Filum Fatalis
Summary: Threads have always been used to sew and patch ruined clothes. In the case of one prideful boy and one gluttonous girl, invisible threads have always been sewing them, patching them, drawing and pulling them close together, no matter how much others have tried to put them apart.
A/N: Taylor Swift's "Mean", "Fifteen" and "Crazier" seem to be my main inspiration for writing this fic. XD
Chapter Three: Intimus
It was one of the nicest things she had ever hoped for, Yako thought. And it was a nice place, too!
Too bad she hadn't hoped for the best treatment―she never had hoped about anything―whenever it was about that man.
"―and why did you request a mixed bath house!"
The (infuriating, insensitive, sadistic, dominating!) man only hummed.
"It sounded fun," was what he simply said with a lazy smile, his head—which was donned in a high ponytail for the occasion (It looks nice on him, I think)—was tilted back as he sloshed the small rivulets of warm water beneath his spidery fingertips.
"I don't think the term 'fun' is the best thing that could be described in this situation."
"Hmph. You're just too modest."
She pouted.
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. If you were not, then you should have thrown a wide array of your so-called 'insults' at me―not that I don't mind. I can return them just as apt."
She remained silent.
"...And why on earth are you so far away from me, you bread crust? Have you become like the mold that rots your brain? You've been sticking to those rocks for quite some time―"
"Don't smirk at me, you ass! You know quite darn well why I can't go near you!" and she harrumphed as she furrowed her thin brows, her mouth blowing bubbles in the warm water as she growled. Those emerald eyes were laughing in glee, and Yako couldn't stand the sight of it at the moment.
The sound of sloshing water could be heard once again, and Yako closed her eyes. Maybe if she closed them long enough, the image of that smiling idiot would go away.
And no, she wasn't thinking about those perfectly defined and jutting collarbones.
She mentally counted to ten, and when she finished counting, she took a peek―and was not at all surprised upon seeing those large evergreen eyes staring back―and too close for comfort―at her.
Neuro only grinned, his white teeth glinting as brightly as his michievous eyes, and he chuckled when Yako shut her eyes once again.
"I know you're daft and all, but even if you shut your eyes with duct tape, it won't change the fact that I'm here, stupid."
She groaned and ignored his remark.
He kept staring at her, she could tell―those piercing obsidian-emerald eyes have never left her even once, as much as she hated to admit it.
"You really don't know the meaning of modesty, do you?" she muttered as she slowly opened her eyes. When he didn't reply―that is, if you could call his small and lilting hum as a reply―that ever constant smile only widened just a tad, those finely arched eyebrows raised in amusement and his chin held high.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Hm? Enjoying what?"
At this, Yako grumbled, and lowered half of her head in the milky white waters, all the while glaring at the thoroughly amused-looking man.
When he didn't say anything else, she almost dunked her whole head in frustration and―
"No dunking of your head in the water, stupid."
―he grabbed her by her hair.
And it hurt. A lot.
She groaned, and her hands instinctively grabbed those painful digits gripping her alreasy-too-abused scalp.
"Owowowow ow!"
He grinned, "Beg."
She whined, "Never!"
"Heh."
And he pulled her close.
Interesting―was what Neuro thought about her reaction. A bumbling mess of jumbled words, a thoroughly-quivering stick-thin body within his grasp, and a face worthy of a tomato's jealousy was what he had memorized in his mind at that moment. Silently taking note to do what he had just did to her later on, that smirk remained on his lips as he eyed her closely―is that a bead of sweat on her nose?
Ah, the whiteness of the water had never been so... intriguing to him.
"Y-you..."
And the water's also rippling too much! Oh, how fun!
"Y-you just..."
But nothing's more interesting than the fact that his obviously (and very much) peeved and (completely) naked little rat was welling up in both tears and snot in his arms. Was she that happy to be held?
"Did you just..."
Oh? She finally regained the ability to form proper words?
"I see your inept and dysfunctional sorry excuse for a brain finally managed to return to Earth―though I see there's still no miniscule progress about your sentence-constructing ability forming on those babbling fish lips of yours."
"You let go of me, you slimy prick!"
And he blinked as he did the opposite of her request.
"Why should I?"
"You're suffocating me, dumbass!"
"Is that bad?"
Ugh. Men.
Just as she was about to kick him in places where her knees shouldn't be kicking, she made the fatal mistake of looking at those emerald orbs.
"Of course it's―"
She stopped.
He was pulling off the kicked puppy look. Again.
"...Is it that bad?"
"That won't work on me this time, stupid."
Neuro pouted. He whined. And a tear almost fell from one of his eyes. And yet Yako stood strong, unmoving in his grasp as she crossed her arms and looked away.
Thank goodness he didn't actually hug me or something!
He remained pouting, that much she knew without looking, and he made the slightest tremble on his lower lip, and Yako peered at him slowly.
