Disclaimer: Diabolo created by Kei Kusunoki and Kaoru Ohashi

Rated: M, just to be safe. Mostly for "adult themes", not scenes. And some eventual violence.

Summary: Eighteen years after the fall of the Diabolo, the players in that tragedy have been reincarnated, living ordinary lives. But Rai and Ren are separated, not even aware of each other's existence. Will they meet and will they remember? Or will life and death get in the way again?

Imperfect Circles

Lucky

The high school building was under a spell of quiet darkness as most of the students had rushed home as soon as possible hours ago. There were only a few persistent ones, lingering in the fields and courts outside, caught up in sports practice or just hanging out with friends. But inside, the halls were almost deathly hushed, like life had ended for the day and all sound and movement were locked away.

There was, however, one student who remained in this near silence. One very smart, very determined, very studious young man who was just putting the last of his books into his bag and was getting ready to leave when a girl suddenly and strangely burst through the library doors just before closing time. The boy glanced up curiously as he watched her swiftly scan the room before spotting him and briskly striding over. Stopping abruptly in front of him, she put her hand to her chest, breathing heavily as if she had just run a 25K marathon. Ever courteous, the boy pulled out a chair for her, but she refused it. So instead he waited patiently, watching her as she attempted to catch her breath.

Finally, she calmed and handing him an overflowing folder, said, "I'm so glad I caught you. Ohashi-sensei told me to make sure you got this before you left."

The boy took the folder and leafing through it quickly asked, "What is it?"

The girl simply shrugged, understanding that he was talking more to himself than to her.

She watched him rather intently as he pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in what she decided must be a rather cute expression. Not that she'd ever say so. While she was certain he would have been gracious and thanked her or given one of those smiles that could just make you melt, she was equally certain he wouldn't exactly appreciate being called "cute". What seventeen-year-old boy would? That didn't, however, make it any less true, whether appreciated or not. But as she allowed herself to stare more closely while he sifted through the papers, she changed her mind. "Handsome" was probably a more apt adjective than "cute" now that she thought on it. He held a kind of mystery that allowed his appearance to somewhat contradict his demeanor in an attractive way. The long black hair that tied up neatly into a ponytail at the nape of his neck wasn't something she'd normally think an honor student and class president would have. But on him, it seemed to fit perfectly. Those little wire-rimmed glasses on the other hand, were just the thing for a boy like him, excellently showing off his intense jade-colored eyes. And the fact that he was tall enough that she'd have to rise up on tiptoe to kiss him she presumed to be just the right height. She took this all in rather analytically, allowing her thoughts to show on her face, not much caring at the moment for outward appearances.

Suddenly, the object of her attention closed the folder with a nod and turned to look at her, noticing the fierce blush she sported as he caught her staring. She was just an average high school girl, after all. Yes, that's exactly right. Average, ordinary. He smiled. There were quite a few girls like this around school, who seemed to harbor a secret crush on him. They never bothered him with it, so he never said anything to discourage them, but he made a point not to encourage them either.

"Thank you," The dark-haired boy said, cutting into her reverie and tucking the folder into an already stuffed backpack. He watched amusedly as the girl fidgeted a little under his gaze, refusing to meet his eyes. Just as he was slinging his pack over his shoulder, the lights in the library went out, a not-too-subtle reminder that it was time to leave.

The two of them looked up to the now dim lamps, still standing somewhat stupidly in the middle of the room. Glancing down and seeing the girl's apparent awkward nervousness, he took pity on her and spoke.

"It's getting pretty late. How about I give you a ride home?" He offered.

The girl's eyes boggled out and her mouth dropped open as she turned to face him full on. This was an unexpected turn of events. She had hung around Ohashi-sensei specifically for the chance to meet the boy, but this was going far better than even she had hoped. Apparently realizing that she stood there gaping like a fish, she shut her mouth with an audible click and nodded her head with childlike vigor. The boy allowed himself a little laugh and gave her a classic smile.

"Why don't you get your things and meet me out front?" He stifled another laugh as she nodded again, her eyes crinkling up as she grinned. She really was very cute, acting like a little kid sister.

