Chapter Two
—Girl in the Lamplight—
The girl swept her fallow brown hair out of her eyes as the photocopier finished printing. Briefly, she glanced at her watch- almost seven.
After class had ended, it had taken a while to organize the filing cabinet as the teacher had requested her to, and then even longer to sort out the information she would need to present for the committee meeting on Monday. She had cleaned up the classroom, too, since pieces of paper and garbage and distracting spots of dirt on the floor kept catching her eye. Obviously the students chosen to clean up hadn't done that good of it job today. She'd have to reprimand them for it later.
After all of that was sorted out, she was given the task of waking up Jonouchi Katsuya. He had fallen asleep during English, and stayed that way for the rest of the school day. The blonde had looked very tired, and didn't eat anything for lunch today, either. Surely it wasn't healthy. In a cloud of concern for his well-being she refrained from yelling at him. His grades were low, but he wasn't that neglectful of his education. If he was falling asleep in class then he must really need the rest.
He looked at ease now, his head on the wooden desk as he snored softly. The boy's shaggy blonde hair fell over his closed eyes, and a bit of drool was on his sleeve. The fallow haired girl stood in front of him, leaning against the desk behind her as she took in the image. The female student stayed like that for several minutes, wondering what he was dreaming about as a grin crawled across his face.
…It was a very cute sight.
But it was getting late, and she needed to go photocopy information for Monday's meeting. Besides, he would miss supper if he slept any longer. Akina sucked up her breath, placing her hands at the front of his desk and frowning down at the sleeping blonde. If she was going to wake him up, she'd best do it assertively.
"Jonouchi-kun! Hey, Jonouchi-kun! Class is over, you know!"
The sun was well past the horizon as Akina walked down the street, her bag and photocopied papers in hand. The school girl's feet hit the pavement at a steady but relaxed pace. There was no need to rush. Unlike many other students, she was well aware that there wouldn't be any supper waiting for her when she arrived at home.
On that thought, had Jonouchi-kun made it home in time to eat? If he didn't eat at school he should at least be enjoying warm meals at home.
"I should have woken him up earlier…" the blue eyed girl mumbled, staring at her shoes as she walked. "Maybe I'll make him another lunch on Monday. We have a test coming up, so that'll give him motivation!"
Akina smiled brightly, putting a skip in her step just before her body was lifted off the sidewalk, feet dragging.
The lamplights were dim and it was an awkward time of night, either too late to have fun after school or too early to go out for an evening, so no out could have noticed when the fallow haired girl was pulled into an alleyway all too roughly.
Her first instinct was to scream, but the person who grabbed her shoved their fingers into her mouth, silencing the girl. The digits were dirty and tasted of rust and sickness, and Akina choked audibly on them as she tried to bite down. Their nails dug into her tongue, and it stung. Eyes watering, Akina's feet kicked out and her hands dropped her possessions, clawing at the attacker relentlessly.
The person's coat was hard leather, and they only laughed at her attempts. It was a man's voice, thick and wheezing. He crushed her up against the cold stone wall, the hand that wasn't in her mouth grabbing at her uniform, tearing away the green ribbon at her front, the sound of her jacket and shirt buttons snapping sharp in her ears.
She tried to scream again, gagging on the filthy fingers. Bile caught inside her throat and she struggled to reach high enough to get at the bare skin of his face. Her punishment followed, the man's gritty yellow teeth taking hold of her small hand and biting down hard. Her cry of pain was muffled by vomit and a hand, the attacker growling with her flesh still in his mouth.
White hot pain surged through the girl as his steel-toed boot slammed into her leg. Akina's eyes rolled into her head for a moment as she tried to comprehend the pain flowing through her body. His free hand had moved down to her legs, pushing up her skirt. Teeth released her hand and the girl felt the bite mark throb distantly.
"I'm going to make you scream in all sorts of ways, so just try to enjoy the ride, huh?" the man whispered into her ear before giving it a rough nip, breaking the skin.
Her mouth was released and she let out a loud yep along with a bit of her lunch, her throat hurting and mind spinning. Hopelessly she continued to try and push the assaulter away.
Why is this happening to me? The girl asked to the sound of tearing lace and cotton. I just wanted to get the sheets photocopied. I just wanted the classroom to be a bit neater.
Her underwear fluttered to the ground.
I just wanted Katsuya to go home and eat supper, she told herself mournfully as the man was jerked backwards by an unknown force. Her body was released and Akina slid numbly to the dirt ground while remaining in her revere.
Jonouchi Katsuya threw the man away from the girl before slamming his fist into his face. The attacker stumbled backwards, tripping on a beer bottle and falling to the earth, the glass crunching underneath him.
"Bastard!" the blonde shouted in anger, kicking the grounded man hard in the ribs. He howled something incoherent, and the boy stopped only to catch his breath before kicking him again. Something in the man cracked, but Katsuya found it did little to calm his nerves. "Guys like you…!"
He reached down and grabbed at the man's jacket, pulling him to his feet only to knock him back down with another punch. Blood and a few teeth decorated the alleyway.
