Chapter 7
It was three in the morning and all Naomi wanted to do was sleep. But after the nightmare that made no sense had come, her sense of sleep had fled and she found herself getting up and working on homework. When she was done with that she went to the bathroom and as quietly as she could drew a bath.
Lounging in the water, she stared up at the ceiling trying to puzzle out the dream. When she got out she had come no further to figuring it out than she had when she'd first woken up.
She redressed in her school outfit so that she could relax the next three hours until she was to leave at 7:45. With a loss of things to do she flipped on her computer and curled up in front of it. First, she checked the chat site just to be on the safe side. Who knew, her Batz may be on. When she saw he wasn't, she went to go check her email.
"Spam, spam, spam," she said with a yawn as she deleted emails she didn't need to read. Then she found an email from BatzRBlind sent a little bit after she had pulled the vanishing act.
From: BatzRBlind at putersmarts. com
To: Night4Daiki at simplelife. com
Subject: (no subject)
Time: 9:50 pm, Sept. 24th, 2007
Message:
Ms. Night? Did your internet cancel out or something? Perhaps your parents called you away. Who knows. All I know is that I wanted to apologize for calling you love. It's a bad habit I have when I talk to girls that I find interesting.
You twisted your ankle though? I suppose it was good you were at a friend's house when it happened. They better have taken care of you. I'll have to track 'em down and force them to apologize to you if they didn't, love. ;)
Listen, I hear there is a fair this weekend in your town. There are supposed to be a lot of people there. Want to meet up on the Saturday around one? With lots of people there you should feel better if we meet up I think. Think you can get away from your family?
Yours,
Batz
She sat up a little straighter, her eyes wide with shock. Butterflies took route in her stomach. All logic demanded that she delete the message and say no. For all she knew, they were a criminal or something. But then he had always been courteous not to ask such a thing. He had never wanted to meet up before this.
Naomi's fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few minutes before she made her decision. Waiting no longer for fear of regretting it and deciding against it, she typed her response and sent the message.
From: Night4Daiki at simplelife. com
To: BatzRBlind at putersmarts. com
Subject: Re: (no subject)
Time: 5:20 am, Sept. 25th, 2007
Message:
Mr. Batz,
My parents came into the room and as I said before in a previous chat, they don't approve of internet friends. They think everyone is a psycho and wants to hurt me.
The people I was with weren't really friends, just people that I was working on a project with. They took good care of me. In fact one of them carried me home and that only caused more anger from my parents. No need to track them down and hurt them, promise. : )
The fair sounds like a great idea. I get out of school at noon, so is there any way I can meet you at one thirty? I have an independent study at the library on Saturday afternoons so getting away will be fine. IM me specifics later when I'm on.
Night
With it sent she sat back and contemplated what she had just done. Naomi's eyes were wide and bright. She nibbled her bottom lip and turned off her computer and walked away to do her hair which was still wet from the tub. She ran her hairbrush through her middle of the back long hair before pulling it up into a small bun that she secured with a clip that was adorn with small flowers of black jewels. She turned her head to look at it from the corner of her hazel eyes with a small giggle. This was the most she had ever done for her hair for a school day.
Closing her eyes she walked down stairs and entered the kitchen to start breakfast. While she wasn't the best of cooks, she could make French toast, her mother's favorite from when she lived in America as a child. Naomi started to hum the song she had heard the night before that Batz had sent her.
"I must not chase the boys…" she sang softly as she spun to put the plates in the microwave and start the stove up. By the time that she created enough for her family everyone had awoken and the food was put on the table.
She slid into her seat and ate quietly, waiting to hear what her punishment would be for getting home late last night would be. However, nothing would lower her happy nature for the day; not even school or punishment.
"Naomi, you know that we only set the rules to protect you, right?" Her mother finally said after taking a bite out of her own syrup and powder sugar covered breakfast.
"Mother, I didn't mean to be so late. I really didn't. And you can talk to my teacher. We really did have a project and Kurama had a lot of really good books that I needed for our topic." Naomi said softly, acting as the ashamed daughter that they wanted her to be. "I promise, next time I'll invite them here where you can properly meet them, if that would make you two happier?"
"When did you plan on inviting them over? If it's this evening, then I can bring home some food from the grocery and be able to prepare a proper dinner." Her father said with a smile. While her mother was the teacher, her father was the cook of the family, and the one that had taught Naomi how to cook.
