I'll admit, I kind of expected little to no views on this story at first since it starts out with two oc's right off the bat and there has yet to be any real development. To those of you who have actually read the first chapter when I published it thanks so much! Now here's chapter two. Hope you enjoy it!
Reviews adored, constructive criticism and ideas taken with joy, and flames completely ignored! I do not own Card Captor Sakura, only the oc's and so on and so forth.
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Chapter 1: Cleaning day 1
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"…which is when Pythagorean theorem is used. After you have found the answer, you pull it back to the original problem and plug it in for y. Then…"
Ashren laid her head on her desk with a small thump. She already knew all of this, why did she have to take this class? She had tried getting the teacher to give her the final exam early, to prove she already had the needed knowledge, but he said she would use it to cheat or something. Bah.
She twisted her head into her arms, glancing over at Allie. Allie was in much of the same situation, already knowing everything being covered, but after Ashren's failed attempt she decided to just let it be. That proved to be a good choice (for her) when she was allowed to choose her seat while Ashren was given the center desk in the front row.
"Nadine-san!" The teacher, a tall, intimidating man, barked. He tapped the edge of her desk impatiently.
Ashren held back a groan and slowly sat up. She tilted her head and sent him a bright smile. "Yes Hitoro-Sensei?"
Hitoro scowled down at her. He knew she would cause problems the moment she walked through the door. "There is to be no sleeping in my class. Perhaps you should take a page out of the other students books and actually listen to my lectures if you wish to pass this class."
Ashren could feel her eye begin to twitch. She didn't know what this man's problem with her was. He was nice enough to all the other students, why was she singled out? Well, two could play at this game. "But Sensei, I've gotten nearly 100% on all of the homework and tests so far."
"By some miracle," Hitoro conceded, "though this next section will be anything but easy. It should give even your intelligent self some problems."
Now he was mocking her. Ashren was really beginning to hate this guy. "I would think so, if we get questions like that," she pointed cheerfully towards the board. "Problem one doesn't actually have a solution thanks to the double negative you get half way through and problem two, well, I'm pretty sure that 5 must be a typo otherwise the solution is never-ending."
Hitoro scoffed, turning back towards the board to prove her wrong only to come up short when he actually looked at them more.
"Maybe," Ashren sang, "it would be better if you didn't always rely on that fancy teacher's book of yours. Written words aren't inherently truthful."
Clenching his teeth, Hitoro slammed his book on his desk. "The hallway Nadine-san."
"Yes~" Ashren gathered her things and skipped from the room. School had started two months ago, and so far this was becoming a routine.
Ashren leaned against the wall outside the door to her classroom and leaned her head back to rest on the cool surface of the wall. Closing her eyes she let her thoughts drift.
The past few months had been adventurous to say the least. Yuuko had kept Ashren and Allie very busy with her requests, sometimes sending them to different worlds to pick up or deliver packages. Ashren had made sure to take the most dangerous ones for herself, though Allie was getting better at self-defense. Yuuko was such a jerk with some of the crap she put them through, but the pay always reflected what they accomplished. Most of the time they got money but sometimes the Witch would give them something else to make up for it. Ashren's personal favorites were the two handguns she got after the whole demon world debacle. That had not been fun. But the guns made it worth it. They were black, a golden vine pattern snaking up the sides, and they had magical properties to them. While they could shoot normal bullets, if she ran out she could focus her spiritual energy onto the weapons and it would be formed into bullets. They were so cool.
Allie also got a weapon of her own. Ashren wasn't very pleased when she found out why. Apparently when she had been sick in bed Allie had taken the opportunity to take a mission in a more war torn world and Yuuko had rewarded her with the weapon. It was called a Zegarer, if she remembered correctly, and was made entirely out of some foreign metal that looked almost like ice but was far stronger. It was long, almost as tall as Allie, and shaped like a staff but with the end being sharpened into a something that resembled a sword. The bottom of the weapon was a dark blue but it grew lighter moving up the sword tip until it was a pure white. There was a grip spanning the middle of the blue staff that was white with dark blue vines swirling around it. Ashren thought it was beautiful, and it fit Allie perfectly.
They had both gotten a lot of good practice in with those weapons too. What, with Yuuko sending them off to who knows where every other day or so.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps the reason why Hitoro-Sensei didn't like her was because she was skipping class all the time. It wasn't her fault that clients didn't understand the pains of a poor high school girl. Plus she passed all her classes well enough, even if she missed most of them, so there really wasn't anything they could complain about.
