Chapter 4
CloneGirl: MaskerADO-kun! Whatcha think? Sayeth the disclaimer and I'll give you a sparkly picture?
Masquerade: …I'm locked in a closet…what good will a sparkly picture do me?
CloneGirl: …Iiiiiiit's…pretty to look at! Come on…come on…come on…come ooooooooon…you should know by now that it's basically pointless to argue with me when it comes to saying the disclaimer…
Masquerade: …Ugh…I hate you…so much…whatever, CloneGirl doesn't own any rights to Bakugan.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ah, Julie!" Marucho turned his head, smiling pleasantly as Julie skipped into the living room. His short little legs swung from their elevated spot on the couch. "I must say, I'm rather surprised that you're back so early. Did the shopping trip go well?"
"We didn't go," Julie answered, shrugging carelessly. Marucho blinked in surprise; he considered perhaps getting an ear appointment, because for some reason, she wasn't…disappointed? "We ended up just hanging at Runo's house, talking about…stuff…"
"What…kind of stuff?" Obviously something important enough be revered more than a shopping trip for Julie…
"Oh, you know…girl stuff…our changing bod…"
The half-finished sentence was more than enough to take away the blonde child's curiosity. "Oh, that's great," Marucho interrupted hurriedly, blushing deeply. It was just wiser to let the matter drop. "Er…well, I guess it's too bad that you missed shopping…"
"Ah, not too bad." Julie grinned, a small and mischievous expression upon her beaming face, quickly accompanied by a giggle. "One thing good came from it…hey, where's Gorem? I need to talk to him…"
Giving her an odd look, Marucho pointed before him at the small spectacle that Julie had somehow missed upon entrance.
"No, not O, you idiot! You push X to jump! I swear, you're gonna get us killed!"
"I'm sorry, Preyus…"
"Sorry's are not enough! Quick, quick, push O!"
"I thought…"
"X is for jumping, O is to shoot! SO SHOOT, DARN IT, SHOOT! THAT ALIEN'S NOT GONNA HANG AROUND IN THAT SPOT FOREVER!"
Julie nearly broke down in laughter right then and there as she watched her poor Bakugan try to hop to the intended button, only to lose his balance and tumble off the game controller. Preyus continued to scream orders at him while he himself struggled to direct the joystick to the right.
"Aw, Gorem! You distracted me!"
"Again, I'm very sorry…"
Before Preyus could revoke this apology, the T.V. went bright red, two big black words fading in a few seconds later. They were accompanied by a cold, mechanical voice, impersonal to the Aquos Bakugan's protests. "Game…over…game…over…game…"
"That isn't fair!" Preyus objected, hopping up and down in indignation as the T.V droned on. "It's not our fault neither of us have opposable thumbs! I'm totally going to call the company that manufactured these useless controllers and file a complaint!"
"Have fun with that, Preyus…"
"Ooh, Gorem!" Julie dashed into the room, skirting around the table to avoid crashing into it. Her hands managed to fly over the surface as she did so, trapping the Bakugan in her cupped hands. She spun around, raising up high and giggling. "I have, like, the best news!"
"Really? What kind of new…" Julie didn't wait around to answer Marucho's incomplete question; she was already hurrying out the door, squealing. Marucho shook his head; he could never understand girls…
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What has gotten you so excited, Julie?" Gorem asked, voice low and confused as the Australian gently set him down on one of her pillows.
"Dan is totally going to be mine!"
"…" If he had the eyes, Gorem would have chosen that moment to blink. "Er…exactly how…?"
"Masquerade's locked in Runo's closet! They so totally like each other! RUNO'S GONNA GIVE UP ON DAN FOR MASQUERADE!"
"…What?"
"Long story," Julie said impatiently as she hopped onto the bed, picking up another pillow and hugging it tightly. "Masquerade wanted to steal Tigrerra or something, Runo pushed him out her window, he's now our captive, blah blah blah. What matters is that they like each other."
