Some people, I knew, could cry and look beautiful. Unfortunately, I'd never been a part of that elite group – when I cried, my eyes became swollen and my lips puffed up.
I glared at my pale reflection in the mirror. "You know exactly how horrible you'll look after you cry, so why do it anyway?!" I scolded myself under my breath. Plus, if the fangirls caught me, they wouldn't hesitate to make comments on my unsightliness.
Marui Bunta… you caused all my misery. You are a plague in this world, without which we'd all be better off. You saw me cry and only made my pain worse. If you did not exist, all would be right…
This last attack from Reia, Shuuei and Aiko was truly the straw that broke the camel's back. The icy hatred I'd harbored for almost three years was suddenly boiling fury, ready to overflow and burn something, someone.
As the rage simmered within me, I felt my back straighten and my eyes harden. He was going to pay for this, and pay well.
Walking out of the bathroom, I stormed over towards the tennis courts. Then, having shoved through the troops of fangirl spectators, I slammed open the door of the courts they were in.
Marui was resting on a bench nearby, with a bald guy next to him – Jackal, if I remembered correctly. I couldn't care less about him, at least for now. They, along with the others on the sidelines, looked up in surprise at my dramatic entrance.
Bubblegum popped. "Yo, Kitari-chan. Why so upset tod-"
Without waiting to hear any further, I strode over and slapped him across the face. With my right hand, since my left was out of action.
The sound rang across the tennis courts, pealed in my ears. I was panting hard, as if I'd just run a marathon; my face felt hot, but the taste of victory was sweet in my mouth. As if from a great distance, I heard screams and saw a few girls apparently falling down in a faint.
"You." My voice shook with anger; I made no effort to still it. "You've killed me, Marui Bunta." The words fell into the almost absolute silence that had followed my outrageous actions.
His violet eyes were wide in shock, his normally cool composure slipping as the cheek I'd hit began to turn an angry red. "What –"
"Your fangirls broke my wrist not more than an hour ago." Okay, so perhaps I was exaggerating – they hadn't really broken my wrist, but they'd definitely given me one damned painful twist that probably hurt just as much as any break. "And you know why? Because I just happened to draw you in art class."
"Wait –"
"Because of that, I'll probably never be able to draw again. Listen, Marui, drawing is my life. You've taken it away. You've killed me." The surroundings had vanished; all that mattered was that I was finally able to take out my grievances.
"I –"
"Oh, that's not all. Did I forget to mention that this has been going on since freshman year, when you decided to bestow your patronage upon my father's shop? Well, now you know." The words were spilling out of my mouth, without any conscious thought or direction from me. "They've taken me to hell and made me crawl back, every time you come to buy something, every time I'm forced to serve you in the shop."
"Kitari –"
"I'm not finished. There's also –" Suddenly, a hand clamped over my mouth, effectively cutting off the rest of my speech. Twisting in my captor's grip, I saw that it was Yukimura.
The gentle-looking buchou met my eyes and smiled. "Why don't you let us hear what Bunta has to say? You haven't been letting him get a word in edgeways."
After a second's thought, I nodded, and he let go of me. "Well, Bunta?"
Running a hand through his already-mussed red-pink hair, he sighed. "Ne, Kitari-chan… I have next to no idea of what you've been saying."
What the (bleep), he had the nerve to say such a thing?! You die, Marui Bunta.
He was still talking. "Still, I did get the fact that I'm involved somewhere, and seeing as you just slapped me – I must say, you're stronger than you look – I assume that I didn't play an extremely pleasant role."
You most certainly didn't, which is exactly why I'm here in the first place!
"How could you slap Marui-sama?!!" It seemed that the fangirls had finally gotten over their shock decided to become more vocal. Oh, the horror.
"Yeah, how could you?! Marui-sama's skin will have suffered permanent damage!!" shouted someone from behind me – either a girl, or a guy doing falsetto. Judging from the place I was in, it seemed more likely to be the latter.
Immediately, the courts were invaded as the entirety of Marui's fan club swarmed through the still-open door. He himself disappeared under their overenthusiastic onslaught; I was crushed against the wire fence about three feet away.
"Marui-sama, are you really okay?" "Marui-sama, did she hurt you?" "Marui-sama, is your skin really damaged?" clamored the anxious fangirls, all trying to get as close as possible without refuting the 'personal space' rule that applies to all the fan clubs in the school – no member of the fan club must ever come within half a meter radius from their idol without express permission.
"I'm fine; I'm fine. Can you let me out?" came his slightly breathless voice – obviously somebody had broken the rule, since he'd been knocked over on his seat. Vaguely, I wondered what had happened to Jackal.
"Of course, Marui-sama!!" The group parted like the Red Sea, and Marui stumbled out.
"Niou, you idiot!" he called, dusting himself off vigorously. 'You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"
I spotted the aforementioned silver-haired boy leaning against the fence, safely out of the reach of the crowd. He was grinning widely. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Marui."
Yukimura grabbed my arm. "Kitari-chan, if you'll just wait a moment, I believe we can let Bunta off for the rest of practice today. Of course, he'll have to do extra laps tomorrow."
"Okay."
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"So, Kitari-chan, do you mind explaining what got me booted out of the courts by Mura-buchou today?" inquired Marui, walking casually with his hands in his pockets and the habitual bubblegum in his mouth.
By now, I'd deflated considerably, which was a problem that I quite hated. Whenever I got mad at someone, I'd blow up for at most ten minutes before running out of steam again. Even though it was Marui, whom I'd hated for so long, it seemed that this habit just would not break.
Perhaps the best thing I could do now was just to lay out the facts for him to analyze. No matter how much I disliked him, he was probably the only who could stop his fangirls, considering that they were his fangirls in the first place. So that was what I did.
To my surprise, he actually listened, instead of just laughing it off the way I thought he would. In fact, as I talked, the popping of bubblegum became more infrequent, and when I finished, he was silent for a long while.
"So, it was really all because of me…?" he said at last.
"Pretty much, yeah," I replied, seeing to reason to let him off.
Running his hands through his hair again – it seemed to be something he did when trying to handle an awkward situation – he asked, "Would it do any good if I said I was sorry?"
"Well, it'd do more good if you told your fangirls to leave me alone," I pointed out.
He laughed, almost forcedly. "I don't think I have that much control over them. After all, it'd be easy to get you out of my sight – which is exactly what they've been doing. Believe me, if I'd seen you getting this badly beat up, I'd have done something about it."
I raised one skeptical eyebrow. "Are you trying to say that you never realized that I always come in late for class looking as though I've been dragged through a horse brush on the day immediately after you come to buy stuff from my father's place?"
"Well… I didn't think it was anything to do with me!" he defended himself. "You could just be in regular catfights; everyone knows that girls fight –"
"Oh? And how would you know? Ever been a girl?" I demanded. "Ever seen the girls' locker rooms? Saa, Marui-kun, I never put you down for a pervert –"
"I'm not!! What the hell, Kitari-chan!!!" he protested. "Just, like, everyone says that girls fight a lot, especially over guys –"
"Boosting your own ego is bad for your health, Marui-kun," I informed him, actually beginning to enjoy the teasing repartee. "Aren't you just assuming that we fight over you?"
"Actually, some do," he reminded me, the smug grin back in place.
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"Ne, Kitari, I saw you walking home with Marui-kun. Does this mean something…?" asked Kiyou, so perfectly innocently that it put you on guard at once.
"No, it does not. Why are you so fixed on pairing us up?" I complained. "He can be such a self-centered ass at times."
"Yes, but at other times he's all right, isn't he?" he teased, swiftly stealing the pepper jar. "And as to why I want to pair you two up – you are in sad need of a love life, lil' sistah. I'm just being nice and helping you out. Marui-kun's a nice guy. He'll be good for you – see, he can counterbalance your constant PMS –"
"Remember, Kiyou, I have a knife and I'm not afraid to use it," I said ominously, raising the said utensil.
"Fine, fine, I'll stop," he said, laughing. "Just remember, if you ever decide to date Marui Bunta, you have my blessing."
I glared at him, not lowering the knife as yet. "Since when did I need your blessing for anything, let alone who I date?"
"Father! Kitari likes Marui-kun!" he yelled over his shoulder towards the main shop – we were eating in the large kitchen, the way we always did; it was also our dining room.
"I do not! Kiyou, you shall die! I swear!"
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A/N: I know everyone thinks I'm just fishing for compliments because I keep saying that I think each chapter is bad… but seriously, this time, it's bad. You can't deny it. I mean, Kitari is practically bipolar here. T.T
Please review!! I live on reviews!! More reviews inspire me to write more!! So please!!!!! (puppy eyes)
PS. The thing about Marui running his hands through his hair is completely made up by me. He is never shown in the anime to do that at all. It just seemed to fit the storyline here… :-X