"Tsuna-kun! Tsuna-kun!" you skipped down the halls of Namimori Middle School, looking for your childhood friend. You had just moved back to Japan after living in Canada for 6 years. You had moved away with your foster family, since your parents had been killed when you were young by an unknown cause. Unknown to you, at least. Whenever you were around adults, they would tend to whisper and you might occasionally catch one of their names, or they would pause for a moment and glance at you, but then resume their conversation. It didn't bother you... most of the time. But still. They could at least tell you if they knew something; you felt you deserved that much.
You skid around a corner and collided with a silver-haired teenager. A cigarette closed in his thin lips.
"AGGHHHHHHHHH!" you screamed, falling and taking the smoker with you.
"AH! GET OFF ME WOMAN!" he shouted from underneath you, pink beginning to colour his face. You had landed on him with a knee on either side of his hips.
"Say please!" you began to taunt with a smirk on your face. You didn't know the boy but you had fun teasing people like him (the uptight, rude kind that is).
"NO!" he yelled again, throwing you off of him. He was surprisingly strong, his slender build hiding his true strength. Your head struck the wall opposite of the two of you.
"Ow! That fuggin hurt!" you mumbled, rubbing the back of your head. You could feel a bump starting to form. "What's your problem?" you glared at him, still rubbing your bruised skull.
"You made me late for the Tenth!" he angrily announced after checking his cell phone for the time. "FUCK." He shouted, punching the drywall beside him, leaving a dent. He stood up and stalked away, lighting a cigarette on his way.
"You know that smoking will kill you right?" you yelled at his back as he slumped away. God, what a dick...
"Ah, don't worry about him," a deep voice came from behind you, closely followed by a hand on your shoulder. You rotated to greet the stranger, only to find yourself staring right into a muscular chest.
"Up here!" the tall boy laughed nonchalantly, the hand that was on your shoulder reached for the back of his neck. What looked like a baseball bat was strapped to his back. You felt your eyes slide up his chest, over his prominent chin and strong jaw line, and finally meet his eyes. They were a gorgeous brown, soft with the smile that lit up his face. "Gokudera is always like that," he finished.
"Well, that doesn't mean he isn't a dick-wad," you muttered under your breath, making the stranger laugh once more.
"I like you," he grinned kindly at you. "Oh, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, by the way." he continued, taking a slight step back, then bending at the waist in a polite bow. You returned it, beaming.
"Aisuru Aria, it's nice to meet you Yamamoto-kun." After you straightened up, you held out your hand, still used to using your North American mannerisms.
"So, are you new here Aria-chan? I haven't seen you around Namimori before," Yamamoto inquired.
"Well, sort of..." you started to explain, "I used to live here, until I was eight. My foster family decided they wanted to live in North America for a while. Canada, actually. It was really nice there. The winters were beautiful, the summers warm..." you trailed off, a gentle smile on your face as you recalled your time in that peaceful country. "Anyways," you continued, "we moved back last week and I registered for school here."
"Cool! I've heard it's gorgeous there." Yamamoto glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I have to go; I was actually headed to meet up with some of my friends for lunch. You can too, though, if you'd like," he added, grinning again. I swear, with this kid, he could light up a room with just his smile. It was contagious too, and you didn't have the cure. You found yourself returning the toothy smile as you graciously accepted his invitation.
You walked on for a few minutes with light, casual conversation bouncing between the two of you. After a minute or so, you reached the door that led to the roof, where Yamamoto usually ate with his friends. He stepped a bit ahead of you, in order to get the door for you like a gentleman.
"So I guess chivalry isn't dead after all," you observed, laughing as he smiled at you once more. That grin rarely left his face, it seemed.
"Yamamoto-kun! Over here!" a faintly familiar voice called from somewhere over to your left. You turned to see who the voice came from, only to encounter the very person you were hunting for this morning.
"Tsuna-kun!" you exclaimed, running up to your childhood friend and tackling him like you used to do when you were kids. Well, younger kids anyway.
"A-Aria!" Tsuna gasped, fighting to get the air back into his lungs... the air you so forcefully knocked out.
"How are you? I haven't seen you in ages! I was looking for you but I ran into this complete douche, and then I met Yamamoto-kun here and now here we are!" you panted, out of breath from running and talking. Behind you, Yamamoto began to snicker. You spun around. "What?" you inquired, not understanding the joke.
Instead of explaining, he simply pointed behind you, towards the cause of his amusement. You did another 180 and finally understood.