"…I thought that was bad…"
"Only if Masquerade's with Naga and can…I dunno, pass along info or something. But he's not with Naga. He's in Runo's closet. And he'll totally betray Naga out of his love for Runo, Runo won't crush on Dan anymore, AND HE'LL BE ALL MINE! I mean, isn't this just so perfect? It's like taking out two birds with one stone or something!"
"…That's good…I guess…if it helps to stop Naga…"
"It's more than just good, Gorem!" Julie glared at the Bakugan patronizingly for his poor choice of wording. "This is brilliant! Oh, you should've seen the two of them! They're just so cute together…"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I want a pillow."
"Too bad."
"I need a pillow."
"Suck it up."
"I need a blanket too."
"SHUT UP!" Runo shot up to a sitting position, grabbing her lamp as she went and raising her arm, murder in her eyes as she directed it towards the closet door.
"Runo!" Alice untangled herself from her sheets, hurrying across the room to grab the bluette's wrist, just in time. "You can't just throw stuff! All he's asking for is a pillow and a blanket, that isn't asking too much…"
"I'd also like to be given a chance to escape, if it doesn't trouble you too much."
"That is asking too much," Runo snarled, but sullenly set the lamp back down with a sigh. "Fine, I'll go grab…"
"No, let me get them," Alice interrupted instinctually, before she realized exactly why she shouldn't be saying that. "Er…I mean, if you want to…I doubt you want to be alo…" But Runo was already settling back comfortably into her bed and staring at the redhead, eyebrows raised in questioning. "…I'll go get them. Don't…attack him or anything."
"What, you're going to leave me alone in a room with her?" Masquerade called out, almost desperately as he heard Alice shuffle out the door, reluctant to be leaving them alone. His voice slowly grew more panicked as another set of footsteps sounded, hurrying to the door that now seemed more like a flimsy protection than a way blocked. "Don't you think that's a bad idea? Alice?! Don't leave me alone with her! She's gonna kill me! All I wanted was a blanket and a pillow!"
The door slowly creaked open, bumping against his knee as he looked up, finding himself in the shadow of a fuming blue-haired girl. Oh damn…recover…recover…don't show fear, she'll just feed off of it…
"You," she growled, slowly pointing a finger at him. "Stop…being…annoying."
Will do, ma'am. No worries, I'll just shut right on up and save myself the trouble of reattaching my limbs. Great…all of a sudden he was a wimp. He couldn't let this go on.
Mustering up a small smirk, he shook his head. "Ah, but my dear, your reaction is just so…should I say fulfilling? Really, you should just learn to be more calm…does good for you in the long run, I hear." That was good, better than the 'will do, ma'am'. Sarcastic, unworried…perhaps his pride could still be salvaged.
"Milady!" Tigrerra cried out when Runo raised her foot, preparing to send it flying into the blonde's chin. "Violence is not the answer!"
"No truer words have been spoken," Masquerade agreed as Runo hesitated. Hesitation was also good; it was chance for him to take control of the situation. "Violence was what got us into this little predicament, remember?"
Runo snarled at him, but lowered her foot, looking regretful. He had no doubt that she would have enjoyed kicking him around like a hacky-sack. "Shut up. It was your own fault, coming in here like that and…"
"I wasn't going to take your precious Tigrerra," Masquerade reminded her, still smirking. "Perhaps at first, but I changed my mind…hard not to when you agree that I'm a superior brawler to Dan…"
"That had nothing to do with it! You know why I pushed you out that window!"
Masquerade cocked his head to the side, considering her silently, his smirk lingering. A small, almost unnoticeable buzz ran over his skin, reminding him about how…nice it had been. Until she had actually reacted to it, of course. "I know that," he said softly. "I just thought I'd try to be thoughtful and pretend it never happened…though I'm starting get the feeling that maybe you're happy it happened…"
Runo narrowed her eyes, taking an unconscious step back. "Why the hell would you think that? I thought I made it pretty clear that I wasn't happy…"
"You're blushing."
She stared at him in shock, before shakily raising a hand and gently touching her cheek…now warm with the extra blood rushing under it. "You…you creep…!"
"Runo! I told you not to attack him!"
Runo whipped her head around, an elevated foot still as she sheepishly shrugged towards Alice, who stood in the doorway in disappointment, a thick brown blanket bundled in her arms with a pillow, fluffy and white, balanced on top. "I wasn't going to…besides, he's basically asking for it…"
"Alice, Runo was about to attack me for no reason!" Masquerade interjected, a playful grin on his face. It was clear that his earlier 'fright' was well gone. "She shouldn't be allowed any more cookies at snack time!"
"Stuff it, you sarcastic little weas…"
"Runo."
"Yeah yeah, sorry Alice…"
With a tired sigh, Alice entered the room, gently setting the blanket and pillow beside Masquerade before rubbing her eyes. "Okay, if we have that settled…we're going to have to watch Masquerade during the night, can't risk…"
"Dammit," Masquerade muttered under his breath. Clearly, he had other plans for how he was going to spend his night. Alice continued on wearily.
"…Him going unconscious in the middle of the night. That is, if he for sure has a concussion."
"What?!" Runo crossed her arms, sticking out her bottom lip. "But I have school tomorrow! Even worse, I have Math…class…" Her eyes widened, slowly drifting over to the bedside table, and the discarded binder, papers and pencil that lay forgotten next to Tigrerra's dollhouse. "CRAP! I DIDN'T GET MY HOMEWORK DONE!"
A satisfied chuckle escaped Masquerade. He put a hand over his mouth to cover this as Runo's hands flew up to her head, tugging at her pigtails it in exasperation. "Ah yes, I recall you doing something about congruent triangles? Not that difficult, I'm sure you could get them done."
"This is all your fault."
"Everything seems to be, doesn't it? Perhaps you shouldn't have been wasting your time trying to commit murder and overreacting about every little thing, and instead have focused on your school work."
Alice quickly interrupted the argument before it could get too far. "Runo, you really should have gotten it done…do you think you could get it done tonight, without your parents realizing…?"
"…Maybe…if I'm really quiet…and suddenly come up with some form of nightvision…"
"…"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
As one might have already known, suddenly developing nightvision was something nigh near impossible. But she persevered anyways, squinting at her paper, viewable thanks only to the scant moonlight that managed to shine through the window. Out of all the other nights there could have been for it to be cloudy, it just had to be tonight, didn't it? But there was no way she was going to risk turning on the lights, even with her parents loud, guttural snores from the room down the hall assuring her that they were indeed sleeping.
It shouldn't be taking this long to finish up a few measly, simple questions on congruency; apparently, Folman was too busy thinking about a hot date that night to assign more homework. But in between yelling at Masquerade for his occasional comment, trying to convince Alice that duct tape was a good solution and then glaring at the redhead when she finally fell asleep, not a lot of work had gotten done.
He was still awake. She could sense his gaze on her, unwavering and curious. She pursed her lips together, both to cover up a yawn and to stop herself from yelling at him. As much as she resented her at the moment, Runo didn't have the heart to accidentally wake Alice up. And so it had been surprisingly silent, aside from Alice's soft breaths and the scritches of Runo's pencil against the paper.
Painstakingly, she dragged her hand across the paper yet another time, closing up a triangle; just this last question, and then she was free to drop dead all she wished. A vague thought entered her mind as she once again struggled to remember the stupid theorems; wasn't it about time she closed that closet? It probably wasn't very smart, leaving it open like that…she was pretty sure that him escaping was a bad thing…she couldn't recall why, though…
Right, they didn't want him to go back and help Naga…but that seemed like such a small price to pay, for getting him out of her hair…no, Runo, think about Vestroia, about Tigrerra and the other Bakugan…but even the thought of just turning her head to look at the damned door was exhausting. And it wasn't like he could get very far on that ankle…
Damn it, she didn't want to stare at the paper any more. Besides, she now wanted to know the time. She turned her head slightly, before dropping her chin to her hand; she'd been right about how turning her head would be exhausting. She opted instead to look at it from the corner of her eye. A bit blurry, perhaps, but she could get the gist of what the glowing blue numbers said, and looked like it was about three o'clock…
She really needed to learn how to be less argumentative.
