Sooooo, for those of you who remember Matchbox, this ir sort-of-not-really a revamping, except it'll be in oneshots and updated on whim, because univerity/scholarship apps and timetables and all that STUFF is nerve wracking. For those of you who've never read Matchbox, I hope you enjoy aswell!

Iaragon

One: It Begins

Lupin yawned. Loudly. And definitely on purpose.

"Miss Lupin," the guidance counsellor huffed, splaying both her hands across the tiny desk in the tiny room. Her face was red, Lupin noted with (malicious) amusement. Really, all she did this time was yawn.

"I know my name," Lupin said, grinning predatorily. "I'm not here because I have amnesia."

Mrs. Hung's mouth tilted into one firm line. "Would it really be that difficult to listen to me for five minutes without interupting me?"

"I didn't interupt you," the teen replied, sounding innocent but unable to keep a straight face. "I'm dreadfully fatigued, sensei, from another all-nighter studying math textbooks and doing quadratic formulas for fun-,"

"That's enough," the counsellor sniffed, pretending to be ignorant to Lupin's laughter, which had finally overflowed. "We'll great straight to the point, Miss Lupin. How was your day today?"

Lupin's laughter faded, but the wicked grin remained. How she loved to torment this woman. "Simply splendid."

"Oh?" Mrs. Hung raised an eyebrow. "I'm quite sure Kemaro-san would say otherwise."

"Tsk," Lupin set her feet on Mrs. Hung's desk, mightily amused at the scowl Mrs. Hung tried and failed to hide. "Kemaro's day was terrible, probably. But you weren't asking me about his day, were you? My day was simply splendid."

"I'm interested to hear your reason for knocking Kemaro-san out during P.E.," Mrs. Hung continued dryly.

Lupin's grin faded. After a moment, it appeared again. "He was being naughty. Someone had to give him a slap on the wrist."

"And you consider it your duty to pass judgement on others but not yourself?"

"I'm surprised you caught on so fast."

"The school system will deal with delinquents like Kemaro-san," Mrs. Hung said firmly. "The same way they deal with delinquents like you."

"Slow, tortuous death by guidance appointments?"

Mrs. Hung sighed, and Lupin knew that was it. She grinned and hopped out of her chair, grabbing the cup of coffee that she wasn't allowed to drink during sessions, and cradling it gleefully on her way to the door.

"See you tomorrow, sensei," she said brightly, threw open the door, and practically dashed out.

In the hallway, Lupin calmed down a bit. She glanced at the closed door behind her as though expecting Mrs. Hung to come dashing out angrily, but nothing happened. Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Lupin walked down the empty school hallway and exited through a side door.

It was sunny, Lupin thought with annoyance, brushing bangs from her eyes to glare up at the sun. The staring contest only lasted a matter of seconds, however, until Lupin cried out and clapped her hands over her eyes.

Damn sun. It thought it was so high and mighty just because without it everyone would die…

One day, bastard. One day.

"Lupin!"

Lupin peered through her fingers at a tall shadow suddenly looming over her. "Yusuke…" she muttered. "I'm busy."

Yusuke faulted. "I haven't even asked you anything yet!"

"Good. I'm still busy."

"But-,"

"I'm not buying flowers for Keiko again and putting your name on them," she scowled. "It's your own fault she's always mad at you."

"What?!"

"You always blow her off!"

"But I got my reasons!"

"Obviously that excuse isn't working!" she huffed softly and shuffled in her pocket for a pack of cigarettes. Sticking one in her mouth, she grinned at the look of disgust on Yusuke's face as she searched for a lighter.

"Gross…"

"Whatever," she muttered through her teeth, removing the cigarette briefly to take a large gulp of coffee. "Keiko's going to get sick of it, you know."

Yusuke scowled at the floor. "I'm trying, alright?" he said defensively.

"I'm sick of it, and I'm not even your girlfriend," Lupin blew out a stream of smoke and tossed her empty cappuccino cup in a passing garbage. She rubbed one eye tiredly. "I think the last time I met up with one of you was a couple months ago. Seeing you, Keiko, and Kazuma all at once just might give me a heart attack. Just…I don't know. I'm not a relationship guru. She's lonely and I'm not fun company."

"Whatever," Yusuke muttered, mimicking her earlier use of the word. Lupin rolled her eyes.

"Look." She set a hand on her hip and stopped on the sidewalk. "Do you know where Kazuma is? He lent me five bucks."