The 'complete douche' from earlier was sitting behind Tsuna, back against the school. His mouth was open, a cigarette hanging comically from his lower lip and a slight blush colouring his cheeks. You couldn't help yourself; you just started to giggle uncontrollably. Soon, you were on your ass, laughing so hard you couldn't breathe. The silver-haired boy stood, his face steadily growing redder with each laugh that flew out of your mouth.
"WOMAN, STOP LAUGHING!" he flustered, trying (and failing) to regain some of his composer. For some reason, this made the situation that much funnier. Yamamoto reintroduced his own laugh again. The smoker's unflattering blush deepened even more. "STOP IT YOU BASEBALL FREAK! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"
"Quiet, herbivores, you're giving me a headache." A new voice joined the fray. Yamamoto immediately stopped laughing and the smile that started creeping onto Tsuna's face was washed off in an instant. You glanced up with tears in your eyes, abdominal muscles aching.
A dark haired, angst-y looking boy stood on the roof above, glaring down at your little group. Swiftly, silently, he leapt down from his level so he could stand before you, face to face. The jacket he had draped over his shoulders billowed in the wind that blew above the school. He had a band safety-pinned to his sleeve that read "prefect".
"Your obnoxious voices woke me up from my nap," he continued, annoyance colouring his face.
"We're s-sorry Hibari-s-san," Tsuna stuttered, paling with each passing moment. You glanced between the two males.
"What! We aren't doing anything bad!" you exclaimed, frustrated with this guy. Just who did he think he was? Behind you Tsuna gasped. Beside you Yamamoto stiffened. The third boy however remained silent. You resisted the urge to turn on him, to check his expression.
A strange sneer crossed Hibari's face. It was only there for a split second, not long enough for you to interpret it. Was it...delight? "Don't you have any manners, herbivore?" A bored tone entered his voice. "Having a lack of manners deserves a punishment," with a smirk, he swiftly pulled a set of steel tonfa out of his jacket. "I will bite you to death."
As Hibari took a step forward, two other people advanced as well. Not towards Hibari, but towards you.
"Please Hibari-san, Aria-chan is new here," Yamamoto informed, taking a step in front of you so that he was between you and the murderous-looking prefect.
"Yeah, she's new here; she doesn't know the rules here yet," the silver-haired boy added, stepping up beside you as well. You were utterly shocked that he was standing up for you, since only moments ago called him a douche.
Hibari glowered at you, ignoring the two boys that were in his line of sight.
After a painstaking pause, he replied. "Consider this your one and only warning, herbivore." He turned away and strode off, returning his tonfa to the inside of his jacket.
The four of you waited with baited breath for Hibari to leave earshot. Once he was gone, you advanced on the two boys.
"I didn't need your help, you know," you blatantly stated, avoiding their eyes.
"Oh well," Yamamoto smiled, scratching at the back of his neck as he shrugged it off, "at least he left you alone."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! HE WOULD'VE KILLED YOU! The other boy raged, his face becoming deep rouge.
"Psh, whatever," you muttered.
"TENTH, are you just going to let this idiot woman be so rude to me? After I saved her ass from being beaten to death?" he advanced on Tsuna.
"So Tsuna is the 'Tenth' you mentioned before?" you put on a devious smirk. You were already thinking up ways you could tease him with this nickname.
"I-I-no! I'm just Tsuna!" he stammered, blushing lightly. "Gokudera-kun is right though; he just helped you. You should thank him Aria-chan."
"SEE!" Gokudera exclaimed, sounding like a young and immature child.
"FINE!" you barked. You pivoted to face him. "Thank you Gokudera-kun," you drawled. "I, Aisuru Aria, am forever in your debt." You finished the sarcasm that flavoured your comment was almost palpable.
"Good. You owe me one, Aria," he added with a touch of contempt. "And since we haven't properly introduced each other, I'm Gokudera Hayato, the Tenth's right hand man!" Tsuna blushed even more at this comment.
"Whatever!" you shouted, sticking your tongue out at him. You then turned to Yamamoto. "Thanks Yamamoto-kun! Is there something I can do to thank you?" you proposed, extra kindness added to your voice, just to annoy Gokudera.
"Ah, Aria-chan, it was nothing!" his face reddened slightly.
"Nothing?" you asked. "There's nothing I can do for you?"
"Nope, I think I'm alright for now." Another grin
"How about I owe you one, then?" you smiled as well, then took a step forward. You gave him a hug to convey your gratitude. You felt his toned body tense up slightly, but then relax as he returned the embrace. It only lasted a moment, but when you broke away and glanced at Gokudera, you were slightly surprised to find Gokudera looking away. He seemed to be embarrassed as he was slightly scarlet.
You didn't know why, but this brought a smile to your face.