I do not own Miraculous: tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, nor do I own Bleach. I only own my OCs. I do not make a cent on this story, it's purely for fun.
This story is a sequel to The girl next door, if you haven't read that one yet, I suggest you do. It isn't my best work, I will admit but I felt it necessary to write it first to explain the back story to this one. Happy reading!
Sixteen-year-old Adrien Agreste sat on a school bus as they travelled along the road, his best friend for the past year sat on one side of him, across the walk way of the bus at the center. Beside Nino was his girlfriend Alya, and next to Adrien was a blue haired girl, watching the scenery as the bus continued its journey. Marinette no longer stiffened up whenever she saw him like she had in the first year together. Actually at one point last year, he'd helped her out by acting as an interpreter when her great-Uncle had visited from China, however Adrien still had the feeling she was holding something back. He was grateful to her great-uncle though, because that was the first day she seemed to really relax around him, and talk without stuttering too much.
The white haired girl in front of him turned around and smiled at Adrien, "Excited?"
Adrien gave a small chuckle and a friendly smile to the teenaged girl, who hadn't appeared to age or grow in the past year, she'd kept her hair the same length and wore the same half-up style she always wore.
"You know, you should do something different with your hair," Adrien suggested.
Rin quirked a brow, "Touch my hair, Golden boy, you'll wish you hadn't."
This made Adrien give a deep belly laugh. From the corner of her eye Rin caught Marinette's soured facial expression, confirming exactly what she'd suspected.
"Miss Wantanabe, please sit properly on the bus," their teacher, Madame Montclair requested.
Rin gave a sheepish look and offered an apology as she turned around again. Adrien looked to Marinette and felt his stomach lurch. She looked nearly ready to commit murder.
"Something wrong Mari?"
"No," Marinette lied.
"Marinette, come on, that look you're giving right now isn't really like you," Adrien coaxed.
"I'm fine," Marinette rephrased.
"Right, and I'm the lead in Swan Lake," Rin offered, hoping the blue haired teen would catch on.
Marinette's eyes widened as she stared at the back of Rin's head, "Wait a second… last year, were you in a chat room for College Francois Dupont students?"
"I was," Rin confirmed.
"You're SnowyXTiger, aren't you?"
Rin turned her head as far to Marinette as she could without turning her body, "I am. Fashionista_Sweets, right?"
Marinette nodded, "Yes, but then-who was-"
Rin gave a slight nod of her head towards Adrien, "StrayCat04."
Marinette looked to Adrien with her mouth gaped, "really?"
"Guilty," Adrien admitted with a pink blush tinting his cheeks.
"We met at Fencing Practice the next day," Rin added.
Marinette gave a saddened look, "Then… I wasn't really your first friend other than Nino, huh?"
"I wouldn't say that," Rin replied before Adrien could.
"While Adrien and I understood each other, and spoke occasionally, we were more acquaintances than friends," Rin told Marinette.
"Well, at least in the beginning, now I'd say we're friends but it wasn't nearly as fast happening as you and Adrien becoming friends," Rin confirmed.
"Only reason he started talking to me so much was he felt sure Nino was going to start smacking him around everytime he mentioned how much he missed you while you were in China this past summer," Rin concluded.
"Rin!"
Marinette glanced at Adrien to see his entire face now held the red glow of a deep blush, she didn't even know someone could turn that red faced so quickly. Is that what she'd looked like whenever she stumbled over herself around him last year?
Rin gave a slight chuckle then she turned serious, "And during that time… came an anniversary of something I wish I could forget. He helped me through it, and we've been friends since."
Marinette would be lying if she tried to say she wasn't curious about what Rin meant by an anniversary, but the way she spoke of it, the edge to her voice, the tears seeped into her words, she thought better than to push it further.
"He really is a sweet guy," Marinette offered.
Rin nodded in agreement.
"Dude, if you blush anymore you'll turn purple," Nino joked, although he was actually fairly serious. The poor blonde haired emerald eyed model did look like he was about to die from embarrassment.
"I don't know any of you," Adrien growled as he pulled up the hood on his jacket and tried to will himself into invisibility.
Rin had her eyes closed, and a hand daintily held over her mouth as she silently quaked with suppressed laughter. Since finding out a few things about Marinette and Adrien, she was finding it particularly challenging to not tease the Agreste heir.
The bus came to its full stop shortly after, as everyone stood and followed the trip's organizer out of the bus. Chloe growled, "I'm going to get bitten by so many mosquitos! This is just awful. Why couldn't it be sunbathing day? Why do we have to go hiking? Ugh."