The brown eyed boy gave his opponent another merciless kick to the ribs before letting him crawl away, turning his attention to the girl against the alley wall, motionless and quiet. Her shirt was torn open, giving a clear view of her lacy pink bra. The matching underwear lay beneath her, the girl's skirt hiked up too high. Katsuya swallowed hard, another wave of rage splashing over him as he realized who she was.
Kidono Akina was trembling and her hand had a swelling bite mark on it, a bit of blood running down her neck as she breathed quietly. Her short fallow hair fell over wide, royal blue eyes that were staring at him in wonder. It was completely unfitting for her to wear an expression like that, and it made him want to go after the one who had made his class representative look so unlike herself and punch him twice as hard.
"Jonouchi…kun?" she said in a dazed, questioning tone, as though she wasn't sure it was him.
That got him out of his thoughts of vengeance, and he knelt down in front of her, pulling off his jacket to give to the ragged girl. "Yeah, it's Jonouchi!" he shoved his uniform coat at her. "He didn't hurt you too bad, right?!"
Rather then answering him, Akina furrowed her brow. "What are you doing here?" at least she put on the jacket.
He paused in shifting her away from the wall. "What am I doing here? Saving you! I saw some creep pull a girl an alley- I didn't know it was you, but I'm glad you're okay!"
She continued to look at him in a confused way, almost frowning. "Jonouchi-kun…you saved me? But…you're supposed to be at home…" she looked at the dirt.
The girl's classmate joined her in confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"
Akina quickly looked up at him again, breathing becoming heavy and uneven, full of sniffles. It was like a veil lifted from her eyes, only to be replaced by a flood of tears.
"Jonouchi-kun!" she cried, latching onto the blonde teenager as she started sobbing. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably and her fingers dug into him, arms wrapping tight around his neck. "I was scared!" she choked, her mouth still tasting disgusting. "I was r-really s-scared! I c-couldn't- I…!" Akina stopped trying to talk, letting out her feelings in the form of wracking sobs, soaking the boy's shirt.
Katsuya leaned backwards in an attempt to distance himself from the crying girl, but only brought her with him. "O-oi!" he stammered, putting his hands on her shoulders awkwardly. "T-this isn't like you, class rep! C-cut it out!"
She didn't stop as he would have liked, but her cries grew quieter, muffled by his shoulder. Where had the strong willed, bossy, smite-all-in-her-path class representative of 2-B gone?
"Can you walk?" he asked, trying hard not to stumble in speaking. "You got a pretty bad bruise on your leg, right…? I'll carry you, okay?"
Her reply was another round of sobbing, so Jonouchi put her answer aside and wrapped his arm around her back before leaning forward, tilting the girl downwards slightly. With the new position he managed to slip his other arm under her knees. The blonde got to his feet quickly, the Akina still clinging to him and crying. He stood like this for a couple minutes, sweat building up on his skin.
"Oi," he shook her a little, which didn't seem to affect the fallow haired girl. "Where do you live? Oi! Class rep!" he paused. "…Kidono!"
She whimpered something incomprehensible, and he sighed heavily.
"It's Sunday tomorrow!" he told the class representative with thinning patience. "You won't answer any of my questions, so let's just head back to my place, alright? Dad isn't gonna be coming home tomorrow morning since it's the only day he actually works, so we get the couch all to ourselves. Isn't that nice? You're a lucky lady!"
His threats- although they were mostly true- didn't seem to bother her in the least. It took a minute of Katsuya not speaking and then listening to the girl's calm, tearless breaths to realize she had fallen asleep.
"What the hell are you doing!" he shouted at her, freezing as Akina sniffed a little.
Good question, Katsuya! He growled at himself. What the hell are you doing, yelling at her? She may be the class rep, but she's still a girl. She can't fight like you can. Of course she'd cry! She cried as hard as she could, so if she's tired and wants to sleep then let her!
Jackass, he added in like an afterthought. What would Shizuka say to you?
In a shroud of guilt Katsuya began walking in the direction of his apartment, Akina's school bag and dropped sheets of paper forgotten in the alleyway. He was positive that his dad would have left the house by now, so it was true that they'd get the couch. He didn't have a futon; there wasn't much room for one anyways. Either he slept on the floor, or on the couch until the old man decided to kick him off it.
After a walk that felt like hours, he reached the apartment door labeled 301 and unlocked it, stepping inside while leaving the lights off. Kicking out of his shoes, he stepped over the usual messes on the floor before reaching the couch, sitting down with Akina in his lap, her arms unmovable from his neck.
"For a girl who has such a big lunch," he told her while pulling off her shoes and throwing them in the general direction of his own. "You're pretty light, you know!" the blonde grinned humorously at the use of her fraise, but the humor soon faded from his expression as she failed to respond.
Having her around and not hearing her yell was strange, and the fact that she was closer then she'd ever been to him before only made things seem worse. Sighing, Katsuya grabbed the blanket on the arm of the couch and let himself fall onto his back. Akina of course went with him, her upper half resting atop him while her lower half was against the inside of the couch. The boy's legs were on the outside, one hanging off the side as he got comfortable.