Curse those stupid eyes!
"...It's really bad?"
"Yes, it's bad. No, wait. It's worse than bad! And here you were lecturing me about manners when you―!"
She never got the chance to finish what she wanted to say, for Neuro had already grinded his fist on her scalp―blankly smiling all the while.
"Neurooo!"
While he was trying to pulverize her scalp with a painful force, however, Yako noticed that he had pulled himself away from her―at an arm's length, to be exact―
...maybe he held respect for her, after all?
"Squeal all you want, piglet! I made sure I locked the door!"
...Scratch that. He'll never know the value of chivalry.
He laughed as Yako struggled against his hold, his one arm carefully trying to avoid mashing his hand on unnecessary heaps of bones and flesh all the while grinding his fist on her tender scalp.
The sudden sound of silence from his squealing piglet made him stop from continuing his actions.
He grabbed her hair and looked at her downcast eyes.
"Yako?"
As soon as he uttered her name, Neuro found himself being tackled by a thin, quivering pair of arms.
"Yako―!"
"S-s-something's―I felt something beneath my feet!"
And his eyes narrowed.
If there was one thing the girl was bad at, it had to be lying. She had tried lying to him at one point in their lives together, but that ended up with her being Neuro's chair for the whole day―"as her punishment," was what he said that time.
"Which part?"
"Near my outer thigh―"
And without another word, he threw her out of the water with all his might, not before making sure the white towel was firmly secured around her person. It would do him no good if he'd throw her out of harm's way only to be fully exposed the moment she "left" the pool!
And besides, his little maggot would endlessly rant on him should her towel slip because of his methods.
What was the saying again? Oh, yes.
'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' was it? Well, I wouldn't have that.
With one last look at the shapeless little cocooned body lying in a heap with her towel-clad buttocks pointing comically up in the air―No doubt she'd have a bruise on her forehead again! Haha!―he dived into the warm (and searing) water, all the while grinning at the possibility of who the culprit might be.
She faintly saw the remnants of the man's ankles just as the world decided to stop spinning around her. Shaking her head and willing the pain to go away from her head as she sat, Yako yelled out his name. When she waited and decided that he'll be stripping off the culprit's skin with his fingertips―no doubt that's what's on his mind now, anyways―she looked down on her now bruised self.
One on her left knee, one on her left shoulder, and one on her forehead, for sure. She touched her forehead with the tips of her fingers, and sure enough, she felt a tiny bump on her brow.
At least it didn't bleed.
She realized what she had just thought and she groaned and flailed her legs like a child.
"Darn it, Neuro! Why can't you be gentle for once!"
And she peered at the edge of the pool with a small frown, trying to see if there was a familiar mop of black and yellow swimming beneath the milky waters. Her efforts were in vain.
She grumbled.
"And here was the man who told me not to dunk my head in the waters."
She leaned away from the pool, and she waited with her arms crossed and her eyes fixated on the sloshing waters, just in case he decided to rise for some air.
As she sat there, waiting, her thoughts then drifted back to that creepy feeling she felt moments prior to her being thrown out of the pool.
That was certainly hair I felt. I have no doubts! And that was definitely not Neuro's...!
"He's taking his time down ther―ah! You're back!"
When Neuro rose from the pool, the sight of that all too familiar broad grin was the first thing she noticed and it disturbed her. It was his "happy" grin, and that did not bode well. Judging from being with him for nine years, she very well what that smile meant.
"You found the culprit?"
"Yes. I believe I have. Just―Yako. Turn around."
"Eh?"
"Just do what I say, termite."
"A new insult, I see. Hmph."
She pouted, and obediently turned around, her hands clutching the towel around her torso fiercely as she did so. Neuro's wide green eyes did not fail to see, however, that as she turned around, she forgot that she was quite naked beneath that towel, and that there was a teensy space that she forgot to cover as she moved.
Nope. He did not just see her innermost private parts. He was definitely not thinking about that. He was definitely thinking about the horrid lump of bones and tissue and hair that was in his vicegrip.
Black hair. Bulging eyes. Dark eyebags.
If it weren't for this malicious and pitiful excuse for a thing called a human being, I would have been still lazily lounging in that corner near the rocks while basking in these warm waters without a care for this ugly world.
"Don't you dare turn around," Neuro snarled. He was sure Yako heard him loud and clear, for he saw those thin shoulder blades stiffening and her head immediately bowed upon hearing his words.
Good.
And not to turn around she did. Without a word of complaint nor a grunt of discomfort.
She heard him laugh, a high-pitched one, and a familiar timbre, a sing-song "This will take a while!" was heard from ear to ear. And Yako was sure that he was not talking to her.
The sounds of the violently splashing of water and of a hoarse and garbled voice and of a joyful laugh (that was surely from Neuro's obnoxious mouth) was all that Yako heard as soon as she turned around. And she clenched her eyes shut. He must have not wanted me to look at the culprit's face, she mused.
