Evenin' readers! (Or, you know, whatever time your reading this...)
I wrote this chapter quite quickly for my standards. Just like to say thank you to those who reviewed chapter one! You're completely awesome.
Enjoy!
How could this have happened? How?
Fate was NOT on Motoko's side today.
"I'm going to be LATE!" cried Motoko, dragging a white hairbrush through her waist-length tresses, trying to pull on her school skirt at the same time as she kept shooting desperate glances at the clock.
Motoko hated the first week back, as at their school students always got a ton of homework to do. So she had been working late into the night at her desk, before realising the time and jumping into bed, cursing herself for ruining her sleep pattern.
So she was in a rush when she hurried up the stone steps to the school, trying to remember which room her first class was in, when she rounded a corner and accidentally rammed someone in the shoulder as she darted around the lockers. She whirled around to face whoever she had just bumped into.
"Oh, excuse-"
Motoko stopped, mid-sentence. Time suddenly seemed to slow down. Her hair took a while to settle down, long reddish-brown strands rippling as she turned her head, the movement so automatic that Motoko had never really even thought about it before.
The boy she had hit glared at her, fierce ruby eyes connecting with her hazel ones. Motoko's own eyes widened.
"Watch where you're goin', will ya?" he snapped at her, brushing past with an irritated toss of his fiery orange hair, and then he was already off again, his back hunched over with either anger or fatigue. Then she heard him mutter, "Moron."
Motoko was so taken aback, for a moment she could only stand there, as though frozen. Then her brain kicked back into motion, and along with came an emotion Motoko was well acquainted with- anger.
"W-why you...you..." stammered Motoko, despite the fact the boy was already halfway down the corridor, an orange sun against a sea of blonde, brown and black. "You...you rude, arrogant JERK!"
With that, Motoko promptly turned on her heel and stalked off, her hair flying dramatically behind her as she moved.
What a JERK! Motoko fumed to herself as she headed towards the sanctuary of her next classroom, ignoring various people practically tripping over themselves to get out of her way in the hall, And what a stupid hair colour. Orange."And can anybody translate this sentence? Anyone?"
Motoko had never thought that English could be such a sanctuary before, but she had greatly underestimated this lesson. Ever since her encounter with that horrible orange-haired barbarian, Motoko's bad mood had stayed with her for most of the morning. She had already snapped the lead on two of her pencils as she furiously sharpened them, and nearly clobbered some poor, unsuspecting first-year with her bag as she stormed off to her third lesson.
However, after she had a short Fanclub meeting during recess, she felt calmer. Just seeing the still images of Prince Yuki's face was enough to cool Motoko down, and now she could stare at his divine silver hair all lesson, undisturbed.
"Ah, Sohma-kun, thank you."
Motoko watched, her chin resting on her palm as Yuki stood up, his English book balanced in his right hand as he read in his smooth, melodious voice,
"'Judgement comes within the first gaze, but trust comes within unity'" read Yuki, furrowing his brows slightly in concentration.
"Good! And this next one, someone else?"
Motoko sighed as Yuki sat down, his back straight and head up. His posture was perfect. He jerked his head slightly, apparently to flick his silvery bangs out of his face. Motoko caught a glimpse of his porcelain profile, and it sent a pleasurable shiver up her spine.
"Come on people!" Migurashi-sensei said, exasperated, running a hand distractedly through his soot-coloured hair. "You know this! Hmm... Minegawa-san, how about you?"
Motoko started as she was called on, feeling a slight flicker of irritation at her interrupted staring, but she rose gracefully to her feet and read from the passage, clearly,
"'their proud teeth still snarl in defiance'" Motoko read, frowning a little.
"Correct. And now, on to the next task..."
Motoko tried to do her work, but she sucked on the tip of her pen, thinking about the sentence she just read. For some reason, she felt like she had heard it before, but couldn't put her finger on where...
Suddenly, the door opened, and out of habit, Motoko looked up-
"Oh, no." she hissed; though nobody heard her. It was HIM again.
"Oh, Sohma-kun." Migarashi-sensei sighed, glancing over at the orange-haired boy, "What is it?"
Sohma-kun?!
"Madaki-sensei wanted me to give you this." grunted the boy, holding up a slip of paper. It looked very white against his slightly tanned skin. As Migarashi-sensei took the slip of paper, the boy's eyes slid from the teacher and were staring with a hostile expression around the class as they whispered to each other. For a fraction of a second, Motoko realised with a jolt that he was staring at her.
"Ah, I see." Migarashi-sensei said, and the eye contact was broken. Migarashi-sensei then turned to Yuki, "Sohma-kun, could you?"
"Yes, sensei." Yuki replied calmly, though Motoko thought she could see a trace of irritation cross his beautiful features. His violet eyes met his cousin's, who glowered back at him.
