Chapter 1: The beginning
"How to be a heartbreaker
Boys they like the look of danger
We'll get him falling for a stranger, a player
Singing I lo-lo-love you
At least I think I do!"
Heartbreaker, Mariana and The Diamonds (2012)
A.N: All rights reserved to Haruichi Furudat.
I was inspired by the poem, The Owl and the Pussycat in naming this story- but it doesn't have anything to do with the poem (lololol).
Atsuki Oshiro hated men. It was not because she was strongly opposed to the patriarchy that existed in contemporary society-which if you're wondering, she is-but because a man broke her mother's heart and robbed her of her childhood. This vile, abomination (aka man) was her clumsy, goofy father who died because of his clumsy, goofiness.
Everything was a joke to him, no, he made everything a joke. He believed life was meant to be enjoyed and in order to do such you had to do crazy, risky (or risqué like he called it because he thought it made him sound fancy) things. Her mother would always laugh, a real, polaroid worthy laugh, eyes half closed, nose scrunched up, and very prominent and cute dimples. Now her smile was tight, like her mouth had been sewn shut and someone was pulling the thread up, and her eyes were lifeless, though in fairness the heavy dosage of antidepressants she was taking, probably had a had big part in the lifelessness in her eyes.
She hated looking at her mother. Her mother embedded in her the belief that women were strong, powerful and beautiful yet what she had succumb to was the exact opposite, making her mother a hypocrite. But, she could never hate her mother, because her father caused her to be like this.
Watching her mother was not easy. Some days were alright, her mother would get up, wash all the clothes in cheap, lemon scented detergent and then hang them to dry, always quoting her father,
"Home is where you hang clean laundry that has been washed with the cheapest detergent!"
Atsuki didn't see it like that. She felt that her father just said that lame line to get her mother to do the laundry and other household chores, so he could have more time to be stupid. On these said days are mother would tell funny stories of her father, and it drove Atsuki insane, she could not understand how someone could be so nonsensically in love with someone who was no longer here. However, she would endure recitations of her father's lame quotes and professions of love for him any day, if that meant her mother was on her feet and agile, because on bad days her mother could not get out bed. Nothing was scarier than watching someone who was supposed to be your guardian, who was alive, behave like they were dead.
How could her father be so selfish? How could he do this her mother, to her?
Atsuki carefully washed off the conditioner from her ebony locks, taking pieces of her hair at a time, and bringing it under the cold water, and then repeating the same process with another section of hair. Cold water made her hair very shiny, and shiny was attractive.
Once she was done rinsing off the conditioner from her hair, she stood under the water for a few more minutes. Cold water also closed pores, it made her skin stay smooth and clear. She was not blessed with her mothers creamy, porcelain skin, she got her fathers olive coloured skin instead. Even though she hated the colour of her skin, she found it more productive to work on making it glow than to spend time loathing it or using harmful chemicals to lighten it.
She was completely numb to the coldness of the water. Years of showering only in cold water built up her tolerance of it, and clear skin and shiny hair were proof of it.
"beep beep beep beep beep beep beep" Her phone's timer went off.
Signalling to her that shower time was over and it was now time to dry off and get her makeup on. The dark haired girl always timed herself because she hated being late. She wrapped a thick, white towel around her slender frame and then proceeded to squeeze out-trying to be as gentle as she could- the water from her hair. Her hair was naturally curly, very curly and ugly like her fathers had been, but with some effort and the right products, she made it work. She tied her hair up in bun, and then began to dry her body, she followed up with applying vanilla scented body lotion, her trademark, a light moisturizer on her face and then put on her uniform.
Atsuki applied a liberal amount of mousse in her hair and played around with it, when she was satisfied she started blow-drying her hair, stopping here and there to scrunch it. She dried her hair completely, rookie mistake was not to do so because given a little humidity and one would look like an Oba-san. She applied some sunscreen, Atsuki learned a long time ago from a beautiful, older girl at the mall that the molecules in sunscreen were bigger than the ones in most moisturizers so if one applied them at the same time they would not receive the full benefits from the moisturizer. So she always waited until she was done her hair before she applied sunscreen. Then she lightly dusted powder foundation, focusing underneath her eyes, and a peachy blush that complimented her tanned skin. She skillfully curled her eyelashes, and applied a modest amount of mascara, working from the top of the eyelash down- it made one's lashes look longer and fuller. Once she was done with that she applied a nude lipstick and set her makeup. She gave herself one final look in the mirror, whilst thinking of a conversation she once had with her mother.
