Disclaimer: I own nothing; the mentioned characters belong to their
respective creators and companies.
Author's Notes: Er...I haven't posted in awhile, eh? **nervous laughter** I'm so sorry! I really, really am! I know I promised the seventh chapter of 'Agony' out ages ago, but school started and I just couldn't set aside enough time to write anything. Gomen nasai, minna-chan. In the meantime, whilst I battle severe writer's block and lack of free time, read this! ^^;;
She needed something extraordinary. She needed something that was diabolical and yet strangely brilliant -- something that wouldn't cramp her style.
She needed a plan.
The tension in the room resulted in the faint beads of moisture glistening her brow, and the nervous way her eyes darted from the furious face.
Well, she could make a run for it. She could sprint for the window and pray for a quick, painless death by means of impact.
Or she could tell the truth.
The Headmaster could almost read her mind, and knew the moment her eyes flickered finally and lingeringly to the window, that she had opted for the former possibility.
"Miss Tsukino, such rash and wayward choices are unnecessary. So, if you please..."
The golden goddess suspired, sinking suddenly and dispiritedly into the cushioned seat of the satin-red armchair. "Headmaster..." she began, but fell short. "It was a joke, a prank! Neither of us ever meant to hurt anyone!" The words toppled out in an irregular jumble. "That stupid git of a boy was just in the way when the Whomping Willow went crazy!" Her sapphire eyes were as close to pleading as the headmaster had seen them in years.
Such a shame, he thought with a shaking of his head. He removed his spectacles, cleaning the lenses casually with a small tissue, before slipping them back on.
Upon looking upward again, the chair was empty. Usagi Tsukino was at the window, one hand tentatively pressed to the frosty, cool-to-the-touch glass. He hadn't even heard her move.
"Miss Tsukino..."
"I know"--she swallowed, she was a proud person and it was difficult for her to admit to anything--"that that boy was hurt. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Minako didn't mean to. Please leave her out of this."
"Are you sorry, then, Miss Tsukino?" he queried. If she didn't apologize -- if she truly felt no remorse whatsoever -- then there wasn't any hope left for her. Any hope except...well, he did not desire it to come to that.
She turned, then, and her eyes were the hard, flat eyes of a genuine loner. "No," she said, in an eerily pleasant tone. "I'm just sorry that nobody but myself laughed when it happened." She wasn't being sarcastic. She was telling the truth.
The headmaster felt that frail optimism -- the optimism that perhaps she could find it within herself to care like she had used to -- shrivel.
He hadn't thought she'd say it, he'd had faith she would come to her senses. A last-ditch effort to allow her to change her mind came in the words, "That's too bad, Miss Tsukino."
"No it's not." The girl was blunt. Her smile was nearly friendly.
The headmaster realized somethng, and wondered aghast why he hadn't previously. She didn't care -- she had absolutely no concept of what was right and what was wrong. Rules and laws and morals, they made no matter -- they were all just words to her.
He was utterly morose. She would travel through life with a happy-go-lucky exterior, and a dead interior. All that talent, all that potential, all that brillaince, wasted.
Unless...
He kept thinking that this was probably going to be a fruitless stab in the dark. He kept thinking that she would turn violent under the circimstances -- even more violent than she was already. "Very well..." He sighed. Heavily. "You are hereby an exchange student, Miss Tsukino."
The girl could not have been any more confused if some higher power had changed her into a man. "Headmaster, I don't under -- "
"An exchange student at Hogwarts."
She blinked, then blanched. "What?" she said softly, disbelievingly. "What did you say?"
"Miss Tsukino, you must learn to live. You are a nuisance to the school, a troublemaker. You're distressed inside. You need...help." He worried that she'd really fling herself out the window, but she didn't. She stood there.
"Headmaster," she whispered, like she was trying laboriously to understand, like she was totally and completely confused. "why? Why are you sending me away? I told you we hadn't meant to hurt anyone. I told you. Don't you believe me?"
He nodded solemnly. "Yes, I believe you."
"Then why?"
He paused. He couldn't explain to her -- it was impossible. She'd have to figure it out for herself.