"I-I'll get them right now!" She yelled with exuberance. Then calming herself and lowering her voice, she added, "I'll just be a minute."

And she was off like a shot, leaving the boy to shake his head and chuckle under his breath. He readjusted the bag over his shoulder and headed out before the librarian came and was forced to push him out the door manually.

It took very little time for him to reach his car in the parking lot, saying a quick "hello" to many of the other students he'd passed on the way. Nearly everyone knew him and his good-natured friendliness made him a person you'd want to talk with. It was likely the main reason that led him to be so popular amongst the girls as well. Not that he actually realized this. Maybe on some level he knew, but he simply acted the way he did because that's who he was, not through any conscious effort to be liked. And yet he essentially was. There were only a few in the school who didn't like him. It was unfortunate that those few hated him with an unmitigated passion as though he'd done something that had ruined their lives for all eternity. He couldn't fathom why they held him in such contempt, but again, as long as it didn't affect him too much, he simply let it be.

Jumping into his car and starting it up, he pulled around to the front doors of the school to await the girl's arrival. As he sat there, he realized a bit belatedly that he'd offered a ride to a girl whose name he didn't even know. What an odd thing. He was fairly sure he'd seen her walking the halls on several occasions, but as he'd had no previous interaction with her before, he was completely at a loss. Well, she seemed safe enough, just your average high school girl. But still, he shook his head at his own strange behavior.

As he sat behind the wheel absently musing, he began to wonder what could possibly be taking her so long. It had been a while since she'd said "just a minute" and he thought for a moment that perhaps she'd gotten herself lost. That would be a pretty hard thing to do, but given what little he knew of her so far, he could believe it. Just then, he looked out his side window and there she was. Dashing up, her hair flew out behind her and her bag bounced rather sloppily at her side. When she opened the door and hopped in, she was once again out of breath. It seemed she did a lot of running. Not because she liked the exercise, but because she was just always late. He stifled another laugh. Even though he found it rather amusing, he still didn't want to embarrass the poor girl.

She quickly slammed the door shut and turned to him and he would've sworn, if it were possible, that she had big stars sparkling in her impossibly blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" She apologized, still a bit breathlessly. "But Ohashi -sensei stopped me again to make sure I gave you that packet."

"Don't worry about it." The boy answered kindly, gracing her with yet another knee-weakening smile.

She sighed a bit dramatically, but then seemed to catch what she was doing and snapped her gaze away to look pointedly into her lap. The boy took an amused sidelong glance in the other direction and started the car.

"So, where do you live?" He asked.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Just up here, a couple blocks down and a few to the right." The flustered girl answered, but smirked to herself, seeing that that wasn't a very good explanation. Her voice took on a strange tone. "It's those new condos they just built last year. You know where those are?"

"Yeah, I do," The boy replied, nodding his head.

"Yeah. Mom and Dad just moved then when Dad got a promotion at work. They're really nice, but a little creepy, since hardly anyone lives there yet." She scrunched up her nose in distaste. "And they smell funny. I don't think they waited long enough for the paint to dry. Or they left an open can in there or something. I don't know . . ."

Realizing that she was babbling a little, she let her last thought trail off. Then she glanced coyly at the boy next to her from under her long dark lashes. "Sorry."

"For what?" The boy asked. Taking a quick look at her, he remembered that he still didn't know her name, so he asked.

"Kaoru." She supplied readily, her cheeks managing to color to a fetching shade of pink. She simply couldn't believe her luck! All this time and here she was in his car. This was going to be easier than she'd thought.

He nodded as he turned his eyes back to the road. "Nice to meet you Kaoru, I'm Rai."

"Well, I know that. I-I mean, everyone knows who you are." Her wide eyes once again shifted away in what was presumed to be embarrassment. "Sorry."

"There's no reason to be." He reassured her as he smiled just slightly. She returned in kind, a small sweet one that lit up her face and made her look infinitely prettier than she already did.

They traveled the last bit of their trip in silence, just a few minutes more, before he pulled up beside her home.