The sleeping girl shifted herself as well, the vice-like hold on him finally easing into a gentle griping of his shoulders. Sleeping like this, it made them look like more then classmates.
"Goodnight, Akina!" he told her, laughing at his own little joke of being a couple. His brown eyes closed after pulling the blanket over them.
"…Katsuya…"
They opened moments later, looking down at the girl in bewilderment while feeling a little bit startled. She was still sleeping, fingers curled into his shirt, a faint smile on her lips. Another strange look. He'd never seen her like that, either.
Getting settled again, Akina snuggled closer, and Katsuya found he didn't mind as much as he thought he would. The class rep was cute when she wasn't yelling or crying. No- even then she was cute, but just like how she had seemed different yesterday at the shoe lockers, when she was sleeping it was like she was someone else.
Someone who smiled at him and called him Katsuya.
She wasn't dreaming, was she?
Getting pulled into an alleyway, being assaulted, her cloths ripping, teeth sinking into her skin, pain eating through her leg, vomit, and then Katsuya. Bawling her eyes out, clinging to her savior, drifting off to sleep…
All of that was real, the girl was sure. But was this real?
Lying against Jonouchi-kun as she opened her eyes, the sleeping boy's face close to hers? Their chests pressing against each other as they breathed? The warmth of a blanket around her and the weight of his arm on her back? Was it real? Was she awake yet?
Akina decided she didn't want an answer and shut her eyes, submerging herself in the dream-like sensations again. They were soon interrupted by the sound of yawning, and suddenly her human pillow had sat up, causing her to almost fall onto the ground in the process.
She regained her balance quickly enough and sat up with him, both wanting to look at him but not wanting to make eye-contact. The girl managed a peek, only to find that he was staring at her with a mix of confusion, fear and irritation on his face.
Jonouchi shook his head, running a hand through his blonde hair as he recalled why the class rep was sleeping on top of him.
"Sorry" he told her in a mumble, embarrassment creeping up onto his cheeks. The boy had hoped she would stay asleep long enough for him to crawl out from under her, but he'd ruined that idea now. "Forgot you were here for a sec"
The comment made her frown, and he couldn't begin to imagine why, but it was easy enough to guess he'd just insulted her in some way.
"Uh…" he got up, picking up bits of glass and garbage to avoid looking at her. "You can go back to sleep it you want"
"No," the girl told him, sounding meek and out of character. "That's okay. I'd feel bad about sleeping while you're awake"
"Oh"
Silence fell over them as Katsuya continued to clean mindlessly.
"Do-" the blonde jumped a little, looking at her nervously. Akira waited for a minute before trying again. "Do you want me to help?"
"No!" his answer was immediate. "Your leg hurts, doesn't it? You shouldn't move any more then you have to-" he did a double-take of her figure, recalling the blood running down from her ear. "Oh yeah, hang on a sec, I'll get you a cloth or something. You've got blood on your face"
Blood? Akina echoed in disgust.
Her hands reached upwards, running over the skin of her face until her fingertips found the grittiness he was talking about. It was dried over her neck and cheek, all the way up to her ear, which burned in pain as she touched it.
That's right, she recalled slowly. That man had bitten me.
Her royal blue eyes traveled down to her hands, now resting in her lap. Teeth indents decorated her left hand's skin, aching upon being seen. As though she had gained a new awareness of things around her, Akina felt the bareness between her legs and the torn uniform brushing against her stomach inside Jonouchi's jacket.
"Here!" the classmate returned from his trip to get her a cloth, handing her the slightly dampened material.
Akina reached for it, her vision blurry.
"Thank you" she sniffed, rubbing at bloodied skin gently.
"No problem"
He busied himself with cleaning again as the girl wiped down her skin. The clock ticked faintly at the other end of the apartment, reading ten fifteen.
"J…Jonouchi-kun?"
The shakiness of her voice made Katsuya snap his head up to look at her. A few tears slipped down her cleaned cheeks, Akina giving him a watery smile.
"Thank you" she repeated, her lungs feeling tight. "For saving me"
Chapter two, complete!
This chapter we get to see into Akina's mind as well as Katsuya's, so we learn her actions are more out of concern rather then an act of bitchiness. I really do enjoy Katsuya's pov better, though. Not sure why! I usually have trouble getting into a male mindset, being a girl and all. Maybe because Akina thinks one way and acts another- well, she thinks similar to how she acts, but usually doesn't let the softer feelings in her mind reach others. I guess making her restrain herself restrains me, too. Katsuya tends to do as he thinks, so I have an easier time with him.
The molestation/saving the girl scene is somewhat cliché, but it really was the best sort of event to trigger more interaction between the two, considering their personalities. Otherwise, Akina would retain her class representative shell and never leave the safe zone of forcing food on him for 'study help', and he would rarely see anything other then the class representative.
As a final note, if you Favorite this story, it'd be appreciated if you proved to me you like it by reviewing! A Favorite without a review is like melted ice-cream. It's still there but harder to enjoy. You guys know who you are.
I'd love to hear from new readers as well!