"You are dismissed, Miss Tsukino."
Her eyes were black with a rim of sapphire around them. She looked like she had just died. Deep down, she probably had.
Then they smoldered -- almost dangerously -- becoming twin pools of molten indigo. "I hate you." And she meant it.
The blonde ran to catch her dearest friend before her ill-fated departure. She was desperate.
When Usagi had relayed to Minako the message of her expulsion and transfer, she had broken down. She had cried -- a thing that scarcely occurred.
Thus, she ran, the guilt heavy on her shoulders, dragging her pace, and the deprivation of her best friend -- no, sister -- heavy on her heart.
'Please don't leave yet!' The silent plea was intended for the stagecoach, which would take Usagi to a train station, which would take her away...
...away to some other witchcarft school called Hogwarts.
She, too, hated the headmaster. They had played a prank, it had gone awry, what was the huge deal? They had practiced their mischievous skills plenty of times in the past. And now, just a day ago, the headmaster had decided to ship Usagi off?
It didn't make sense, Minako thought frustratedly, feet slapping turbulently against the earthen ground.
Sure, she had felt bad about the boy being injured, but he would heal. Usagi hadn't felt anything, merely took the incident in cool, collected stride -- like she usually did. That was the only difference. Was that why the headmaster had done what he'd done?
The stagecoach touched her vision, in the distance. Minako's heart fluttered.
Upon reaching it, she stopped. Ragged pants passed her lips -- in and out, in and out. She regained her breath, just as a form slid from the backseat of the coach. "Usagi!"
Said girl nodded in acknowledgement. "Minako."
The emotion in Usagi's eyes scared her -- scared her like nothing else. A dread creeped into the pit of her stomach. Like a parasite finding a host to feed off of, it burrowed deep. And Minako had a strange intuition that it would never wholly leave.
Mainly because there was no emotion in Usagi's eyes.
They were insipid.
Usagi sat -- sat, and pondered.
She felt like she was going crazy.
She still couldn't comprehend, couldn't grasp what the headmaster had been getting at. The anger experienced at first...it was gone. Everything was gone. Minako, her other friends, her school...
She and Minako had played a prank, it had gone awry, what had been the huge deal? They had practiced their mischievous skills plenty of times in the past. And now, just a day ago, the headmaster had decided to ship her off?
It didn't make sense, Usagi thought.
Sure, the boy had been injured, but he would heal. She hadn't felt anything, merely took the incident in cool, collected stride -- like she usually did. Even if she had wanted to feel some guilt -- some stitch of anything about the boy -- she couldn't have brought herself to. He hadn't died, so she'd dismissed it. Period.
The train sped through the bright day.
She was numb -- too numb to care, too numb to feel much of anything. Almost machanically, she moved to the front of the hall, and slipped on the hat. It was like a blur, and for a minute, she thought it had all been a dream -- a horrible, terrible nightmare.
But it wasn't.
It was as if she were outside herself, watching while some girl named Usagi Tsukino got sorted into a house at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry.
The rim fell over her eyes, plunging her into oblivion, whilst a voice whispered near her ear. She would have been surprised, had she not been so numb...had she cared.
'Sure,' she said in reply to the hat. 'whatever you think's best.'
In reality, she hadn't cared about what the hat thought was best. She just...didn't care. It almost irked her.
She couldn't feel anything.
The hat then shouted something or other -- she hadn't had the incentive for listening -- and she walked, just as machanically, to a table. She acquired a seat.
The procession or ceremony or whatever continued. She was content to sit, do nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing, and see nothing...
Until she did feel something -- she felt someone's gaze on her.
She turned dull eyes to a boy whom was currently seated beside her. He spoke volumes, and he wasn't even speaking. He just stared at her. Then he asked, "What are you here for?"
And she said, absently noting he had beautiful eyes, "I don't know."