Atsuki's mother once asked, on a good day, why Atsuki hated men so much. Her mother's mother Miki, who had been visiting at time, had put down her mug of green tea and shook her head, saying,
"Atsuki is completely justified in her hate. Men are all so stupid. They are just science experiments!"
Atsuki had fist pumped in agreement. She loved her grandmother Miki. Miki's husband (Atsuki's grandfather, who she refused to have any relationship with) had divorced her a decade ago for a woman, 30 years younger. Miki knew how deceitful and pure evil men were. Her mother on the other hand, could not see that the root cause to her depression was her late husband.
That same day her mother came up to her privately, probably in fear that Miki would answer for Atsuki, and asked,
"Okay, you hate men, why decorate yourself so much?"
Atsuki had smiled sweetly, and replied ambiguously,
"Because it feels good, to take care of myself, and take control of my life."
She wasn't lying then, it did make her feel good, but not in the way her mother probably had comprehended (if she even dissected or thought about farther, what Atsuki had said). It made her feel good because boys wanted her, but they would never get her. She thrived off making guys think they had a chance with her, it was so damn easy. She would do things, little things like, slightly biting her lip, or twirling her hair when she talked to them, subtly and it would easily turn them on. If she repeated several of these actions with a certain guy, he would likely think that she liked him and then would build the courage to ask her out. Then, depending on her mood or the state her mother was in that day, she would either turn him down viscously, and cruelly, or she'd agree to go out with him, only to dump him a little while later, offering no reason. One could call her actions vindictive and evil, she called them payback.
X
Reaching the gates of Fukurodani academy, she tried remembering when her hate for men manifested into leading guys on and then breaking their hearts. At first she had wanted nothing to do with them, she would avoid anyone that was a male- even if that meant refusing to see the doctor when she was sick because he was a male. But then as she got older, she realized how impractical that was. So she stopped avoiding them, and become almost indifferent to them. Being indifferent definitely conserved a lot of energy, and was much more practical-but she was unsatisfied. She wanted something more.
Then, just a few days after her 13th birthday she read this book, which for being a life changing book to her, she oddly didn't remember the title. However, she did remember the main female, and how her personality had made her feel. The main girl was a femme fatale and she was so badass. She had encompassed everything her mother had told her about women, but even better, she destroyed men.
Atsuki started practicing then. She was clumsy at first, like a baby horse learning how to walk, but she got better and better with practice. She learned how to apply her lipstick, and how to pick the right colour for her colouring. She learned how to walk to get attention, and how to talk, slowly but sweetly with a hint of sultriness. It took time, a lot of time, and garnered laughs from older children and adults but she did master it, and all by herself. The same people who laughed at her, would now watch in awe as she walked by. She was a women after all, and women were winners.
Atsuki was in-front of her desk now, she opened her bag and neatly put away her notebooks in her desk and then hung her bag on the side of her desk. She was just about to sit down when she realized that her sensei for mathematics-a rather tall woman, with a blunt pixie cut- and a taller odd looking guy from her class, were periodically looking at her through the class door's window. The woman would say something, then the odd looking guy-whose name was at the tip of her tongue- would look at her, and then the said odd looking guy would say something and the woman would shrug and look back at her. Atsuki was getting a very, very bad feeling about this.
She wasn't given time to ruminate about this feeling as the school bell rang abruptly and her homeroom teacher walked in, giving a questionable gaze to strange looking guy and the maths sensei. The weird looking guy, whose name, she was sure of, started with a B subsequently followed their homeroom teacher. His head was slightly down but his gaze was still on her. All through out roll call, and the first period, Japanese literature, she felt him staring at her. She was tempted to turn around, but she didn't want to make things anymore awkward. The literature teacher finished, they all got up and ritually bowed.
Quickly after, the Biology sensei walked in. He was a quick man, and so, his lessons normally were done earlier then most teachers, but today the lesson seemed to drag on. He seemed to be trudging through molasses as he taught. All through out his lesson as well, she felt the alien boy's gaze.
Why can't I remember his name? She questioned herself.
