fleets: I personally am not a big fan of this chapter, but it's necessary for the upcoming ones. Oh wellz.


Chapter 12: The Brunette

Friday recess.

"Wow, so Ezlo gave you that?" Delta asked Vaati who had showed up to school wearing a purple robe instead of the usual green poncho all the young minish wore. A gold clip held it in place around his neck, and he sported a new mauve hat that matched his lavender hair. Vaati appreciated his reflection against whatever parts of the glass window that was still yet to be frosted over with ice. He looked like a proper apprentice now.

"Yeah! Isn't it great? Master Ezlo just decided to surprise me this morning."

That morning, Vaati had opened the door to his room to discover a package with a note saying it was addressed to him. When he realized what it was, he wasted no time in changing out of his old clothes to his new ones to show it off proudly to Ezlo. It had fit him perfectly except for the sleeves that had been a little too big, and he remembered Ezlo had looked so pleased with himself. Vaati had been so overjoyed with his present that he had decided to wear it to school where he attracted the attention of many curious eyes. A few students had even come up to him wondering how his apprenticeship was going.

"You know what else? He also gave me an awesome new assignment."

Delta's mouth curved downwards into a frown. He shrugged. "…Just don't let him overwork you. We don't do anything anymore except during recess now."

"No, no, it's not like that," Vaati said, laughing. "My assignment is to have fun this weekend. Ezlo was worried I was studying too much."

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

Delta raised his hand for a high-five. "That's great! But geez, does someone really need you to assign you free time?"

"Haha apparently. Anyways, so, let's go do something this weekend. Didn't you say something about Lesta getting people together for sledding?"

"Yup. They're going to go by the big people's abandoned cabin to sled on the roofs. It sounds fu – Achoo!" Delta sneezed. Sniffling, he snapped his fingers in disappointment. "Darn it, I thought my cold was going to go away."

Vaati reached down and grabbed a clump of snow in his bare hands. The snow tingled and iced his hands until they were numb and without feeling. He began to compact it into a tiny ball. "The weekend's tomorrow," he pointed out, "so you better get well until then."

"No worries, I'll be fine. Besides, I can't miss sledding on roofs can I?" He sniffed again and then turned back to the school. "Eh, I think I should head back indoors before my cold can get any worse."

"Aw, boring." Vaati tossed his snowball up and down in his palm. Delta had his back to him and was trudging slowly back to the school with his hands in his pockets. Feh, easy target, Vaati thought with a mischievous grin. He leaned back and wound up for the throw. Then…

Huh? Why'd he stop?

Delta had frozen to a stop and appeared as though he had seen something frightening. He was looking at something that was just out of Vaati's view, but at the same time it seemed he was trying not to look at it, whatever it was. Vaati, still with his snowball in hand, ran up to Delta. "Hey you, what's up?"

Delta's head snapped around and he stammered, his cheeks a bright tomato red. "N-nothing. I was just…um…nothing."

Vaati arched his brows. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing ok? Just don't worry about it."

Vaati scratched his chin, and then peered over to where Delta had been looking earlier. All he saw were two minish girls from their class: a brunette named Kari and a redhead named Fretta. Vaati took a look at Delta's quickly retreating figure and snickered nastily, putting the pieces together. He ran up and grabbed his wrist, stopping the other boy short in his tracks. "All right, which one?" he snorted through suppressed giggles. Poor Delta was pink to the very tips of his ears.

"It's not like that!"

"Sure. And you're also going to tell me your cheeks are red from frostbite, right?"

"Vaati…"

"Is it the brunette? I personally think she's better looking."

"Vaati! Don't you dare say anything to anyone about this." Delta stopped to sneeze, and then began again. "I'll hate you forever if you do."

The apprentice sage watched the snow quickly vaporize off of Delta's red face in amusement. "So it is Kari. Cool. I approve."

"Vaati, I'm warning you."

"She's not dumb either. That's a plus."