Author's Notes: Vote on the pairings, if you'd like. I'm just winging this fic, really. **sweatdrops** But please, oh pretty please review! I need to get out of the depression my writer's block has whirled me into...and I bet you can kinda tell from the feeling of this first chapter. I wrote it based on emotions similar to that of the ones I'm feeling write now. :'(
Author's Notes: Er...I haven't posted in awhile, eh? **nervous laughter** I'm so sorry! I really, really am! I know I promised the seventh chapter of 'Agony' out ages ago, but school started and I just couldn't set aside enough time to write anything. Gomen nasai, minna-chan. In the meantime, whilst I battle severe writer's block and lack of free time, read this! ^^;;
She needed something extraordinary. She needed something that was diabolical and yet strangely brilliant -- something that wouldn't cramp her style.
She needed a plan.
The tension in the room resulted in the faint beads of moisture glistening her brow, and the nervous way her eyes darted from the furious face.
Well, she could make a run for it. She could sprint for the window and pray for a quick, painless death by means of impact.
Or she could tell the truth.
The Headmaster could almost read her mind, and knew the moment her eyes flickered finally and lingeringly to the window, that she had opted for the former possibility.
"Miss Tsukino, such rash and wayward choices are unnecessary. So, if you please..."
The golden goddess suspired, sinking suddenly and dispiritedly into the cushioned seat of the satin-red armchair. "Headmaster..." she began, but fell short. "It was a joke, a prank! Neither of us ever meant to hurt anyone!" The words toppled out in an irregular jumble. "That stupid git of a boy was just in the way when the Whomping Willow went crazy!" Her sapphire eyes were as close to pleading as the headmaster had seen them in years.
Such a shame, he thought with a shaking of his head. He removed his spectacles, cleaning the lenses casually with a small tissue, before slipping them back on.
Upon looking upward again, the chair was empty. Usagi Tsukino was at the window, one hand tentatively pressed to the frosty, cool-to-the-touch glass. He hadn't even heard her move.
"Miss Tsukino..."
"I know"--she swallowed, she was a proud person and it was difficult for her to admit to anything--"that that boy was hurt. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Minako didn't mean to. Please leave her out of this."
"Are you sorry, then, Miss Tsukino?" he queried. If she didn't apologize -- if she truly felt no remorse whatsoever -- then there wasn't any hope left for her. Any hope except...well, he did not desire it to come to that.
She turned, then, and her eyes were the hard, flat eyes of a genuine loner. "No," she said, in an eerily pleasant tone. "I'm just sorry that nobody but myself laughed when it happened." She wasn't being sarcastic. She was telling the truth.
The headmaster felt that frail optimism -- the optimism that perhaps she could find it within herself to care like she had used to -- shrivel.
He hadn't thought she'd say it, he'd had faith she would come to her senses. A last-ditch effort to allow her to change her mind came in the words, "That's too bad, Miss Tsukino."
"No it's not." The girl was blunt. Her smile was nearly friendly.
The headmaster realized somethng, and wondered aghast why he hadn't previously. She didn't care -- she had absolutely no concept of what was right and what was wrong. Rules and laws and morals, they made no matter -- they were all just words to her.
He was utterly morose. She would travel through life with a happy-go-lucky exterior, and a dead interior. All that talent, all that potential, all that brillaince, wasted.
Unless...
He kept thinking that this was probably going to be a fruitless stab in the dark. He kept thinking that she would turn violent under the circimstances -- even more violent than she was already. "Very well..." He sighed. Heavily. "You are hereby an exchange student, Miss Tsukino."
The girl could not have been any more confused if some higher power had changed her into a man. "Headmaster, I don't under -- "
"An exchange student at Hogwarts."
She blinked, then blanched. "What?" she said softly, disbelievingly. "What did you say?"
"Miss Tsukino, you must learn to live. You are a nuisance to the school, a troublemaker. You're distressed inside. You need...help." He worried that she'd really fling herself out the window, but she didn't. She stood there.
"Headmaster," she whispered, like she was trying laboriously to understand, like she was totally and completely confused. "why? Why are you sending me away? I told you we hadn't meant to hurt anyone. I told you. Don't you believe me?"
He nodded solemnly. "Yes, I believe you."
"Then why?"
He paused. He couldn't explain to her -- it was impossible. She'd have to figure it out for herself.
"You are dismissed, Miss Tsukino."