It was in the exchange between their second period biology teacher and third period English teacher, that she remembered his name.
Bokuto
She remembered his name because last week, after the maths final the class representative, Goto-san, and her were discussing the answer to one of the questions. Atsuki had gotten, f'(x)= (x^2e^x-e^2x-e^x-1)/ (x+e^x)^2, but Goto-san had gotten a + 1 at the end of the dividend instead of the -1. They had been passively-aggressively arguing about which answer was correct, when the odd boy, Bokuto, yelped,
"NANNNIII? I got four!?"
She started to relax more after remembering his name, because he was clearly one of the stupidest boys she had ever encountered and thus he probably was gazing at her for a lame, not-worth-stressing-over reason. Atsuki relaxed her shoulders, and found it much easier to focus on the lesson at hand.
Atsuki may have spoken too soon, because as soon as the math sensei walked in, his glare became very intense, like an owl that located a field mouse and was about to go into the kill. She could feel goose bumps on her arms, and a bead of sweat on her forehead.
Don't worry, Don't worry, remember he's just lab experiment-just like the other guys. PAY attention to the lesson. Atsuki mentally commanded herself.
Normally her pep talks to herself worked, her physical appearance and stellar grades were evident of it, but Bokuta was something else. A different kind of lab experiment, a different kind of stupid.
Atsuki coulden't bare it anymore. She whipped her head around, and screeched-louder than she intended it to be,
"WHAT?"
It was only after screaming that she realized that, 1) because Bokuta sat a few seat to the left of her, and 2) because he never once spoke during the four morning periods, no one in the class other than her, knew he had been continually staring at her. So basically everyone in her class thought she had finally lost her marbles.
Bokuta's eyes were wide open, and innocent looking—angering her more.
How COULD he be so oblivious to how uncomfortable he's made me feel? She thought, angrily.
"Oshiro-san…?" Her teacher asked tentatively.
"Errr...Hai?" Atsuki said, turning around to face her teacher, cheeks pink with embarrassment.
"Is something the matter?" Her teacher replied.
"Erm..yes…no, no, I thought I saw something… erm felt something…carry on…pls," she pleaded.
Her teacher looked at her questionably, but abided by her request as she was the top student and such a notion was out of the ordinary for her. She went back to the world of functions and derivatives. Atsuki could feel her classmates continually gawking at her through out the remaining lesson, and quietly whispering. She bit her lip hard, making it bleed slightly.
Atsuki was not going to pay attention to them, she worked so hard for this image, no one, especially a male, would take it away from her.
X
After the pixie hair sensei finished, concluding morning lessons and initiating the beginning of lunch break, Atsuki bolted for the bathroom with her bag in hand. She planned to return to the class in 15 minutes or so, enough time for most of her classmates to take their lunches somewhere outside, or to get their wallets and go line up in the lunch line. She figured returning to the classroom when it was reasonably empty would be better for damage control, less people to ask her questions about the morning and when the rest of the class would return, their bellies would be full from food and the morning's fiasco forgotten, her cool girl image would be restored- or she hoped it would.
As soon as she reached the bathroom, she washed her hand in cold water, and then splashed some on her face thanking the Lord for setting spray. Then she fished out a ponytail from her bag, and loosely tied her hair away from her face, trying to figure out what the hell just happened and the successfulness of her plan. Atsuki knew she was being naïve, thinking food could make people forget a relatively, chill girl, freaking out in class but it was too nerve-wrecking to think otherwise.
She walked around the bathroom, and then locked herself in one stall- she did not need some girl to see her pacing the bathroom, no need to add on the crazy rumours- and promptly put down the toilet seat and sat down. She furiously rubbed her temples, and cursed the owl eyed boy simultaneously.
Atsuki waited until she felt it had been 15 minutes or so and then unlocked the bathroom door and washed her hands again. Then she slowly treaded her way back to class, avoiding any potential eye contact with anyone. Suddenly, her maths sensei called to her,
"Oi, Atsuki-san!"
"Hai!" She replied respectfully.
"Are you alright? I have never seen you freak out like that before? Was it because of Bokuto pestering you about tutoring him?" The sensei questioned.
Tutor? Me? Him? Atsuki thought, completely horrified.
"Uhh yes," Atsuki hesitantly replied, desperate to not let her perfect mask fall.
