While looking through my "plotbunny food" tumblr tag for more prompts, I found a post of punk/good kid AUs. I expected Ryumako to yell at me again. Instead I got blindsided by AriSa.
The prompt: I accidentally knocked you out when you got caught in the middle of a fist fight between me and this other kid during school, so I sat with you in the nurse's office.
"Hey, look."
"What?"
"I think they're getting ready to fight…"
Hanajima Saki opened her bento box. It was lunchtime, and she sat at her corner desk as always, while her classmates congregated around each other or ate outside. Usually she had the classroom to herself, or at the very least a buffer of empty seats several rows wide. Today, though, a couple of stragglers hung by the window overlooking the schoolyard.
No matter, Saki thought, plucking a small rice ball from the box. She'd gotten quite good at ignoring being ignored, something that was infinitely preferable to the baleful looks and whispers of witch that followed her around her previous school.
"Is that the Yankee? The red coat, there."
"It is! Come on, let's go watch."
The stragglers skidded out of the room. Saki chewed serenely.
The buzz of students down below eased through the half-open window. Saki continued to eat.
The buzz became a murmur. Saki ignored it.
The bento box was two-thirds empty when the waves hit her. She stood, the desk chair clattering unnoticed into the wall, and rushed to the window.
She could barely look out, the waves were so strong. And they were screaming at her to get down there. But the last time she'd listened to the waves she'd gotten expelled…
This is different, she thought as she ran from the classroom and down the hall. Last time she could have ignored the waves but chose not to. She'd been younger, less in control. This time, even with the unwavering command she had over her power, she didn't have a choice.
Saki ran into the schoolyard, clutching her windblown veil, heart racing. The crowd chanted for a fight yet still parted as she came through, her aura preceding her as always.
"Wait," she said, breaking into the center. "Wait."
The two participants circled each other, one a tall girl wearing a red jacket, the other a fierce-looking boy equally tall, bleeding from his lip.
"Cheap shot, Yankee," the boy said, fingers flexing. "You're gonna pay for that."
The girl sneered. "I would really like to see you try."
Saki moved forward, called by the waves. "Wait, stop…!"
She ran between them just in time to block the girl's punch with her head.
#####
"Mother… I had… an awful…"
"Oh, god, she's waking up. Oh, god, what do I do, oh god…"
That wasn't her mother's voice. Then who was holding her hand?
"Oh, my god, are you are right? I'm so sorry, I can't believe–"
Saki opened her eyes. She saw the ceiling. She turned her head and saw the blonde girl staring at her. She didn't feel the waves anymore, only the heavily distressed aura of the blonde girl.
The blonde girl probably had a name. Saki's mouth felt like cotton, so she couldn't ask.
"Thank god you're awake, I seriously thought I killed you, oh my god." She put her hands over her face, and Saki's hand suddenly felt less warm.
Everything came back to her.
"The nurse's office," Saki said. "You were fighting, and I…" The words were sticky; she coughed. Her head, besides feeling very cold, hurt. She inched her way to sitting; a blanket slipped from her shoulders and a large ice pack fell into her lap.
Someone had given her a blanket. She was on the couch in the nurse's office. Her head hurt.
"Do you need water? Let me get you water." The girl leapt to her feet, jacket flapping behind her as she went to the cooler. "Oh my god, careful!"
"I can sit up," Saki said in protest. The girl sat next to her and put an arm gingerly around her shoulders. Saki took the paper cup and drank.
"But I really whammed you. You probably have a concussion or something."
"My head does hurt. But only a little."
The girl wasn't as she had first appeared; Saki realized they were nearly the same height seated. She took the empty cup and refilled it before Saki could ask. "Where's the nurse, for god's sake, you need pain meds…"
"I'm Hanajima Saki," said Saki, after taking the cup back.
The girl was pacing, her aura jittery. "Huh?" She paused, blinked, then said, "Uotani. Uotani Arisa." She walked over to take Saki's outstretched hand; her handshake was hesitant.
Suddenly conscious of her black nail polish, Saki withdrew first. "Nice to meet you." She sipped from the cup.
"You're being awfully polite to someone who knocked you out," the blonde girl– Arisa– said.
"It was an accident."
"I didn't even see you, until–" Arisa shook her head, took the ice pack and tossed it onto a side table. "What were you doing there, anyway?"
Saki spoke before she thought. "You and that boy were giving off strong waves."
"Waves?" Arisa half-smiled, eyebrows raised. "What, are you psychic?"
Now that she'd said it, what was the point of lying? "Yes." Saki drained the cup and crumpled it. "They compelled me to stop you. I haven't felt such waves in a long time."
"You're serious." Arisa sat slowly down next to her, staring again. Her stare seemed different from the others Saki had endured.
"Yes. It isn't something I would make up, Uotani-san."
"It isn't normally something you'd admit so quickly, either!"
Again, Saki's mouth got ahead of her brain. "Your aura indicates intense interest in me."
Arisa's face abruptly turned pink. "Wh-What is that supposed to mean? I've never met a psychic before, let alone knocked one into a coma! Besides, your eyes are really pretty, and–"
She stopped herself, flushing further, leaving Saki to mull over that statement. The nurse walked in a moment later and Arisa didn't even take her to task.
"I'm coming with you," she said, after Saki had taken some aspirin and been pronounced good to go. "You still might collapse. Oh…" She dashed to the side table and back, offering Saki her veil. "This is yours."
"Thank you, Uotani-san."
"You know, seeing as how I punched you in the head, I think you can drop the formalities. Call me Arisa. What d'you say?"
"Arisa… -san?"
Arisa smiled. "That's a good start. Now, about this whole 'aura' business…"