A/N: Finally, here's the next part. Hooray for Kutau! There's not really much romance in this, just the hints of it. Kinda. Maybe... Lastly, thank you all for the amount of reviews (that I rather doubt I deserve) and for the patience required in dealing with me and this story. I hope you can keep it up!
~*~
Cleaning Up
Sanjou groaned as she sank gratefully down into her chair, peeling a banana and biting into it. After they had resumed the hockey game the Powers had done everything that they could to hinder the others: including the people on their own team. They had openly hit their teammates, hit the opposition while the teachers weren't looking, harassed each other, falsely claimed that the other Powers had broken one of the rules or 'accidentally' hit somebody else instead of the ball as they swung. Finally, she and Nikaido had decided to call it a day.
The Powers had dispersed, making their way back home or wherever else they went to terrorise the citizens of the city. That is, the Powers minus Utau and Kukai who were standing in front of her, looking impatient and tired.
Sanjou yawned and said, "Once the janitors arrive, you're in their care. Nikaido-sensei and I will head out, but this does not mean that you can just run amok again. If you mess up badly, I will hear about it and your parents..."
"Will be notified," finished Utau in exasperation. "Yeah, you've said."
There was a knock on the door. Nikaido opened it to reveal a stern-faced, heavy-set, middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense air about her. Both the woman and the teens remained unimpressed with what they saw, dismissing the other.
"This is the janitor that will be overseeing your work," said Nikaido cheerfully. He was looking forward to going home and not having to deal with the Powers for the rest of the afternoon, evening, night and early morning. There was no limit to how much the very thought cheered him up. He gave a startled jump when the janitor started speaking in a booming voice, interrupting his thoughts.
"You will refer to me as Malia-san. You will do as you are told. You will report to me the moment you finish what you are told to do. If you are prompt and efficient, I will assign you simple tasks. If you do not, I will assign you backbreaking work and notify your teacher. You will come to me if you have an inquiry. You will not attempt to undermine my authority or to sabotage your fellow..." she sneered at this point, "Power. Any questions?"
Kukai raised his arm, receiving a curt nod as permission to continue. "Yeah, um... are you a guy or do you just look like one?" he asked innocently. Utau snorted despite herself at the absolutely livid look on the janitor's face.
"For your first task, you will be restoring all the rooms to their original condition," she ordered ominously. "I will be supervising you for the first few rooms. After that, you will come to me after you have finished restoring the rooms and I will inspect it while you move on to the next one. I will sporadically check on your progress so do not slouch off. You will clean all the rooms starting from here in a clockwise direction. This means that the last room you should have to clean will be the art rooms. Good luck," she added rather nastily.
"Nazi," Utau muttered under her breath. Fortunately for her, the janitor didn't hear.
"Hurry up and reorganise the tables," she snapped, gesturing at the furniture strewn everywhere.
"Yes ma'am," said Kukai, mock-saluting.
Utau scowled. "Great. They're making me, a rising pop star, move tables. How messed up is that?"
"Oh boohoo," spat Kukai. "Doing some physical labour isn't going to kill you."
"And what do you call that frigging game of hockey?"
"That wasn't labour; that was a warm-up. Or perhaps you're merely too... unfit to tell the difference?" suggested Kukai.
She glared daggers in return. "Did you just... call me fat?" she asked dangerously.
"Your words, not mine," he answered viciously, paying her back for his throbbing ear.
"Get on with it, you dimwits!" yelled the janitor. The two looked back to see that the teachers had quietly sneaked out and left her to deal with them alone. They rolled their eyes, cursing softly under their breath. This gave a whole new meaning to cruel and unusual punishment.
-------
Tadase smiled tolerantly at the tearful faces of his fangirls.
"Tadase-kun~!" they wailed dramatically.
"Yes?" he replied, wincing from the volume of their screeches.
"I can't believe that they would group you together with those other awful Powers!" said one of the bolder girls. "You don't deserve this treatment! I mean, you're so kind and gentle and mature and sweet and cute whereas the other Powers are, like, so immature and spiteful and selfish and spoiled," she exclaimed. The amount of italics in her speech was starting to give Tadase a headache.
