AN: No reviews this week… What did I do wrong?

Yui's POV

Spirit

Yui was a quiet, easy-going fellow. Gentle-spirited, often called the nice brother out of their group of mongrels. He was also a bit shy, especially when it came to romantic endeavors. He has been proposed to more than most people, and tried his best to let the other off easy when he wasn't sincere, which was most of the time, and other times he knew that the person wasn't exactly boyfriend- or sometimes, rarely, girlfriend- material. But he has never come across someone like Raoul.

Raoul was pushy, but not against him. It seemed that he didn't even realize his actions; it just came to him as natural as anything, which put Yui at ease. But something was working inside Yui that was surprising. He was beginning to fall quickly for the Blondie. At first he was simply shocked at the attention he received, but at the cafeteria, he knew for sure that Raoul was simply the kind of guy he was interested in. The Talk Trio- Sarius, Toma, and Ru- caught on as fast as ever. They knew when Raoul had helped him when he was trapped between the three Elites and the Blondie's subsequent refusal for payback. It wasn't as if any Blondie would try to help him like that.

Or offer him a seat at the end-of-the-day pep rally.

The pep rally was like a pop quiz, no one knew it was going to happen, but some had noticed that the classes were ending shorter than usual, Yui included, and he thought the day was just shortened because it was the beginning of school, but, no, that wasn't the case. They had another rally, and there were many more to come, as the faculty and administrators were trying to foster hope and enthusiasm for the new way of things. At least, that was what Yui thought.

"Sit next to me, Yui," Raoul offered gruffly. Next to him was Iason, and in front of them on the lower bleachers sat Riki and Guy.

Poor Guy, Yui thought. It was also obvious to Yui that Iason was attracted to Riki, and, truly, when a person first meets Riki, he became something of an intrigue. Yui crushed on him for awhile. Now, Yui and the mongrels were fascinated with Iason, who seemed calm and wholly interested in their culture, while the others floundered awkwardly before them. Except for Raoul, especially for Yui.

"What are you waiting for? Sit next to me." Raoul patted the empty space next to him nice and hard, and Yui obeyed him.

The others sat around them, the Talk Trio smiling at him.

Raoul took his hand, frowning. "They're so small!" He placed it back down. "Why are you so small? That boy, too." He jabbed a finger at Riki.

"That's Riki."

"Whatever. What do you like to do, Yui?"

"What… What do I like to do?" Yui stuttered, unprepared for the question. "Well, I, uhm, I like to take pictures."

Raoul's face brightened with the relaxation of his face. "Interesting. What do you take pictures of?"

"People… And animals. I really like animals."

"What's your favorite animal?"

"Squirrels… and kittens… It's a tie."

"I don't like animals very much. But I think painting them would be a challenge. Their fur is much more complicated than what one sees at first glance."

Yui felt that he was being boring, as Raoul didn't like animals, so he kept quiet, but Raoul went on.

"Perhaps I could see your pictures some day." In the next second, he added, "Come to my house today."

Quickly, Yui answered, "Oh, no, I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Be-Because I'll be busy with… with work. I have work to do today…"

"Where do you work?"

"No, I mean schoolwork. Bachovsky gave a load of work for today." Yui didn't add that the Elites in the class blamed him, as Bachovsky had looked directly at him and announced that this year he started the regime of giving homework every day, including weekends. He had twenty problems in biochemistry just for today. Due tomorrow.

Raoul rested his chin in his hand, staring hard. "I'm good at the sciences. I'll help you with your work and then you will show me your pictures."

"I don't really like showing off my pictures…" Yui tried, feeling a bit shyer than usual.

"You'll just be showing me. I will not badmouth them. I'm sure they are fantastic. What sort of camera do you use?"

"A Cornia."

"Aren't those extremely expensive?"

Riki and Guy snorted, then started laughing a little.

"I saved up."

They started laughing a lot.

"I see."

If Raoul knew that he actually stole the camera (much more difficult than it sounds), he didn't let on, but Yui was sure that he didn't know. Raoul was what the mongrels called slow.

Raoul cocked his head to the side. "Why don't you want to come to my house?"

Not that slow, it seems.

"I just feel uncomfortable."

"You shouldn't. Are you scared of me?"

"I… I don't really trust you."

Raoul made a sound of irritation. "What do you think I would do? Rape you like those men did?"

Yui's mouth dropped like a weight. He straightened his face fairly quickly, and looked away.

"You idiot!" Yui heard Riki yell. "You just don't say that shit out loud. That sort of stuff is… is…"

"Traumatizing," Guy helped.

No common sense at all.

"Yea! Now, say you're sorry."

"I was just asking a question."

"But you asked it in a bad way."

"I didn't mean to."

"That doesn't matter. It's like stepping on someone's foot. You don't mean to, but you still say sorry if you do it."

"I don't."

Yui was beginning to rethink his attraction to Raoul.

"You should," Riki said vehemently.

"It's alright, Riki," Yui spoke softly, raising his hands between him, who was standing, and Raoul, who had straightened in his spot. The space around them, the people sitting nearby, were all quiet, watching the exchange (and hoping the fight will go beyond verbal).

"Do you think I should say sorry?" Raoul demanded, pulling on Yui's wrist.

"It doesn't matter if you don't feel sorry."

"Do you think I should feel sorry?"

Yui just couldn't look him in the eye. "Just… Just a bit… Yes…"

"Then that means that I have said something hurtful. For that, I am sorry."

"Do you mean it?"

"I don't know."

Yui blushed at his honesty, but it was good enough.