Naomi hadn't even thought about that. "That sounds good. I'll call you at lunch to tell you if they agree. It'll be Kuronue, his friend Kurama, and his partner Miyumi." She said brightly, smiling at her parents.
"That's an awfully large group for a group presentation in high school." Her mother noted and Naomi laughed softly.
"Mother, I'm only partnered with Kuronue. He got there late and I was the only one without a partner so we got stuck together. Kurama is his best friend—remember; you met him at the entrance ceremony this year; the kid with the best grades in all the classes?" Naomi said chattily before the alarm went off on the oven and she jumped up. "Oh gosh we are late. Come on Kyu—Ah!"
Without meaning to she had forgotten about how tender her ankle still was though she could walk easily enough. As she had stood and pushed back her chair, her foot had twisted just a little bit and down she went, once more.
Cursing softly to herself she got up slowly, using the table and her chair for support. Her mother swept her up and pushed her to the living room where she checked the ankle. Mumbling about the stupidity and 'us against the world' lifestyles children had, she walked away and brought back a bandage which she wound around her daughter's ankle. Naomi frowned down at it. She would get all kinds of strange looks now.
"Make sure that it stays tight dear or that ankle'll cause you more troubles." Her mother warned as she stood to return to her own breakfast. Naomi rose and tested her ankle. She could barely bend it and so, limping like the night before, she made her way to the door and then pulled on her shoes before starting on her way to school.
When she reached the school she went to the lockers first and stuffed her unneeded belongings in angrily. This was all she needed. If her ankle didn't get better soon, Naomi would be forced to limp around with Batz on Saturday! This was not her idea of a perfect date. It occurred to her then that she truly was going to be having her first date at weekend. Giddiness took over just as a large shape moved into her peripheral.
Kuronue leaned against the lockers next to hers quietly, waiting to be noticed. When she didn't say anything but kept stuffing stuff into her locker, he coughed softly and held up a piece of paper. "I figured since I caused you to get into trouble last night I'd print this out and see if you had any of the information." He told her as she finally looked at the piece of paper.
Naomi frowned and took it, reading over it quickly. "Nothing." She said softly to him.
"You mean there isn't anything on there that you haven't already gotten! Really? It took me forever to get that information." He demanded, looking flabbergasted. He snatched the paper back and looked over it.
"No, I meant I have nothing on that list." Naomi said with a grin. She couldn't help but pull his string this morning. She took the paper back and started towards their classroom. Kuronue noticed that, if she hadn't been limping, she would have floated there.
"So what happened after I left? You didn't get into too much trouble did you?" he asked as he walked after her. He ignored the looks he got as he followed one of the unpopular people rather than the prettiest in sight. He probably would have gotten an answer if the girl from the morning before didn't step in front of him and distract him completely.
Naomi paused in their classroom door and looked back at where Kuronue was leaning over a girl with pretty hair and a pretty body. She couldn't help but giggle as she went to her seat and relaxed back. She would have been worried if he had still followed her when the pretty young woman had shown up. She was not looking to be the next notch in his ladder to infamy in the women's bathroom; especially if she was going to be going on a date with the mysterious Batz.
Time passed by during the morning seemed to go by quickly. Before she knew it she was trying to catch up with Kuronue before he got to the roof. "Kuronue wait!" she called just as he went into the stairwell that would lead up to the roof. She slid in before the door closed, wincing as her ankle began to hurt. She had to remember that it was not in tip top condition. Kuronue had stopped at the sound of his name, one foot on the stair before him.
"Yeah? What is it Naomi?" he asked, wanting nothing more than to not hear again about their project so he could go and hang out with his friend.
"Do you think that instead of meeting up Saturday afternoon, we could meet up this afternoon to work on the project? I have to be somewhere Saturday afternoon and can't meet up. My parents have agreed to let you, Kurama, and Miyumi come over and work on projects. Dad's going to cook too. And I just wanted to see if you could make it and if you could ask Kurama if he and Miyumi can make it?" she said quickly before anyone else could join them there.
Kuronue looked at her for a moment as if debating what to say before nodding. "Sure I'll ask him right now. I'll text you the answers later before schools out." He finally said before raising an eyebrow and getting a goofy grin, "Is that all?"
"Yes, oh yes, thanks. Bye." She said quickly before rushing out of the stairwell, limping slightly. Naomi didn't see the concerned look on Kuronue as he watched her go for she was already planning out how she would get out of having to go to the library first on Saturday.
