runs downstairs. Upon seeing her son back at last, she runs up to him and grips him tightly, smothering his head in the embrace.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU IDIOT" she says, releasing him and giving him a firm whack upside the head. The mix of rage and relief subsides when she then sees the other young woman in the room. She blinks several times, then takes a step back, glaring at Kousuke

"Who is she? Oh my god...don't tell me you eloped or something! What about your future?! Your college carrer?" she says, then glaring at him firm and hardly. She was wearing a set of black sweat bottoms and a white sweater on top, not entirely concerned about the appearance being in her own house and all as far as color matching.

Kousuke had been more or less expecting this response and was actually surprised he had gotten off so lightly with just a single smack. Though with everything else that he had been through today, this excitement was too much for him and he falls onto his butt. "Alright Mom, calm down, you aren't going to believe me if I tell you where I've been. So give me a sec to gather my thoughts on how to explain the story." he requests as he messages his temples, then after a few seconds he opens his eyes and exhales.

"Alright, Mom, I'm a superhero...or well I am one of those youma fighting teenage vigilanties you hear about on the news every now and then. I'm the one that throws rocks." He says as he leans back against the wall. "The black cat I brought home can talk, and let's see what else...oh right...that's Amarissa, she's my girlfriend. She was attacked by a youma so I brought her here since it was closer, and she was exhausted." he says, continuing to hide Ama's identity or at least giving her the opportunity to hide it.

"And I think that's about it..." he says with a satisfied smile as he starts leaning against the wall.

Amarissa hears something upstairs a second before his mom runs in. She watches the woman with a guarded expression as she yells at Kousuke, though that was expected. Her accusing him of eloping was also expected but still she winced. Lord, she was a straight A student and this woman was accusing her of sabotaging her son's college. Still, she sits quietly with her hands in her lap and her silver hair falling around her shoulders as he starts to explain.

She has to resist the urge to laugh at the superhero remark, it was just so clique. Their life was a dangerous movie. Then he announced that she was his girlfriend and despite her best efforts, surprise crosses her features as she stares first at him, then glances up at his mother. It's quickly followed by a lighting of her whole self as she seems to glow with a silver light for a brief, happiest in her life, moment. If his mom hadn't been standing there, she would likely have kissed him again. That thought brought her back to the present situation as Amarissa realized this all sounded very crazy and suddenly felt the need to defend him. "He's telling the truth, um Ms. Archer? I'm Amarissa Hiroshi, by the way," she says, then continues, "But he's not lying. Turn on the news, I bet we're on right now. I am also one of the 'vigilante teenagers', though that's not the best description," she trails off, worried the woman would think them nuts.

Thinking quickly and not much at all, Amarissa decides they need proof. There weren't any talking black cats around to help, so she decided to do the only thing she could. "Look, I can prove it," she says then stands up, holding on to Kou's shoulder for support and balance. Holding her locket she whispers, "Moon magic, make up," and a moment later is standing (questionably) in her senshi outfit. This lasts about a two minutes before she collapses back onto the couch, having de-transformed again from lack of energy.

"...Of all the stories I've ever heard..." Ayama starts while glaring at Kousuke for the insane story that he was saying, but when Amarissa stood up, introduced herself and then transformed momentarily, Ayame paused, blinked, and looked at her, agape in epxression as she extended a finger at Amarissa.

"...You can't be serious..."she murmurs, before falling back on her butt in disbelief, eyes wide open as the realization that Kousuke and Amarassia were both telling the truth sets in. She sits on the floor fazed by the revelation and her mind trying to process what it all means. Her boy was out to be some kind of vigilante now. Or he was going to get himself killed by a monster, or the military would catch him and torture him, or worse.

"And...how did all of this come about exactly? What in the heck gives you kids the idea that it's okay to fight monsters and blow up parts of the city? What if the army catches you or they kill you when you try to do something stupid. I know there was a wanted listing for an individual who attacked a military Lieutenant in the hospital...and that half a park was destroyed...along with a train station, and..." she murmurs, blanking out and glaring at her son.

"What do you expect me to say in response to this? What do you think your father would think right now?"

Clearly panic, confusion, and fear were going through the mother's heart right now, concerned about the well being of her son.

Kousuke looks at Ama in surprise as she transforms. He hadn't expected her to go all in like this. Though to be honest it was probably good that she did it since he was blatantly unable to at the moment. "have I ever told you, you look good in that outfit?" Kousuke asks in an oddly light hearted manner when Ama transforms as he gives her his best smile, though there was an edge of humor to the whole thing.

