Author's Note: I have decided that while at Cross Academy Kaname will hold a small Christmas party for Nicky and Eli with Yuki and Zero also in attendance. While there Nicky is going to get caught under the Mistletoe with one of the people at the party. I just haven't decided who it's going to be! I'm leaving that up to you, my readers! Check my profile for a link to the poll. The winner will be announced on December 6th with name posted on my profile so keep an eye out for that! That is all~
Chapter 9 – Train Ride
Nicky looks up at Kaname, her heart beating a little faster, the two of them were alone and the train cabin was so small. Suddenly the cabin door flies open and Eli barges in, a wide dopey smile on her face and a uniform in her hand. Nicky jumps shooting to her feet acting almost as if Eli had caught her and Kaname doing something naughty.
"You!" Eli says, pointing at Nicky, "Put this on!" She shoves the uniform at her, pushing her towards the bathroom door. "And you," Eli looks over at Kaname, "Out!" Eli points towards the door she had come in through pausing before adding in a more subdued tone, "Please?" she gives Kaname a sheepish grin.
Nicky shakes her head, "What is this all about?" Nicky asks, looking over at Eli, who was also wearing a uniform.
"Well, since I'm wearing the boy's uniform, I wanted you to put on the girls," Eli explains, giving the shorter girl a wide eyed, puppy look. "It's the Cross Academy Day Class uniforms and I wanted a picture," Eli explains, holding up a digital camera.
Nicky glances over at Kaname who quietly stands and walks out of the room. Nicky groans, taking the uniform from her friend and walking into the bathroom. She wasn't really a fan of short skirts and didn't really want to put on the black outfit but she knew if she didn't Eli would not give her a moments peace the whole train ride. Nicky takes a deep breath and changes into the uniform. She liked the top but the hem on the skirt could use a few added inches. Well, that was her opinion at least.
"Happy?" Nicky asks as she exits the bathroom.
"Not yet," Eli says, passing her a different pair of socks and shoes, "Put these on and we can take our picture!"
Nicky stares down at the items her friend had given her before obediently sitting and putting them on. "Where did you even get these?" she asks, standing again, "And how did you know my sizes?"
"That's not really important," Eli says waving the questions away before pulling Nicky out of the small compartment. Nicky wasn't sure why, but something about the way Eli said that disturbed her a little. Though, she didn't have much time to dwell on the thought as Eli pulls Nicky to the blond boy, Aidou, and passes him the digital camera. "Here, take a picture of the two of us!" Eli says, grinning wide and pulling Nicky close. Aidou grumbles under his breath as he snaps a couple pictures of the two of them, Eli snatching the camera away a second later.
Nicky sighs, fidgeting a bit. She really didn't like how short the skirt was and wanted to change back into her own clothes but the frown on Eli's face told her she'd have to wait a bit longer. "What is this?" Eli demands, looking up from the camera screen, "You are horrible at taking pictures!"
Nicky glances at the picture before silently agreeing with Eli. It seemed the only thing Aidou got a picture of was their chests and at a weird angle too. Nicky was about to reprimand the boy but was cut off by Eli grabbing her arm and pulling her over to Ichijo. "Ichi-nii-sa~n," Eli asks, giving her puppy eyes, "Would you take a picture of us, please?"
"Why couldn't you ask me like that?" Aidou demands. Eli simply ignores him as Ichijo takes the camera and gives the girls a friendly smile.
"Of course," Ichijo says, waiting for them to get into position and snapping a picture.
"Thank you Ichi-nii!" Eli says, taking the camera and looking at the picture, satisfied.
"You're welcome," Ichijo replies before returning to the book he had been reading.
Nicky glances over and her friend shows her the picture. This one actually came out nicely. "So," Nicky says, shifting, "Can I go change back into my clothes now?"
"Huh? Why would you want to do that? You look cute!" Eli grins down at her friend.
Nicky tugs a bit on the hem of her skirt before replying, "It's just a little too short for me."
Eli pouts, "But our uniform skirts are short too and you wear those."
