Okay, so, I almost broke my neck, trying to get everything done this week. If we're going from the Sat. after the last chapter, this is what happened:

Sat. - Work all day on research for scholarships and colleges, plus little stuff (small projects that could be done in an hour, tops). Was badgered by parents about FAFSA and about my college choices. Researched almost thirty colleges and almost fifty scholarships. I went to bed and slept like a babe.

Sun. - I worked on a story I've been writing for the past two weeks until 1.30, when I cleaned up and got a call from my friend, M. He came over and we made chocolate. I put my hand on a below-freezing railing and lost a chunk of my hand. We finished making chocolate, even though I still have a pound of peanutbutter filling in my fridge. The rest of the club never showed up for the fundraiser, though K did show. We spent seven hours snuggling and cuddling and talking. We watched the Cat Returns (since K had never seen a Ghibli movie). Everyone left at ten-thirty, at which point I had to clean up. Again.

Mon. - Since my friends enjoyed my company so much, they came over again the next day. They stayed for a moderate five hours. We went for a walk. We watched a movie. I was so done with entertaining people (I tried to work on my essay for history, and my mom called me out). I finished my IA for history (late at night).

Tues. - Went on a college tour. Made lots of friends (read; entertained lots of people) and learned not a whole lot. Had three tacos from Mi Ama grocery 'cause we didn't/don't have any food. Worked on my IA. Went to bed.

Wed. - Slept awful. Had an awful day at school with new classes. I like Mr G and Mr K, but I hate Mr S. Worked on my IA until it was time to go to church. Talked about color personalities for a couple hours. Went home and worked on my IA.

Thurs. - Still crabby (no breaks!). Went to school, considered dropping Dramatic Lit (Mr S's class). Missed R. Went home. Worked on IA. Went to dance rehearsal. Didn't do anything productive.

So excuse me if I didn't find a whole lot of time to work on this chapter. *hides head in hands* *groaning* And my friends want to get together again ce soir! Mais non! Je ne peut pas aller! J'ai besoin de finir cette chapitre!

So, fluff.

O X O

Ring – Verde

To be honest, Verde was no good at spy work. Oh, sure, he could whip up a nuclear bomb or a new Flame-based weapon in no time flat, but reconnaissance work? Not his area of expertise, or enjoyment. Verde would much rather leave the nitty gritties to Mammon while he worked on his latest experiment (preferably, the difference between Flames when it comes to propelling a bullet).

Thus, the dilemma.

At first, it seemed easy; program or bug something of the target's, and then sit back and relax. Any information or movement would be instantly recorded by Verde's army of computers (absently, Verde batted away a green-capped robot trying to get his attention, as the scientist dictated his day to a convenient stack of paper). Alas, but t'was not to be.

The target did not own a single electronical object to speak of. At first, Verde had merely thought himself mistaken, and sent his scanners back to work. But the second, and third, and fourth results were all telling Verde the same thing; Sasagawa Ryohei did not own anything, from a fridge or a heater, to a phone or a computer. It stumped Verde. So he paid a little money (not to Mammon of course), found out where Sasagawa was living, and, while the man was away, paid a little visit.

It was a ghastly affair.

The ceiling was chalk-white and peeling plaster; the walls stank of mildew and reminded Verde of that one particularly nasty mission with Reborn in the jungle that he preferred not to think about; the food was cooked over a lit barrel and stored in an iced cooler; and the washing machine was nowhere to be found. It was a horrible, horrible shock, especially the last one. Naturally, being the germaphobe that he is, Verde had to find out where (and how) the target was washing his clothes.

To his horror, Verde discovered that Sasagawa-sensei went to the nearest laundromat every Thursday and washed his clothes at fifty yen a load*. After writing down the name of the place (that laundromat would burn in hell for their shampoo choices, Verde decided darkly), Verde went online to Amazon and spent a couple hours hemming and hawing enough to give his robot army migraines. Finally, one of the green-capped ones hit a button and a Verde-standard electronics kit was on its way (Verde coughed politely, and told that robot that it was excused. The robot was not impressed).

