Yes, I KNOW I should be updating the fics I already have up, but I'm tired, this won't get out of my head, and it's LATE! ...Erm, early. Anyway, this was written entirely for fun, and really shouldn't be taken seriously; therefore, no need to flame me. I think I should be updating at least one of my others before vacation ends, but... um yeah I've also got a 500 word essay on my personal experience with self discovery (curse my English teacher-- doesn't he know we're supposed to REST over vacation?!!) to bullshit my way through, so it might not happen.

Cross Academy Craziness

Preface: She Who Haunts the… School Library?

"Is it good?"

Takuma looked up from the manga he was reading, startled to find the small brunette girl crouching about three feet in front of him and slightly to the left. She had a curious look on her face, but still managed to look disinterested, reminding him a great deal of his roommate and Touya-san. The difference being that her eyes were brown in color while theirs were different shades of blue. Of course, he didn't think anyone else except maybe the librarians knew about this particular little nook of the Cross Academy Library, never mind would be wondering around it in the middle of the day. The rest of the Night Class was asleep at this hour, and the Day Class students—well, should be in class right now! In light of these little facts, the only brilliant response the girls question was, "Uh?"

This seemed to amuse her greatly. That is, if her facial expressions could be gauged on the same scale as Shiki and Touya, then that was what the small up turning of her lips indicated. "The manga you're reading. I saw it in the bookstore last week, and I almost bought it, but I didn't quite have enough. So, is it any good?" she elaborated.

"Um, yes, it's very good." The manga in question happened to be xxxHOLiC. Volume 1 to be precise. "The characters are very interesting and I haven't come across another plot quite like this one before, so it's a nice change." By now Takuma was nigh on grinning, happy to have someone to talk about manga with for once. None of the Night Class was really interested.

The Day Class girl seemed to be having similar thoughts. "Ah, great! I know what I'm getting now, the next time I go into town."

The two then proceeded to get into a 15 minute long discussion of manga genres and over-used plots, before Takuma asked that nagging question. "Shouldn't you have a class now… I'm sorry, I never did get your name, did I?"

"It's Sakamoto Rin-chan. And shhhh~" she lifted a finger and held it in front of her nose in a "quiet" symbol. "I'm skipping. And if my roommate catches me—which I know she will sooner or later—I shall be dead meat."

"Ichijou Takuma. Sakamoto-san, if the consequences for skipping are so dire, why take the risk in the first place?"

"Normally I wouldn't, but to be perfectly honest with you, I can't stand the substitute for the class period I have right now; I'm worried I won't be able to control my vocabulary, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. That would do it."

"Yes. Well, class is about over, so I should get going; perchance my demise will be less painful that way." She stood up. "I enjoyed talking to you, Ichijou-sempai. Maybe we'll get a chance to do it again sometime."

"I enjoyed it as well. You know… I'm about done with this, and it is my own copy; why don't I lend it to you? That way you won't have to wait to until you go into town next to read it."

Rins expression lit up. "Really? You would do that?!"

Takuma chuckled. "Yes, as long as you promise to be careful with it."

"I WILL, I PROMISE!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" The girl was literally bouncing with happiness, grinning as though she'd just won the lottery.

"Then, you may borrow it." Takuma handed the manga to the overjoyed girl, smiling at her enthusiasm and the contrast to the demeanor she'd held when first addressing him.

"Thank you again, Ichijou-sempai! I can have it back to you in a day or two, depending on how much homework I get. I promise to take good care of it!"

"I can tell you will. Just, do be sure to get your homework done Sakamoto-san."

"I will, I promise." She made an "X" over her heart with her right index finger.

"RIN!"

Said girl froze, head ducking down slightly as if she expected to be whacked in the head with something. "Dash it all, I've been discovered!" she muttered frantically. Then louder, "Sorry to cut this short, but I must be going now, Ichijou-sempai. My roommate's calling. If she catches me, I'll try not to get blood on your manga, but I can make no promises." With that, she skittered in the opposite direction of the irate female voice, apparently hoping to make a clean get away.

Takuma shook his head, his expression amused. "Well, that was certainly different. I can't wait to tell Shiki about this…"

And there you go. Hope you're enjoying it so far; the next chapter should be up soon, as I actually stated writing it before I wrote this, then realized that this part would make more sense if I stuck it in at the beginning rather than later on. And yeah, what I did with the name was take that one syllible in my name and... Japanese-ify it? It'll be simpler if I put it like this: "L-Y-N" is pronounced "l-in" and in Japan the sound would come out something between an "r" sound and an "l" sound, so it would sound about the same as the name "Rin." Get it? (As for Sakamoto, I just went on the WikiPedia page of most common surnames in various countries and picked one. Might change later, in which case I'll fix it in any chaps I have posted already.)

Now, let's see how much I can type before passing out, yes? On to work!!