"Don't worry about it; there's just a few more weeks and then they'll be pretty much out of my hair," he said in an effort to get her to stop talking. Instead, she seemed to grow even more enthusiastic.
"See? You are so mature, not like those other Powers. And you are so understanding and patient and the nicest person in the entire world, ever! That's why I love you, Tadase-kun!" she screeched. The other girls in the group yelled in agreement.
"Um... thank you?" he said unsurely, wondering if he'd gone deaf from all the fangirls. The italics girl fainted from joy at his thanks. The other girls caught her and started fanning her.
"T-Tadase-kun!" another girl piped up nervously. "I-I need to... ask you something!"
He flashed her a small smile, causing her to blush deeply. At least it didn't seem like she was going to abuse her words by over-emphasising them. Granted, the stutter was rather annoying but it didn't affect him as much.
"Y-you know that there's a f-festival dance thing c-coming up? Well, I-I was wondering if... maybe..." She stopped talking when she felt a black aura suddenly descend over the group. They were all glaring at her, daring her to continue with her train of thought.
"I'm sorry," said Tadase kindly. "I never really go to the dance or festival with anybody."
"Oh," she said quietly, blushing again and shrinking back into the crowd.
"I'm sorry ladies, but I think you should leave now. I have to go home," he said apologetically.
"He called us ladies! He thinks I'm a lady!" they echoed dreamily, sighing.
"That's not a good thing you know," came the voice of a certain Ice Princess. She was being carried again by her devoted fanboys. She stared at the fangirls coolly, not the slightest bit bothered by the amount of enmity directed her way, pushing on regardless. "Calling somebody a 'lady' could be considered a very condescending thing to do. It implies obedience, gentleness, fragility and, frankly, stupidity."
"Whatever," said one of his fangirls, "Tadase-kun would never mean to say anything negative towards us," she said confidently. "He's a gentleman. He's manly."
Rima lifted an eyebrow. "You know," she said, her voice tinted with the slightest hint of amusement, "you precious, 'manly' Tadase-kun is a cry-baby? He cried today," she told them smugly.
"Like anybody would believe what you say."
"Ask him," she suggested. "Let's see if he's a liar as well."
"I really have to go home now. See you tomorrow everyone!" he said hurriedly, rushing off with a wave of goodbye.
"Pathetic," Rima ridiculed. The fangirls bristled indignantly but they didn't have a chance to refute that statement before Rima signalled for the fanboys to keep going. They were left glaring darkly in the blonde's wake.
-------
Utau growled in frustration as she scrubbed at the blackboard. Specifically, she was scrubbing at a scribble that stated 'HOSHINA SUX'. No matter how hard she scoured it, the markings just wouldn't come off. There were plenty of other, more easily washed-off markings on the board but as far as she was concerned, this one was top priority.
"Ugh, spit balls," cried out a disgusted Kukai from the other side of the room. "And how much gum can one class chew?"
"Oh shut up, Chicken," she snarled. "You've been whining non-stop for the past half-hour!"
"And why shouldn't I?" he argued back. "I get stuck with picking up whatever they'd decided to throw at the teacher or each other and moving the furniture while you just stay at the blackboard the whole time and cleaning it. How long can it take?"
"They use permanent markers because they aren't stupid enough to just use chalk," she said. "No matter what you do, they just stay on there. Picking up trash and moving a few chairs? That's the easy part."
"Then you come and do it if it's so easy," he spat.
"Gladly," she shot back.
"Fine."
"Fine."
-------
"What?" sputtered Nikaido as he looked over the sheet of paper. "You're going to make the Powers do... are you out of your mind?" He quickly shut up as he caught sight of Sanjou's stony expression.
"It's perfect. It will teach them to follow the rules and to have patience," she explained.
"But... have you thought about what could happen? Please consider the possible repercussions," he pleaded.
She crossed her arms with an air of finality. "I've made up my mind."
"Fine, but if this ends up with somebody dead, it's your fault," he warned her.
"Don't be so dramatic," she said, smacking his head.
"I'm not being dramatic. I'm being completely serious."
"Right," she said doubtfully. "Sure."