Rin fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead gave Marinette an unamused look and gestured with her head towards Chloe.
Marinette nodded in agreement as they made their way off the bus, Rin had a pink backpack slung over her shoulder.
"I don't get you," Chloe stated looking directly at Rin.
Rin gave a small smirk before asking, "What precisely do you have difficulty understanding?"
"First off, you talk like you're from another era. Get with it, and start learning some slang. Second, why do you dress like that? Third, who says you can talk to my Adrikins? Fourth, what is with you and pink? You're like another Mari-trash," Chloe erupted with a series of inquiries that left Rin completely unfazed.
The white haired girl grabbed the model's wrist, and began inspecting him as if searching for something.
Chloe's unamused voice interrupted her thought process with the demanding question, "what are you doing?"
"You claimed he's yours, so I'm checking, and what do ya know? I don't see your name anywhere on him," Rin replied with a cheshire smirk, "So he can't be yours, can he? He is his own person and whom he choses to be friends with is none of your concern."
Chloe's jaw dropped but Rin continued on, her tone not taking an edge to it, or giving into Chloe's taunting one bit.
"I speak this way because frankly, until three years ago, I only spoke Japanese. I'm finding French to be a little easier to master but I would not call myself well enough versed to be a sensei yet,"
"Sensei?" Chloe spat back with venom in her tone.
"Teacher, Chloe. She wouldn't want to teach French to anyone yet," Adrien intervened on Rin's behalf.
Rin nodded in agreement.
"As for my choice of clothes? Why does it matter to you what I wear? It is my body and my choice, so long as I break no school rules regarding attire, there's no issues. Lastly, yes I happen to like pink quite a bit, just as you seem to be obsessed with yellow and gold. Or do you only like yellow because it reminds you of gold which is thought to symbolize wealth but in fact symbolizes slavery," Rin concluded.
"What?!" Chloe demanded.
"It's true. Your love of gold only conveys that you accept that slavery is an acceptable as a means of obtaining something that's of value to you. Quite an ugly characteristic, if you were to ask me, but I notice you don't even seem to care what your friends think or even feel. As such, I'm not concerning myself with how you think of me, Chloe. If anyone should concern themselves with a public image, it is you who should be worried," Rin clarified.
Marinette's jaw dropped. That confirmed it alright, Rin was most definitely SnowyXTiger from the chatroom last year. Adrien kept quiet and didn't change his expression. He'd seen Rin take down a hollow in one hit, standing up to an everyday garden variety bully was as simple to her as obtaining a cup of water.
Chloe stuck her nose up in the air as she turned away from Rin.
"Totally awesome," Marinette complimented.
"It's nothing," Rin stated as she focused her attention on the teachers who were beginning to discuss safety during the hike.
Marinette quickly regarded Rin's attire. She was wearing pink hued camouflage cargo pants and a plain blue t-shirt with cupped sleeves, and finished the look with pink and white running shoes.
"So you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with what you're wearing," Marinette whispered to Rin.
Rin snuck Marinette a quick smile of appreciation while she thought to herself, 'No wonder why Master Fu chose her to be Ladybug.'
"I'll pair up with Rin, I mean, if that's okay?" A boy called out.
Rin inwardly groaned, the boy was in her class and was undeniably annoying, although she had a very clear idea of why, it didn't absolve her irritation at his frequent attempts to be alone with her, in fact in heightened her irritability. Her bus had been horrendously filled but thanks to Sabrina taking ill that day there'd been a spare seat on the bus with Adrien's class. The guy had actually offered to let Rin ride on his lap the whole way to the hiking trail causing the white haired girl to threaten to put him on ice. Why had she even done that? She clearly wasn't thinking.
"I'll pair with her," Marinette and Adrien both offered simultaneously.
Rin blinked a bit before giving them an appreciative smile in their directions, "You're both too kind."
The boy scowled a bit, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Marinette and Adrien, you're in a different class from her, I'm afraid that is simply not possible," Madam Montclair stated.
Rin gave a slight shrug of her shoulders and shot the two a look that said 'thanks anyway.'
'Guess I'm stuck with the guy that's crushing on me…. God please don't let him confess anytime soon. I'm just not ready,' Rin inwardly pleaded, she felt her throat begin to tighten with grief as the thought washed over her. She gently held forehead and gave her head a quick shake.
"Rin?" Marinette asked.
Chloe even blinked and appeared to have a concerned expression on her face.
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Rin lied.
"Don't quit your day job, you've got friends you know," Adrien added.
"I know," Rin confirmed, "But I'm okay."