And she wasn't wrong.
The waters stilled for a moment, and she thought that it was over. Although the mumbled and incoherent words from Neuro's silent voice made her think otherwise. Those whispered words made her curious―were they meant for the culprit? Her curiosity was further piqued when she heard the agonizing cries of the culprit―the term 'voyeur' suddenly came to her mind. And judging from the pitch of the voice, it was a male, albeit it didn't sound like an old man, not even coming close to a middle-aged man. And did the voice just croaked?
Her shoulders tensed and she covered her ears and closed her eyes shut even more. She vaguely wondered if someone from outside was overhearing the ruckus Neuro and the unnamed man was making.
She counted up to 30 seconds when the noise behind her slowly stopped. She opened her eyes and she blinked, her gaze staring at some wet rocks as she spoke. "Is it over?" she asked.
"You can turn around now."
She did just as she was told (and this time, she seemed to remember that she should cover that teeny bit of space as she moved), and was not at all surprised when she saw the culprit (voyeur!) on the other side of the pool, all hog-tied with a towel wrapped around his head and a rope tied around his neck. It was a good thing that "whoever-that-man-was" was wearing clothes, contrary to what she initially feared when she first felt that creepy feeling beneath her feet. And this man looked kind of small. Very much like―
Yako blinked.
"Where did you get the rope? And please tell me that's not your towel! And what's with that scratch on your temple?" was the first thing she blurted out.
He laughed.
"Silly Yako! I always bring rope with me! And that towel was supposed to be for my hair. And―he had the gall to try and pick up a bit of a fight with me. But we all know he's not going to win, right?"
She gaped, "May I ask why are you always bringing rope? And where on earth are you hiding it! And don't be so full of yourself!"
In response, he swam over to her side of the pool, and Yako hurriedly covered the space that the towel could not cover―not to mention she was starting to feel a draft.
With a sly smile, he gestured a forefinger to his lips.
"I have my ways. I can't tell you why, though. And no, I've always remained humble."
When silence met his ears as a reply, he leered at her.
"Unless you really want to know what's the rope for―"
"I don't want to know! And you're not humble at all!"
"Heh."
He rose from the pool, suddenly feeling the touch of warm air meeting his skin. He sat down beside her as he admired his handiwork on the other side of the pool.
Yako's brown eyes were glued to the writhing man a few meters away from them, and she felt as though she needed to rinse herself in a nice, cold shower, "I guess our time here got interrupted, huh―"
"Not quite."
"Eh?"
He grinned, a quick, "Come here" was his reply as he slid back into the warm embrace of the hot springs. There was no way he was going to let this opportunity pass him just because of some libido-driven maniac. He rarely travels to hot springs nowadays!
She eyed the tied-up man warily as she slowly lead herself back to the waters, her eyes met Neuro's, and for a moment, she felt her fears had ebbed away.
"I checked everything below. No one's there now."
She almost whimpered―quite uncharacteristically for Yako, Neuro observed―and he did not fail to notice the slight shiver of her frail shoulders and the way her hands tightened themselves on her towel.
"What are you scared of, maggot?"
She only shook her head, her eyes casted downwards throughout.
He sighed, and ran a hand through his wet and ponytailed hair, eyes travelling to that small and writhing mess that was a man.
It took a while before Neuro almost snapped, and he growled―baring his teeth in the process. He grabbed the nearest thing his itchy hands could get on just to throw it onto that thrashing head and that slithering body on the ground.
A hand-sized piece of a rock on his head would do him good for now. That muffled voice was annoying him, anyway.
The sound of something hard hitting a skull and the lack of the sound of muffled grunts and whimpers along with the sudden sound of silence made Yako look at the now unmoving man, and she backed away instinctively, just a bit, closer towards the grinning Neuro.
"I thought you were going to strip him off of his skin with your nails or something," and she laughed, as morbid as the topic was. She had learned for quite some time that whenever she was with Neuro, her mind would completely go into wayward directions―directions that her pure mind would normally never tread. That was his influence.
"I did plan that at one point," he said with a minute pout as he scratched his chin, ignoring the scoff that Yako just emitted. "But I don't think you'd like the concept of seeing 'human skin strips' so I made a Plan B."
She slapped a hand to his forehead.
"I knew it. You were thinking of murderous thoughts again!"
"And you were thinking of running away again, weren't you?"
She was stunned, silent at his sudden words.
"...No."
"Look at me in the eye when you're saying that."
She did so with her head dunked halfway in the waters.
He only sighed, and he looked at the now still and unmoving man.
"I should have scooped out his eyes when I had the chance―"
And that familiar gasp with the inevitable sloshing of waters were heard. She flailed her arms in rapid motions, and it made him grin.
"You are so not going to do that!"
