[Kaliko]

"... Whatever can be learned from muscle memory," Blaze replied.

[Rinrou]

Kale blinked, "You'd probably kick my butt at basketball then." he sighed, glancing back at the screen.

[Kaliko]

"... I don't know basketball," Blaze replied, looking a little confused. "I have to learn something before I can do it."

[Rinrou]

A grin slowly spread of Kale's face, "What else don't you know?" he asked innocently.

[Kaliko]

Blaze frowned as she thought about it. "... Well, most of what I know is combat related."

[Rinrou]

Kale nodded, "Well it's good to know I can be better than you at most things for the first couple of tries." he teased with a small chuckle.

[Kaliko]

Blaze blinked, not really getting what was so amusing. "Other people say it takes the fun out of it; using muscle memory instead of thinking."

[Rinrou]

Kale shrugged, "I say use the tools in your toolbox. I don't have your muscle memory but I'm a quick thinker. To each his own, right?" he replied easily, "I don't think one's more 'fun' than the other."

[Kaliko]

"Huh," Blaze replied like she had never thought about that before. "I guess so," she decided after a moment. "Of course I wouldn't ever know for sure since I can't 'turn off' the muscle memory."

[Rinrou]

"Then take my word for it." Kale replied with a smile, "It's better to be happy with what you have then spend your life wondering what it would be like to have what others have." he winked at Blaze.

[Kaliko]

Blaze looked at Kale for a long moment. Then she turned back to the screen, but not before she blushed lightly. She nodded. "I hear that drives even normal people crazy," she replied. "Life isn't fair, but that's okay. That took me awhile to learn; since it can't be learned with muscle memory."

[Rinrou]

Kale let out out a little snort as he continued to smile. He glanced at her every once in awhile as she continued to kick his butt.

Over the next week, Kale continued to go on his nightly raids. The group had left sweden and was now headed to Germany with fresh ground for Kale to cover. He continued to supper with Blaze and even showed her a bit of Basketball. He was definitely good.

James did a remarkable job of completely steering clear of Yue for the entire week. She never saw so much as a glimpse of him. Wolfe seemed to be ignoring her for the most part, though that wasn't so unusual. The woman continued to check in on her from time to time.

Laurel's father continued to drift through stages, some days he was calm even with Laurel's presence and other times he was just as violent as when he first came. His sickness was just about healed though, the strong medication working wonders. Laurel was mostly the same, still defensive when Raven discussed issues related to her father, but she broke out a smile once in awhile while they chatted about other things. She seemed to be relaxing ever so slightly.

"Oh a whole," Bee told Raven as they ate in the kitchen, "I think he's getting better. But it's a long process." she sighed.

[Kaliko]

Blaze was unusually happy, which was understandable. She seemed to find something to fill every moment of every day as she started to learn about things other than fighting. She didn't look like she was going to let the extra time go to waste. One day she was busy baking and that night Kale came back to find some home made rice krispee treats with chocolate chips in them outside his door.

If Yue was upset, she didn't let on about it. For the most part she was her normal grumpy self, keeping mostly to the daily schedule she had set out for herself.

"That's good to hear," Raven replied, more chipper than he had been in a long time as he grabbed another pancake for himself.

[Rinrou]

In the morning Blaze found the now empty plate with a neon green sticky note on it. On the sticky note was a smiley.

Bee watched him with a smile, "At this rate, maybe we can have some real progress before Nic gets back." she nodded.

"Why does it matter if Nic gets back?" Laurel suddenly asked from the doorway. Bee blinked at her, she hadn't seen her come in.

[Kaliko]

"You're late," Raven announced to Laurel even though she wasn't. "Hurry up and eat something and then get ready."

[Rinrou]

Laurel blinked and went over to the food. Once she had picked out things she could eat, she took a seat and stared at Bee. "Why does it matter?" she asked, clearly not dropping the topic. Bee shifted a little, glancing at Raven. She wasn't sure how Laurel would react.