Disclaimer: Why else am I here in FanFiction? c:
For my sister who really likes Ruka-pyon. Cx
Special thanks to Alex (SapphiRubyCrys) who helped me in this. C:
Thank you so much.
Bad Boy Lessons
Chapter 1
Ruka Nogi has a reputation of being kind and gentle. He was always the person whom everyone would like to seek comfort to. He was always the soft-spoken one—the blue-eyed one who can't be easily angered. But today… today marks a new beginning. He will shed out of his timid self and alter into a better one: A self-confident, hot-blooded, bad-ass. Many would probably be questioning why he is willing to change—actually, a lot already have.
"Dude! I don't think it's a good idea!" said Kokoro Yome. His eyes widened like saucers and they were shaded with wariness. Beside him Kitsuneme agreed with a frantic nod. "Yeah, it's already bad to think about it!"
"I don't think it is either," The blond admitted. "But it's a risk, I'm willing to take."
A risk of forgetting who he used to be… well, this is how much he loved her dearly. This is how much he wanted to get Hotaru Imai to fall head over heels in love with him and everyone—everyone knows that girls prefer the bad boys. It says so in Cosmopolitan (he is not reading such a thing he just happened to take a glimpse while Nonoko is reading it).
Ruka mentally curses (he thinks it's rude to say it aloud). He is already late. Nine in the morning is their agreed time since his best friend—Natsume Hyuuga wants to spend time with Mikan for the whole afternoon. Ruka respects that request. He knows how paranoid the fire-caster is for the girl.
He used to be paranoid for her too. But soon after those two got together, Ruka's love for Hotaru crept up like a ninja...
It just happened quickly while she tried to snap a shot of him. He was still depressed. She knocked him out with her Baka Cannon 63 Limited Edition and told him that if he wasn't fun at all and that he was just moping around like it's the end of his life. Then, out of the blue she said he could always ask her—as long as he pays her 300 rabbits for an advice or better yet company.
And she really did spend lots of time with him after taking pictures and he smiled more than he thought as a tiny spec of light reappeared in his life which only grew in time and Hotaru's light took over the darkness and his regained his happiness.
Ruka smiles mildly at the thought. He remembers the moments of Natsume and Mikan briefly.
Heh. Just thinking of the famous couple made Ruka wonder if he and Hotaru could ever be like them in the future...Ever. A smile flashes on his face uncontrollably. He really starts bursting in excitement.
The blond jogs towards Natsume's special-star dorm. Usually, people would knock on the door—especially if the door leads to an ill-tempered, merciless pyromaniac—but Ruka didn't. He merely went inside, shouting, "I'm here, Natsume! I'm sorry if I was late!"
Ruka closes the door behind hastily and he could hear his best friend replying blatantly, "Five minutes late."
Before his sky blue eyes is an irritated sixteen-year-old boy. Natsume has one hand parting through his black, raven hair. He is lying on his sophisticated couch, definitely absorb to his brand new manga of whatnot. Without peering over, Natsume mutters, "What have you been doing?"
"I-I woke up late. Sorry," says Ruka hastily and averts his eyes sheepishly from the fire-caster who holds up his hand and shakes his head disapprovingly.
"Don't apologize!" He chastises. "That's the first thing about being a remarkable guy like me." Ruka finds it hard to miss his haughtiness. He begins to search for a memory on how he even got Natsume into this.
"Hn." He rolled his blood-red eyes and did his best to disregard his three friends shrouding him. They managed to corner him when he was sitting under the Sakura tree.
"Could you all just go to the desert and never come back?" Natsume grumbled. All he wanted was to read the new manga he bought but with Koko and Kitsu continuing simultaneously "You need to" he was so close to wrecking.
"You have to!" Kitsuneme pleaded.
"Come on, you're the best bad-ass guy in this class—actually in the whole academy!" said Koko.
"I am not." Natsume snarled trying to find peace in reading.
"Yes, you are!" Kitsu insisted, tearing the manga from his hands. "You just do what you do and burn anybody's hair off—l-like now! GAH! Koko! My HAIR! It's on fire!" Kitsuneme was already running around the tree with Kokoro tailing after.
"Why in the hell would Ruka like to turn into me?" muttered Natsume, getting up to pick up his crinkled manga with a scowl.
Ruka sighed the answer, "I just want Hotaru to fall for me—"
"No," he snorted.
"Please..."
"No."
"Oh, come on Natsume!"
"Ruka, this is ridiculous."
"But... But all the bad boys get the girls!"
"... Have you been reading Cosmopolitan again?"
"N-No! I just happen to see when Nonoko—chan...!"
"I'm not taking the bait. Unbelievable. I told you to read mangas but instead you chose a woman's magazine—!"
"Did not!"
"Liar. I'm going to burn that bunny of yours."
"Let's talk about it later and leave Usagi out of this! Please... I just want to find some love in my life already…" Ruka was going for the big eyes knowing Natsume could never back down from the "big" eyes (it's actually puppy eyes but it's manlier if it was "big" eyes). And as expected, Natsume crossed his arms while muttering incoherent things to himself.
"… Tch. If you're that desperate, I can give you lessons." He finally said.
"Wha—!? R-Really, Natsume!?" Ruka was so ready to get fall on his knees and bow down to his teacher who nodded coolly. The animal-lover fist pumped the air with a loud and pleasing, "Yes!"