The trip to the onsen had been, interesting, for Neuro's taste. He relished the fact that when they had finally risen from the waters to dry off themselves and to prevent their skins from becoming human prunes, Yako had instinctively tried to hide behind him as soon as she heard that awful sound of groaning from the man. It took him another hour to wake up, it seemed. Neuro remembered how flushed Yako looked when they were making their way out of the steaming pool, she had grabbed his arm and hand with all her might, all the while trying not to take her piercing brown eyes off of that struggling unnamed man.
And no, he did not remember how close her towel-clad skin had been to his arm and back. And definitely no, he had not been thinking of how soft it felt, despite the thick and fluffy fabric separating his skin from hers.
"What are you doing, louse?" he asked a puzzled-looking Yako. They had finished their baths and had changed into their clothes (and he had finally let down his hair) when he saw his little maggot's eyes hastily shifting left and right, as though searching for something.
"Higuchi-san is not at the counter. He's not on the entrance, either."
He snorted, his eyebrows raised as he regarded the little restless worm in front of him.
"What do you need him for? Maybe he got some errands to do."
She hummed, brown eyes darting left and right as she walked slowly, "Hm. I guess so. I only wanted to say thank you." Neuro only harrumphed in response.
And they left, his hands wrapped a bit too tightly around hers. She was used to it, though. But―
Neuro looks a bit agitated...
Those little hair clips were starting to grow on her.
By their fourth day in the hotel, she found herself unconsciously fiddling with each clip every few minutes, making sure they were properly in place and were not about to fall off from her hair.
She assumed she liked the design too much, and she idly wondered where Neuro bought such accessories.
For someone who seems to hate trifle stuff such as fashion, he seems okay with it. Plus, he knows my tastes. Hm...
And indeed, his sense of fashion seemed to reflect through the man.
Those numerous pairs of ogling eyes trailed on his every move seemed to say so.
She partly blamed those collarbones peeking from his thin and black long-sleeved shirt.
"Snail. Don't just stand there like a pole. We'll be late for the opening!"
She took a deep breath, and straightened her back as she struggled with her burden of bags full of books on each hand. She was sure her poor wallet was on the brink of death—and it was all because of him.
The peeping tom incident yesterday was never brought up since they returned to the hotel. The simple signs from Neuro's little actions (especially that bone-crushing grip he had on her hand and those scrunched brows stuck on his face as they walked back) made her think that he was affected as well; on what aspect, though, she would never know. And it didn't help matters either when Kanae was frantically yelling on her phone when they entered the room. Neuro's mood had turned even more sour and he made a beeline to the couch. When he deemed that he wasn't in the mood to sleep just yet, he decided to just plop on her bed face first like a starfish without even asking for permission if he could lie there or not.
They had switched places on sleeping that night—her on the couch and him on the bed. She had gotten too lazy to move as soon as her head hit the plush throw pillow—and she missed her coverlets. Too bad they had been on Neuro's sleeping form. He looked very tired, for some reason—and she blamed the incident at the onsen.
Needless to say, Kanae took it as a moment to tease them both as soon as she noticed the situation in the morning, saying things like "when two people share a bed together, it means that they've taken a relationship to a whole new level!"
The burning glares she received from both Neuro and Yako were not what she had expected, though.
It seemed that Neuro's moods affected Yako, in one way or another.
She sighed.
"Coming...!"
And she was about to stomp her feet again if it weren't for the smell of—
"Okonomiyaki!"
"Yako, not now. The opening of the—Louse?"
As soon as he turned around, he saw that, just as he predicted, Yako was gone, and was now jumping up and down in front of the okonomiyaki stand.
The weight of those bagfuls of books on each of her arm suddenly didn't seem to bother her anymore.
He sighed.
"Looks like we're going to be late for the bookstore opening."
They had just ate at a buffet after their trip to the bookstore this morning.
And after that, they had eaten at a ramen stand.
...So...
"Why are we here again?"
"Hm? Oh, I'll have a bowl of miso, please! And Father, please pass the salt. What were you saying again, Neuro?"
A sigh was heard as he chomped on a dumpling.
"Nothing."
Haruka and Seiichi's laugh echoed through their ears as they ate. Zera and Sonobe seemed to be getting along just fine, except that the Nougami caretaker kept on bawling every few seconds over a sob story that (s)he had heard on a TV last night. Kanae and—the "uninvited guest," as Neuro dubbed—Yuuya were talking animatedly, too. And as for his little louse—
"I'll have another bowl of kitsune udon, please!"
—well, she was still as gluttonous as ever.
He took a bite out of his dumpling, and the lilting sound of Haruka's voice took over the table.
"So, Higuchi-kun, you're Kanae-chan's boyfriend. You're a cutie. Just—don't take this as an offense—what happened to your face?"
Neuro hid a smirk as he swallowed his food.
