AN: Thought I'd put in a more humorous chapter this time. Take a little break from the seriousness, throw in some crazy-Junpei-action and a little bit of fluff here and there. =3 Enjoy!
OH. AND P TO THE S, DUDE. ...Because this is AU, and I decided to flip the Shadows around, change them up and such, there WILL be a Love Hotel event. Yes, later. And that means "yes." With Shinjiro involved. xD You know you love it. Anyway, enough of my hideous rambling!
~Ami
In the Dorm...
"So, uh, got anything fun to do in here?" Hamuko asked, at a loss for words. "I mean, it's a dorm. I can only have so much fun cooped up in a building for another few weeks." The young girl chuckled, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, we're going to Tartarus tonight..." Fuuka murmured, trailing off.
"Oh, that means I can't go, then," she laughed, brushing it off. "Cool with me. I have homework to catch up on. A LOT of homework... How do you all put up with this?" she groaned. It wasn't exactly her fault, though. Make up work would build up at an amazing rate, especially if you didn't understand the material.
"We can leave some people here," Minato offered. "We could take her to Tartarus, but I really don't want to have to carry her everywhere. Once she can walk without help, we can maybe take her as far as the front. She does need to see Tartarus when she can."
"Sounds alright with me," Junpei said. He suddenly smiled widely. "Don't worry, Hamu-tan. There's plenty of fun things to do around here. Especially in my room..."
A pillow came soaring from nowhere and smacked Junpei fully in the face. Shinjiro sat back down in his seat, rotating his throwing arm and looking surlier than usual. "Idiot," he growled. "Don't you think of anything else?"
His mouth full of the fabric, Junpei spat a few times, trying to remove the taste from his mouth. "Of course I do," he insisted.
Hamuko's face grew red at Junpei's statement. Taking a deep breath, the girl grasped the small throw pillow beside her and mimicked Shinjiro, flicking her wrist and tossing the pillow at Junpei's face with the skilled throw of a weapon-user. "Just because I can't move my body well doesn't mean I can't chuck stuff at you, Junpei-kun," she chirped, looking at Shinjiro and giving him a thankful smile.
"Nice throw," Shinjiro smirked with evident glee. "Remind me not to make you mad." A wisely-worded mental note had suddenly come to him: Hide the kitchen knives.
"Heehee. Thanks, Shinjiro-senpai," she answered, obviously happy at getting a compliment from him, of all people. He was actually much nicer than she had discovered at first glance.
Fuuka laughed, brushing her blue hair from her face. "Just be glad there wasn't anything sharp or hard nearby, Junpei-kun. She could've killed you with that throw."
"That's what he gets for being Stupei. He should expect to get hit with things more often," Yukari laughed.
Junpei frowned and tossed the two pillows on the floor, safely out of reach of the two. "At least Yuka-tan doesn't throw things at me..."
"That's because she's too nice," Minato remarked. Though he wouldn't put it past the girl; Yukari was mostly hot air in her insults, but if driven beyond a certain point, she likely would get violent. He'd seen her stand up without hesitation to punks threatening her and also face down countless Shadows without fear. "Aren't you, Yukari?"
Yukari blushed at Minato's compliment. "Ahahaha, well, I guess so. Verbal insults are more my thing, right, Stupei?" she laughed.
Fuuka giggled. "Poor Junpei-kun; he's so abused."
Hamuko smiled at her. "Nah, I promise I'll be nice. I'll only throw pillows, swear. Unless he makes me really mad..." She looked back over to the boy, a mischievous grin on her face.
Her expression completely changed, however, as an immense growling sound erupted from her stomach. Looking down, she grabbed herself around the middle, her face hot with embarrassment. "I-I...didn't really eat today..." she confessed, smiling sheepishly. "Heh, I'm sorry. Hospital food sucks." Her face descended into a pout, still clinging to her abdomen. "I'm so glad I'm out of that hell-hole."
Junpei sniggered, but quickly stopped, expecting another pillow missile. When it didn't come, he pushed his luck just a little further. "Ken, just for future reference, keep your spear away from her. Maybe your axe, too, Shinjiro-senpai."