"Vaati…" Delta was beginning to sound tired.

"I can't really say what her personality is like though."

"…"

"Have you talked yet?"

"Can we just go back inside now and forget about this?"

"No. Hmm…so you haven't talked…Hey, come back here." Vaati kept his grip on his friend's poncho. "I'll get you two talking, how's that?"

"WHAT?" Delta turned from red to white in a matter of seconds. "Um…please don't…anything but that. I don't…I mean…you know, it's just a little crush and it'll go away soon," he fumbled around for words.

"Oh come on, go talk now. It's not that hard."

"Easy for you to say…" Delta grumbled. Vaati considered the comment for a moment and then grinned. He was in a good mood today, and with his new apprentice's robe he felt unstoppable.

"If you can't go I'll show you just how easy it is. Then you have to promise you'll give it a shot too, ok?"

Delta blinked, sneezed, and then blinked again. He wondered if Vaati was being serious. Finally, he shrugged. "Sure go make a fool of yourself. And I'm not promising anything."

Vaati nodded with his little smirk still stuck on his face and then made his way over to the two girls who were in the middle of making snow angels. Delta watched skeptically as Vaati began to talk to them smoothly and with all the confidence he could muster. Delta reddened again when he noticed his friend point to him from a distance and the embarrassed boy hid his face in his hands. Oh god he's going to screw up and bring me into shame with him. Delta tried his best to ignore how Kari was also looking his way with curiosity. Unable to stand it any longer, Delta retreated indoors where they couldn't see him.

After a while, Vaati returned triumphantly and slapped him hard across his back. "Your turn red-face, she wants to talk to you." Delta's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? She wants to talk to me?"

"You're welcome for making it easier for you two to talk now."

"Oh…yeah…thanks…" Delta said, somewhat dazed. "Um…do I really have to talk to her now?" He flinched with annoyance when his friend laughed out loud in good humor.

"You'll have to eventually. I managed to convince her to come sledding with us this weekend."

"Er…" Delta hesitated. "That's…that's tomorrow."

"No duh genius."

Delta walked cautiously to the window and peeked outside. He gulped when he saw Kari and her friend looking his way and giggling conspiratorially. They waved, and he waved shyly back before he jumped away from the window glaring daggers at Vaati who was laughing hysterically. "Shut…up…"

"Hahaha tomorrow's going to be a fun day huh?" Vaati went back outside again. "Hold on, let me go get something for you." A few minutes later, Vaati came back indoors with his hands behind his back. Before Delta could do anything, his friend took him by the shoulder and planted a snowball in his face.

"!!"

Vaati snickered. "There, that should keep you cool until tomorrow."

XXXXXXXXX

Vaati and Ezlo were eating breakfast together the next morning when they heard someone knock politely on the door. At Ezlo's prodding, Vaati stood up to answer it.

"Hi Vaati!"

The apprentice cocked his head in surprise at his visitor. It was the apple cheeked girl from their class, Kari. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

The minish girl frowned a little. "Um, well, you asked me to go sledding with you and Delta but I didn't know where I was supposed to go so I decided to come here."

Vaati checked the time. "But it's at least fifteen minutes earlier than the meeting time."

"I know, but I thought it would be better to get there early and hang out before all the fresh snow gets stepped on. You don't mind, do you?" As she spoke, Kari blew into her hands to keep away the cold. Vaati looked at her snow frosted hair, and then back to the dining table where his master was watching with interest.

"No, I don't mind. Let me get a jacket then." He shook his head. "Why aren't you wearing gloves or a hat? It's cold out – did you want to catch something?"