Her eyes were black with a rim of sapphire around them. She looked like she had just died. Deep down, she probably had.
Then they smoldered -- almost dangerously -- becoming twin pools of molten indigo. "I hate you." And she meant it.
The blonde ran to catch her dearest friend before her ill-fated departure. She was desperate.
When Usagi had relayed to Minako the message of her expulsion and transfer, she had broken down. She had cried -- a thing that scarcely occurred.
Thus, she ran, the guilt heavy on her shoulders, dragging her pace, and the deprivation of her best friend -- no, sister -- heavy on her heart.
'Please don't leave yet!' The silent plea was intended for the stagecoach, which would take Usagi to a train station, which would take her away...
...away to some other witchcarft school called Hogwarts.
She, too, hated the headmaster. They had played a prank, it had gone awry, what was the huge deal? They had practiced their mischievous skills plenty of times in the past. And now, just a day ago, the headmaster had decided to ship Usagi off?
It didn't make sense, Minako thought frustratedly, feet slapping turbulently against the earthen ground.
Sure, she had felt bad about the boy being injured, but he would heal. Usagi hadn't felt anything, merely took the incident in cool, collected stride -- like she usually did. That was the only difference. Was that why the headmaster had done what he'd done?
The stagecoach touched her vision, in the distance. Minako's heart fluttered.
Upon reaching it, she stopped. Ragged pants passed her lips -- in and out, in and out. She regained her breath, just as a form slid from the backseat of the coach. "Usagi!"
Said girl nodded in acknowledgement. "Minako."
The emotion in Usagi's eyes scared her -- scared her like nothing else. A dread creeped into the pit of her stomach. Like a parasite finding a host to feed off of, it burrowed deep. And Minako had a strange intuition that it would never wholly leave.
Mainly because there was no emotion in Usagi's eyes.
They were insipid.
Usagi sat -- sat, and pondered.
She felt like she was going crazy.
She still couldn't comprehend, couldn't grasp what the headmaster had been getting at. The anger experienced at first...it was gone. Everything was gone. Minako, her other friends, her school...
She and Minako had played a prank, it had gone awry, what had been the huge deal? They had practiced their mischievous skills plenty of times in the past. And now, just a day ago, the headmaster had decided to ship her off?
It didn't make sense, Usagi thought.
Sure, the boy had been injured, but he would heal. She hadn't felt anything, merely took the incident in cool, collected stride -- like she usually did. Even if she had wanted to feel some guilt -- some stitch of anything about the boy -- she couldn't have brought herself to. He hadn't died, so she'd dismissed it. Period.
The train sped through the bright day.
She was numb -- too numb to care, too numb to feel much of anything. Almost machanically, she moved to the front of the hall, and slipped on the hat. It was like a blur, and for a minute, she thought it had all been a dream -- a horrible, terrible nightmare.
But it wasn't.
It was as if she were outside herself, watching while some girl named Usagi Tsukino got sorted into a house at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry.
The rim fell over her eyes, plunging her into oblivion, whilst a voice whispered near her ear. She would have been surprised, had she not been so numb...had she cared.
'Sure,' she said in reply to the hat. 'whatever you think's best.'
In reality, she hadn't cared about what the hat thought was best. She just...didn't care. It almost irked her.
She couldn't feel anything.
The hat then shouted something or other -- she hadn't had the incentive for listening -- and she walked, just as machanically, to a table. She acquired a seat.
The procession or ceremony or whatever continued. She was content to sit, do nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing, and see nothing...
Until she did feel something -- she felt someone's gaze on her.
She turned dull eyes to a boy whom was currently seated beside her. He spoke volumes, and he wasn't even speaking. He just stared at her. Then he asked, "What are you here for?"
And she said, absently noting he had beautiful eyes, "I don't know."
Author's Notes: Vote on the pairings, if you'd like. I'm just winging this fic, really. **sweatdrops** But please, oh pretty please review! I need to get out of the depression my writer's block has whirled me into...and I bet you can kinda tell from the feeling of this first chapter. I wrote it based on emotions similar to that of the ones I'm feeling write now. :'(