The following references have been used in the making of this fiction and are subject to modification as necessary at any time as deemed by the author and/or administration of this site. These references may or may not be copyrighted. Credit is given both to the creators and publishers of these references: Mahou Sensei Negima; Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja; Onegai Sensei; Winter Sonata; Love Hina; The .hack// Universe
Far off in the distance came the sound of silence. She found herself staring out from the open window into the darkened sky. After several moments of mute thinking, she turned to a large textbook before her. Scattered in a semi-circular array, clad in red pen marks and dirty eraser smudges, files and forms glared menacingly at her in their stationary position. She eyed them with malice, wishing she could take a lighter to each and every corner. The scowl on her face seemed to catch the attention of her study partner, Ichigo, who looked up at her from across the kotatsu,
"...something wrong?"
The words went right through her head, as if she had suddenly become transparent. She groaned to a certain nobody-in-particular and slumped forward into the pages. She was tired and depressed. Out of frustration she dug her thumbnails into each other. Of all the things she could have done with her life, she had to have applied for the AP Chemistry class they'd offered one week ago. With the summer coming close, both she and Ichigo were pulling all-nighters to make sure they knew everything they had to for the test.
For that matter, Ichigo had been the one to apply first. Questions swam about her head. Why had Ichigo applied in the first place? Why had she applied after him? Even now she didn't really know the answer herself. The image of his face seemed to have burned itself into her eyes. When she focused on it, she felt like she knew the answer why. Of course, when she returned to reality, she really couldn't understand it herself. She felt like she knew the answer, but was seldom ever able to comprehend it. And yet... that pounding. Right now it was as if she could feel a blade in her—
"Tatsuki!"
At the sound of her name she looked up, snorting sleepily. Ichigo Kurosaki leaned forward and cupped a hand around her forehead, "You feeling okay?" When she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock, Ichigo went back to his notes.
11:48
It was nearing midnight. She let out a cry of angst and thudded her head back down onto the table. "Let it be over... let's just take the test and fail...!" When Ichigo failed to respond she grunted, "Hey... Ichigo..." He sighed and scribbled something into a book, "It'll be over soon. Once we pass, we'll celebrate with barbecue."
A sleepy grin broke out across her face. The thought of meat sizzling over a searing flame made her mouth water. She longed to have a cold drink. They could play party games and just relax themselves. With this in mind, she stole a hopeful glance at her compatriot,
"Your treat?"
He chuckled and turned to the next page, "Assuming you beat class average."
The scowl returned again to her face. Tatsuki sighed into her handwriting,
"Stingy!"
"That was the deal..."
After several minutes, periodic scrawling and strangling silence got the better of her. She groaned through a particularly long sentence, pausing to afford the luxury of whining while she let her wrist rest. She felt sore all over. Ichigo seemed not to notice. Out of boredom she glanced at the clock again, hoping that at least an hour had gone by.
11:54
He looked over her shoulder and sighed, "Staring at the clock won't make it go any faster. The more you study the more worth the time you'll be wasting." As if nothing had happened, he nonchalantly resumed his studies. She grinned a little to herself. He was rather serious about the whole ordeal.
They were supposed to study until morning. They had been pulling midnight study sessions for the entire week. Tonight was the final night they would be together this late. After that they would delve into a pattern of sleeping and studying alone, recuperating while pounding the information into their heads.
She remembered how eager Ichigo had been to organize their study plans. Or... Rather, he seemed to show an unusual interest in her own interests. She'd noticed his eyes light up when she'd told him about her application. Of course, she had had her own personal motivations for applying to the class. She needed the credit, for one thing. It would also look good on her college applications. She had ambitions to reach top universities.
She shook her head mentally and laughed at herself. That wasn't the reason... She was coming up with excuses again. As an imperceptible smile spread along her face, she gathered herself up and again raised a book to eye level.
"Hey, Tatsuki..."
The surprising masculinity of his voice startled her. She peered towards him from the top of her book, "Mm...?" He hesitated for a moment, and after about half a minute, asked,
"You're going for Tokyo University... right...?"
As her worries returned to her, she felt a migraine creep into her head. "Yes, that was the plan..." she sounded agitated. Not at Ichigo, but at herself, for setting such a high expectation.
"Do you want to get married after we graduate from high school?"
The suddenness of the question cut off her train of thought, though it failed to register. When it did, she almost dropped her book and stood up halfway. Her eyes met with a pair of serious, unexpectedly mature gaze.
He had removed his reading glasses, the lenses still visible from his breast pocket. Her mind was blank for the longest time. She couldn't even begin to fathom for just how long Ichigo had stared at her. She scrutinized his expression, hoping for the slightest hint of a laugh. When she failed to find one, she started spurting out nonsense in her mind.
Something hit her. She giggled. She laughed. Tatsuki let out a sigh of relief, gasping for air by which she had starved herself of. She'd held her breath for so long she actually started to turn blue. When she noticed his quizzical expression she tossed her planner at him. It landed squarely in his face and fell into his lap. Circled on it was a date.
"It's April Fool's Day... Geez... You scared the hell out of me. Man, you almost had me. Good one, Ichigo..."
She continued laughing, half-hoping he would laugh with her. It faded slowly as he closed his books and sealed his binders. As he collected his things, she though she saw the ghost of a melancholy smile,
"Well, who knows...?"
As he turned to leave, he glanced up at the clock. She could have sworn he'd frowned as he'd turned around. "Anyway," he finished, "I should probably be going. Get some rest, Tatsu..."
The door creaked open, and slammed shut. She turned around at looked at the hands. The short hand rested just millimeters away from the top, while the long hand pointed squarely at one... Her cheeks became hot with crimson.
12:01