"O-oh, this? I got into an accident, you see... Haha...!"
And this time, Seiichi spoke, a forkful of lettuce in his mouth as he candidly pointed his chopsticks at Yuuya's cheek.
"So, you're saying that you got in an accident—but it looks like someone threw a rock at your face, haha!"
The table had, out of the blue, partly grown silent, on which the Katsuragi couple and the caretakers hadn't even noticed.
Kanae stared at Yako's father incredelously while Neuro tried to stifle the bubbling laughter threatening to burst from his lips. Yako only gaped at the awkwardly laughing Yuuya, then back at the barely eating Neuro, then back at Yuuya and his huge and angry bump on his left brow.
She tried to click the pieces together, and with one poke from Neuro and his chopsticks, she shut down her thoughts altogether.
Nope. It couldn't be him—
At the corner of her eye, she saw Yuuya evading Neuro and Yako's eye contact, "I'm fine, really."
—or could it?
Their days went fast yet slow during their stay in the hotel. And Neuro was growing bored by their fifth day of stay. He had been lying on the couch for half an hour with a book in his hand, and yet the words on the pages couldn't get through his mind.
He idly touched his band-aid clad right eyebrow with nimble fingers. Yako had insisted that he should at least cover it to avoid getting infected—the wound looked deep to her, but not to him.
He had let her do whatever she wanted to his little scar until she was satisfied.
"...Like a bothered bee."
"Hm? Did you say something, Neuro?"
He forgot that she was by his side.
"Nothing. Go back to what you were doing."
"Hmph."
And she resumed watching her favorite show.
"Yako."
"Hm?"
"What's with the strange-colored sauce?" and he pointed a middle finger towards the screen with a bored look on his face.
"It's from the squid."
"Oh."
And he resumed his reading.
Yako watched and listened to the judge's comments about the food laid out in front of him for a few moments before munching on her bag of chips.
"Neuro?"
"Hm?"
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"...Is it that obvious?"
"You've been restless, shifting and not flipping the page on your book for quite some time, so yes, I can say that you're bored."
"Heh."
She watched as the show came to a commercial break, and she looked at the barely smiling Neuro.
It was night.
"Neuro?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you always calm at night?"
"What do you mean?"
"Eh? What do you mean, 'What do you mean?' You always look calm whenever night falls."
"Really? I haven't noticed anything."
She looked—stared—at him.
And he truly looked like he really didn't know for himself.
She blinked.
"How did you know I look calm at night?" he suddenly asked, his interest piqued as he closed his book and eyed her with an amused gaze. His eyes briefly darted to the clock hanging on the wall, and he smiled. Yako's friend won't be back until eight-thirty, right? Might as well have some fun!
He hummed.
"Well? I'm waiting for your answer."
She only bit her lip and munched on her last piece of potato chip, her brown eyes darting away from his emerald gaze.
"Yako."
That was a tone he rarely used. It meant that she really should answer his question—no matter how mundane it was.
"I know because I've known you for so long." There. That wasn't a completely vague answer, was it?
He chortled.
"You have been observing me closely, haven't you?"
She chewed on her inner cheek, brown eyes avoiding forest green.
Where had she heard of this conversation?
She warily looked at him, and that wide, malicious grin was back on his lips.
Why did she ask such a question again?
Yako squeaked as that familiar wide pair of eyes bore into her, his face inching close—too close!—to her face.
Dèjá vu, was it?
He looked at her face intently with a wide smile, his two pointed teeth bared for her to see. Those obsidian-jade eyes memorized the contours of her face, her minute actions, the casts of shadows on her pale skin when she scrunched her eyes shut, the way she whimpered under his stare, the way her bitty ears would redden, the way her hands would clutch fiercely onto the fabric of her shirt upon close proximity with him, the way she would grumble with a muffled voice trapped by those clamped and potato chip-sprinkled lips, and the way she would take a peek when she thought he wasn't looking at her anymore, his eyes memorized them all.
And he loved every moment of it.
She shivered under his intense lush green stare, not out of fear, though—that much Yako knew.
And the question she had avoided to answer all those days ago were heard once again.
"Are you falling for me?"
Yako threw the remote control at his grinning face as a reply.
It was their last day in the hotel, and they were up early for packing.
Except for Neuro and Yako.
He had been lounging near the lobby, a wide smile plastered on his face as he looked at his little louse.
"You look like a prepubescent boy."
"I wonder whose fault was that?"
He feigned ignorance, "Hm?"
"Don't 'hm' me! You repacked all of my clothes when we were in the house a week ago! You're to blame why I couldn't wear a swimsuit!"
"This topic again? I thought we were already through with this? Oh, and haven't I told you that you'd thank me for it when the time comes?" and he smiled.
Indeed.
In a way, she had thanked him for what he did.
Because yesterday was a mess.
