A/N: I hope this one doesn't disappoint you guys. It starts off slow, but it gets to a finish soon enough. Think of it as extra teasing.
Anyway, Enjoy!
I'd especially like reviews, since it's written in three parts, but this chapter has the first two parts. Should I have just made it into one? Split it into three? Fleshed it out into a bigger story, or pare it down?
Read it, then you tell me...
Starting Rumors - A MaiHiME fanfic
"Oh, and did you hear the latest one about Tate?"
"What, are he and Mai-chan breaking up again?"
"Probably, that would explain what I heard about him..."
"So, wait, they're not breaking up, but they might...was Yuuichi-kun looking at some other girl?"
Nao snorted. "I'll grant ya he is dumb, but he's not stupid. Plus, Mai's boobs aren't geting any smaller, so...no."
"So why don't you just tell me, and we can both tell Chie about it?"
Aoi finished locking the front door, and the two girls went down the stairs, to meet said third for the short walk to homeroom. Nao laughed
in a manner both carefree, sweet, and promising of the most dreadful mischief.
"Maybe Chie-sempai already knows, besides, I've heard another rumor, and I wanna see if -"
"See what, Nao-chan?" Harada interrupted, slipping into the mix as they continued downstairs.
"'Nao-chan' says she knows something about Yuuichi-kun, which she won't tell me about. And,"
she continued archly, "she called you 'Chie-sempai'. she never calls me 'Aoi-sempai'. You're so mean, Nao-chan!"
"What? I let you borrow my stuff and live, that's downright charity for me. No pictures of you in your pyjamas, or in the shower...well except for that time Chie-"
"Rumors about Tate, you say? You mean about how he's dropping out of being the Kendo club manager,
so he can desperately try to save the doomed romance between him and Mai-chan?"
Nao snorted. "Got it in one. See, Aoi, told ya she'd already know."
"Yeah, but if you'd told me, I could have told you that I already knew, that one's almost a week old!
Also, you still don't call me 'sempai'."
"Aw, don't frown, Aoi-chan, you'll get wrinkles. Besides, we know Nao-chan's just teasing you."
"I wish Nao would tease you instead."
"Come to think of it, you don't tease me nearly as much as you do Aoi."
"That's 'cause we're roommies, and live in each others' back pockets. Which also means that you get to start up all sorts of rumors about me!"
"Those weren't rumors, every account was independently verified," Chie declared. As much as she loved gossip - and almost no one loves gossip like Ms. Harada - verified gossip is ten times better.
"And still, I let you live. I'm a virtual Kuroyanage (a well-known japanese philanthropist)."
"Nao-chan said she had heard another rumor - maybe it's something we heard two weeks ago."
"Aoi-chan, no wrinkles! Maybe Nao-chan's heard a rumor of romance in the air."
"As a matter of fact, I have heard just that thing."
Nao nudged Aoi gently in the side and gave her a friendly wink. Aoi immediately suspected Nao of being up to something...which is like "suspecting" it might rain in the summer. Aoi watched warily as Nao gracefully twirled around the pair and placed a hand on Chie's arm.
"I heard that someone's after you, Chie."
The next few classes went by like a dream, or a nightmare for some. After Nao planted her bombshell
and ran for cover, Aoi naturally wanted to know all the details on Chie's admirer. Only...Chie was stumped,
and had no clue what Nao was talking about. She scrambled to reassure Aoi that if she knew anything she'd
be the first to tell all about it, but didn't stop Aoi from feeling hurt. Hurt and insulted. Hurt, insulted
and mystified. Hurt, insulted, mystified and frustrated.
Again, she demanded to know what her best friend had been keeping from her, and why, only to be shushed by
the teacher, and eventually put outside holding their books up, a member of the now-Kukikawa Executive Team
making sure they didn't cheat...or argue in more than harsh whispers. Chie in turn, demanded that Aoi give
up who could have possibly talked to Nao of all people, before giving either of them the crucial details.
Chie risked her livelihood, and sent off some quick texts in second class, curious to see who might want to
Fortunately, the teacher was too distracted by Aoi (also in her class) freaking out more visibly, so Chie's
lifeline, AKA cellphone, was safe. Unfortunately, all her inquiries did was give her more people abuzz with
the new rumor, looking for an answer themselves from the Queen of Dirt. It seemed that the having the latest
rumor being about the biggest rumor-mogerer in school was an irresistable combination.