Not that that stopped her teachers or her friends. Touya especially wouldn't let it go. He was always picking on them for randomly disappearing and said they were probably part of some gang that went around terrorizing the elderly, the ass.
Yukito was more reserved. He simply asked them if they were okay or if they needed help with anything. No questions about what they were doing in their spare time, no judging glances, nothing but worry and concern. Ashren liked him. After their run in with him on day one he had some how wiggled his way into the hearts of everyone in the group and it was hard to imagine life without him with them. Even if he was a black hole when it came to food.
The bell rang and Ashren pushed herself back up. Students came bursting out of the door not to long after, some sending her amused looks. Near the end of the pile of students Allie walked calmly out the door.
Ashren smiled and fell into step next to her as they headed towards the school entrance. Math was their last class of the day.
Allie sent her a small glare and smacked her over the head.
"Oww, what was that for?!"
Allie scoffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Will you ever learn to just sit quietly in class? This is the third time this week Hitoro-Sensei has sent you out, and that is not including your other classes. It is Wednesday."
Ashren rolled her eyes and threw her hands behind her head. "It's not like I'm learning anything new. Plus, those answers were wrong. I was helping the class out."
"Right," Allie sighed, wondering why she even tried to lecture her. The red head never listened anyway.
Ashren smiled at the look, giving a light chuckle. A flash of silver out of the corner of her eye made her look up. "Oh hey, it's Grey!"
Allie looked up as well and caught sight of the silver haired male. "Yukito-kun."
Yuki, hearing his name, looked towards the two girls. He gave them a happy smile and made his way through the crowd towards them. "Hello Allie-chan, Ashren-chan," he greeted pleasantly. "How was math?"
Ashren shrugged. "Same old, same old."
Allie sighed. "This idiot was sent out of class. Again."
Yuki sent Ashren a worried look. "Is it okay for you to be out of class so often Ashren-chan? What if they go over something important while you're gone?"
"Oh Grey," Ashren waved his worries away flippantly. "There isn't anything they could possibly go over that I would deem important. Besides, I miss class all the time and I still pass so being sent out halfway is no big deal."
"Hm, alright. If you say so." Yuki gave them another smile. "But if you ever need help I would be happy go over any work you have missed with you. Touya would to, I'm sure."
"Don't go dragging me into this crap, Yuki."
The group turned as Touya came up behind them. He placed his elbow on the top of Ashren's head and rested his chin on his hand.
"Hey!" Ashren tried to wriggle away but he just dug his elbow in further. "Get off me you overgrown sack of lumps!"
"It's not my fault you're the perfect height to be an armrest, shorty."
Ashren flailed around angrily. "I'm not short! I'm average sized, you guys are just fricking giants!"
Touya picked at his ear, turning to face Allie. "So are you walking back with us or do you have work today?"
"Don't ignore me!"
"We have work today, though we should be getting off early," Allie replied.
"Listen to me!"
Touya nodded. "Alright. Dad wanted to know if you two wanted to join us for dinner."
"Gah!"
"We would love to," Allie sent him a small smile.
"You can come to Yuki."
"Haha, well I can never turn down your father's cooking."
Ashren steamed angrily as they continued chatting. Even Yuki! She took back all the nice things she said.
"Then we will see you later," Allie bowed towards them. Yuki bowed politely back and Touya just waved.
"Have fun at work Allie-chan!"
"See you later."
Allie sent them a small smile and headed out the school gates.
"Hey!" Ashren shrieked. "Wait for me!" She elbowed Touya in the gut, reveling in his pained grunt, and took off running.
"Bye Ashren-chan!"
Oh who was she kidding; the kid was just too nice. "See ya later Grey, Fatso!"
She caught up to Allie relatively quickly. Skidding to a halt next to her, she sent the monotone girl a glare. "You ditched me!"
Allie brushed a strand of hair from her face nonchalantly. "You were slow."
Ashren snorted, but let it slide. Allie had seemed unnaturally tired today, her movements more sluggish than usual. Her fan boys (Ashren had cackled when she found out about their existence) had even noticed and had taken it upon themselves to take care of her all day. Carrying not only her schoolbooks, but Allie herself to all her classes, death glaring any teachers who dared to try to call on her in class, even going as far as to try to keep Ashren away from her in order to let her rest. That last one did not turn out well for them.