She had gone to the beach with Kanae for some sunbathing yesterday morning. She was willing to go because Kanae had promised to buy her some ice cream later on.
Once the towels and parasols had been set on the sand, Kanae, in her two-piece blue and white striped bikini, had been approached by two men. Apparently, the males hadn't noticed her. Her too baggy shorts and too loose t-shirt made her look very much not like a female at that moment.
And it was in that moment that Yuuya approached them, too. And for some reason, the bruise and bump on his forehead looked like it had gotten bigger. And it was also in that moment that Yako decided to back away from the claustrophobic bunch, despite Kanae's coaxing for her not to leave. The two unnamed boys teased her, telling her that she was too effiminate. And it irked her.
And so they thought she was a boy.
And it drove her mad.
And Kanae had only laughed with the boys. Yuuya only looked away from Yako.
And so she went away. She was never used in the company of many boys anyway, that was Kanae's field.
She had returned to the hotel that day with a frown, and had noticed that Neuro had been doing nothing but to read all day. She had plopped down beside the couch, and he had greeted her with a small, "Back so soon, snail?" without even bothering to look at who entered. It seemed that even he knew what her footsteps sounded like.
And it was then that she told him of her fair share of woes with Kanae on that morning. He had laughed as an initial reaction. And she fumed.
If there was anything that Yako was thankful for, it was the fact that Neuro, after he finished laughing at her misery, had coaxed Yako to go with him to the other side of the beach after she told him her story. They had rented a pair of kimonos from the nearby clothes store and bought two oni masks from the souvenir shop they had passed by, along with two black washable hair dyes from one of the convenience stores and gathered four buckets full of crabs and lobsters at the far side of the beach. She had been hesitant, though, saying something about food going to be wasted on some prank, and Neuro had only pinched her cheek painfully.
The looks on their faces when they threw the crabs and lobsters on the laughing bunch were priceless. Although Yako felt bad for throwing some little crabs on Kanae, it made her feel better to see that she wasn't the only one who got hurt in the process of being humiliated. Her best friend had laughed at her and dismissed her humiliation as a trifle matter in front of other people—and she felt like she needed a bit of payback. And by that time, she concluded that it was indeed Yuuya who had been in the hot springs on that day—spying on her like some sick pervert. The way Neuro had acted as he threw the whole bucket of lobsters on Yuuya cemented her theory. It was proof enough that he was enjoying his time on torturing him—as a means of payback for getting in the way of his "onsen time" when he had been in the mood to relax.
It was at that time that she realized what the dyes and the masks and the kimonos were for. They served as disguises.
Clever man.
It was also the time that Yako vaguely realized that she was becoming a sadist.
Neuro had urged her into dying their hair black for the moment. She had obeyed without question. He had then urged her to climb onto his shoulders before they perform the prank—and as uncharacteristic of him as it was, she obeyed without complaint. She trusted him enough, for his ideas had always been superb, and that he wouldn't seriously harm her on their way. They had looked ridiculous then, her on his shoulders, both in kimonos and masks, each with two buckets of crabs and lobsters on each hand—and both of their heights combined looked freakishly huge. Neuro was already tall and all.
And the results were hilarious.
"Thanks," she finally said with a smile, and Neuro grinned.
"Good thing you realized that you owe me one."
She laughed.
Kanae and the other men never knew who the crustacean throwers were. Those persons had jet black hair, she had brown hair and he had blond and black, and she had made sure that none of their accessories were worn on that occasion.
I guess being with him is not so bad at all.
"Snail. I forgot. You carry my books. They're too heavy."
...I take that back.
The trip back home was silent for the most part, save for the soft ballad playing in the stereo, Haruka and Zera exchanging gossip about the latest celebrity news, and Kanae talking while bawling on her phone―to Yuuya, no doubt (he was still on part-time in that spit of onsen)―those painful scars and pinch marks by the crabs and lobsters have not healed on Kanae's skin, and as much as Neuro wanted to laugh at their fruitless endeavors on putting balms and ointments on them, even going as far as to ask for Haruka and her cooking for a cure, Neuro was still half-tempted to yell in the van just to get them to shut up; he managed to calm himself at the last minute.
He was losing focus on reading his current novel.
He felt a soft shuffle from his right, and he glanced at the sleeping figure leaning defenselessly on his shoulder, that glossed mouth slightly opened as she slept.
He nudged her a bit, and she unconsciously closed her mouth. Good. He wouldn't have it if she suddenly drooled on his shoulder. That would be icky.
He smiled as he turned a page, his mind focused on getting back on track on his reading.
"Neuro, dear?"
Haruka's voice.
And he blinked, eyes focused on those caramel orbs, "Yes, Katsuragi-san?"
She laughed, "Oh, I told you to call me Mother. It's better to hear that!"
His emerald eyes laughed, "Of course. I forgot! Oh, and I suppose I'll be calling Katsuragi-san 'Father'?"
