NXYZ Community Christmas Fic Exchange
Title: Blue Pendulum
Written for: AquaJet
Special Message: Aqua, I hope you like this! I tried to write cheerful, but I'm not very good at it, hahaha.
Pairings/Genres/Rating: Kaidoh/OC / Romance, Friendship / T for language
Beta: Ansxn
A/N: Boom. No, this fic was not last minute at all. Nope, I don't have any time keeping issues.
Blue Pendulum
Tell me, did you sail across the sun,
Did you make it to the milky way,
To see the lights out faded
And that heaven is overrated?
-Drops of Jupiter, Train
Kaidoh was doing a favour for his English teacher, who wanted some materials delivered to the second years (he was a first year back then, oh, those days) when he met her. As much of a cliché that was, the only thing she did to him was catch his attention - and that in itself was a huge feat.
Now, even from young, intimidating Kaidoh wasn't easy, since it was him that usually did the intimidating, with his razor sharp eyes that pierced through your skin and an overall displeased expression that sent the other kids running for the hills.
"You," she had said, eyes set alight with fire, "Get up now, you pathetic excuse of a human being. Get up." She waggled a finger at him, but other than that, no other part of her body moved an inch; Incredible control. The whole room was silent, as the second years were waiting for their English teacher (the one who sent him on the errand) to arrive, but instead, they were caught up in that silent battle.
One leg propped on top of a chair and the other firmly sticking to the ground, an older girl with flawless long straight hair was glaring at a whimpering boy who was quivering in his seat, trying and failing to maintain his dignity.
"W-What do you want?" He tried to shout back, but it came out as a near whimper. The girl then got hold of the chair and smirked, stopped for a few seconds, before grabbing the boy by his collar and shoving him to her level.
"Don't you dare bully Himari-san! If you ever attempt to damage her equipment or vandalise her desk, I will slaughter you like a pig and roast you." She spat in his face and let him go, as he attempted to get rid of the alien liquid on his face.
"And that goes to the rest of this class. I do not allow bullying in our class. It is childish, idiotic, and thoughtless." Her lips pressed into a straight line, before she sat back down into her seat.
At that moment, Kaidoh only had the objective of delivering material to the class in his mind. So, moving from his place at the door, he bowed and excused himself as he walked toward the teacher's desk, trying to shake off his utter surprise at such an act. It was like the whole class was under that girl's control or something, because she lead them like an alpha lion.
Kaidoh tried to hide his surprise when she suddenly walked across the classroom like nothing had happened, to greet him.
"Are those materials for one of our classes? Thank you for handling them, and I'll take it from here." She nodded and gave him a small smile, before walking towards the teacher's desk. Kaidoh took that as his cue to leave, and he did so.
He honestly thought that they wouldn't meet again. Sure, they went to the same school, but Seishun Gakuen was huge, bigger than normal high schools, you could argue.
But with only around two months of a gap between their first meeting and their second, Kaidoh had wondered what the deal was with the situation. He wasn't comfortable with meeting senpais, especially girls, as surely the stupid peach-butt Momoshiro would have got the wrong idea about them, even if she was their senpai.
It was during tennis practice, in the beginning of the winter months. Members ran softly with a good pace to stop themselves shivering in the ghastly cold. First years did their chores reluctantly, whilst sneaking peeks at the third year regulars' tennis practice. Kaidoh, of course, was one amongst those who completed their tasks properly, unlike those wannabes who just stared and muttered 'oh, how great would it be if I could be like them' while never putting enough effort in. Sure, Kaidoh admired the third year regulars in one way or another, but he didn't want to be like them. He was determined as ever to get into the regulars by the time he was in his last year, and with the team they would make it to nationals and make sure Seigaku Tennis Club would be known throughout Japan. Yes, that was his current dream.
What he did not realise (until peach-butt pointed it out) was that the fierce senpai from around two months ago was watching them.
"So you're Kaidoh-kun huh," She began, as she took a large swing of her can of coffee. "I'm Murakami Megumi. If you insist on being polite, as I've learnt, you can call me Mura-senpai. I'm still trying to get used to all this additional politeness here. You see, I was raised in Europe, where my mother and father lived. They aren't around anymore, so I got to live with my Aunt and my cousin."
Kaidoh didn't really know what to say. Well, sure, it explained why she was so bashful and blunt, unlike the majority of the girls who couldn't complete a full sentence when asking for something to be done. Kaidoh wasn't good at things like judging someone's character, but he liked her, in a simple way. She was straightforward. No diversions. No distractions. Just straight to the point.
Kaidoh stared at his trainers as his senpai swung her legs up and down as if she was on a swing. Instead of looking at her legs, he drank more of his bottled water.
"You don't have much to say, do you, Kaidoh-kun? Ah well, that doesn't matter." She sighed, and a barely visible cloud came out of her mouth.
"It's quite... chilly, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. The rest of the first years were already changing and were getting ready to go home – but he was still stuck outside because of polite obligation.
