Here we are at Chapter 10; we're in the double digits now! I just wish I was feeling better. Ow... So much pain... Yeah, I'm sick. I'm trying to get over it, but it hurts; I can't help it. That's part of why this chapter wasn't up sooner, although a lot of that is contributed to a little fear that whatever I write will further ruin whatever image this story has. Whatever it was in the first place. Let's just cut to the review replies.
The Flying Frog: *sigh*... I thought I explained this. Short and simple, Shu's SCI is messing with him. I must be very unclear or something... Sorry if that's what it is. Still, I'm happy that you think it's at least good; better than it being horrible. :) Yeah, she is, but I have a feeling she's going to get a little in over her head. ;) Yeah, Shu's definitely jealous (which is another reason he's been angry like this; he's in a bad mood because of it), but not about Bouquet - her behavior is mostly shocking and hurting him. But he has no clue about what's going on between Bouquet and Jiro. ;) Well... Keep reading and you'll see; please don't give up on my story yet! Besides, your reviews are always so helpful; they let me know what I'm doing wrong. :)
WindGoddess Rune: Thank God someone understands the SCI! *cries* Sorry about that. But, yeah, it's affecting him bad. Don't worry about Grand Kingdom; they won't be causing any trouble in this fic. ;) Jiro didn't know what the explosion was, so he speculated it could be them. On a side note, I'm not entirely sure whether I'll do this, but I'm thinking of having a Rogi x Delphinium omake of sorts. Don't worry, no one's going to be turned chibi. ;) But, I'm just thinking of having it as a little extra scene at the end (in a seperate chapter, in case people don't want to read it). Let me know if you want it in or not.
ultimashadow: Thanks; I was still worried that no one liked this anymore, so it really cheered me up to read that. And yeah; I read and reviewed both of your oneshots. :)
WindGoddess Rune: I'm sorry for the wait. Like I said before, I'm hurting really bad, so it was hard to get it up. I did it, though! :D
Edward-Elric-in-red: I'm sorry, it would've made more sense before I edited chapter seven. Bouquet's fickle anyway, so try to pretend a little. I'm really sorry. :( Yes, Kluke's a walking hazard when it comes to food. But she's got a mean swing with that frying pan of hers. ;)
Prince of Tennis' Shaman: Thank you; I have a feeling that Chapter 11 is going to be much better now that I've read your reviews. ;) Yeah, I guess I am; I keep forgetting that Troubles on White Day was a test run anyway. *sigh* ... If I could seriously draw, I probably would be, too. Most of my stuff is just scribbles. :P So embarrassing. Though I have three watercolors that I can look at proudly. :) Alright; I'll try not to. It's a little hard, since it seems that several people in my family (very much including me) are chronic worriers. I'll try to do my best. Yeah; like I mentioned before, Troubles on White Day is just practice. Blue Dragon Beyond, however, is my pride and joy of the Blue Dragon Game fandom. I haven't even gotten out my main series for the anime yet, though I want to finish Troubles on White Day before I upload it. Thanks; I'm actually just going with what I feel. It seems to work out (half the time), so I just keep doing that; most of the chapters have hardly any editing at all, save for the famously doomed paragraph of Chapter 7. But you said not to worry about that, so I'm going to try not to. :) Hope you like Chapter 10!
Okay - ow - review replies are done. I hope that this chapter turns out well. I know that the quality of the chapters has been going down, but I'm feeling really bad, so this one might even be worse. But I'll let you be the judge; you guys seem to know what I'm doing more than I do. ;) So, after the disclaimer, on with the - ow - story.
Disclaimer: I don't own - ow - Blue Dragon. I'm too sick to think of anything else.
When Kluke came to, her head felt like it'd been hit with a hammer. Opening her eyes, she could see that her clothes and skin were covered in chocolate. She promptly shrieked.
The scream was enough to wake Helen, who shook her head as she sat up. "Kluke, is that you? Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah," she replied shakily, pulling at her skirt. "I'm just going to need a really long bath."
"Me, too. I've got some nice soap I could lend you." she winked.
That made Kluke laugh. "I guess that means you're not angry at me."
"I already told you I wasn't," Helen stood, offering her hand, which Kluke took. "We should probably try to clean this up. Wait here for a minute and I'll get some help."
It was late when they'd finished; Helen had said to leave the book and she'd read it to Kluke when she came in for work tomorrow. Kluke wasn't that thrilled about it, but after what had happened today, it had to be better than working the conveyor belt.
She still felt like she'd been run over by a cockatrice flock, albeit one that had dumped buckets of chocolate on her, but she was more used to it now than yesterday; at least she probably wouldn't pass out when she got back.
When she made it there, she could feel the tension in the room as soon as she'd stepped inside. It wasn't that obvious by looking, but she was able to detect it.
Jiro talked to her first. "Where have you been?" He raised an eyebrow as he took in her appearance. "And why are you all dirty like that?"
Kluke blushed. "I had a little accident. That's why I'm late, too."
"You're not going to faint this time, are you, maro?" Marumaro looked at her a little warily.
"I already told you, she was faking!" Bouquet yelled, shaking her fist.
