((Hello everyone! Welcome to my little Loveless story. It's a sickly sweet tale of teenage friendship, humour, cultural differences, and dumplings. It also involves a good chunk of my own OCs so, don't like it - don't read it folks. :D

Warnings: Light BL, bad language, occasional British slang usage, aye.

Notes: Before you get your hopes up, there is no relation to the spell battle side of Loveless in this particular world. I'm just using the characters for my own spin on a lifestyle-type story that takes place a few years on. Sorry. And my guy's name is pronounced koo-fay. Kay? :9

Cheers~))

CHAPTER TWO

Art class was really something else for this new boy, Kufe. He'd just sit there on a lonely chair with a big drawing board tilted up on his lap and work away the hour. Some students couldn't help but wonder if he was something like the talented Da Vinci or a just a bit unhinged like Picasso and his ear episode. He still hadn't said more than a few words to anyone other than Ritsuka and Yuiko, but then again it'd only been two days. There was still plenty of time for the students to find out what kind of guy he was and likely exploit that as much as they could.

"Alright you guys, lemme just get this out. You all need to have your final pieces ready by... yesterday," the teacher grimaced as he told off the class of fifteen with hands poised on his skinny hips.

"But Kaidou-san!" one whined.

"Ab-b-b! No excuses!"

Ritsuka, irritated, turned away from his painting and glared at the teacher with a familiar kind of hatred in his eyes. "Excuse me... sensei.." he paused, suddenly uncomfortable with the term, but continued. "You're only our substitute. And you're the one who told us all to suddenly change what we were doing in our previous projects and start something more... 'artsy.'"

"Why you little brat!" the teacher responded, on his last nerve with him again. "Don't talk to a superior like that!" he told him, pointing energetically. "Are you even listening?! Pfft, forget it! I'm sick of arguing with a runt like you."

He then turned his anger on a student who was dazing lazily on a desk. The other students mumbled between themselves, mostly about how they couldn't wait to have their old teacher back. Ritsuka went back to his painting and was suddenly rather uninspired.

"Ritsuka-kuuun that wasn't very nice," Yuiko said with a pout, as she returned to the pair with a beaker of clean water. "You should really stop talking to Kaido-san like that."

"Sensei," Ritsuka corrected sarcastically.

"I think it's funny!" Yayoi exclaimed, mixing some colours.

"It is funny. And he doesn't deserve my respect," Ritsuka said. He stared madly at his section of their big group canvas. He'd forgotten what he was painting.

"It's true we've already been.. acquainted with him, but he's not so bad," she tried.

"Acquainted? We've known him for years. Why'd that ass have to follow us to this school?" He continued to glare madly at the his mostly-blank section of the canvas.

"It's probably just a coincidence Ritsuka-kun." Yuiko leaned over and painted a blue mark for encouragement where Ritsuka was painting earlier. She smiled. He smiled a bit too and continued to paint his flower as he wound down his frustration.

"Well I think that pervert's stalking us," Yayoi said with a paintbrush in his mouth, looking artistically at his section of the piece. "What was his name again?"

"Kaidou-san's first name?"

"Kio," Ritsuka finished loathingly, stabbing the canvas with blue.

Yuiko flinched...

That poor flower.

"Ahh yes, Kio," Yayoi remarked, then adding onto his 'masterpiece' portion of the canvas. "Wasn't he that creepy guy who lived with that adult male friend of yours? Eiw, so gay."

Ritsuka made a face at him. "You have problems."

"Whaaat?"

"He does okay as an art teacher though. It's a good job for him," she mentioned, sticking her tongue out as she painted petals on her own flowers. "I mean, he did go to college."

"-with Ritsuka's gay friend."

"Shut up Shioiri."

"Ooooh, testy!"

"Guys, stop it! Soubi-san was a nice man!"

"Ughnn!" Ritsuka exclaimed, flinging himself away from the canvas and striding away in a huff.

"Looks like you hit a raw nerve," he scoffed.

"You brought it up!" Yuiko's pink ears flattened and she pulled her ultimately very sad face. "Ohh.. I didn't mean to make Ritsuka-kun angry..."

"Ah! Yuiko-chan! It's okay, he's just being unreasonable, as usual, don't cry," Yayoi floated around to her front to comfort her but was met with a small glare which sent him coyly back to work.

A slightly moody Ritsuka strode over to one of the large windows on the far side of the classroom and leaned on the frame. He stared out over the urban world outside, frozen in winter's grip, still nary a snowflake to be seen.

He dared to daydream.

'I'd almost buried those memories of him.. of... Soubi. The last thing I want is dig it up again, talk about him with nice words like none of it ever happened, like he never betrayed me like he did...'

Ritsuka gently pounded his forehead against the chilled glass and sighed, resting his eyes shut.

'...Do I miss you, even now? ...Why won't you leave my head Soubi? Leave me alone...'