And with that, Natsume set Ruka's difficult Math homework on fire for destroying his mood and also to seal the deal.
Now, the dangerous fire-caster motions the blond to find comfort on the armchair. Natsume sits up and studies him. "You sure you want this?" He speaks at last.
"Yeah," Ruka responds in a heart beat. "It's all for her."
This is all for Hotaru... He can picture her violet eyes locked on his. They're pretty especially when she gives out her rare smile and he wants to be the reason for it. Always.
Natsume sighs out of exasperation. "Whatever. So, I'll just give you a stepping stone to become a… guy like me." He massages his head in disbelief. He just doesn't understand what the world is doing to his best friend.
The blond starts fetching for his personal mini-notebook and pen in his pocket. He flips it and eagerly readies himself to write. "Please do!" He says. Natsume scowls and groans, "First, don't say 'Please'. Stop being so freakin' polite."
Ruka nods fervently, jotting down that statement.
"Next is, what the hell are you wearing?" Natsume raises a brow at his garments.
"Um… a casual outfit."
"Tch. You look too damn formal to be casual."
"O-Oh, really? I-I just prefer to be prim and—!"
"Gay."
"I am not!"
"I bet you got that sense of style from reading that stupid Cosmopolitan."
"I already told you! I've only read it twice time in my whole life! The first was when Misaki wants to show me this ski-cap she wants to buy for Tsubasa-senpai. And the second time was when I was sitting next to Nonoko-chan in the library and I just saw it by accident—you know the whole pie chart of what type of guy every girl likes!" Ruka pauses his ranting when he sees Natsume getting off of the couch and going to his personal rack of mangas across the room.
He quickly returns with an incredibly pink magazine and shoves it in Ruka's hands.
"Here," says Natsume. "I've been thinking of giving it to Narumi as a joke but I think you need it more."
Ruka stares at it then in a matter of seconds, he chucks it at the fire-caster's face with rage. "WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME A MAGAZINE ABOUT GETTING MEN!?"
"Just in case if getting my girlfriend's best friend to like you fails... There are other fishes in the sea," he replies smoothly as he nonchalantly takes the magazine out of his emotionless face. Honestly. This guy...
"I AM NOT INTERESTED IN MEN BECAUSE I'M NOT GAY!" The animal-lover wants to throw the notepad and pen at him but instead he pour all his effort to glare at him. But of course, Natsume simply shrugs like it was nothing and flings the magazine on the couch.
"Jerk..." The blond mutters after a while. Natsume shakes his head with a roll of his eyes. "Make that another issue. You have lame comebacks. It should be more threatening and humiliating..."
Ruka stops writing it to frown at him. "I... I can't do that! We're b-best friends!"
"Pussy."
"... Jerk."
"Are you sure you don't want the magazine?"
"NO. You are a really... big... jerk with earrings and... irregular haircut and pointy... eyebrows... You know what, you can just give it to Narumi!" It's official. Ruka totally fails at making the statement threatening—actually, it isn't even any close to being an insult...
"God, you suck like crap." The fire-caster sighs the truth and again, shakes his head disapprovingly. "Come on, you could do better than that..."
Ruka flails his arms in frustration. "N-No, I can't!"
"Ah, that's another thing we need to change," says Natsume amusingly. "You need to have more confidence."
"I-I am confident!" Ruka protests, erasing that note from his check list to be a bad boy. "I've participated in lots of plays, Natsume!"
Those dark red eyes narrow down on him in the most 'are-you-serious' look. "If you're that confident, you could have confessed to that freaky inventor already," says Natsume. Ruka bites his lip and allows his best friend to take that point.
But he doesn't appreciate hearing him say Hotaru is a freaky inventor.
He grips his pen tightly and pouts. "You're a know-it-all jerk," Ruka mumbles.
"Stop bitching me about me. Oh, and it's high time you get rid of that white ball of cotton."
"Y-You d-d-don't mean…" Ruka's azure eyes widen, nearly dropping his pen. Natsume then says with a tint of malice, "That's right."
"But I can't go on without Usagi! She's my pet—no my family! You can take away my personality but not her!" He wags his pen angrily at Natsume's stoic face—practically close to jabbing it. The fire-caster contorts a face and says, "It's just a rabbit and… it's a girl?"
"Yes!"
"… Great. My whole life was a lie." Natsume runs a hand through his raven hair. "Unless it's gay like you…"
"Fine! How about I don't carry her around in public—or wait, I could turn her into one mean rabbit to match with me!" suggests Ruka lightly.
Natsume thought for a momentarily. "… So, it is gay."
"She is a girl for God's sake, Natsume! And I thought I made it clear that I am not gay. You're being ridiculously delusional."
"Whatever," he says, turning away towards his bedroom. "Oh, and one more thing about being a bad boy... No taking of notes." And with that said, the notepad bursts into flames and Ruka is force to throw it down to the ground and stomp madly at it. He glares at the back of his best friend.
"We'll start as soon as possible," he says, motioning him to follow.
"Okay." And Ruka's anxiety is rising quicker as he thinks to himself... Maybe this is a bad idea.
A/N: I've been thinking of writing this for a long time and so I'm happy it's out here now. Do leave again another violent review for the lonely box below!
Thank you for reading!