"No, I'm fine," Kluke glared at Bouquet sideways, then turned her attention back to Jiro. "Where's Shu and Zola?"
Jiro sighed, already annoyed just thinking about it. "Shu's been going crazy, so Zola took him into another room to talk. Maybe she'll force some sense into him. By the way, she solved the problem with the medicine; you and Shu will just have to take pills."
"The SCI is probably what it is." Kluke frowned, though; the illness affected hormones, but Shu had been taking the medicine. So what was wrong with him?
Everyone looked over when Marumaro held in a laugh.
"You're not going crazy, too, are you? Well, crazier." Jiro added the last part under his breath, but loud enough to hear.
Chortling, Marumaro replied, "Shu's jealous of Jiro, maro."
"We all knew that already." Jiro shrugged. "I'm smarter than him; he has every right to be jealous."
"Any modesty left in there?" Bouquet looked at him through lidded eyes.
He smirked. "I'm only stating a fact."
"What do you mean he's jealous?" Kluke asked, ignoring the exchange.
Marumaro was still snickering, biting his lip and holding his stomach. "Shu's jealous of Jiro and you, maro."
"What?" Kluke took a step back.
Jiro looked away from her. "If that's true, then Shu's just acting like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum. What was I supposed to do, let her fall to the floor? And the times we talked... It's my business who I spend time with."
Kluke glanced at Jiro from the corner of her eye. She'd liked Jiro since they'd first met, even if he wasn't always the nicest of people; there had just been something about him that called to her, possibly his troubled past (though she hadn't found out about that until they arrived in Grand Kingdom). But she'd never actually thought about how much she liked him... And she wasn't sure if she wanted to delve into that too much... Agh! She'd never been thinking things like this before this stupid holiday!
Back outside of Kluke's thoughts, Bouquet was yelling at Jiro. "Don't talk about my Darling like that!"
"I thought you were angry at him." Jiro looked at her with one eye closed and the other open.
"I-I am! But that doesn't mean he isn't my fiancé anymore!" She argued back.
Kluke sighed. Why, oh why, was she surrounded by these crazy people?
It was at that moment that Zola came in with Shu. "What did I miss this time?"
Shu made no move to greet them; he just looked at his feet, very quiet.
Her response was in the form of Marumaro falling to the floor, laughing his head off.
"For the love of... Shu, if you don't get out of there right now, I will break this door down!" Jiro pounded on the door with his fist.
"I'm not done yet!"
"What are you doing? You've been running water for half an hour straight, and that's not even counting the time before you started this time!"
"I told you, I'm not done yet! Leave me alone!"
With a scream of frustration, Jiro threw himself against the door with his back.
"Knock it off, Jiro!"
Kluke sighed from where she was practicing boiling water in the kitchen (which was one of her "practice exercises" from Helen), able to hear the two boy's shouts from two rooms away. This exact episode had happened every morning for several days; by now, she could almost rehearse it.
It had been four days since the explosion at the sweets shop, and she'd actually been doing quite well; she'd achieved a regular boil, and was now just aiming for a rolling boil. The only difficult things in her life right now were Shu and Jiro.
With Jiro, after that little thought had invaded her mind the night of the chocolate explosion, she was starting to think she was getting a crush on him. And she was afraid that several choice incidents since then confirmed it.
With Shu, he had been acting very erratic - he had been quiet ever since Zola's talk with him, but then he would suddenly explode for no reason at all. She just didn't understand it; treated SCI didn't behave like this. She'd thought that it could be his other condition, but... No. No, she wouldn't talk about that, not even in her thoughts. Besides, there probably wasn't much connection to that and what was happening to Shu now.
"What are you doing?" Bouquet yawned, startling Kluke.
"N-nothing." She kept her eyes trained on the pot of water.
"It doesn't look like nothing." She leaned over Kluke's shoulder, then furrowed her brows in confusion. "Are you boiling water?"
"You must be a genius if you figured that one out." Kluke said sarcastically.
Bouquet glared at her. "I was just asking. You don't have to get snippy." She pushed herself up onto the counter, sitting down and straightening out her skirt. "Anyway, what are you boiling it for?"
"Nothing." Kluke's voice told her to leave it alone.
Of course, Bouquet didn't. "Nothing? What a waste of water." Then a thought struck her, as she realized what Kluke was doing. She put her hand over her mouth, eyes mocking. "You wouldn't be trying to make chocolate, would you?"
"I told you, I'm not making anything," Kluke said tightly. "I'm just boiling water."
"Finally!" Jiro yelled suddenly. "Are you checking the bathroom out for renting or what?"
"Stuff it." Shu bumped shoulders with him as he brushed by.
"Yeah, I accept your apology." Jiro said as he slammed the door behind him.
When Shu got near the kitchen, he hid behind the doorway after he heard Bouquet's voice.
"... not going to win, you know."
"Get lost. You're bothering me." Kluke; Shu realized they must be having another argument.
"You thought that little fainting act with Jiro was funny? Well, I've got news for you; I have more tricks up my sleeves than you'd ever imagine."