Her sensei shook her head dismissively,
"That boy…he failed his math final last week and I told him he needs to get at least an 80 on the supplementary class's final this coming Saturday or else he won't be able to join his team in the preliminaries for nationals," she explained.
Pausing to place her thumb and index finger on either side of her temples, gently pressing in, she continued,
"Normally, I always check with the student that will tutor, first to make sure they're okay with committing the time and effort to tutor another student, but this time Bokuto-kun approached, well begged me to exempt him from the make-ups. Of course I said no but he was very earnest about improving and open to alternatives, provided that he is able to participate in the spring nationals. So I offered to get him a tutor for this week—until Saturday to prepare him for the exam."
"Atsuki-san, he seems to hold a high position as the ace of the team and we are a powerhouse school, if you can give him some of your time so he can pass I'd really appreciate it." Misuno-sensei added, while stepping forward and placing a hand on Atsuki's right shoulder.
"The decision is entirely up to you, but I need to find him someone else if you are unable to do it, I promised him after all so, what do you say Atsuki-san?" She finished, giving a soft, but encouraging smile.
Atsuki bit her lip as she felt a strong inward sense of anger—how did a man get her beautiful sensei to ask something like this from her? How did he move her so much to, make such a heavy promise? She got even angrier as she realized that although at first glance Bokuta seemed like a simpleton with a lot of screws lose, he was actually a very manipulative and calculative man…
What is this anomaly known as bokuto-san? Atsuki thought.
Atsuki was a part of the literature club on campus, club activities were to show up and read whenever one wanted, meaning she definitely had the time to tutor Bokuto. Plus, her beautiful sensei was requesting her, and since saying no would mean her sensei would have to put in work finding someone else in such a short time, she had to to take this job.
"Yes, I can manage Mizuno-sensei…" Atsuki replied dryly.
"Thank you Atsuki-san, that boy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm confident in you, that's why you're my top choice! I'll let you work out an appropriate schedule with him. Let me know if you two need anything!" Mizuno-sensei replied, cheerfully.
She then winked at Atsuki before she turned away and headed back to the teacher's office. Atsuki shook her head, and gave a long, worthy sigh, and then started walking back to her class.
She almost reached her class room when she came face to face, well face- her face- and back-his back- with the aforementioned fake simpleton. He was completely oblivious to her as he kept conversing with his friend, who was slightly shorter than him and had dark hair like hers.
"Neh, Akaashii, can't you help me out here?" Bokuto pleaded.
Unlike Bokuto, his friend seemed to not only notice her, but also register who she was within milliseconds.
"Bokuto-san…" Akaashi tried warning him.
"No, Akaashi, you have to back me up sometimes! This girl is so weird! She can't possibly be that good at math, YOU have to tutor me- or else I won't be able to play in the preliminaries! What's a team without its ace?" Bokuto exclaimed.
"Bokuto-san if you look behin-" Akaashi tried again.
"NO, Akaashi you have to believe me, she was so strange, and like yelled 'WHAT' for no reason, she's a mean girl! I don't want a mean girl tutoring me!" Bokuto whined, with out stretched hands, eyes wide.
"Bokuto, I don't have time to learn upper year math and teach it, while simultaneously train-but that's not important right now because behind you-" Aakashi hastily tried explaining.
"AKAASHI!" Bokuto continued his whining.
Akaashi, put his hand on his temple, just like her sensei had done moments ago. Bokuto seemed to have this effect on people.
"Bokuto-san, please, behind you." Akaashi stated, tiredly.
Bokuto turned out, looking confused until his eyes made contacts with hers and then he jumped.
"AHH, where did you come from?! What are you!?" Bokuto yelped.
"I'm the weird, mean girl you were just so passionately talking about. Also your new tutor." Atsuki replied, coolly.
What did I get myself into? She cried internally.
A.N:
I love Kenma, but wrote about Bokuto. Because I don't think I can do Kenma justice. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this as much I as did writing it. I set the story in Bokuto's second year (or Aakashi's first) because I know Bokuto has failed math before, but because he was able to attend the training camp before the preliminaries for nationals took place I assumed he failed math in his second year. Also I know that this story might sound similar to one I wrote a couple years ago, but I promise it isn't! (I just seem to write about dysfunctional families ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )