Author's notes:
Hi all! Dreamer here! Moms going nuts about the finals in February already, so unfortunately you all have to wait till march for another update. I promise that I'll be regular from then. Now on with the chappie!
Chapter 3: The Siblings and The Saviors
Helen was feeling very resentful towards her seat right about now. Shanto just keeps throwing a malicious, "I'm gonna get you" kind of look at her. She was relieved when the bell signaling lunch rang and Shanto dashed out of the classroom.
Helen wasted no time at telling Natasha about the events of that morning.
'I'm telling you Natasha, the guy's bad news. Did you see the look he had on his face when he said "I hope we all can be friends"?' Helen raged after she had explained.
'Really Helen, aren't you exaggerating a bit? I bet he's a decent guy, you just think that since you got to a rough start.' Helen said quite reasonably and turned to go to the cafeteria for lunch.
Helen rolled her eyes behind her but didn't bother to argue. Natasha is quite known for her overly-optimistic view of the world. She followed her out of the classroom and they were joined by Addie on the way. (He was in a different classroom.)
Helen wasted no time in telling him that the boy they bumped into was now their new classmate. Addie was rather appalled, but he still shared the thought of him being a bit more reasonable while he was calm.
'Really, I seriously doubt your judgment of character right about now.' Helen said to them.
'Could we talk about something else? He's not our problem 'till he bothers us.' Addie told her.
'Fine.' Helen huffed. 'Good, let bygones be bygones.' Natasha said sagely.
'Yes, oh wise and righteous saint Natasha!' Helen said in a mock voice.
'Any nuggets of wisdom for me?' Addie asked in the same voice. 'Yes, young chipmunk. ' Natasha said in a mystic voice. 'Hold the hairspray; you're emitting more and more CFC while making yourself look like a manikin.' Natasha said while patting a hand on his unusually rigid golden-brown hair.
Helen laughed as Addie looked rather offended. 'Hey! Girls like this kind of hairstyle!' Addie said defensively. 'Oh really? Are we not girls?' Natasha asked. 'No, you two don't count. You two are more like sisters.' Addie said.
'Touching, but I still think that there's no use of being a Casanova if you're too chicken to ask the girl you like out.' Helen said while grinning at him.
'What do you mean by that?' Addie said blushing. 'Come on, we know you like Haruna.' Natasha said cheekily while nudging him with her elbow.
'Shut up!' Addie said, his blush deepening. The girls laughed as they sat down for lunch.
They were just digging in when Setsu came in looking really annoyed.
'Can I join you?' She asked roughly. 'Sure!' Natasha said.
'Err… Why are you looking so ticked off?' Addie asked her. 'Don't get me started! After those two new students came and Rin and Donatella found out they knew them -or should I say their 'doppelgangers- 'they've become obsessed in proving that they're the people they think. I've been hearing Rin jabber on to Donatella about how they'll prove that the Minami's are actually called Kamiya.
'I know they're being unreasonable, but you have to give them credit for caring so much. And it is odd that two people are having the same delusion.' Natasha said thoughtfully.
'But still, if they limited themselves to the crazy schemes, it would've been bearable. But they actually asked them if they were pulling their legs. I mean, why would two people change their names if they aren't spies or something?' Setsu said.
'Beats me.' Addie said as he dug into his bento.
But, before he could take a bite from his lunch,
SPLATTER!
Someone dumped water on him and Helen. 'And that's for bumping in to me!' Shanto snapped as he walked away.
'COME BACK HERE, YOU!' Helen yelled after him while shaking his fist at him.
'Let it go…' Natasha said while helping Addie and Helen rub some of the water dry with a napkin.
'What was that all about?' Setsu asked.
'Nothing, just nothing' Helen said in a heated tone.
They finished lunch in silence, Addie looking appalled and Helen still seething from rage. They got up as Natasha said, 'Umm… at least he just dropped a glass of water on you. You could've caught a cold if he dropped a bit more.'
'Really? The guy just throws water at them, in school no less, and you act like it was an accident?' Setsu said. She also knew of Natasha's unusually positive outlook, but decided to tell her that anyway.