"We're here." He said, stating the obvious. Although perhaps it had not been all that obvious to Kaoru since she flinched, jolted from her wandering mind. She hurriedly gathered her things before swinging open the door. She quickly got out only to peek her head back in to say her thanks. Then she shut the door and waved as he drove off. He returned the gesture and watched in his rearview mirror as she entered the building.

On his way home, he couldn't help but think what a pretty, charming girl she was. With long flowing black hair and deep blue eyes, all nicely offset by pale skin and a slim, but pleasing figure. Any guy in school would probably be thrilled to have a girl like her as a girlfriend and it was odd actually, that it appeared she was unattached. But the popular dark-haired boy could not picture that situation for himself. Kaoru was cute, sweet and clearly liked him. He couldn't help but think that he should like her back. But he just didn't, not like that. He simply couldn't see himself with her, or anyone else for that matter. He'd never felt anything deeper than friendship for anyone he'd ever met and he couldn't seem to change this. Sometimes when he thought about it, he found it strange, wondering how he could be seventeen and still not have had a girlfriend or even a teenage crush. Maybe he was a late bloomer, he didn't know. But if he didn't think about it, it didn't much bother him, so he pushed concerns such as these to the back of his mind.

Soon, he pulled up into the driveway of a very nice, though not elaborate home. He parked the car and pulled his pack out of the back seat, tossing it over his shoulder as he walked to the front door. The house was empty when he entered as it always was. His parents would still be at work, running the school they had started together years before: a boarding school for grade school kids, intended to give them an advantage when it came time to take the exams for entering high school. Rai himself had gone when he was younger, and he'd readily admit it was a very good school, but there was something about it he didn't like. Probably that it was mostly filled with kids of privilege and distinction, rich kids, many of whom were spoiled and thought the world owed them something.

He had the distinct feeling the world didn't owe anybody anything.

So when the time came, he chose instead to go to a more public, but equally good high school that admitted students solely on the efforts of their will rather than depth of their pockets. And he much preferred it. There he'd met a great variety of people from a wide range of life that he would never have known otherwise. He couldn't imagine having the friends he did if he were stuck in another rich kid factory.

Not that he begrudged his parents' school, not by any means. Without it, he wouldn't have had all the things he did, wouldn't have had the chance to do the things he really wanted. And his parents had worked very hard to get to where they were today, to be able to provide anything and everything Rai could ever possibly need.

The teen climbed the stairs and opened the door to his room, dropping his bag clumsily to the floor. Somewhat reluctantly, he pulled the recently acquired folder and tossed it to his desk. He'd have to go through all those papers Ohashi-sensei had given him and by just the cursory glance he'd given them in the library; it looked like it would be quite the undertaking. He didn't really want to, but it was student council business and ultimately it his own fault that now his time would be taken up. It was primarily simple things like the upcoming fair and what clubs would able to do what and when. Except it truly wasn't simple at all. That was the problem. It seemed every club wanted more than they could have and many of them either wanted to do the same attraction or all at the same time. It was going to be a lot of work trying to sort it all out and sill make everyone happy. Tonight he'd have to set up a preliminary schedule and booth map to set before the council tomorrow. Even though he knew "student council president" would look good when he wanted to go to college, he also wondered whether, with all the tests he'd have to take just to get in anyway, if it would really make a difference. Or more to the point, if all the grief was really worth it. But he'd agreed to it and if there's one thing he hated to do, it was to back out on an agreement.

So he perused the folder on his desk and started making notes on all the various problems. He sat there, rifling through requests and numbers and booth allotments for what seemed like forever. When he thought he could take no more, he was finally rescued by the welcome sound of the front door unlocking.

"Rai, we're home!" His mother shouted up to him. Rai walked out onto the hall balcony just outside his room and peered over the railing down at the two who had just come in.

"Welcome home!" He shouted back with a smile. His mother, still clad smartly in her work clothes, lifted a takeout bag with a somewhat rueful expression on her face.

"Sorry we're late, honey. But we picked up some sushi to make up for it."

"That's OK," Rai answered, checking his watch. It had somehow become eight o'clock. He had completely lost track of time looking through all those papers. He'd been so engrossed in fact that he didn't notice he'd missed dinner. Ah, well. It made little difference now.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" The woman asked, giving a child-like pout. Rai suppressed a smile. His mother worked with little children all day long that sometimes she forgot that her own son was no longer one of them.