"Causing trouble on your first day, Kyo?" Yuki muttered to him, so quietly that Motoko barely heard it, but she still heard it nonetheless. Kyo hissed something rather rude back.
Then the two of them quickly left the room, and a flurry of whispers passed between students. Motoko herself still felt a little stunned at their swift departure, and quite annoyed. English was one of the few lessons she shared with the Prince, and now a whole half-hour of that had been snatched away by him.
"Alright, that's enough, everyone!" Migarashi-sensei snapped, annoyed at the disturbance. "Get on with your work!"
Motoko hastily lowered her head, pretending to be very interested in the blue lines on her notebook and the scribbling resumed, but Motoko's thoughts were far away from English now.
Kyo Sohma...
Motoko shook her head, as though trying to dislodge the name from her mind. She furiously scribbled out a word she had written incorrectly in her book, her pen making jagged zigzags across the paper.
"I bet he'll still be handsome!" rang out Mai Gotu's voice, in Motoko's mind. Motoko couldn't help answering it back, even if it was only a stray thought.
You were wrong about that, Mai-san. Kyo Sohma is definitely NOT handsome."Attention! The meeting has begun!"
...I don't care how dark his eyes are.
Motoko rolled her eyes at this, but she kept quiet. Takai didn't like to be interrupted.
"Ahem. Thank you. Now, as Student Council President, I welcome back all the council members for the new spring term. We have several important matters to go through, and-"
Makoto Takai was possibly the most pompous man Motoko had ever met. True, he did make a good Student Council President. He was hard-working and a bit of a perfectionist, which proved to be a surprisingly good combination for getting all the 'matters' done, but it didn't stop Motoko from stifling her ill-disguised incredulity at Makoto's long-winded speeches. She knew that he was serious about his job, but really.
"And the drama department has announced they have started up auditions for the new play!"
"New play?"
The speaker was Asari Suzuhara, a green-eyed girl with short, blonde hair and a single tiny braid. She frowned as she spoke, tucking a strand of her behind her ear. "Which play?"
"Apparently, it's going to be Ashinoke Hime." replied Makoto, his glasses fogging up slightly as he glanced as Asari.
"Ashinoke Hime?" muttered someone, in tones of confusion.
"Wasn't that a movie?" asked another girl, resting her head on her hand, looking at Makoto with a slightly annoyed expression, her long black hair spilling over her shoulders, "Are you sure that's its name?"
"It has been loosely adapted from the film, Rihoko-san." replied Makoto, stiffly, "However, it's going to follow the storyline of the play more then the film, though there will be elements from both."
"Are some of us going to be responsible for over-seeing it, then?" Motoko inquired, getting to the point. Makoto adjusted his glasses, which he always did when he was flustered.
"Thank you, Motoko-san. Yes, as members of the Student Council, a few of us will be expected to help out in the production of the play, such as overseeing the props, helping during auditions, advertising, etc. Who would like to volunteer for it? We will need a few people to work alongside Yuki-san."
Motoko started at Yuki's name. Yuki was a member of the Student Council, however he rarely attended meetings due to often being assigned with slightly more important tasks then the rest of the Council, such as meeting with the staff. He had, as Makoto put it, "a natural charm" when dealing with people, so he often sent Yuki to go on job where diplomacy was key. Motoko personally thought that while Yuki was best suited for the job, he should be allowed to do easier tasks as well. Even the Prince needed to relax sometimes.
"I-I will!" Motoko stuttered, raising her hand. A few other hands draped themselves up as well, a trifle less enthusiastically then Motoko, but Makoto was completely oblivious.
"Thank you, all of those who volunteered. We will meet with Tsubata-san tomorrow to discuss the date for auditions. Oh, and there is one more thing..."
Makoto shuffled through the papers he had in front of him, muttering under his breath. Then,
"Ah, yes, a new student joined our school today, as I'm sure most of you are aware. His name is...let's see...Sohma Kyo? Somebody needs to deliver his official class schedule. Motoko-san, could you-"
"Ah, sorry, Makoto-san!" Motoko interrupted, before Makoto could complete the sentence, "I, um, just remembered I need to get something signed! I'll see you at tomorrow's meeting!"
With that, she dashed out of the classroom whilst trying to look like she wasn't in a hurry, a difficult thing to do when you practically dive out of the doorway. Makoto adjusted his glasses, muttering,
"I was only going to ask her if she could pass the schedule to Yuki-san..."
Motoko reached the end of the corridor, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself. Then she straightened up again, trotting briskly along in a dignified manner.
She didn't look out of the window to her left, where Tohru Honda and Yuki were walking home together, their hands entwined and their heads together, as though they were on in their own world, merely looking in on the normal one...
I'll try to get the next chapter done soon!
More reviews would be fun.