Images of the tall, pale man smiling down at him were fuzzy and distant in his mind, but still very much there. He rubbed his head on the windowpane as a cat does against the warm hand of a loved one. Only the window was very cold and smelled funny.

The boy sighed quietly and told himself not to be so stupid in front of his friends. He would be miserably reflective at home instead, where it was warm and there were old photos to frown over.

He glanced sideways to his right, expecting to see Yuiko approaching him or at least eying him worriedly but he saw an irritable Kio making snide remarks about their group piece, mostly about Ritsuka's portion of the painting.

They weren't exactly the best of friends even though Kio had honestly tried to like him but found the idea of sharing 'his' Soubi all too difficult. Nevermind the whole business with his, apparently, very violent big brother Seimei leaving a mess of bad impressions for his little brother Ritsuka to deal with.

But that's a completely different story...

And, Kio also blamed Ritsuka for Soubi running off, too. Neither of them had heard anything from him in two long years, and the strain was rearing its ugly head again. It seemed to be happening more and more, and seeing Kio on a weekly basis was less than helpful.

Ritsuka pushed his forehead against the glass again, and to his left he flinched a bit as he suddenly spotted the dog-boy Kufe down in the shadows of the wall, who he definitely hadn't noticed was there before. He was sat bunched up on his chair, all his attentions spent on his work, which Ritsuka could now clearly see.

It was large piece of drawing paper, pinned to its board, which held an incredible pencil and charcoal sketch of the classroom before them. The detail in the sketch was amazing. He'd drawn the tables, equipment, cupboards, everyone's large painted canvases and the people themselves. Many still lacked detail but the ones that looked completed were uncanny, sketchy clones of their real-life counterparts. Ritsuka saw his illustrated self arguing with the teacher, a momentous scene trapped in time.

Ritsuka stared at it over his shoulder, captivated by the detail and the very idea that… Kufe had been observing them all, and he let out a quiet "wow."

Kufe's gaze ever-so-slowly glided over to this interloper to his left and their eyes met for a split second. There was an awkward moment.

And then Kufe suddenly bolted up into a fit of silent panic, pulling his drawing board close to his person and nearly falling off his chair away from a shocked and confused Ritsuka.

"Ummn... I.." Ritsuka muttered.

Kufe stared directly at him, looking completely offended as though he'd done the worst possible thing imaginable.

"Sorry.. I didn't," started Ritsuka, just remembering to speak in English, but changed his mind mid-sentence. "Your picture... it's really cool. It's.. amazing! Kufe-kun- Kufe.. sketch it?" He made swishy drawing motions.

The stunned boy breathed deeply and allowed himself to sit up straight and steady himself, still retaining unfamiliar eye contact to the point that made them both nearly want to retreat. But his strange demeanour about being thoroughly embarrassed but the passion and willingness to defend his drawing had intrigued Ritsuka. It was another clash with what he had originally thought his personality was.

"It's..." Kufe began, eying the ground ashamedly. "Hmn... thank you," he said, looking back up at him.

Ritsuka nodded and remembered the other day and the incident that transpired. He felt silly for judging the new kid so quickly even though he had told himself he wouldn't do that. He didn't seem so bad at all.

Thoughts of Soubi flashed briefly.

'Why even bother to try trust somebody like that again?' he wondered.

The two boys locked eyes for quite a few moments before Kufe lost his nerve and fiddled with the edge of his drawing board. His face kept going a reddish shade now and again. He didn't have a clue how he was expected to act towards these strange people.

Just as Ritsuka felt urged to say something further to him, his pink-haired friend made her way over to them, however late she'd been in arriving.

"Ritsuka-kun! Wow, Kaido-san, sensei, seems like such an angry man, doesn't he?" she gasped.

She stood just in front of Ritsuka and as she gestured, eyes rolling, she caught a glimpse of Kufe suddenly staring up at her with that 'scary face' she didn't like.

"Eep!" Yuiko squeaked, latching onto Ritsuka. "I-I-I didn't see you there, Kufe-kun. Uh! Angelo-san, uhnn! Kufe-san! Sensei!"

"Engliiish," Ritsuka reminded her, leaning back on the window frame and detaching himself from her strong grip.

"Oh! Yeah.. ummm.. it's.. Kufe Angelo, isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied, his eyes suddenly cheerful.

"Umm, I'm Hawatari Yuiko, it's nice to meet you!" she exclaimed happily, bowing. She was pleased she could remember at least the easy stuff from her English classes.

"And you as well," Kufe answered, a small, modest smile creeping up on his face.

Well, Ritsuka needn't have bothered thinking so much into the decision of whether or not to become acquainted with him as Yuiko had already managed the brunt of it without much effort at all. He found himself once again happy to have her on his side.

"My name is Aoyagi Ritsuka."