Ken chuckled quietly, but began focusing on his homework again with much fervor.
"You think the hospital was a hell-hole?" Minato smiled knowingly. "It really is, but nothing compared to Tartarus. It makes the hospital look like Candy Land."
Hamuko's eyes grew as large as paper plates at Minato's description of Tartarus. "Fabulous," she replied sarcastically.
The girl's stomach protested just as Shinjiro swallowed the final bit of his toast. He kept his mouth shut, knowing full well he could solve this problem, but not wanting to embarrass himself either. He thought guiltily of the cooking magazines in his room, artfully concealed within the pages of an outdated sports magazine. "Want a piece of toast?" he asked. Anyone could make toast, it wasn't like it was that difficult.
She glanced at Shinjiro, having just offered her food. "Ah, um... sure!" she answered, smiling. "Sorry about having to be babied here. If I could, I'd make myself something." Her eyes squinted in annoyance. "Cooking is probably one of the things I could do here to entertain myself, and, of course, it would involve a lot of moving. Maybe I should just sit here and hibernate for the next few weeks." A low growl escaped the girl's mouth. "Pff... You know what? No, Shinjiro-senpai, that's alright. I want to get up. I'll do it," she convinced herself, standing up. "I'm sick of sitting," she muttered, ticked off at her condition.
Yukari sighed. "You're going to go stir-crazy here, aren't you?"
Hamuko took a slow step in the other direction, before looking back at Yukari. "What makes you say that?" she said sarcastically, but a half-smile was still on her face.
Minato started to follow her, but Shinjiro stopped him. "Nah, I got this one." He found her in the kitchen, looking around for everything. "You know what? Never mind driving yourself crazy, it's the rest of us who'll go nuts," he said good-naturedly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him. Not waiting for a response, the girl, within a few moments, had found the butter and slices of bread. Tossing two pieces of bread into the toaster, the girl glanced around, still appearing to be looking for something. She opened a cabinet, surprised at the amount of spices inside. Smiling as she found what she was looking for, the girl pulled out a glass shaker with what appeared to be a brown substance inside. Gently smelling it to make sure it was the right one, the girl confirmed it, placing it on the table. Already having a plate ready, Hamuko rested against the counter, sighing and waiting by the toaster patiently.
Almost as instantly as the toast had popped out, the girl deftly took the pieces out and tossed them onto the plate, slightly wincing at how hot they were. Grabbing a butter knife, the girl quickly spread an even layer of butter over the pieces. Taking the shaker, she realized that she hadn't said anything to Shinjiro during her cooking fervor. "You ever tried cinnamon sugar on toast? It's great," she chirped, lightly shaking the substance over the two pieces before placing the shaker back in the cabinet. The young girl lifted a piece to her mouth, biting it in a hunger-induced need, before pulling away from it, her tongue now bright red. "Hot.." she muttered, her eyes narrowed. Her stomach growled again, and she groaned as she stared at the delicious, but scalding hot treat in front of her that she could not eat yet.
She's really that hungry? Shinjiro watched her actions with interest. He almost snorted out loud when Hamuko burnt herself, but stopped himself, remembering her deadly aim and the close proximity of the butter knife. "Just give it a minute to cool off. And to answer your question, yes, I have. I prefer peanut butter on my toast, though. Or cream cheese."
"Cream cheese?" she muttered through a mouthful of hot toast. "That's a good idea. You sound like you know what you're talking about." Hamuko smirked.
He could've gone off on a tangent. He wanted to. But nevertheless he kept mostly quiet, feeling a little weird being in the kitchen with Hamuko. If was concern for her overexerting herself that had made Shinjiro follow her, but he could feel himself becoming slowly more comfortable around her. If there was one thing he had problems with, it was loosening up, but given the right circumstances, it wasn't that difficult. "So..." Shinjiro began, fidgeting with his sleeves. "How long did the doctors say it should be before you'll be a hundred percent?"
"The doctors said to give me another week off of school. But I suppose Minato-kun and Akihiko-senpai don't think I can handle Tartarus for another few weeks, so I guess I'll just entertain myself by making every variation of toast possible for the next month," she giggled, rolling her eyes. She looked down at the other untouched piece of toast, and frowned. "Now that I think about it, I don't know if I'll be able to eat that. You want it?" she asked, even though she knew he didn't particularly like it.
He thoughtfully contemplated the piece of bread for a moment. "Why not?" he asked rhetorically and picked it up. It was a little sweet for his tastes, but overall not a bad piece of toast. "You ain't missing all that much with Tartarus, you know. You risk dying every time you go, you have to drag your teammates around if they get hurt, and you're tired as hell when you make it out. And it's huge. We're probably not even halfway up yet. If I were you, I'd enjoy the downtime while you still have it."
Hamuko chuckled, resting by leaning on the table. "I guess so.. but I feel compelled to go along with you guys. I'm, ehe, kinda stubborn, in case you couldn't pick that up already," she murmured, embarrassed. She really wondered what Tartarus was like. Hamuko had quite an intense interest in the place for some reason that she couldn't understand. She bit her fingernail, feeling slightly nervous. The young girl eyed him curiously, watching him eat. Suddenly, a smirk came over her face. "You really don't like that much, do you?" She tucked a strand of hair away from her face. "I can't imagine you trying Fuuka's food. Minato-kun told me a number of times that someone else had to fix it before her presenting it to me. And it wasn't bad, but, ah..." she trailed off, giving a puzzled look as she tried to find words that described the girl's food.
Shinjiro didn't even have the heart to tell her that he had secretly fixed part of that dish when Fuuka and Minato weren't looking. "Her food isn't as bad as everyone says. She just doesn't have a lot of confidence in herself. I've seen her cook, it's all in what she thinks of it. She'll get better, I think," he confided between bites. It had only taken him a couple of them to get from start to finish. "Not bad, not bad at all."
Hamuko went slightly red at his "compliment." She sighed, throwing up her arms. "I normally cook relatively well, but when I'm so limited like this, I really can't." A pout had creeped upon her face again. "Maybe I could help Fuuka out. I mean, she wants me to join her little cooking club thing. So..." The girl paused, thinking things over. Her eyes snapped open, though, at the realization that they both had been in the kitchen for quite a while talking. "Wonder if everyone else thinks we're dead," she joked, looking at the doorway. She glanced down for a moment. "I feel like I need to repay you all for what you've done for me. Maybe that's why I want to go Tartarus so bad."
The young girl, finished with her meal, gently walked over to the sink to wash the plate. On her way, however, she stumbled for a moment, grabbing onto Shinjiro's coat so that she wouldn't fall flat on her face. Pulling herself back up, she laughed embarrassedly, rubbing the back of her head. "S-Sorry about that. I guess I'm still a little wobbly," she blurted, letting go of him. Her stomach tightened for a moment, and she squinted one eye in discomfort. "I guess I'm just a clutz."
Shinjiro was just about to reply to her remarks about Fuuka when his back forcibly bent uncomfortably when Hamuko grabbed his coat for support. Shinjiro's immediate thought was concerned on whether she had aggravated her wound instead of the fact that his back felt like it was going to break. "Careful," he advised as she let go, looking to her shirt for any telltale signs of reopening it. To his relief, no blood was appearing there to stain the clean fabric. "I'm starting to think giving you a weapon ain't a half bad idea. You can run at the enemy and fall on them. That should take them off guard long enough for us to handle the rest."
"Excuse me?"
Angered by his statement, the girl swung at his arm, making contact with her fist. She pulled it back, her face scrunched up in annoyance. "Don't push me," she puffed, shaking her finger in front of his face. "You may think you're funny, but you're just a...pff.. punk.." The girl could hardly finish her sentence before she exploded in laughter. She looked up at him, smirking. "Okay, you're funny. I'll give you that. But that's all. Don't expect anymore compliments from me. Nooope. Not gonna happen."
"Hmph." Though he put on a small smiling facade, a nasty little voice was breathing in Shinjiro's ear. Don't get too close to anyone, especially her. You know why.