The next day, a package arrived for one Sasagawa Ryohei. He looked confused, and rightly so, Verde belatedly realized, and sent off the instructions. The next day, another package arrived. To his astonished eyes (Verde took a chance and hid behind the barrel-stove), the scientist found his subject even more confused. Infuriated by the black mold and the lack of progress, Verde attempted to drug the teacher (so he could fix everything while the man was asleep), but it was an exercise in madness. The next morning, Sasagawa-sensei popped up, right as rain and excited for the next day (Verde's cursing that morning was enough to make one red-capped robot blush). So Verde double-doused the nurse and was immensely satisfied when he could break into the man's room later that night.

Nothing happened.

Maybe it was a little superstitious or edgy, but after all the extra-ordinary things that surrounded the target, it seemed offensively benign that Sasagawa would just sleep through the night. Verde frowned down at the man sleeping below his feet (his robot army was doing all the nitty gritties), and tried to distract himself. He found himself back on Amazon, buying one more thing (this time without all the mutter and clutter), before he turned in for the night. Verde hoped the present would make things a little livelier.

Verde needn't've bothered.

When Sasagawa-sensei woke up, he was shocked to be surrounded by living, breathing, normal kitchen appliances, and promptly destroyed them all (only half of it was sleepy boxing). While he was horrified and mortified to see his plan fail so badly, Verde was also intrigued. He went online and signed Sasagawa-sensei up for boxing lessons. The man was confused when the letter came in the mail (Verde was smart enough to mark it as a random gift, no return address), but excited nonetheless, and attended the lessons with a maniac fervor that was frankly terrifying. Verde had to call the staff and let them know not to let Sasagawa-sensei practice after class for more than two hours, or he would stay all night (the staff wisely agreed and Sasagawa-sensei reappeared back at school, his previous pallor gone).

So that was pleasing, Verde admitted, but he was continuously frustrated by his attempts to bug his target. Even drugged two or three times more than healthy for his size, Sasagawa still had the ability to get up and attack dreamland creatures (half of them were metal boxes that Verde had to spend the days fixing, rather than his bullet-flame-type experiment, which made him all sorts of mad), making it impossible to physically tag the man or his clothes (which were in the same room).

Verde tried putting a GPS in Sasagawa's food so he could always find the man, but that was a game in which Verde always lost; the few times he did guess which food Sasagawa-sensei would eat, not feed to strays, Sasagawa's abnormally strong stomach digested the metal and spat it right back out. Not even a gold-plated, gum-wrapped bauble stuck, and it was driving Verde crazy, trying to keep track of his target.

It took a meet between the Acrobaleno for Verde to get his head in gear. They were all there to bitch and whine about the assignment Kawahira had given them (Mammon was surprisingly the most vocal of this), but since Verde had literally been working day and night to tag his target, he just put his head down on the desk and tried not to pull out a laser and explode the school building. The meeting passed as usual; Lal polished her sniper rifle while arguing about mushrooms with Mammon (Mammon couldn't believe they were anything other than evil while Lal was trying to explain nutrition to an otaku), Colonnello and Reborn were being assholes to each other, and poor Skull was everybody's punching bag. Verde sighed when the lad was kicked under the table and into his line of vision, too tired to kick the boy back. Skull took reassurance in this (that is to say, he took the moment to catch his breath), and while Skull was laying there, Verde noticed something.

Rings. Skull never went anywhere without his rings. So what if… ?

A few days later, Sasagawa-sensei showed up to school, grinning proudly and displaying his amber-colored, boxing-themed ring to Kyouya. Kyouya noticed and nodded that it was cool, but otherwise didn't give a damn. Far away and far below, Verde cackled. "Finally," he murmured, staring greedily at the lit screen which proudly displayed the target's location. Verde cackled a little more for effect, and then turned to one of his robots. "Wake me up if something happens," the scientist ordered, and then promptly when to sleep (the green-capped robot sighed and dutifully tucked its boss in).

Verde slept on, oblivious.

O X O

*I don't know if this is true, but that's how much it costs for me in the Mid-Midwest (fifty cents).

I was thinking that I could do a short fluff thing for each character (each importantcharacter), but then this got long. I really need to post right now, so I guess I'll just have a fluffy arc? That'd be cool, I guess…

R & R. Please and thank you.