'Hey guys!' A sweet voice called. It was Sugar, looking very pleased as she ran towards them. 'Guess what? A new guy just joined the soccer club today. And the training session has been rescheduled for after school!' She said hopping with excitement.
'I hope it was that Minami guy who joined…' Helen muttered.
But, to her disgust, it was actually Shanto who had joined. Well, as can be expected, those two got along as well as a snake and a mongoose. And soon the rest of the team, including their senpais had to keep the ball well away from Shanto to keep him from aiming at Helen and Addie (Who are the goalie and a defender, respectively).
'What's your problem?' Hoshiri Sasaki, a first year girl with short straight black-blue hair with the fringe hiding half of her left eye with a strand braided on the opposite side of the fringe snapped as Shanto stole the ball from her forcefully, even though they were playing on the same team.
'Letting them know that you shouldn't mess with Aranthe Shanto!' He said as he dribbled furiously towards Addie.
'That's it! No more Mr. nice guy for you!' Addie said as he dribbled closer.
'Ha! I thought you said you were a lover not a fighter?' Shanto taunted.
Addie smirked and with a casual flick brought out a rose and threw it towards Shanto.
'Ha! Wha-' Shanto started when Addie yelled, 'Rose Crusader!' And the rose burst into a storm of petals that lifted Shanto into the air with the ball. Addie then swiftly slashed his hand horizontally and the petals all got shredded with large red slashes, and when it was over, Shanto fell behind Addie and the ball fell directly in front of him.
'Wait, wait! Guys, this is getting us nowhere!' Sugar asked from outside the field.
'Right it isn't!' Setsu said from beside her. 'Go and fix your personal problems or we'll win a match some time close to never.'
'But he's the one who's all up in our faces!' Helen said from the goalpost in outrage.
'Well, you two are the one who bumped into me!' Shanto yelled back.
'Will you just let it go!?' Addie said heatedly.
'Okay, shouting match's over!' Natsumi, the head manager of Neo Raimon cut in before it could get ugly.
'But!' Helen said. 'No buts, I think senpai's right, we should call it a day.' Natasha said.
'Fine…' Helen muttered. Addie glared at Shanto for a while before following suit. The whole team went to change.
'Excuse me Celeste-san, Inara-san.' A gentle voice called.
Rin and Donatella both looked back to see Aoi coming towards them and Fuyuna standing outside the field shyly. The rest of the team left them alone, since they knew about the whole affair. (Shanto was dragged away unceremoniously by Hoshi, who thought it best.)
Rin and Donatella both felt stupid, not only because they almost forced their conclusion on them but also because they had noticed many differences between the Minami siblings and the Kamiya siblings they knew.
Ryuu was a quiet, gentle and shy person, and Mika was a very energetic, tomboyish, and rather rebellious person. But the Minami siblings were the exact opposite of their counterparts in many ways.
'Er…' Donatella started nervously, but was surprised when Aoi bowed in front of them and said, 'Gomenosai. I was very short with you two today. But please, I hope you two won't harass me and my cousin-'
'Cousin?' Rin asked, amazed.
'Yes, cousin.' Aoi said definitely. 'I hope you two will stop trying to prove that we're spies or something and maybe we can be friends.'
'O-okay.' Donatella said, bowing back.
'Yeah.' Rin said, also bowing.
Aoi smiled and went to Fuyuna and they both went different ways.
'Umm…' Rin thought pensively. 'Let's go!' She said suddenly to Donatella.
'Why?' She asked. 'Let's follow Fuyuna.' She said.
'Are you crazy? They already think we're stalkers. And we can't follow a person, that's wrong!' Donatella said, shocked at the thought.
'Well, we'll have to follow her anyway; she's going the way we need to go.' Rin stated pointing towards Fuyuna.
'Fine…' Donatella said, still not sure.
So they followed her silently as she walked, or rather skipped her way towards her home. Donatella was really feeling guilty, and Rin wasn't full of confidence either.
After a while, she turned a corner and they hurried to catch up, only to find that she was gone.