Hamuko slowly walked over to the doorway. "Juunnnpeeeiiii," she called. "Shinjiro-senpai's bullying me." Knowing that she had won the battle, she glanced at the boy triumphantly. "Checkmate," she mouthed, smiling in a sickly sweet way, before sticking her tongue out at him. She enjoyed being childish. It was one of the girl's many ways to get what she wanted. Hamuko was a playful person; she knew that they cared about her, so now she could finally open up to them. And it seemed as though that had already happened.
"Iori wouldn't fight me if his life depended on it," Shinjiro called as she left. He didn't follow Hamuko out of the kitchen. He could hear the others laughing in the lounge, yet here he stood, leaning against the counter, cut off from the rest of them. There always seemed to be a barrier separating him from the rest. But tonight, it seemed that it had weakened a little. He wanted that wall back in perfect shape, knowing that if it dissolved, it was only going to be harder when the inevitable finally came.
As Hamuko came in, the tail end of a conversation was taking place. "Look, all I'm saying is that you could have any girl in that school, senpai. So why don't you take advantage of that?" Junpei inquired of Akihiko.
Akihiko turned a shade of red and grew visibly uncomfortable. "I don't even know them, and I couldn't handle them fawning over me every second. I don't need constant gratification. Besides, a relationship is too risky with the Shadows showing themselves every night."
Frowning, Junpei shrugged. "Always worried about your training...So you wouldn't mind sending some of them my way...?"
Hamuko seemed to shuffle in on quite an awkward part of a conversation. "I'm guessing Senpai is quite popular with the girls?" she asked, smiling. She quietly stepped over and sat down with the two, nodding. "Makes sense to me. You're a nice guy, after all." Her face grew hard for a moment as she gave him a serious look.
"But if they're really bothering you, you need to tell them. If you just ignore them or brush them off, they may think you're leading them on."
The girl shrugged. "I know these things. I've seen it happen a lot before. They can really harass you if you let them. Oh, and Junpei-kun.." Hamuko trailed off for a second, rolling her eyes. "You don't need to be going after them either. If I know these girls like I think I do, they're stubborn, and can be pretty rude. You deserve much better." She almost laughed at how she was giving the two of them relationship advice. She did feel the need to help them out, though, as it was a topic that she knew much about. "Take it from a girl, you guys. You'll know when you want to be with someone. Don't just go picking out girls that you think would seem like a status boost. You'll get burned," she stated, more toward Junpei as she smirked at him.
"Maybe you should take an example from Akihiko-senpai, Junpei. Play hard to get," Minato suggested.
"That doesn't work for you either! I know for a couple of girls who would throw themselves at you if you gave them the chance!"
"Really?" Looking pleasantly surprised, Minato shot a sheepish glance at Hamuko. "Sorry."
"I'll find someone eventually, but until then, I'm playing the field, baby!" Junpei pumped his fist in the air, not paying attention to the fact that Akihiko was struggling against a moral dilemma.
"I'm not trying to lead them on at all! I'm not even interested in anyone who's that superficial." Akihiko made a mental note to set them straight at school tomorrow before boxing practice. If he could figure out exactly what to say, that is; conversing with the opposite sex often didn't go well because of his fear of sounding like an idiot. Hamuko could give all the advice she wanted, but it ultimately wouldn't matter if the one carrying them out was lousy at it, as Akihiko considered himself to be.
Hamuko frowned at them. "Are you guys even listening? Fine, don't take advice about girls from a girl, then. See if I care. You know, I could help you ALL get a girl that you wanted," she stated confidently. "But don't ask the new girl for assistance. 'She's new, she doesn't understand the girls at our school!'" she mocked in her best Junpei-voice. "'I mean really, dude, they are all so preppy!' ...Now really. Am I right in thinking that or what?" she asked him, smirking. "I know how you all tick just as well as I know how us girls tick."
The girl stood up, eying the boys with a firm stare. "I am a very good judge of character. Now unless you want me to get to the nitty-gritty on all of the things that you all should not try but have probably done before, I suggest you just be yourselves and have that be the end of it. Because if you're not... ohohoho..."