Seiichi laughed as he drove, and met his eyes through the rearview mirror, "Why, of course you can, son!"
And they laughed.
Zera, happenning to overhear the conversation, looked at his master with a smile, "So, I suppose it's safe to say that you'll be marrying Yako-sama in the future? With you calling her parents as 'mother' and 'father' and all."
Neuro's brows shot up, and he craned his neck to look at his caretaker. Those black eyes truly held no evil intent, it seemed. And the Katsuragi couple suddenly became silent—probably curious at how he would answer the unanswered question.
Jade-coal eyes glanced at the still slumbering Yako leaning on his shoulder, one of those hairclips that he brought for her had managed to create an itch through his skin, and he fought the urge to just push her out of the way and scratch his right shoulder blade—but that would create unwanted consequences so he let her be.
A silent whisper was all that he uttered, moreso to Yako's strawberry-scented locks than anyone else in the van, "We'll see about that."
Neuro was oblivious to the silent exchange of smiles between Haruka and Seiichi.
April. The start of a new school year. The time where the roseate petals of the cherry blossoms would greet the blooming faces of the smiling youth gathered together at school institutions to meet peers new and old alike. The time when the fresh faces of the institution would flutter with brimming anticipation and anxiety and profound optimism and pride over their new environment. The time when the opening ceremony would bring together students from different parts of the region to study together and to make new friends along with the old.
Yako was a bit nervous, truthfully told. She had been separated from Kanae at the ceremony, and Neuro was with the group of boys when the program started.
She was becoming fidgety in her seat, her feet swayed left and right restlessly as she took quick gulps of air, eyes scanning over the people that would be her classmates for this year's term. Her fingers had been idly playing with her hairclips and her prickly bracelet for quite some time now. She refused to remove it even if the thing gave her the urge to scratch her wrist every few minutes―if that's what it takes to keep herself from becoming too agitated, then so be it.
And besides, seeing the bracelet reminded her of sharp teeth―a certain someone's pair of sharp teeth. A sharp pair of teeth that belonged to a certain someone that should have been here for the past three minutes and 27 seconds.
She swallowed a groan and scratched her left wrist again. Her uniform was becoming quite suffocating.
There was a light tap on her shoulder, and she quickly turned around hoping for it to be Kanae―Neuro did not come to mind. He'd never greet her with a simple tap, anyway.
Instead of her best friend, it was a little girl who had greeted her, her smile bright and her posture confident as she spoke.
"Hello there, nee-chan! I'm Miyasako Mutsuki! 'Little princess' for 'miya' and 'urge' for 'sako'―and 'first month of the lunar calendar' for Mutsuki! I'm kind of ashamed of my given name, though, because I think it means really weird to have a name from the lunar calendar as a given name, but I really like it because my grandfather was the one who named me! Tee hee!"
And she held out her hand with a smile, oblivious to the blinking 16-year-old in front of her.
Yako gingerly shook her hand.
"I'm Katsuragi Yako. 'Judas tree' for Katsuragi and 'strong child' for Yako. Nice to meet you, Miyasako-san. Oh, and don't worry! You're name's not weird at all! I know someone who has this really strange name!"
And Mutsuki giggled. Her little eyes fluttered as she laughed.
She looked really small for a high-schooler, even smaller than me, was what Yako thought.
"Oh, please call me Mutsuki! I'm only 15!"
Yako laughed bashfully and scratched her head, "Oh, okay. Sorry about that."
And they laughed.
For a moment, Yako's nerves seemed to have calmed down.
Until she felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her.
"Neuro! It took you long enough, dummy!"
He smiled as he grinded his chin on top of her head, "I had encountered a nuisance in the halls. It was annoying, to say the least."
She hummed, "Oh."
Mutsuki watched them with a smiling face, her eyes widening even more as she noticed that her new friend didn't look like she was bothered at all on being held by this man.
Maybe he was special to her?
"Is she your boyfriend, nee-chan?" she asked out of the blue, and Yako instantly babbled like a fish all the while struggling to get away from the hands now tightening their hold on her shoulders.
"No!"
And her retort was heard loud and clear in the classroom—several pairs of eyes looked at the madly blushing girl and at the smiling man that was practically draped over her like a sloth.
The first thing the students noticed was that the man that was draped on the girl was tall. And blond. And the girl looked small in comparison to his height.
The second thing that they noticed was that the girl who had just yelled looked like she was going to burst into flames any minute.
And even so, she had yet to break away from the clutches of that tall man.
Said tall man didn't look like he was going to let go of her, though.
The whispers ensued. And Yako didn't like it.
Honey-brown eyes darted over to the happily smiling man, and she harshly whispered to him, earning a few curious looks from the nearby students.
("Let go of me, already, Neuro!")
He only nuzzled his chin on her scalp further, very much like a hen finding a spot to keep her butt warm.