Screw this damned question, Folman probably wouldn't even check it all that closely anyways. She shifted her head back to the paper and quickly scribbled down something just barely legible. Praying that it would be enough and didn't look completely like some pathetic attempt to finish her homework worthy to be accused of cheating, Runo dropped her head into the crook of her arm.
Masquerade continued to watch her for a few minutes, waiting until he was completely sure she was asleep. With a sigh, he unscrewed his Tylenol bottle and got out a single pill. He pulled a face as it slid down his throat; it was still just as revolting as before. But his head had been pounding for the last few hours, helped along by Runo's near constant snaps.
With a hiss of pain, he grabbed onto the knob of the door and pulled himself to his feet, careful to keep his injured ankle a few centimeters above the floor. With strenuous care, he jumped forward a bit; the small thump that resulted did nothing to stir the girls. With a relieved sigh, he continued to hop forward, fingers quivering as they trailed the wall, ready to be balanced on.
His journey found itself halted; for some reason, he turned his head back to Runo's slightly-moving form, frowning. The arm that wasn't substituting as a pillow was stretched over the binder, right on top of the rings. No way that could be comfortable…
He stared at her for a bit longer, then let out an irritated sigh. He should be escaping, but really, what was the point? And he couldn't…no, he didn't want to just leave her in that uncomfortable position. It would completely ruin the 'nice guy' image that he had been trying to build some days ago, before the whole dancing mess…granted, he doubted that he had ever really fooled the bluette into believing that crap.
Before he could change his mind, he limped heavily towards the sleeping girl. I must have gone crazy, he thought disgustedly as he stared down at her, shaking his head to himself. Nevertheless, he bent down and gently extracted her binder from under her limp arm and tugged her pencil out of her tightly clenched fist, setting them down on the bedstand.
But something still wasn't right. Her head was beside the pillow, a leg dangled down the side, her blanket was bunched up around her feet…at least she already had her pajama's on.
He reached out towards her without thinking, drawing her arm out from under her head and slipping his hand under, catching it before it could fall. He guiding it to her pillow before laying her down. His hands hesitated as they withdrew, before grabbing the crook of her knee and hoisting it up on the bed. He leaned his good leg against the edge of the bed as his hands slid around her waist and her shoulders; with a grunt, he carefully rolled her over on her back.
He suddenly went still, hands still trapped around her as she frowned, shaking her head a bit in her sleep. But the moment passed, and she was still asleep as he wiggled his hands out from under her. With quiet care, he reached down and snatched the hem of her blanket, dragging it up over her.
Stepping back with a satisfied smile, he observed her for a few minutes. There, that looked a lot better…
"That was awfully nice of you, Masquerade."
His head snapped around at the stiff, yet inquisitive voice, coming from the dollhouse. "Don't you remember? I'm a nice guy. It's what I do."
Tigrerra snorted, but other than that did not doubt his words. "I'm rather surprised with you. I figured you'd take this chance to escape us."
"Well, as appealing as the thought of hiking back to Europe on a busted ankle is…I decided that this was more worth it. So many ways to aggravate you all…how could I pass up this chance?"
If Tigrerra's answering chuckle puzzled Masquerade, he didn't show it. He simply just continued to speak.
"Now, if anyone should be surprised, it should be me. I thought that you'd be yelling and screaming at me, perhaps try to tackle me like earlier."
Tigrerra would have shrugged if she had the shoulders to do so. "You aren't doing any harm, just…helping her achieve a better sleep. Besides, I wouldn't want to wake up Runo and Alice."
A wry grin curled the corner of his mouth. How strange, for Tigrerra to be so…cordial to him. Just as it was strange for Hydranoid to be nosy and annoying. "Well, if you say so…"
A/N: Whew. *slumps* That took me a long time to write…band trips, work, studying for my upcoming PAT's…I truly loathe the last two months of the school work…