Yukari, who had just entered only moments earlier from getting something in her room, smirked as she realized she was eavesdropping. "Girls find out everything. We have eyes everywhere. So if you do something wrong and we find out, you're screwed," she laughed, glancing at Hamuko. "Right?"
"Most definitely."
"Yuka-tan has a good point. Girls are like this giant spiderweb. If they get hold of a juicy piece of info, they started spreading it through the web network until everyone knows." Junpei shivered, envisioning the enormous metaphorical web and the girls of the school as equally large spiders.
"We weren't ignoring your advice," Akihiko explained briskly, steering the conversation into more stable waters. "We just...uh..." He had nearly said that the girls at Gekkoukan were indeed different, but Hamuko and Yukari had just destroyed that opinion moments ago. He stammered, trying to find a way to recover his dignity.
"We're just guys," Minato saved him. "It's a bad excuse, I know, and you can't blame it all on the Y chromosome, but it's just how things are." Though I wouldn't really mind those names... "Besides, don't tell me that you girls don't sit around with each other and chat about guys the same way we do with girls."
"Ahem, well..." That shut the girl up quickly. Her face tinged with pink at thinking of the boys in this very room alone, Hamuko hiding her embarrassment under a curtain of bangs. "I-I shouldn't be talking, should I?" She sat down, laughing embarrassedly. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry. Boys win. This time," she joked.
Fuuka popped into the room, too, hearing them discuss the subject. "Do you like anyone, Hamuko-chan?"
Just the suggestion of liking someone made the girl's face flush scarlet. "Um...ah... I d-don't know..." She fiddled with the finished edges of her shirt, trying to focus more on the fabric than the subject at hand.
Yukari grinned. "That's incriminating evidence," she chirped.
Junpei and Minato high-fived triumphantly and Junpei whistled suggestively. "Ooh, Hamu-tan. Ve-ery suspicious. Give us the dirt, we won't tell!"
Akihiko's eyes widened a little as he quickly put two and two together. Unless she met someone at the hospital or she's talking about someone from her hometown, the only people she's come into contact with are... "Junpei, let's not push her. This isn't exactly something you talk about openly, much less with people you don't know really all that well."
Snickering as he listened to them, Minato piped up. "Listen to you guys, making such a big deal out of relationships. What ever happened to 'what will be, will be?'" It was his own personal motto, and the saying he lived by every day. "It's not like it's something you have to have. Sure, it's nice, but sometimes it makes more problems than it's worth, and I personally have enough problems already."
Hamuko's heart caught in her throat. She looked from Minato, to Junpei, to Akihiko, her face growing more and more red with each glance. Positively overwhelmed, the girl crouched, faceplanting into the cushion as she placed a pillow over her head. "Mmpff," she muttered incoherently, trying to disappear in front of both the boys and Fuuka and Yukari. Clinging to the pillow as some sort of crutch, the girl held it to her chest and quickly trotted away from the group, walking into the kitchen only to see Shinjiro still standing there, staring at her with his usual surly expression.
Was this nightmare over yet? "Ah, um, you- Well, they were just- And I- GOTTA GO!" she squeaked as she dropped the pillow, her face almost purple as she tried to spit out what had just happened and why she was so embarrassed. She nearly flew out of the kitchen at quite a speed for someone injured. Avoiding the group in the dorm again, Hamuko targeted the young boy sitting at the table far away.
"U-Um, Ken! I'll help you with that homework! I'm really good at uh..." She quickly glanced at the book his face was buried in, snatching it from right under his nose. "..Chemistry! L-Let's go!"
"Hamuko-senpai, what are you-"
Without even being able to spit out another coherent sentence, the girl grabbed the boy's arm forcefully, nearly dragging him upstairs. "See-you-guys-gonna-go-help-Ken-out-bye!" she blurted before she disappeared in a flash up the stairs.
To Be Continued...
-gigglesnort- Oh. Right. I'm supposed to be telling you stuff. xD "Affectus" means "the affection." DAWWWW... -smack- In my research I've done with these words, all synonyms appear to be related to some sort of insanity or craziness. I suppose it makes sense. Love is crazy. xDDD Especially here.