Blushing, Kari played with her hands and followed Vaati indoors. Vaati didn't notice, as he was too busy scowling at Ezlo who was annoying him by winking. "Well…I think I was so eager to go sledding with you and Delta that I jumped out of the house without thinking…"

Gosh, what a dumb girl, Vaati thought, but refrained from making any comment. He wasn't the one who liked her after all. He quickly introduced her to Ezlo who seemed more cheerful than usual, and left them talking to each other while he went upstairs to fetch his jacket and extra gloves and a hat for the forgetful Kari. When he returned, he found Ezlo gloating to a somewhat intimidated Kari about Vaati's achievements. Vaati quickly pushed Kari out the door, and they could hear Ezlo's bright voice following them outside.

"Have fun you two!"

Ezlo, we're going to talk when I get back. The cold wind hit the sides of his face that were exposed to the winter air and he turned back to the brunette who was in the process of pulling down the hat she had borrowed over her ears. "You all right?"

She giggled. "Yeah! Heehee, this hat is so fuzzy."

Why are girls so giggly? "Great. All right, we're going to stop by Delta's house. I hope he's up by now."

"Delta's a little strange," the girl mused with a sly smile on her face. "He always looks at me and then runs away before I get to say anything."

"Yeah, well, he's a little shy," Vaati tried not to snap.

"Oh, it's all right. I like strange."

"…girls are so weird."

Kari giggled again, and Vaati tried his best not to roll his eyes. Kari was usually one of the sharper and more serious girls in the class and he didn't understand why she was so bubbly and kind of annoying all of a sudden. Still, for the sake of his friend, Vaati made no acid comments until they reached Delta's house. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

A fidgety young minish woman answered the door. The corners of her mouth had lines of tiredness at first, but they disappeared when she noticed her son's best friend in front of her. "Why, hello Vaati. It's nice to see you here."

"Hi," he replied. Mrs. Esen always seemed so nice – he wondered why Delta hated her so much. "Is Delta awake? We were planning to go sledding today."

The tiredness returned on 's face. "I'm afraid Delta won't be able to leave the house this weekend. He came down with a bad cold and he'll be stuck in bed for a couple of days."

"Oh…" Vaati became overcome with disappointment. This was his first weekend in a while that he was going to be able to spend with his best friend again, but it was ruined by a cold.

"I'm sorry Vaati. It was nice of you to visit though. I'll tell Delta you stopped by."

"Thank you Mrs. Esen," Vaati mumbled. When the door shut, Vaati sighed and crossed his arms. His eyes widened when blue mittens took his elbows and nudged him away towards the woods. It was Kari. Oh, yeah, I have to do something about her now that Delta's not going to be with us today…

"Hey, don't look so upset," Kari said. Her voice was a little hesitant as though she were shy. She smiled, and her big doll's eyes looked at him imploringly. "We can still have fun."

Mmmm why not, it's not like I have anything better to do. He wrenched his elbow free of the girl's grip. "All right, let's go sledding then. You ready?"

"Yeah!"

The two made their way through the fresh snow towards the place where they were going to go sledding.

XXXXXXX

They were the first ones to arrive at the big people's abandoned cottage, and it took them a while to make it to the roof. After half an hour of running through the house to make it onto the roof, they were finally ready to sled down the slanted shingles. Vaati and Kari each found a leaf to sit on and they raced sleds for an hour until they were too exhausted to climb back up the roof for another run. It had been a while since Vaati had so much fun, but even so, he felt increasingly agitated the more the girl warmed up to him. Something in his gut told him that as Delta's friend, this was wrong…

"Hey Vaati, do you want to go back down now?" Kari asked as she watched an increasing number of kids climb onto the roofs to sled.

"Hm? Oh, go down? Why?" The purple robed boy sounded distracted.

"It's getting a little crowded."

"So?"

"I'm afraid of being pushed off the roof."

"Tch, we'll be fine," Vaati said, but he reconsidered when he felt Kari take his arm and hold on tightly. "All right, we can go back down."

They found a comfortable spot by the frosted windows and dangled their legs over the edge. Vaati marveled at the size of the big people's home and watched his breath fog the glass as he talked. "You know, I wish Delta could have been here today."