"Yes, but this is shorter," Nicky says, shifting again, "And I would really rather wear my own clothes. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Cross Academy student." Nicky laughs nervously but stops when she hears a scoff from Ruka. "I'm going to go change," Nicky mutters softly before hurrying back to her cabin.
Eli looks over at Ruka a little mad now. "What is your problem?" Eli asks angrily, putting her hands on her hips and glaring slightly.
Ruka looks up from her book, giving the girl a blank look. "What do you mean?" Ruka asks, innocently.
"You know what I mean! Why are you being so mean to Nicky?" Eli demands. She was beginning to lose what little patients she had with the girl. Eli has never really liked Ruka. Mainly because of her obsession with Kaname, which in Eli's opinion it was just sad and a little disturbing.
Back in her cabin Nicky looks down at herself. The uniform was cute, but Nicky really didn't want someone mistaking her for a CA student and talking to her in Japanese since she didn't speak a word of it. That and Ruka's little… non-verbal comment. Why was she being so mean? She didn't do anything to the girl and really what did she have to be insecure about? Ruka was gorgeous and Nicky knew – well thought – she couldn't compete with her. Nicky sighs heavily before moving to change out of the skirt.
As soon as the skirt hits the floor the cabin door opens up. Spinning around Nicky freezes, her face going a bright red when she spots Aidou standing in the door way with Ichijou and Kain standing behind him. Aidou's eyes automatically drop to Nicky's panties as Ichijou begins to panic, flailing his arms and grabbing Aidou by the face crying out, "Sorry, sorry! We thought you were done changing!" Kain turns his face away and quickly closes the cabin door. Nicky stands there frozen for a moment, completely humiliated as she realizes half of Kaname's friends have just seen her panties! Nicky runs into the bathroom to finish changing her clothes.
Back in the main cabin Eli walks out of the dining car to check on Nicky. She stops when she hears Aidou saying "She didn't really strike me as the kind to wear pink and frilly panties." Eli walks over to Aidou and glares up at the boy. "What the hell are you talking about?" she demands with her hands on her hips, "Did you do something to Nicky?"
"No, of course not!" Aidou says, getting defensive. "We were just going to see if Nicky wanted to join us for drinks."
Eli looks over at Kain who was looking away then over to Ichijou who had a slight blush on his face and was shifting a little uncomfortably. "What happened?" Eli crosses her arms, looking at the group.
"Um, w-well…" Ichijou scratches the back of his head, mumbling, "When we went to talk to Nicky she was still changing…"
"Okay, what happened?" Eli asks, raising an eyebrow. Surly Nicky changed in the bathroom, right?
"She was standing in the room with her skirt off," Kain explains. "It happened quickly so we didn't really see anything."
Eli's eye twitches visibly and she hits Aidou in the face before storming off to check on Nicky. "Wh-why the hell did she hit me?" Aidou demands holding his jaw.
"Probably because of what you said about Nicky's panties," Kain explains, walking away. Aidou pouts and mumbles that it wasn't his fault, following his cousin into the dinning cart again.
Instead of just walking in like the other three Eli knocks on the door before walking in. "Nicky?" Eli calls out, knocking on the closed bathroom door, "Are you okay?" She hears something but she can't quite make out the words. "I can't hear you. I'm coming in." Eli walks into the bathroom and sighs when she sees Nicky sitting on the toilet with her face buried in her hands. What little she could see of her friends face was still bright red. She kneels down next to her friend and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I talked to the guys and they said they didn't see anything."
"Yes they did," Nicky mumbles, sounding depressed, "They were standing there looking at me for a few seconds. They all saw my panties. Half of Kaname's friends have seen my panties!"
"…They what?" Both girls jump and look over towards the door where Kaname was standing with a calm expression on his face. Nicky's face goes an even darker shade of red and she ducks down behind Eli who stands up straight. "What happened and who saw?" Kaname asks in a calm voice, but there was a slight edge to it that Eli picked up on. Could he be angry? Eli wonders, glancing back at Nicky before walking out of the bathroom and closing both that door as well as the cabin door.