When his mom starts freaking out Kousuke sighs. "Okay, first of all it's not fair that you only name stuff that I'm responsible for..." he says then trails off realizing that probably wasn't the wisest thing to say then turning to Ama. "I just realized, when it's just the rest of you guys there's never as much collateral damage...am I bad at this?" He asks in a mildly contemplative tone. He clearly didn't seem that bothered by his mother's objections.

"Also Mom, you know full well that Dad wouldn't scold me for this, hell he'd probably ask to get in on it." Kousuke reminds her, after all it couldn't be easy being married to Kousuke's father, he empathized with his mother. "Though the long and short of it is...I'm not really sure how you're supposed to respond to this, I'm not going to stop, at this point you probably can't force me even if you try, and finally what I'm doing is the right thing. I'm sorry." He says with total conviction and a very Kousuke like simplicity.

Amarissa blushes at the compliment and shakes her head. "No, but thank you," she says quietly, as she listens to his mom rant. She looks at Kousuke in surprise as his mother questions him and he admits to causing all the damage. "I didn't know you did those things, Kou. No, I wouldn't say you're bad at this. You just well you're melee. And you throw you rocks and besides, I've technically only been in 4 battles now. Two of those were major group participation," she says, answering despite his mother's presence. "Though, I suppose it's no wonder the military doesn't like us then..." she trails off as Kousuke begins to counter about his dad's response.

The silver haired senshi turns to his mother, remembering she asked how all this got started. "Well, it's a long story. But basically, we've always had these powers, sleeping dormant in us. We were Chosen, before we were born. We just didn't know it, until these talking cats started going around explaining things and giving us magical items to help awaken our potential," she explains, calmly and precisely as if she were giving a summary to her english class.

As Kousuke inadvertently admits to his hand in the events that were mentioned by Ayame, she blinks and stares at her son for several moments before she grasps the nearest book and clenches it, almost tempted to throw it at him.

"What were you thinking?! You..." she starts, then stopping herself. She frowns, looking at her son and his supposed girlfriend. She wondered whether she got him involved in this bizzare alter-ego lifestyle, but decided against lashing out. The line from Amarissa about him being born with it along with the others just made her twitch a little. Did his father somehow force this on him?

No it wasn't right to blame him, though the situation made Ayame extremely distressed. She looks at Kousuke.

"I do not approve of this. I do not approve of you running into battles against monsters that could very easily kill you. Even if I have no way of making you stop, I'd hope you at least keep my feelings in consideration. I don't want to see my only son die horribly." she says, then turning and walking away from the living room into the kitchen nearby. Her eyes were watery and distress was overwhelming her. The stress from Kousuke going missing with the apparent revelation that he was fighting Covenant monsters was too much to take. She grasps the counter and breathes deep trying to stabilize herself.

As his mom finishes telling him of how much she disapproves of this Kousuke lays back down. "Mom, I'm not doing this as a form of rebellion or because I was conned into it. We've been the only ones to make any progress as far as fighting the youma goes.Today we defeated one of their leaders." Kousuke didn't know exactly how to say this but he looked at his mom in the other room and finally said.

"Mom, you can trust me with the fate of the world, just like I can trust you with my identity." He says to her, looking older than the usual Kousuke. "I'm sorry for the worry I'm going to be putting you through, an don't think that because I'm not going to listen I don't love you or I'm throwing my life away. This has to be done, and besides do you really think the son you raised would die to some random monster?" he asks with a smirk.

Amarissa fell silent as the other two continued to argue about Kousuke's involvement. As far as she saw it, there wasn't much his mother could do about. Certainly, she couldn't stop him and would save herself some stress if she just resigned to being supportive. Least, that was her opinion but she supposed that didn't matter much.

They had mostly forgotten about her for a moment, and she took the time so look around. Mostly just trying to imagine how her mother would take it. Because absolutely, now Amarissa had to tell her mom the truth. It wasn't quite right to tell her supposed boyfriend (she still wasn't sure if it was official or just a convenient thing to tell his mom) and not tell her own mother. Luna was going to have a hernia when she found all this out.

Sighing, Amarissa turned her attention back to the argument. It really wasn't her place to say anything but... "We don't really want to be doing this anymore than you, or anyone else, wants us to. It's dangerous, time consuming, and stressful. We do it because it's the right thing to do and because we're the only ones who can. Don't you miss the spring?" she finishes quietly, her voice full of a determined sort of sadness as she tries to get his mother to understand the whole situation.