"I won't keep you," she began, as if reading his mind. Megumi stood up straight, revealing her full height. Looking up, Kaidoh was mildly surprised to see how tall she was, really. "I'll see you again sometime. It was nice talking to you, because you take me seriously, at least. Bye!"
Kaidoh narrowed his eyes as his senpai walked off without even waiting for an answer. She waved a hand like she was stopping a taxi, not waving someone goodbye.
He groaned, contemplating what excuse he would have had to use to deflect peach-butt's idiotic teasing.
On the last day of school before winter break, that morning he had received some rather unwelcome shock. He had come to school at his usual time (earlier than the majority of the class) and there was a small box wrapped in shiny red paper and tied delicately together with golden ribbon. A white gift tag had been attached to it, and it looked like it belonged in a shop window, not on a desk of a first year junior high student.
Thankfully, the two people that had arrived didn't say a thing. Kaidoh had dashed to his desk, shoved the box into his bag, and waited until he got home to deal with the 'unknown parcel'.
At first, he ended up staring at it for a full ten minutes wondering how to open the damn thing without damaging the ribbon or the wrapping paper, until he finally lost patience and tore the decoration apart.
Inside the box, there were two key-chains; one of a cute panda and the other of a tiny turtle. Kaidoh held him in his hand, unsure of what to do with them – he had never in his whole short life received a gift from anyone who wasn't part of his family. It was just so strange. Why did he get a gift so out of the blue?
"It's a Christmas present, don't you know?" Megumi answered when Kaidoh approached her next. Curiosity got the better of him, and he had decided to bravely approach the class representative.
He nodded numbly.
"What's wrong?"
He showed her the two key-chains.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Her hands flung straight to her mouth in obvious shock. "I think I must have got your present mixed up! I wrapped all the presents for my classmates in the same way you see, so I- I must have got them mixed up!"
"It's okay, senpai." He spoke in a smaller voice. (A normal voice.) "C-can I keep them?"
To his utter surprise, Mura-senpai did not shun him.
"Yes," she said instead, with a small smile. "You can have your original present as well. I think you'll like it."
(He still has the racquet and ball phone charm on his phone – he doesn't have the heart to get rid of it.)
Kaidoh held in his emotions, and grasped the bunch of flowers bought from his local florist tightly. He hated the smell and sight of hospitals – with its too white rooms and its gloomy atmosphere, regardless of weather. Staring at the doors a little too intensely, Kaidoh managed to find the right door and opened it wide, eyes scanning to find a female body lying on the bed.
"Oh, you came," Mura-senpai managed - her voice weaker, lacking spirit and soul. Kaidoh filled the empty vase sitting beside her with flowers. "Lucky me huh? I got a whole room to myself."
The sight of Mura-senpai made Kaidoh sick in the stomach. Maybe he really did care for her well-being, or maybe he knew a day like this would have happened someday.
Megumi had bandages around her left eye, her right foot was in a cast, and so was her left arm. Her complexion was paler than her already pale skin, and Kaidoh knew that if the sheet wasn't over her body, there would be bruises.
She had gotten in a fight.
It was just after regionals too – he wanted to celebrate, not to mull over a person's well-being! His lips pressed into a straight line.
"What are you doing, Kaidoh? Weren't you coming to see me?"
Sly tears rolled off his face, but he wiped them quickly, until they disappeared completely.
"Nothing. I'll go now."
Inui said that Murakami Megumi was indeed an odd person – although Japanese in ethnicity, her official nationality was Russian. Brought up by two travelling parents, they both encountered accidents that stole their life away from them – her father from a car crash, and her mother, in an earthquake in a foreign country. Mura-senpai was not pretty, she did not belong in the fashion magazines she liked to read – that much was clear. Her features were too ordinary. Her figure, height, weight, looks, were all average. Has a tendency to be violent, and extremely righteous and stubborn.
"But she's lonely."
"Really now?" Inui smirked. "I don't think so, not anymore."
Mura-senpai came back with a covered up scar on her cheek, and a haircut – her long, long hair was cut down to only go past her shoulders, and she was given a straight fringe. Kaidoh wasn't there to immediately notice the changes – he was too busy being wrapped up in the little world of tennis to notice a thing.
Her presence at tennis practice was only a fact he knew, not something he recognised or understood. Anyway, she always stood in the shadows, observing with some food in a plastic bag.
And apparently, her new look was catching the attention of several guys, which she ignored in true Mura-senpai style. (Since she curled her hair and wore make up. Why? Must be some stupid reason. The Mura-senpai that he remembered did everything out of a whim with no real reason.)
"Hey, hey, Kaidoh-kun, isn't that Mura-chan? Did she come to see you again?" Kikumaru asked, walking with a spring in his step. Kikumaru was already in his third year, and Kaidoh, his second.
"Kikumaru-senpai, how do you know that we know each other?" Kaidoh respectfully answered, with another question.
"Ehhhhh! You knew each other? Like, in a friendly way? I thought she just had an interest in you!"
"What do you mean, senpai?" When he thought about it, Kaidoh knew next to nothing about Mura-senpai, other than the brief things Inui told him.