That was what Yako was reminded of by Neuro's course of action.
"Don't want to."
Yako groaned―and surrendered herself to her fate as she let Neuro wrap his possessive self upon her. He had been insistent that he should be with her at all times, no matter which school she should attend to, just in case her "utter lack of common sense and basic knowledge for the survival of life would bring all of humanity to its extinction." Ugh.
"Are you Yako's new friend?" she heard him ask, and Yako looked up at Neuro and his wide-eyed look.
Sly, two-faced demon!
"Why, yes! I'm Miyasako Mutsuki! Nice to meet you!" and she bowed. Yako noticed the difference in behavior when the little girl had introduced herself to her moments prior. She had offered a handshake, and this time, she simply bowed as a greeting.
Maybe she had issues with men?
Neuro simply waved his hand to her with a broad smile, all the while having his arms interlocked around Yako's suffocating ones, she was quite sure the blood was leaving her upper appendages.
"I'm Nougami Neuro! Pleased to meet you too, Miyasako-san!"
What's up with him and his act of innocence in front of others?
Mutsuki blinked, and she glanced at the still flushed teen. With a knowing smile, she laughed.
"I see. Haha! I'm pleased to be your acquiantance, nee-chan, Nougami-san! I can call you that, right, nee-chan?"
Yako was taken aback, and she looked at Neuro's puzzled look towards the student, no doubt he was questioning Yako in his mind about this encounter later on.
Well, she was questioning herself, too, if that was the case.
"Of course you can! Well, I guess I can call you Mutsuki-tan, right? You're just too cute not be called like that!"
She could barely hear the exasperated sigh from Neuro behind her (he has yet to let go of her, she noticed) and she felt his breath fanning over her ticklish neck. She fought the urge not to giggle at the sensation. Should she laugh, it would be used as another weapon in Neuro's wide arsenal of torture ideas.
"Stop it with the sappy talk," was what he whispered to Yako's ear.
"Of course you can! Oh―sensei is here," and Mutsuki hurriedly returned to her seat.
Yako failed to hear the sound of the bell, and the feeling of those long arms around her had loosened, and he finally let her freely move again.
Thank goodness.
"Settle down, everyone―class is about to start."
The laughter and the lively chatter slowly died down, both being replaced by the shuffling of chairs grating against the floors, of pencils and notebooks being placed on the desks, and of hushed whispers of respect and recognition to each student that passed by their eyes as they sat.
The teacher walked to the platform, his shoes tapping on the wood as he stepped towards the middle. Black eyes roamed on each student with a small smile, memorizing them in a manner befitting of a teacher. He listened until the noises had died down.
Satisfied, he took a deep breath and beamed, his wavy and messy-looking black hair thrown back over his shoulder as he wrote his name on the board—both in Latin alphabet form and in katakana form.
"My name is Jody Tubulik. And I will be your homeroom teacher for this term. I handle Biology and Chemistry along with World History and Japanese History. Any questions?"
He waited for a meek hand raising for a question from a curious student. Three seconds passed, and a hand was raised at the back.
"Yes, um―Nougami-san? Correct?" he replied. Yako noted that he did not look at the class record to see his name.
Strange.
Maybe he memorized all of his students' names?
He nodded, and with a wide smile, he scratched his brow, inadvertently scratching his recently healed scar from the incident at the hot springs. Yako―along with most of the female students and some males―eyed him with a curious stare.
"Correct. Um―Tubulik-sensei, right? May I ask where you're from? I'm guessing you're from Turkey?"
At this, the teacher smiled and toyed with his teeny black goat beard, and he looked at the blond student in the eye, "Why, yes. I'm Turkish. How did you know?"
"...I'd rather not say it out loud. Unless you want to be uh—never mind."
And Yako knew very well what he meant. That broad smile and that glint in his eyes could never conceal their real thoughts to her.
He's insulting him in his mind.
The man quirked his eyebrows, and leaned over the teacher's table in a laidback manner, "Oh? Would you care to humor me? I want to see what you had in mind. Were you, perhaps, thinking of something—inappropriate—for this class?"
Neuro laughed, and some of the students were confused at his reaction.
"Oh, not at all! I definitely didn't laugh at your expenses—nor at your... quite intoxicating choice... of perfume! It's simply exquisite!" and he smiled, although those emerald eyes were cloaked in sadistic glee, that much Yako could sense.
Yako silently slammed her head to her desk.
Why did Neuro have to be so arrogant!
The smile Neuro received from the teacher was his only reply as he silently turned his back and made his way to his table.
His little fanged teeth bared as he smirked at Yako, uncaring for the baffled and awed stares he received from both male and female students alike.
"This year's going to be interesting, Slave!"
Holy schmucks. Thirteen pages. Looks like I'm in the mood to write! XD And thank you for all the reviews! OAO~