He bowed his head, his cat tail swishing gracefully behind him.

Kufe nodded and smiled properly; a warm and open smile. It touched the pair to see his face so friendly for a change and Ritsuka let loose a short sigh of relief in thinking that they'd done the right thing.

"So," Kufe said, resting his board face-down on his lap and looking to each one of them in turn. "You're.. Hawatari, and you're Ao.. Aoyagi, was it? Sorry, my pronunciation's a bit rubbish."

Yuiko giggled. "Hai. I mean, yes!"

"It's also good to call us by our first names too," Ritsuka explained. He'd not even thought about the problem of announcing their family names first.

"Yes! Please name myself Yuiko-chan, and Yuiko's kindly friend is Ritsuka-kun," she told him, smiling sweetly.

"Or just Yuiko and Ritsuka," Ritsuka clarified.

"Oh yeah.." she said, remembering their discussion.

Kufe looked confused. Even calling them by their names was tricky? This was going to be impossible..

Their grouchy art teacher with all the piercings in his ears (surprisingly even more than Kufe's) approached them, running a hand through his messy pale green hair. The toothpick in his mouth flitted around irritably before he spoke as he caught sight of Ritsuka.

"No social gatherings in the middle of my art class, got it?"

The bell rang for lunch.

"Yes Kaido-san!" Yuiko said, catching a half-dazed Ritsuka by the arm and dragging him away before they fought again, not forgetting to wave a quick bye to their new friend.

Kufe waved his long fingers at her.

"Hmf. These kids.. I was such a calm person by nature, completely passive, now they'll drive me insane!" Kio ranted to himself before his eyes settled on Kufe. "Huh? And just who are you?"

Kio hadn't bothered him at all since class started. It was actually like no one had noticed he was sitting there in the corner at all; a stark contrast to the day before. Kio then noticed his strange ears and his numerous piercings and gave a noise of appreciation and a compliment before letting him all alone again.

"Niiice. Finally, a teenager who actually knows what style is!"

Kufe once again sat in the immensely bewildering gap between just understanding what these people might be on about, and being completely and utterly lost in translation and the vast cultural boundaries that places like Japan seem to be famous for.

He began to think that learning the language in earnest was something of a vital necessity. Chopstick-handling too.

Definitely.

"Catch it, catch it, catch it!" a tall boy yelled as the ball spiralled through the air.

The catch was just missed and it bounced against the fence, rolling away to the right.

"Oops.."

"Damn right oops!"

The other team broke into celebration and ran around jumping on each other. There were one or two sports courts on the top of the school's flat concrete roof, lined with tall mesh fences where students were allowed to play at lunchtimes if they fancied a runaround.

"Rematch?" one girl smugly asked the leader of the other team.

"Pfft... I guess," he responded, looking around. "Wait, where'd it go?"

The basketball had rolled away out of sight.

Sat against the wire fences were the trio who had decided to eat their lunch on the roof since the freezing temperatures had decided to be slightly milder that day. The game was just something to watch. Yayoi was stood up, clinging to the mesh and looking out onto the city.

"I don't like this area. Too many thugs," he remarked randomly.

"Aren't you two cold?" Ritsuka whined quietly, pulling his jacket tightly about himself, which he was very pleased he'd managed to sneak out. His slender purple tail followed suit and wrapped around his arms.

"No, not really," Yuiko said happily.

She was knelt next to him, comfortably munching on a sandwich. It looked as though she were wearing just one t-shirt and some three-quarters.

'How on earth..?'

"Uh oh,it's the loser again. Everybody look away."

"Yayoi-kuuun! He's not a loser!" she scolded, hitting his leg again.

Ritsuka looked up, teeth chattering, to see Kufe walking up onto the roof, looking somewhat bewildered, which seemed to be his usual demeanour. His cat ears perked up as he watched him talking to one of the girls.

"Can we invite him to come eat with us?" Yuiko asked him cheerily with a grin.

"Huh?"

Yuiko's grin widened as though she knew something devilishly secret.

Ritsuka stared back at her, clueless.

"Yeesh, what is it with you guys and that guy!" Yayoi interjected, spinning around to see him for himself. "Eiw. He dresses like a street thug. He'll probably beat us up after school and mug us."

Yuiko was still smiling at Ritsuka as though she were waiting for him to say something.

"Admit it," she said suddenly.

"Admit what?" he replied, blinking sheepishly.

There was a silence. Yayoi pouted at once again being left out of their games.

"Hey! You guys seen our ball?" One of the boys from the basketball game had run up to them on a search.

"Nope, sorrrrrry!" Yuiko sang.

The boy grumbled and sped off to check with another group of students on the roof. Yuiko packed away her bento lunchbox and sat staring directly at him again. "Just admit it!"

"Admit what?!" both Ritsuka and Yayoi asked.

"Uhm.." someone voiced.