"No, I haven't. I'll be right down." The not-so-little teen called back.

"Then we'll meet you in the kitchen!" His up-till-now silent father shouted in his deep baritone. Then the two adults walked under the balcony and through the kitchen door, disappearing from sight. Rai went back to his room and replaced the papers back in the folder, all his notes included. It would have to be good enough for now. He'd spent too much time on it as it was. He still had actual homework to do. It looked like, in fact, it would be a very long night.

Tumbling down the stairs, he finally realized he was pretty hungry as his stomach let out a protesting growl. Sushi was one of his favorites and he didn't get to eat it all that often, all things considered.

He sat down at the table as his mother doled out their dinner and they instantly began to eat. After a couple minutes of quiet but ravenous consumption, Rai's mother faced him with that particular glint in her eye. Popping another piece of sushi into his mouth, he braced himself, both knowing and dreading what was to come.

"So, honey," She ventured in that trying-to-be-subtle way of hers that was anything but subtle. "I hear your school's having a fair soon. Any girls you want to invite?"

"No, mom." The black-haired boy said, rather tiredly. This was a conversation they'd had many times before. For some reason unbeknownst to the boy, his mother was insistent that he have a girlfriend before he graduated high school. He really couldn't understand why, he had a lot of other things on his mind much more important than girls and some short-term relationship that would never last. At least in his opinion.

"Come now, there must be someone who interests you. Some pretty little thing that bats her eyes at you." Rai rolled his own. As if he'd actually want a girl like that. "You can't tell me there isn't a line of girls just waiting to be asked out by my handsome son."

She did that typical mother thing, reaching over and taking his chin in her hand. Rai just smirked. His father laughed at the antics of the other two members of his family and then pretended to chastise his wife.

"Now dear, don't pressure the boy. When he's ready, I'm sure he'll find the right one. Maybe she just hasn't come along yet."

The woman sighed and released her hold on the disgruntled teen as the man let out another hearty laugh. "I guess you're right. But as a mother . . ."

The woman's husband just shook his head and laughed. Then, changing the subject, he began a new conversation with his wife that thankfully had nothing to do with their son and his lack of female companionship.

Rai quickly tuned his parents out as they went on to discuss other things, business mostly, a subject which seemed to consume almost all their time. The talk of girlfriends made him think again of the pretty little thing he'd had in his car only hours before. He could ask her to attend the fair with him; he was fairly confident she would say yes. Maybe he should ask her. It couldn't possibly do any harm. He didn't feel anything of any great significance for her at the moment, but perhaps that would change. As it was right now, there was no one else who made him feel anything deeper.

So in his purely pragmatic way, he thought, why not her?

At any rate, it might help to get his mother off his back.

And a small part of him, a part he didn't realize he had somewhere deep in his mind, hoped that maybe he would feel something. And wondered if he'd even recognize the meaning of such an emotion if he ever did feel it.

Finishing his dinner in as little time as possible, he excused himself with a cursory nod and headed back to his room. It's not that he didn't want to spend time with parents, awkward conversations notwithstanding; it was simply that he knew he had a mountain of homework awaiting him, what with all the student council distractions.

So sliding back into his desk chair, he prepared himself for a long tiresome night of studies.

Hundreds of words and several hours later, he'd finally finished the last of his assignments. Thoroughly exhausted, he threw himself onto his bed and blearily glanced over to the digital display alarm clock that sat on his dresser. Quarter past one. And he had to get up early to get the class set up for tomorrow too.

He somehow doubted that the day soon to come would be one of his more productive ones. But that would just have to do. After all, even he was allowed one of those every once in a while. He took off his glasses and placed them beside his clock and sleepily draped a forearm over his eyes to protect them from the unwelcome light of the overhead lamp.

As he lay there, he found himself recalling the events of the day and with it the situation that was his life. He had a good home, a good education, every opportunity to make whatever he wanted with what was set before him, and two parents who loved and supported him. And just before the sweet release of sleep overtook him, he smiled.

Rai was a very lucky boy indeed. And he knew it.