"Why, wasn't it not fun enough with only me?"

Vaati started when he noticed her looking his way sadly. In his hurry, he blurted out incoherent babble. Kari giggled softly and shushed him.

"It's all right. No, I wish Delta could have had fun with us too." She began to trace her finger along the window to draw pictures on the glass. "I wish you came to talk to me sooner. Did you know a lot of people in our class are scared to talk to you and Delta? You guys are so talented and confident – would you even notice someone like me?"

"What? Of course! It's not like we think we're too good for anybody!" He was beginning to panic by the fact that Kari had scooted closer within the last ten seconds.

"Well I'm glad!" She smiled, and her gaze pinned him to the spot. Her slightly cool hands touched his and he would have jumped away if he didn't think it would have been rude. "You know, I'm really happy you invited me to go sledding."

Vaati coughed, his mind screaming at him to break the gaze but being unable to find the means to do so. "Um…Delta was the one who wanted you to come," he lied.

"But you were the one who asked, and you were the one who came." She was leaning in slightly now. "And I'm sort of happy it was just the two of us today."

Oh no. Ohhhh no.

Laughing lightly, she stood up and skipped down to a crack in the wall that led outside. She twirled and waved goodbye to the boy who was still in shell shock of what had happened. "Bye Vaati! Thank you for today, and see you in school!"

Vaati blinked, registering what had happened. It was so obvious even the most oblivious person in the entire world would get it. Kari liked him. Of course he was flattered but his initial plan had been to get Kari to talk to Delta who had been too shy to make a move. He didn't mean any offense, but Vaati didn't even like Kari that way – he wasn't really interested in that sort of thing. In Vaati's opinion, actually liking a girl was too tedious.

He needed to figure out a way to get Kari to lose interest in him quickly before things got messy with Delta. He wondered if he'd be able to make his friend understand the honest mistake in spending the weekend with his little crush. Well, I can always be a total jerk to her. He shook his head. No, he'd rather avoid that if he could. Maybe I can persuade her that Delta's better because he actually likes her back. Yeah, that's it. He'll try with that first.

Vaati sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. And if that doesn't work, Kari is going to have to see just what kind of a jerk I can be.


fleets: Mix girls and boys together and you get a big fat mess. You might wonder why Kari seems interested in Delta first and then suddenly switches to Vaati - well, here's a question. Have you ever met someone who is simply curious about someone else of the opposite sex only because they found out they liked them? Yeah, well, Kari's one of those people and she decided she liked Vaati more (who wouldn't? XP)
Which, incidentally, isn't very good for Vaati.
Again, I'm not a big fan of this chapter but the next one....XD
Ever wonder why the older Vaati that I write about in my other stories is kinda a womanizer? The coming chapters will hold answers XD

Shadow Blues: Downfall indeed - and mostly due to circumstances and just pure bad luck :(. Ezlo's keeping him busy for sure!

Reily96: Vaati's too cocky to listen to anyone XD Yesss, he's not only already ambitious, but already popular with the girls~

H-bomber: I liked Ezlo when he was a hat better.

marium: Ezlo can be strict, but he can be understanding if he wants to

Victoria-BlackHeart: Definitely darker. I might be able to safely say that things will start going downhill from now.

Peka The Corsair: Oh, wow, I didn't realize I put in the 'good guys never lose' idea into this story too. Interesting...

LinkvsRaineSagefan101: Actually yeah, school stuff's done but now I have summer work D: Nice catch! Yeah, I used the same exact quotes in the last chapter as in one of the flashbacks that appeared in BC. There will be a few more from BC appearing and some references that were alluded to in TU will be making an appearance as well.

Bishieluver01: Congratulations on finishing school! I bet it feels great (but sad maybe?). Vaati has the base personality to underestimate people, but it was probably magnified after he got the Wishing Cap. He was a nice kid...but a slightly arrogant nice kid (remember when he thought talking to kids his age was boring? He's...arrogant).