Aoi wondered what was going on in her life. Chie was keeping secrets from her...or was she? Before today,
Aoi would have confidently said that Chie Harada wasn't capable of keeping secrets; it was just too fun
to share whatever news she'd found with someone else who could appreciate it. Maybe it was just Nao's way
of having fun at their expense; while typical behavior for Nao, she'd known the first-year long enough to
know that she wouldn't want to be pestered by folks for more info on Chie's wannabe lover if she didn't
have to be. On the other hand, would she expect the girls to keep it to themselves, for fear of losing
face at knowing the best gossip? Determined to get to the bottom of it, Aoi started a few rumors of her
own, to make sure that by the time lunch came around, Nao would also be enjoying the attention of those
trying to get answers.
Nao, meanwhile, was living high on the hog. She'd ask two or three girls in class about the rumor, and
fifteen minutes later, every girl was either sending a text, getting a text, or reading a text about it.
The teacher was maybe two hard shoves away from a nervous breakdown, and two-thirds of the boys were either
trying to find out why all of the girls were so distracted, or making sure their own girlfriends weren't
going to "the other team". Already, the teacher had called on Nao twice, and she'd - loudly! - given him correct
answers, the second time in song. She was working on a way to put an answer in verse, when Mai's little
brother Takumi asked her what was going on.
She smiled at him, and giggled.
Not even her usual "you better hope your ninja girlfriend can make you disappear because I'm gonna
make you SUFFER" sneer, but a sweet, warm, beautiful smile.
Not even seeing his sister plummeting to ground, sheathed in flames, was as scary-looking as a happy Nao.
He leaned over to Akira, whispering in her ear, "get ready for something, Nao's giggling." Almost by magic,
two desks started moving away from Nao, causing others to follow suit, more noisily, which only distracted
the teacher more. Lucky for everyone, the bell rang for lunch, and the room exploded in speculations, from
Chie dating Shizuru and Natsuki, at the same time, to Nao blackmailing Chie into not dating Aoi. She
laughed out loud at that one, if only for the idea that after living together for so long, folks could
imagine her having something worthy of blackmail, that Aoi and Chie wouldn't know about already.
At lunch, the three girls got together and compared notes. Chie brought up the rumor about her being
involved with everyone from former just-graduated students, to some students still on the middle school track.
"Chie-sempai, you are such a slut! How do you even find time to know what else is going on, with all of your
skirt- and trouser-chasing?" Chie laughed at Nao's silly remark, as did they all, but something, somewhere
at the back of Chie's head was saying something was up.
"Well, I can't love'em and leave'em like Nao-chan does," Chie teased back, as she dunked a rice ball in
what Nao called "ShizNat" sauce. It was made from ketchup - red, like Fujino's eyes - and wasabi - green, like
Kuga's. It had more of a bite than regular cocktail sauce, and Chie liked her food the way she liked her gossip;
the spicier the better.
Nao plucked a rice ball from Chie's bento as a "tax" for using her sauce - because of that, Mikoto had only
tried "ShizNat" sauce once - and gave it a good dunk, before replying, "If I loved'em, I wouldn't leave'em."
There it was again, that feeling Chie had that she was missing something. Then she noticed, before she poked
it through her pretty pink coral lips, that Nao had gotten a rice ball that Chie had already bitten into, thus
giving Nao an indirect kiss. Without thinking about it, Chie asked,
"Nao, are you flirting with me?"
For a second or two, everyone was quiet, before Nao giggled. "Do you have no shame, Chie? Yes, I was flirting
with you, I want to be like the rumors say half of the school body is, past and present. Hee-hee, 'student body,'
get it?" Nao laughed again, and like earlier in class, it wasn't a digging laugh, but a laugh filled with delight.
It would put a smile on the face of anyone hearing it, until they saw it was coming from Nao, anyway. Akira saw
who it was coming from, and quickly grabbed Takumi before vanishing around the corner. Then a second or two later,
the kunoichi grabbed Takumi's cooking up, and vanished again.
"Damn right you better run," Nao called after the couple. "Chie-sempai might be coming for you next!"
"Maybe I'll be coming after you, Nao-chan," Chie said, a mischievous twinkle her eye as she dunked another rice
ball in the spicy sauce.
"Then I'm glad I can rely on Aoi-sempai for a chaperone, ne?"
"Hey, don't drag me into this, that's the way unfounded rumors start!"
"Really, Aoi-chan? What have you heard?"
"Well,..."
Aoi started in on a few of the massive avalance of wild stories spreading across campus, including a few not
related to her, Chie or Nao. Those ones were especially interesting, but all the while, there was still that
little voice in the back of Chie's head. This time, the voice voice was asking a question, instead of sounding
a warning:
"Nao-chan _was_ just teasing me then, not flirting, right? And I was just teasing too, not flirting back...right?"
Right?