She sits Kaname on the small bed in the room. "Look," Eli lowers her voice so Nicky won't hear, "I talked to the guys and they said they were just coming to see if Nicky would like to have a drink with them. She was changing and they saw her…" Eli trails off, scratching the back of her head, "They didn't mean to see anything and they left quickly, but Nicky is really embarrassed. I think it would be best if everyone just tried to act like nothing happened."
"Who walked in?" Kaname asks, crossing his arms. Eli shifts, a little uncomfortable.
"Well, one of them was Aidou," she didn't really care about him so it was easy to give the annoying man up but Ichijou was so sweet and innocent, she really didn't want to get him in trouble and she didn't have anything against Kain so she didn't want Kaname mad at him either. But she knew if she didn't tell the frightening Pure Blood she would get in trouble with them. "There were two others, but please don't be mad at them. They really didn't mean it."
"Just tell me," Kaname says, getting a little annoyed, but hiding it.
"Kain and Ichijou," Eli finally gives up, lowering her head. "Like I said, they didn't mean it and Ichijou was really embarrassed! Please go easy on them." Kaname silently stands and walks out of the room, heading for the dining car. Eli pokes her head back into the bathroom where Nicky was still sitting on the toilet. "Um, I talked to Kaname and he's going to go have a talk with them guys. Everything is going to be okay." Nicky simply groans, covering her face again. Eli sighs walking in and putting her hand on Nicky's shoulder again. "Look this isn't a big deal, okay? It's not like they saw you completely naked or anything."
"My panties are see through," Nicky mumbles, "Sheer pink lace with frills along the edges."
Eli blinks, staring down at her friend, doing her best to hold back snickers. "That's bad, but still not as bad as being completely bottomless."
"Just go," Nicky mumbles. She only had one pair of panties like that, her "whore panties" as Jason had called them, but they were comfortable and Nicky liked the way the fabric felt against her skin. Still, they were… bad, and that was why she wanted to change out of the short skirt so quickly, so people wouldn't see them. But now three boys have seen them and there was no way she could face any of them. At least not anytime soon that is. Nicky sighs and walks out of her bathroom, looking out the train window. It was dark with a flash of light every so often from lamps set up in the long tunnel. She wonders how much longer the ride would be, deciding to stay in her cabin until they reached their destination.
Nicky knew Ichijou didn't mean anything from what happened and probably didn't even look below her waist since he just didn't seem like the type to do such a thing. She couldn't really tell much about Kain from their brief meeting but he seemed okay. Then there was Aidou who she knew looked. He was going to say something about her choice in underwear, she just knew it, but maybe Kaname would convince him not too. Nicky groans again, thinking to herself. Why couldn't it have been Kaname who had walked in? I actually like him!
Nicky sighs, laying on her back and thinking about Kaname. He was really sweet and though she knew it would be silly to think he was angry with the other boys, the thought of him getting jealous made her happy. Ruka wouldn't like that, but she could take her jealousy and shove it! Nicky chuckles at the thought of the girl's angry face, picturing her and Kaname arm in arm as the other girl stands in the back ground pissed off. Nicky lays there for a while until she hears someone knock on the door. She sits up and calls out for the person to come in. Nicky blushes slightly as Kaname walks in and takes a seat next to her.
"I spoke to the others," Kaname states calmly, "Aidou will be staying far away from you for the remainder of the trip and the other two are genuinely sorry for making you uncomfortable. Ichijou wanted to assure you that he didn't see anything."
"I know," Nicky says softly, "He doesn't really seem like the type." The room grows quiet for a moment. Nicky looks up at Kaname and asks, "Um, are you angry with them for seeing my…"
Kaname takes a moment before answering, "They should know better than to walk into a room before knocking. Especially if they know the person inside is changing. I'm disappointed in them." Nicky couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that he wasn't mad but it wasn't like they were dating or anything, so why would he be? Kaname stands and walks towards the cabin door. "If there is any way I can make you more comfortable, please let me know," Kaname says back before walking out and closing the door behind him. Nicky smiles to herself. It was nice to know he cared at all, even if she was a little disappointed.