It was nearly five p.m. by the time Sutaraito and Ichigo made it to the zoo. Suta settled the arrangements with the zoo staff for the class trip taking place next week, while Ichigo meandered around, looking at the animals. Once she was done, Suta walked up.
"Alright," she said, "it's all set."
"Cool," Ichigo said rather nonchalantly, "now what?"
Suta shrugged. "We could just wander, I guess."
"Already did, but whatever. I don't really wanna go home just yet."
Suta grinned, and a teasing tone creeped into her voice."Your dad being an idiot?"
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "When isn't he?"
Suta laughed a little. "Okay. We'll just chill here for an hour or so."
"Great."
After a while of wandering, they worked their way to the reptile house. As they walked in, Suta tensed, eyeing the snakes warily. The memory of the snake that had killed her parents had created a deep-set hatred of snakes in general. She moved quickly out of the section, heading toward the amphibians. While she looked with admiration at the fascinating frogs and salamanders, Ichigo shuffled around amongst the lizards.
Ten minutes later Suta caught up with him. A sweat drop formed when she spotted him bending down in front of a tank, staring with an odd, fixed look of determination at a very large, evergreen chameleon.
"Ichigo…what in god's name is wrong with you?"
Ichigo's gaze never faltered as he responded.
"That thing's lookin' at me funny…"
The chameleon leveled its spiraled eyes at him, tilting its scaly head as though wondering the same thing as Suta.
Suta rolled her eyes. "Ichigo, it's a chameleon. They look at everyone like that."
The chameleon flicked its tongue at the glass, and the fleshy knob on the end stuck fast to the glass, lining up point blank with Ichigo's forehead.
Ichigo glowered at it. "Stupid thing…"
Suta noogied him, dropping him on the floor after a few moments. "Stupid boy…"
The chameleon simply stared.