"You know," Ashren started, casually throwing her hands behind her head in her usual pose, "you can go home and rest if you want."
Allie turned to her and raised an eyebrow.
"Ah don't give me that look. You're getting sick right?"
Allie decided to ignore her and kept walking.
"See? So go home. I'll tell Yuuko you're sick. We shouldn't have any requests today any way. It's a cleaning day."
It made Allie's shoulders hurt just thinking about it. Cleaning days were always rigorous. Organizing, dusting, sweeping, mopping, and replacing all of Yuuko's collections of odds and ends took hours, if not days, and always left the two in a bad mood. If anything was expired or broken they would spend the next few weeks replacing them and missing even more school. The last time they had cleaned the place was two years ago so the build up was bound to be pretty bad.
Ashren sighed, seeing the annoyed glint in Allie's eyes. "Well, instead of going home you could go grocery shopping. We're running low on stuff and I don't think we have enough meat for tomorrow. And you have to finish delivering that charm you made for that old guy. Oh, and we don't have a dish to bring to dinner tonight!"
Allie sighed at how hard Ashren was trying to get her to skip work. She didn't look that tired, surely?
Allie scowled.
If it hadn't been for that last job, she would be just fine right now. One of Yuuko's customers had given them a request and, since Ashren was already busy with one beforehand, Allie took it. She had stayed up for the last four nights making the odd charm the man wanted. It was far more difficult than she thought it would be, actually requiring quite a bit of magic. Yuuko had taught them both the basics of magic, after realizing they both had the potential to use it, and even though Allie was the better of the two at using it, this particular charm was far more advanced than she was used to.
"What d'ya say, Allie? While I'm cleaning Yuuko's crap, you can take care of all the other stuff we need to do today."
Allie sighed. Ashren was never going to give up on this, and it would help her get their household chores done.
"Very well," Allie conceded. Ashren cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "You do realize that means I will not be there to make the protective barrier while you are cleaning?"
Ashren froze. She hadn't thought about that. Some of Yuuko's things were scary.
"Uh, Allie-"
"Then I will see you at home. Remember, we have dinner with the Kinomotos at 7. Don't be late." Allie allowed a small smirk to paint her lips as she turned away from her weeping friend. Maybe if she hurried in delivering the charm, she could squeeze a quick nap in before dinner.
Ashren watched her turn the corner, still moaning about her mistake. Allie was far better at magic than her. She would no doubt have more than a few bruises after today. With a tired groan, she sulkily made her way to Yuuko's shop.
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Yuuko let out a long puff of smoke when Ashren walked through the sliding doors. She smiled at the apprehensive look on the girl's face. "Oh, alone today?"
Ashren kicked off her shoes and threw her jacket on the hook by the door. She reached into her bag to pull out a change of clothes. "Yeah, she wasn't feeling so well today. I told her to head home and I'd take care of cleaning today."
Yuuko h'mmed thoughtfully, having expected as much. Allie's last job was a rather taxing one. "Well then, you must start right away to make up for the slack. First, the scroll room!"
"Noooo," Ashren moaned. She hated the scroll room. The damn things always tried to bite her!
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Allie set the groceries on the table with a soft sigh. It had only taken her an hour to get to the store and back, much shorter than usual. Probably due to the fact that Ashren wasn't there, trying to sneak things into the cart or talk uselessly with strangers.
She paused.
Ashren wasn't home. And she wouldn't be home until much later that night. Allie had the house to herself.
Allie could feel herself beginning to smile. She didn't need to deliver the charm until much later tonight, and the side dish she was planning on making for the Kinomotos would only take about half an hour.
Putting the groceries away quickly, Allie went into her room and made a beeline for the bookshelf. It had been far to long since she had read one of her beloved novels. Perhaps that was why she had been feeling so stressed lately.
Scanning the titles, a familiar one stuck out to her. "Archetypal Themes in the Modern Day Story". Well she had been falling slightly behind in English, and this book was always one of her favorites. Plucking it from the shelf, Allie sat down in the large, dark grey chair next to her bed. She would take advantage of this rare quiet time.
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The sound of the doorbell echoed through the small household. Sakura jumped to her feet excitedly.
"I'll get it!" She called, dashing out of her room. She was very excited for dinner that night. Yuki was coming! And so were Allie-neechan and Ashren-neechan! It had been so long since either of them had come for dinner.
