Un Jeu De Folie
by Nakashima Michiyo
It was a furious day.
Dark clouds.
No sun.
It was her kind of day. It only reassured her a little as her spirits were downed when she learned that Roger wasn't actually as kind as Mr. Wammy put him out to be. She blew away a wisp of hair that was straying from where it was supposed to be. Just another doubt to add to her worries.
"Hello," she greeted, careful not to show the suspicion lined on the tip of her tongue. "I'm Further."
"Where?" a blonde boy asked confusedly. "What's your name?"
"Further," she insisted. "My name is Further."
"Oh!" a young albino boy, looking no older than a waning toddler, spoke up. "I get it now! Miss is named Further! I am named Near! Hello!" he crawled over to her side, and she smiled at him, crouching low for him to look into her eyes.
"Hello there, Near," she grinned, showing off her white teeth, knowing now that the boy was no older than ten.
"I'm Mello," the arrogant blonde boy interrupted. "And that boy's Matt," he pointed over to a brooding boy with orange goggles in the corner. "He's mad at me," he explained when Further raised an eyebrow. "Because Roger said that he shouldn't play so many video games and suspended him from them."
"Then why is he mad at you?" she asked, still staring at the red-haired boy who seemed to be more than just brooding. "He seems so sad, oh…"
"'Cuz I told Roger," Mello said admittedly. "He wasn't paying attention to anything I said, so I told Roger."
Further sighed. "Would it make him feel any better if I go talk to him?"
"But we just met you," he said. "And Matt doesn't take to many people."
"We have to try," she said. "Besides, Matt seems like a very good friend. I don't think you'd like him mad at you forever, right?"
"No," Mello said sadly, and Further giggled, bouncing to where Matt was.
"Hello!" she trilled, but the boy didn't look up. "Is anybody there?" she said worriedly. Sure, she'd been faking her charm, but she didn't think the boy wouldn't even make a move, or anything. "Alright then, Matt." She sighed. "Fine. But perhaps you'd feel a bit happier than Mello's very sorry and he'll get you a new video game after your suspension is over."
A loud 'hey' erupted from the opposite side of the room. Obviously Mello had been listening on. "See?" she grinned, taking the red-haired boy by the chin and lifting his head up. A short flitting gasp came from her throat when she saw his red-tinged eyes and his miserable face. "Oh, Matt… are video games really that important to you?" Wordlessly, the boy managed a limp nod. "Alright then, Matt. Would you like to make a deal with me?" He shrugged. "Alright. How about, when Roger gives back your games, I'll challenge you. If you win Guitar Hero against me, then I'll buy you ten games of your choice. If I win, then… you forgive Mello and you do whatever I want for a week!" she knew she was being cruel, but she had to get the boy into a mood somehow.
She smiled when she saw his eyes brighten slightly and a thin smile stretch over his handsome, but strained features. "O… okay," he mumbled. She smiled and pulled him into an embrace. "F… Further…" he mumbled before closing his eyes and going into a well-deserved sleep.
"Whoa," Mello gaped. "H-how'd you do that? How come Matt's never like that with me?"
"I'm a girl," she giggled pointedly. "But maybe he just needs someone who's gentler with him. No offense, but at first meeting, you've already given me an impression of 'arrogant.'"
"Well what about Near?" Mello snapped. "He's not arrogant. He's just a baby."
"Near doesn't understand," she said softly. "Now shh… Matt's sleeping."
"I feel like we've known you for so long…" he trailed off, frustrated. "Oh well. Tell him I'm sorry, will you?" When Further nodded, he stalked off with a handful of chocolate, probably to eat them in peace. Near crawled along behind Mello, trying his hardest to keep up.
"Waiiit!" the little boy cried helplessly.
"Oh, Near," the girl sighed. "What're we going to do about all of you?" she wondered to herself.
..:.x.:..
"Ha!" Further giggled, winning another perfect combo. "5x! This is so easy!" Matt growled, releasing a complicated work of intricate finger movements to capture the combination perfectly. "Ah!" the game ended and the two people awaited their final scores. Matt had felt a lot better when Roger had finally caved in to Further's constant pestering and had given back his gaming systems. His twitching had ceased and he'd seemed a lot more open than at first.
"NO!" Matt yelled, the sound reverberating around the room. "You couldn't have! Nobody's…" he groaned, turning to Further. "How could you be so good at this?!" Indeed, the girl had won the battle. By a mere 1000 points, daresay, but it was a win nonetheless, and Matt was free to her will for a week.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Now go to Mello and say you forgive him. He's been moping all week, and he's eaten nothing but chocolate!"