'Where did she go?' Rin said looking around the road frantically. There wasn't a person in sight, but something else caught her sight.
A baby fox, as cute as anything was lying on the street as though asleep. She looked at it, wondering how on earth it got there. It raised its head and looked in her eyes. She noticed that it had some strange purple markings on it.
'Kawaii!' Donatella exclaimed when she saw it. The fox perked its ears and came to them, seemingly interested
Rin smiled and picked it up. It made a cute sound and jumped on her shoulder.
'Wow, you're a friendly one!' Rin cooed.
'What will we do Rin? Fuyuna's gone.' Donatella stated. 'Let's go home for now.' She said.
So they parted ways after a while and Donatella and Rin went to their homes
Rin was nearly home, but three things still bothered her
Fuyuna's sudden disappearance,
The fox's strange appearance,
The shadows that kept rippling and shifting unnaturally.
The last reason bothered her the most. She got really scared at a point and broke into a run for her house. She was nearly there when the baby fox suddenly sat as rigidly as a statue. The whole street turned black and ghostly shadows came out as black spires and chains.
Rin screamed as they approached, but they suddenly stopped and dispersed when they were ten feet away. Rin started running harder and the shadows reformed and chased her.
She reached the door, nearly crying and turned the handle frantically. The shadows lunged at her, but they stopped dead a few feet away. Rin entered the house, panting and out of breath.
She looked outside the boor timidly, but the street was slowly returning to normal. She sighed with relief, and saw that the baby fox was on the floor, looking up at her happily. It squeaked happily again and went out of the house and left.
'Wait! It's dangerous!' Rin called but it still went on, but to Rin's relief, safely.
Rin reentered the house and closed the door behind her. She still couldn't believe what had happened, but her hammering heart still proved that it was all reality. She wondered, was it the fox that saved her from the shadows?
Donatella was feeling lonely, so she decided to visit a very special someone. That someone had saved her when she first came to Japan. She went to a small park near the house where she lived alone. It had a stretch of woods where she usually met that someone. She usually avoided areas with a lot of plants, for some reason she heard disembodied voices there. They never sounded malevolent, but she still didn't like the way people looked at her when she told them about the voices.
She entered the woods, and not long later she saw what she was looking for. It was a cute and beautiful baby horse. It had pure-white fur and a mane to match, onyx eyes and a strange, symbol that looked like a green upside-down spade.
'Hello!' She said, and the horse neighed back in welcome. She came closer and patted it on the head. She usually spent time with it when she felt alone, but the horse attracted her for another reason.
It had been six years since she had met it, but it still remained as it was when she first saw it.
She was wondering about the mark on its forehead when it suddenly neighed warningly, as though it sensed danger. Donatella looked around, very frightened, since the voices had returned and they were all telling her to run away. But, one thing made her freeze on the spot.
A spider, as large as a small car was scuttling towards her, all eight eyes glimmering menacingly.
She couldn't move, she was totally paralyzed with fright. The horse galloped in front of her in a protective manner, and the spider snapped its pincers menacingly.
Donatella suddenly cried out for help and suddenly, as though to answer her call, a healthy-looking tree fell on the spider, crushing it instantly.
She was amazed to see that the spider evaporated into thin air, leaving nothing. She sighed with relief, and went to the tree and put her hand on it.
'Thank you…' She muttered, and she felt a strange warmth on her hand, and a feeble 'You're welcome..'
The horse was trotting at the base of the tree, and it was seemingly crying. A thick pearly tear fell from its eye on to the tree from where the trunk had snapped. The broken trunk glowed a pale green, and started mending itself.
Mystified, Donatella went to the horse and patted it on the head. It neighed as Donatella said 'Thank you… I wish you could be with me all the time.'
She smiled with her hand still on the horse's head. She blinked and suddenly felt the horse's head leave her hand and when she opened her eyes again, she saw it no more.
She looked around, but in vein. But she still felt the horse's presence and felt safe enough to leave the woods amid the reassuring murmurs of the trees.
End
That's it guys, sorry again for the late update.