"Well, I heard she looks for interesting people. But she's creepy, ya know? She watches people from afar and you don't even realise she's there! And if you piss her off, she'd be really violent! So scary, so scary! Plus, she's Fuji's cousin! They're related!"Kikumaru made a horrified expression, but Kaidoh was indifferent. You could even say he expected nothing less. Mura-senpai was a strange foreigner with little to no concept of Japanese social skills.
Kaidoh walked across the pitch to get into position. He breathed in, eyes razor sharp.
Megumi had already walked away.
"Hey, isn't that Murakami Megumi? That delinquent of a Treasurer for the School Council? Why has she still got that position anyway? She's such a bitch. Walking around like she owns the place, what a slut."
"Yeah, a slutty bitch like her shouldn't be in this school. She'll soil the place."
Rumours and rumours started growing around the school like weeds, stubborn, and only removed by the roots. It had gotten so bad it reached even the second years. That Murakami Megumi was a delinquent who got involved with nasty people. A rumour built up from increasing injuries. First it was the eye path on her right eye, then a cast for the left arm, and then a nasty bruise below her chin.
"Ah, Kaidoh-kun!" She caught him alone, on the roof. Of course, she wouldn't want to involve him in her affairs – even though she was dense, she wasn't stupid.
"What is it, senpai?"
"I got better at throwing! And beating people up!"
Kaidoh wished he didn't hear past the first sentence.
Demonstration involved breaking club rules and waiting until the first years left early. The regulars always trained for half an hour more, so she used that period of time.
"Look, right, that little kid, over there, he's trying to serve right? In a few seconds?"
As soon as Kaidoh finished nodding, she had already picked up a tennis ball from a nearby basket and threw the thing straight at Echizen Ryoma's head, just as he was calculating when to hit the ball that was floating in mid-air. He ended up losing his balance and he wobbled in an uncharacteristic manner, before ending up falling on the floor. He rubbed his head, before shooting a glare at Mura-senpai, and muttered something in English.
There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Kikumaru broke it with spontaneous laughter that brought everyone together in a huge fit of laughter.
"That's what cha get for being arrogant, boy. But then again, I hit you because you're in my line of sight. Dude, I know enough English to know what you're talking about." Megumi shrugged.
Kaidoh smirked, amused by the whole situation.
Come March the next year, Kaidoh knew it was the last time he was going to come face to face with Mura-senpai again. Sure, it was strange seeing her (and the rest of the former third year regulars) wearing a white flower on their uniforms, smiling slightly and saying goodbye.
He approached Mura-senpai before anyone else. For what reason, he wasn't too sure. Obligation? A decent goodbye? He was sure that he'd see the rest of the former regulars again sometime, but Murakami Megumi? Nah, she'd be going on to do something he probably couldn't imagine.
Her bruise from tripping over and falling on a porcelain flower pot had faded, and the cast for her hand (an injury from attempting to beat a muscular guy at arm wrestling, which she won, which isn't such a surprise any more, after fifty attempts), and her other random injures healed long ago, and it was strange to think that he missed them. Kaidoh had gotten used to seeing her with an injury or two, and wacking a boy with her solid cast who was pissing her off at the same time.
In fact, he was still unsure of what to think of her; for she was the strangest person he'd ever met, which was quite a statement, considering the senpai he had around him.
He didn't notice how tall he was, compared to her. He didn't notice how close they were until she looked up at him and smiled, which caused him to back off and cover his face with a hand.
"Aww, Kaidoh-kun, we won't meet again any more. I'll miss you."
"Hnng."
She laughed at that, and smiled. Now, he was finally starting to see the so called charm he heard about.
"If you ever need someone to hit that bastard child on the head ever again, call me." She chuckled.
"He isn't in the country."
"Oh, he'll be back, I know it, Kaidoh-kun. He loves his friends too much to leave them."
"I'm not going to say 'I hope we meet again' because it probably won't come true. I will though, tell you this." She began, and there was a scary sort of finality in her voice. "I like you. In every way possible."
Kaidoh swore he felt more gazes shoot their way. He tried to ignore them.
In the middle of December, Fuji-senpai sent an express package to his house. It was small and rectangular, and when opened, there was a smaller rectangular box, wrapped in red paper and gold ribbon, along with a note written in beautifully neat Japanese characters.
Inside was a delicate snow globe, and Kaidoh knew it wasn't just something you could have bought in a department store last minute on a Saturday. The figurines inside were delicately hand painted, decorated as painstakingly as the outside base of the globe. The outer plastic felt cool on his fingertips, and he watched intensely at the painted scene.
The grouped figurines were of the whole regular team and the national winner's trophy in the middle. They were small with smiling faces, with a tiny smile coming from Tezuka-boucho. (He'd always be his captain.) In fact, he never knew whether or not Mura-senpai had come to watch them at nationals at all.
"Do you like it? I commissioned it from a family friend in Russia. I hope you like it. Merry Christmas." The note read, and he imagined it in Mura-senpai's familiar low voice that sounded soothing.
"Merry Christmas." He told the thin air.