"He doesn't eat anything but chocolate," Matt moaned, stomping his feet in angst. "You don't know him as well as I do. He's probably already forgotten about it too."
"Oh just go," she pushed him to the other side of the room, where Mello was sitting trying and failing miserably to look uninterested. She sat quietly and five seconds later the red-haired boy and the blonde came back arm around arm.
"I told you!" Mello ranted. "I told you! This girl is awesome, Matt!" He threw his straggly arms around the surprised girl. "Thank you, Further!" he grinned, showing off his brown, chocolate-covered teeth. She grimaced.
"Ew," she stuck out her tongue. "That's disgusting. You're going to catch diabetes, like L's most likely going to in a few years. Cook's always complaining about making chocolate soufflés for that boy." She shook her head.
"See!" Mello cried. "Caring about the house's detective, too! And she's like a mother to Near! One of us, marry her quick!" he joked, and Matt giggled.
"Oh," she rolled her eyes, then turned to the messy, red-head evilly. "Since you're feeling better…" she grinned. "How about cleaning my room?"
"No!" Matt said, aghast. "Your room is so clean anyway, I don't really—"
"I honestly knew I was going to win," she admitted. "Your heart wasn't on it, I could tell. So I messed it up a little. Take it as… payback."
"But—"
"It was a bet, Matty!" Mello trilled and shoved Matt out of the room. "You surprise me even further, Further," the both giggled at the unintentional pun.
..:.x.:..
"Finally!" Matt said. "Only one more hour left until I'm out of your misery!" He'd been cleaning and working nonstop for Further for the entire week, his hands would probably be calloused until the day he died. "You're a slave-driver, you know that?" Further hugged him for compensation, and ruffled his hair. His heart pounded erratically, and he knew not whether it was the painting job he was doing for her window ledges, or if it was something else. He hoped it wasn't the second issue, but he ignored it as Further let go, and a pang came to his chest. He clutched it immediately.
"Oh!" Further said, coming to his side immediately. "Are you alright, Matt? All this work hasn't been hurting you, right?"
"Oh no," he muttered, his face growing hot. "Not at all. But I'm done with you windows. Do you want anything else?"
"Not unless I specify it," she said breezily. "We can just hang around the couch until I want something. Is that alright?"
"Of course," he grinned, ignoring the hot feeling spreading through his face. What was wrong with him? "I… I h-have no other choice, right?" She dismissed his stuttering, and smoothly went to the couch, where Matt said next to her. She let him flip through the channels slowly and watched a few minutes of SpongeBob, Flapjack, Gossip Girl, House, and American Pie before she finally called him to stop.
"Matt!" she said. "What's been wrong with you these past few days!" He tried to argue with her in his mind, but he knew her answer wouldn't make her very happy.
"N-nothing," he mumbled. "Just you," he breathed, hoping that she didn't catch it. In her tirade, she didn't.
"I mean…" she said. "You've been doing nothing but work for me, and you're not even complaining! And… you're not like other boys, Matt…" she trailed off, looking at the clock. "Oh… there's a minute left. Matt…" she bit her lip, and finally made a decision. "One last request of you."
"What?" he asked curiously.
"Kiss back," she pleaded and before his mind could comprehend, her soft plump lips were upon him and kissing him softly. She hadn't really thought before she'd done it, but she wanted to experience something with the boy she'd secretly liked since he'd been groaning about losing her challenge before he could push her away in thirty seconds. But he didn't move away and soon the kiss became more heated and the two inexperienced teenagers moved against each other's lips. After all, they were only fourteen, and very new to this kind of thing.
After they had both run out of breath, Further glanced at the clock again. "It's 12:02, Matt… why didn't you break away?"
"I lost track," he grinned, leaning in again. "How could I not go further?"
And so began their love and existence with a terrible pun.
..:.x.:..
A/N: At first, I started this before I even knew what I was doing. I was bored, it was Monday, and I was awfully depressed and I needed cheering up. Being the procrastinator I was, I stopped doing my science labs and started working on this thing. I didn't know what Further was going to turn out as in the beginning. Either she would be the generic sad girl, or the generic happy girl. I decided on neither and made her the generic mediator girl (laughs). The plot is fairly simple, and the words came to me like a rocket. And I'm still procrastinating on my Sakurazaki Chronicles. Maybe it's my hopeless infatuation with a certain dead, ink man with motorcycle goggles and a striped T-shirt. I'll admit, I'm pretty obsessed. So let me know how bad this infatuation goes. I bid you adieu with one more request of you people—please review. Je t'adore, mes cheries.