The trio looked up to see Kufe stood before them, donned in a black jacket, jeans, and several punk accessories. Yayoi grimaced disapprovingly.

"Excuse me.. Ao.. Aoyagi?"

Ritsuka perked right up.

Yuiko stifled a giggle with her hand.

"What?" Yayoi questioned her with a note of annoyance.

"That's me," Ritsuka replied to Kufe in English.

"Whaat?!" he tried again, though no one was letting on.

Kufe fidgeted a bit and fiddled with the zip on his jacket before replying. "Erm... someone called Yama... Yama... oh what was it?" he mumbled, his face becoming increasingly flushed.

"Yama... guchi?" Ritsuka finished.

"Yeah! Guchi."

The two boys stared at the foreign boy as though he were a madman. Yuiko however smiled patiently, winding a long strand of her pink hair casually around her forefinger.

"Yamaguchi wants to talk to you. I heard some teachers talking about it, they're looking for you too.. and I saw you go up the stairs, so I just thought I'd give you the message myself," Kufe said, feigning confidence.

Ritsuka felt a pinch of disappointment for reasons unknown to him. Was that the only reason he'd come to say hi? In fact, he hadn't even said that.

"Is that it?" he asked in a serious tone, flipping some hair out of his eyes.

"Yep..." the boy reluctantly replied.

Both boys were looking away from each other. Yuiko looked nearly-frantically between them and kneeled up to try to say something in English.. though she honestly hadn't understood anything after 'guchi'.

"Ehhh.. Would Angelo-kun be happy if sitting with us?" she motioned.

"Oh gee, thanks for asking us!" Yayoi grumbled.

"Are you always angry or something?!" she said loudly to him.

Ritsuka couldn't help but roll his eyes and stood up, readying himself to go. "I gotta go see our homeroom teacher."

"Ohh, is that all Kufe-san was saying?" she said.

"I bet he was swearing too," Yayoi nodded.

"See you later guys."

"Bye Ritsuka-kun! Come back soon!" Yuiko waved a little sadly.

Ritsuka waved back and passed Kufe without so much as a second glance, kicking a ball on the ground away with considerable force. The court's players cheered and resumed their game. The new boy felt the aura of tension directed at him and hung his head submissively, wondering what he'd done this time.

"Ouu, now this is going to be a challenge for sure," Yuiko observed, settling back down again.

"What the hell are you on about? Psh, I don't understand you guys any more..." Yayoi huffed, quickly sitting down to eat the remains of his own squid-based lunch.

"Psst, you passed English class with good marks, ne?" she whispered to Yayoi.

"Correct, I tied with that show-off Ritsuka. Why?"

She glanced at the dejected Kufe slowly walking away from them.

"Ohhhh no. I refuse to communicate with the likes of him!"

"Why not?!"

"... He's a stupid, foreign, thug."

Some distance away, Kufe's ears lowered at the tone.

Yayoi's blatantly antagonistic reply was soon followed with rounds of not-so-playful hits, as usual. Not that he cared. It meant Yuiko-contact at least.

Ritsuka nodded, and nodded again, the rehearsed detached expression posted on his face. Yamaguchi persisted for a good five minutes though soon realised that his student was once again not paying attention to his lecture. He sighed.

"Aoyagi-kun, it would do you best to listen to what I'm saying," he advised with a concerned expression.

Ritsuka looked up with guarded eyes.

The classroom of 3C was the group's tutor classroom and was registered by Yamaguchi in the mornings and evenings. He also taught mathematics on Mondays and was one of the most decent teachers in the whole of the school. Yamaguchi was the kind of man who, given the chance, would happily do a week's worth of jury duty and still watch the Japanese version of Law and Order when he got home. Despite these things, Ritsuka could not bring himself to trust him as he had done his previous tutor Shinonome. Everyone ended up leaving him in the end.

"I'm sure you know all too well the pressures that school can have on an already-tough family life, but we're here to help you, really," Yamaguchi-san continued, folding his arms. "Being absent from school won't solve the problem either. You've already had ten unauthorised absences this month, not counting all the missed classes and late marks. It'll only get the school board involved, which I believe has happened before according to your middle school reports."

The boy hung his head angrily. Being reminded of the past mistakes he'd made, as though he hadn't heard them over and over. He'd tried to fix it but it was just all so complicated. Never mind with.. him gone too.

"You're a good student, Aoyagi. You have a good heart."

And he placed a warm hand on his shoulder meaningfully and leant towards him.

"Talk to us."

His final words burned a hole in his mind throughout the remainder of the day. He walked briskly down the school corridors ticking away at it as though it were a cryptic message, despite the fact that he didn't particularly enjoy puzzles.

'I did talk. All you adults did was make things worse for me. You stirred it all up again. You made mother worse,' he thought, wrinkling his nose so much it made his eyes want to tear.