"Considering how long they are, I wouldn't be surprised."
A short pause. "I'll pretend you didn't say that. But, I thought I should let you know that you aren't playing your game the right way."
"And how am I supposed to play it?" At this point, Kluke sounded like she was answering just on the chance that it would end the talk sooner.
"Obviously not the way you are," Bouquet snorted. "It's fine if you want to seduce a boy, but you don't drive away one of the others in the process."
"What do you mean?" Kluke was half curious, half worried. Of course, she'd never admit either to Bouquet.
"Shu, of course. He's been acting weird, but part of that is because of what's going on between you and Jiro. Even he isn't that dense, especially when it comes to you."
"Th-there's nothing going on between me and Jiro."
"Need I bring up the snow-watching incident yesterday morning?"
"... Okay, we're becoming better friends. But that's all."
Bouquet snickered. "Of course. Friends."
"Friends." Kluke repeated.
"People are usually friends before they're lovers." Bouquet hopped off the counter, her shoes making enough noise to echo.
"Get lost!" Kluke threw something at her, which Bouquet narrowly dodged with a yell. It clattered on the ground.
"It's better than sticking around with you!" She yelled as she ran out of the kitchen, fortunately for Shu in the opposite direction of him.
Shu let himself lean against the wall as he heard Kluke grumble as she went back to her pot.
People are usually friends before they're lovers. Bouquet's words kept echoing in his head over and over. If that was true, and not something Bouquet had said just to annoy Kluke, than what did that mean for Kluke and Shu? Never mind that; what did it mean for Kluke and Jiro?
Shu sighed, closing his eyes; his head felt like it was splitting open, and had felt like this for the past several days. That was probably why he'd been snapping at everyone, too. He knew it was his fault. If he wasn't-
"Shu, what are you doing over here, maro?"
He held back a scream with his hand; how did Marumaro get around so fast? He breathed out, removing it. "I should ask you the same thing."
"I have my ways, maro," Marumaro leaned against the wall next to Shu. "Oh, and don't look now, but your fiancée is coming this way, maro."
Shu was about to tell him off about how Bouquet wasn't his fiancée when what he'd said sunk in. He turned, and there she was, heading down the hallway towards him.
As she went by, she didn't give Shu so much as a passing glance. "Good morning, Marumaro." And just like that, she was disappearing into another room.
Shu let out an agonized sigh, sliding down the wall a little. "We can't keep doing this."
"You should just apologize, maro. And get her a nice gift while you're at it, maro."
"A gift?" Shu turned his head at this. "Why can't I just apologize?"
Marumaro folded his arms. "Don't be an idiot, maro. Bouquet thinks you don't love her anymore-"
"Because I never did!"
"-so you have to do something to make up for it, maro. If you just apologize, it would be worse than doing nothing, maro."
"And you know all this how?"
"Because I am in expert in love, maro," his closed eyes twinkled mischievously. "I've observed females of all species for many years, and, with myself and others, have always found this to be the most effective method, maro."
"... You're sick, Marumaro." Shu said when he found his voice again.
"That's what people keep telling me, maro."
Shu opened his mouth to counter, then, thinking about the consequences, promptly closed it again.
"Are you going to stand there and imitate a fish all day, or are we going to go gift hunting, maro?"
"I don't need any dumb gift!" Shu stomped past him, toward the room Bouquet had gone into. "I'm going to apologize, and that'll be good enough because I'm not in love with her anyway!"
You could never really tell if Marumaro was rolling his eyes or not, but right after what Shu had said, it certainly looked like it. "Shu's so stubborn, maro..."
Shu was surprised when he got there, though. "I thought Bouquet just came in here." But there was no trace of her.
"She did. But she left - she said she had to go and get a 'special gift' or something like that." Jiro said without looking up from his book.
Shu groaned. Nothing seemed to be going his way today at all. And this accursed headache...
"So, are you going to go shopping for a gift or what, maro?" Marumaro asked, suddenly at Shu's side.
After Shu had subsided from the shock of it, he said, "One of these days you'll have to tell me how you do that."
"Devee magic, maro." He replied without missing a beat.
Shu couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but decided not to question it. "I guess we could go."
"Great, maro! Jiro, you coming, maro?"
"Why are you asking him?" Shu whispered harshly.
"Not a chance," Jiro turned the page of his book. "Believe it or not, but this thing's actually starting to get good."
Marumaro shrugged. "Suit yourself, maro. Come on, Shu, maro," Marumaro started pulling him outside. "We're going to find the perfect gift, maro!"
There's chapter ten, in all of its glory/shame. Next chapter, we'll find out what Bouquet went looking for, and the possible disaster of Shu and Marumaro's quest for a gift. Speaking of which, I haven't really decided what the gift will be, so if you could, give me some ideas in a review. Like I keep repeating, I'm not feeling well, so the next chapter may take a while, though I'm still aiming for the 10 hit mark. Also, this story is nearing its end; I don't know how many more chapters it will be, but probably not too many more. When you review, please, please tell me who you think Bouquet and Kluke should end up with (Shu, Jiro or Marumaro). That's all I can think of, so I'll see you later.