"He went to the mall," Yusuke spat the word out with disgust. "Pickin' somethin' up for Shizuru."

"Tampons?" Lupin snickered.

"Ugh," Yusuke scowled even as a light blush dusted his nose. "Don't talk about that! Aren't girls supposed to be, like, taboo on that kind of thing?!"

She laughed brightly, rubbing the back of her head with a large grin. "Too easy!" she jeered. "I'll see you later. Hopefully before I graduate."

"If you get that far," Yusuke muttered childishly.

She was already jogging towards the mall. "I will!" she called back brightly.

Well, eventually, anyways. Lupin hopped across a garden gnome on her jaunt through someone's front lawn and hurried through a crosswalk down towards the grocery store, plugging small white headphones into her ears. She slowed to a more leisurely pace and snuffed out her cigarette, blissfully unaware of anything but the bass vibrating through her mp3 player. It is then quite understandable that Lupin would be oblivious to the sound of someone running towards her from the opposite direction. It would be equally unfair to blame Lupin for bending down to tie her shoe at the exact moment the runner had been about to pass her, resulting in a rather brutal collision of flesh and bones.

Lupin felt a body - well, more legs than a body - knock into her side with such force she found herself sprawled across the ground near the curb. Her earphones were ripped painfully from her ears as her hip slammed brutally against the concrete sidewalk. She felt the thump of another body dropping aswell even as expletives spilled furiously from her mouth. Her palm scraped across the sidewalk on contact, leaving a sharp sting in its wake.

"What the hell - !" Lupin sat up incredulously, then froze, staring at her impromptu attacker. At first, the only thing she could register was his vibrant, richly-coloured - it can't possibly be natural - hair. Red, blood red. The mane of crimson shifted and pooled gently across his shoulders as the man stood. It drifted gently in the breeze, not one strand out of place even after their untimely crash.

Lupin blinked as an outstretched hand abruptly filled her vision. "I am terribly sorry," said the red-haired man, voice soft and pleasant and alarmingly artificial. Lupin stared past the hand at almond-shaped eyes that were politely concerned on the surface, but she could see a hidden indifference lurking behind those pretenses.

The dark-haired woman cocked her head and rolled her eyes, snapping out of the strange reverie. She scooted back so she could stand up, opting to ignore the insincere weirdo, rubbing her sore ears and glancing about for her mp3 player. She found it sitting innocently on the road not far from where she fell and grinned triumphantly, bending down over the curb to pick it up -

Hands curled around her shoulders and jerked her backwards mere seconds before a truck, horn blaring, zoomed past them right over the place Lupin had been crouched. As it drove away, Lupin could only stare blankly at what had once been her mp3 player. It lay in tiny, crunched pieces, never to play another tune.

The redhead seemed to take her silence for shock. He released her shoulders. "You should be more careful," he chastised simply. "These roads are quite busy."

Lupin turned to stare at him. He'd broken her mp3 player. He'd broken her mp3 player. He'd broken her mp3 player.

"You - my -," Lupin pointed angrily at the mess of plastic scattered on the road, trying to articulate. "It - what the hell did you do that for? What have I ever done to you?! Let me guess, you're one of Matsuri's buddies, aren't you?"

A frown greased the redhead's brow. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Are you hurt?"

"AM I HURT!" Lupin clenched her fists tightly and again gestured wildly at the road. "You broke my mp3 player, dammit!"

The weirdo followed her hand to the road and the broken music player. He looked calm again. "It was run over by the truck, miss. I did not touch it."

"I was about to get it! And then you grabbed me! It would still be in one piece if you hadn't tried to play the hero!"

"I beg your pardon." the redhead shook his head. "You were about to be crushed-,"

"You made that assumption! I could hear the truck coming, stupid, which is why I was getting it! DAMNIT!" Lupin threw her hands up angrily. "YOU THINK I COULDN'T SEE THE DAMN TRUCK?! YOU - YOU PUNK!"

They were attracting quite a crowd. The redhead glanced about briefly. "I'm very sorry," he said, but Lupin couldn't detect an ounce of sincerity. "But I am in a great hurry."

And before Lupin could get the words out, he was gone. She mouthed soundlessly for a moment, staring at the spot he had been, and looking around wildly. He was nowhere in sight.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

--

The next day Lupin approached the same road, dressed in black, and laid a rose on the curb. She sniffed sadly as she placed a small card next to the road.

'Here lies my one true love. May you find peace in that big music store in the sky.'

--

tbc.