Sakura skidded to a halt in front of the door, almost running into it. Taking a deep, calming breath, she looked herself over. The knew dress her father had gotten her was so cute! It was a dark shade of pink, with a light pink bow around the middle, and a bit of white frill lining the bottom. It went down to her knees and it had come with a cute sakura flower shaped hairpin!
Nodding to herself, Sakura reached up and twisted the doorknob.
"I'm not late! They haven't even opened the door yet!"
"I told you dinner was at seven. It is 7:03. If you were going to be late you could have at least taken the time to clean yourself up better."
"Oh, wow. A whole three minutes. Whatever shall I do? And I didn't really have the time, you jerk. You're lucky I had this jacket!"
"You will finish cleaning by yourself."
"What?! You can't do that! This was a one-time deal! Allie, tomorrow is the magic vault. You know how scary that thing is!"
"You should have thought about that before you decided to be late."
"It wasn't a decision! That damned scroll had me by the neck!"
"Which means you must have made a mistake when organizing. Another thing you need to make up for."
"Um," Sakura murmured, looking up at her two neighbors. Allie was as beautiful as always, even in her casual clothes. Simple blue jeans and a grey, long sleeved shirt. Her long black hair was pulled up into a ponytail, a few hairs loose and hanging around her face.
Ashren looked… well she had seen better days. She was wearing a pair of black capris and a grey tank top. Over her tank top was a long sleeved white jacket that when buttoned ended just above her stomach. From what Sakura could see it looked like her tank top was covered in ink stains, there even appeared to be some in her tangled hair. What worried her the most was the dark ring around Ashren's left eye.
"Ashren-neechan, are you all right?" Sakura piped up, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look.
The two bickering teens paused and looked down at her. They narrowed their eyes at each other before turning to her.
"Course I'm fine Little Flower, why wouldn't I be?" Ashren knelt down in front of her.
Sakura reached out and gently touched the black ring. Ashren twitched. "Your eye, it's hurt."
Ashren shifted uncomfortably. She hadn't bothered looking in a mirror before she got here. That history scroll was stronger than she thought.
"Oh, this," she laughed. Smiling gently she removed Sakura's hand and held it in her own. "Don't worry about it. I tripped and hit myself on a book earlier."
"What an idiot."
Ashren glared behind the small girl as Touya walked past the front door on his way to the kitchen.
"Shut it Fatty!"
"Is that your response to everything?"
"It's my response to your face!"
"You must never look in the mirror then."
Ashren smiled at Sakura and patted her head before standing up and rushing after Touya as he disappeared into the kitchen.
"Flying kick!"
"What the-!"
Allie sighed, shaking her head. What idiots. She looked down at Sakura, who was staring after Ashren in worry. She felt her lips twitch into a small smile.
"Sakura-chan," she called. When Sakura turned to face her she knelt down in front of her. "Don't worry, it is just a small bruise. It will heal in a few days."
Sakura seemed unsure at first but Allie had never lied to her before. She nodded, giving Allie a wide smile. "Okay!"
Allie loved her smile. She loved the smiles of this entire family. They were sincere, and warm enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.
Fujimoto stepped down from the stairs and smiled happily when he caught sight of Allie standing at the door. "Ah, Allie-chan! Welcome, I'm glad you could join us for dinner."
Allie bowed respectfully and held out a small wrapped box. "Thank you very much for inviting us, Kinomoto-san. I have brought something to go with the meal as thanks."
Fujimoto took the small box with a smile and ushered the two girls towards the kitchen.
"Thank you very much, Allie-chan. I'm sure it will be delicious." Fujimoto paused at the entryway to the kitchen. "Touya? Are you picking on Ashren-chan again?"
Touya gapped up at his father from where he was being held in a headlock on the kitchen floor.
"Oh it was terrible sir," Ashren wailed with a wide grin on her face. "He just suddenly flew out of nowhere and kicked me to the ground!"
Allie rolled her eyes and walked over, grabbing Ashren by the ear and yanking her off the taller boy.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, Allie!"
"I told you to be polite."
Ashren sulked, folding her arms over her chest.
Fujimoto laughed warmly, glad to see them all getting along well. He bent down and picked Sakura up, smiling when she squeaked. "Shall we have dinner now?"
"Yes!" Ashren cheered before Allie nudged her roughly in the side. "Ugh- I mean, yes please."