Raoul looked at his hand. "So small," he said again. "Now, would you answer my question?"

"What question?"

"What do you think I would do if you came over to my house?" Raoul repeated.

"Oh! Headmaster's up!"

Saved by Sarius.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I hope all of you have had a wonderful first day of school."

"He doesn't sound sincere."

"I have heard of a petition going around, which has already endured a surprising number of signatures. But I will tell you now that it is a waste of time. Even if every single person in this gym, including the teachers, signed that petition, this integration has come from the Head of the Syndicate himself!"

There were excited murmurs throughout the crowd.

"The Head of the Syndicate!"

"Lord Ishnu!"

"I can't believe it!"

"Jupiter must have told him to do it!"

"That's insane!"

And so on.

"Since this mandate has come from so far above, we cannot rescind these implementations. It has become a measure of security to all citizens. To be true, and it is a sad truth, that when these threats were confined to the space of Ceres, there was little heeding the problem. And it is, selfishly, now that we join forces to help our own cause. Hopefully we can let bygones be bygones in this regard.

"And here I will pass the microphone to our cheerleaders- currently only the members of North Midas's pep squad, but the group is definitely open to the rest of the student body."

An orange-headed girl with pigtails took the mike from Headmaster Sung, smiling big with white, perfectly straight teeth.

"Hello, you all!" she nearly screamed. "I'm happy to see you all like this, together! Ok, we're going to start all this with a cheer! Yay! Come on guys and girls! Stand up!"

"She's horribly enthusiastic," Raoul muttered, but stood up nonetheless, like the hundreds of other Blondies and other various students were doing. Yui stood, his shoulder reaching Raoul's elbow.

"Ok, we'll go with a cheer most of ya'll know, but you Blondies can learn fast! Alright? Here we go!"

And the entire pep squad joined her in calling, "We got spirit, yes, we do! We got spirit, how 'bout you?"

The gym replied with little spirit, "We got spirit, yes…" and the words trailed off into nothingness.

The pigtailed girl didn't stop smiling, but she cocked her head to the side, yelling once more the chant, again with the same dull response. She tried once more- same thing, and this is where she yelled, "You guys suck! Midas kids! You first! We got spirit, yes, we do! We got spirit, how 'bout you?"

With more oomph, not hampered by the Blondies' apathy, the Midas children yelled the chant, whistling and stomping their feet.

"Ceres!"

Even though they made up the smallest portion of the student body, the Ceres teenagers were louder. Riki, Guy, Yui and the rest of the mongrels, screamed their lungs out even after the chant was over.

"I'm not even going to try the Elites," the pep leader said. "They don't stand a chance. Should I guys?"

There were cheers to do so.

"Alright, Amoi Academy, you're up!"

With much less enthusiasm, the Elites and Blondies murmured. The only reason that their voices could even be heard at all was because of the fact that they were all saying it together.

And so the cheerleaders ignored them, going back and forth between Midas and Ceres until voices were hoarse and people were sitting down from tiredness.

"Okay! I think it was a tie between Midas and Ceres kids- though I really hate to make this distinction. We're all supposed to be one school with lots of school spirit!" She didn't get any yells for this, and she shrugged. "Oh, well, maybe some day, guys, maybe some day.

"This concludes the start-of-the-year pep rallies! I know these rallies are pretty knew to you Blondies, but there will be one every week, same day, but only in the mornings. It's for all of you who don't look forward to school after the weekends, alright? Alright! Buses will take you back to your homes, and, remember, only Seniors are allowed to bring their cars to campus! And tomorrow, you can start changing your schedules; there are many new classes so I suggest you take advantage of them! Bye-bye!"

"What an annoying girl," was Raoul's first comment when he walked with Yui out to the bus. "That rally was a complete waste of time."

"I thought it was fun," Yui said then added, "I like school spirit."

"What's the use of it? School will go on whether or not we have the spirit for it."

"That's not the main thing, though. It's while we're here we should have the spirit for it."

"Why?"

"Or else school would be boring, don't you think? What if everyone just hated being here? You see what I mean?"

Raoul frowned. "No."

Yui simply sighed, following after Riki and his other friends towards their bus. He was walking pretty steadily before Raoul grabbed him by the elbow. Yui turned around nervously, hoping…but Raoul said, "Why won't you come to my house? There is plenty of room on the bus."

"I…I just don't want to."

"Why not?" was the persistent request. "What do you think would happen when you come to my house?"

"Maybe some other time? When we know each other better?"

"I know who I like and who I don't like."

Toma, ever the instigator, asked, "And you like Yui, right?"

"Of course," Raoul said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He just did his usual glare at Yui.

The Talk Trio giggled incessantly, the other Ceres kids rolled their eyes to the heavens, and the Blondies shook their heads.

Yui was blushing, a trait he was to share often when Raoul was around, and he told Raoul, "Maybe some other time?"

Raoul, still frowning, shrugged angrily.

"Fine."

He walked off to his bus.

"Oh, I think I hurt his feelings," Yui said worriedly, and Ru slapped him on the back.

"He'll be back to ya' sooner or later."

"And don't worry about his damn feelings." Guy spoke vehemently, and Yui was sure that he wasn't just talking about Raoul.

Yui looked at Raoul's retreating back, which was soon blocked by other Blondie bodies going the same way. He decided to give the brooding Elite a chance.

He finally got on the bus with his friends, and they turned around and laughed and joked until the conversation got serious.

"You up for work today, Yui?" Riki asked him.

"Of course."

"You might get… you know… Again."

"It'll be fine."

"Alright, you got Might Street."

"That's fine."