-------
Every single room had been an utter mess. Every single room had looked like some kind of war zone. And it had been obvious that the Powers had somehow been the cause of it, even though none of them had actually been present in any of the classrooms that day. Sure, they'd known that it happened, but they'd never had to clean it before. Thankfully, they were on the very last room after many yells and disagreements and the urge to strangle each other. Finally, after expending a huge amount of energy trying to annoy the heck out of each other, they'd settled for a heavy silence in which they tried to clean up quickly so that they could actually head home. Or, at least, away from the cursed group of buildings that made up the pitiful excuse for a school.
The last room happened to be the art room. None of the supplies had been packed up, leaving blotches of drying paint on the tables, used brushes scattered everywhere and sponges in the strangest places.
"I'll gather the brushes and paint and other stuff, you wipe down the tables and floors," ordered Utau, heading off to do as she just said.
Kukai frowned and crossed his arms in defiance. "No, you clean the tables and I'll put all the paint and brushes away," he said stoutly.
"What's the difference?" she asked, tightening her pigtails. He shrugged, causing her temple to throb. "Fine! You gather the stupid paint things and I'll wipe the tables! Happy?"
"Ecstatic," he replied unenthusiastically.
Utau picked up a random sponge which was, for some reason, placed at the blackboard much like a duster would have been. She rinsed it and started to clean the marks. When she came across a strip of paint that wouldn't go away, she was reminded of the comment about her that had been scribbled on a blackboard somewhere else. She glared at it before simply moving on. at least the paint didn't spell out any words that insulted her specifically. If something on the tables blocked her way, she merely shoved them to one side, not caring whether some kid's class project was scratched or not.
They continued in silence. It was a pretty good silence in which both the people holding it were occupied with something else. It was, therefore, a bad thing when the silence was broken by the unmistakeable clatter of a tin can full of thick liquid clattering on the floor. Kukai had turned too quickly and had heedlessly knocked it off its place on the shelf. Utau stared at the pooling green paint in disbelief.
"I didn't do it," was Kukai's immediate response. It was a knee-jerk reaction; he hadn't purposely tried to be funny.
The silence came back with a vengeance. The paint was still slowly spreading outwards.
"I'm not cleaning that up," stated Utau flatly.
Kukai snorted. "Yeah right; you're a closet goody-goody."
"Excuse me?" she said in disbelief. "I'm a 'goody-goody'? Is there something wrong with your head? Where did you get that idea from?"
"Why else would you have done everything they told you to?" he retorted. "You don't want to get in trouble. Therefore, you are a goody-goody." He turned away from the paint and strolled nonchalantly away from it.
"You've done everything they told you to as well," she pointed out.
He shrugged. "Whatever. You still wouldn't dare leaving that there for the man-lady to find," he challenged. The 'man-lady' was the janitor, of course.
She narrowed her eyes at the tone of his voice. "Oh yeah? You think so?"
"I don't think so; I know so," he answered, smirking.
Without taking her eyes off of him, she reached for an open can of blue paint on a bench and tilted it threateningly. "You know so, huh?" She rocked it back and forth gently.
"You're bluffing," he said confidently. When the can of paint crashed down to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere, he was impressed.
"Bluffing, huh?" she placed her hands on her hips. "Shows what you know."
Kukai grinned and reached for one of the brushes he'd been packing up, dipping it into the green paint and wrote on a table in large capitals, HOSHINA SUX.
Then he underlined it.
He wasn't prepared for a sponge dunked in red paint to be thrown at him, though. It landed with a squelch on his sports jersey. It was his turn to look outraged. To pay her back, he flicked the brush at her. Instinctively, she raised her arms to protect her face so the green pain splattered onto her designer black sleeves, leaving a very visible mark.
She screeched when she saw it. "Do you know how much this had cost?"
"Do I look like I care?" he countered.
She growled, reaching for another sponge and a can of purple paint. She dunked it in and threw it. However, she wasn't the best marksman in the world so it missed its target by several inches, landing wetly on the window. As another sponge, this time dipped in orange paint, came flying her way, she ducked. It flew overhead and collided with another can of paint, spilling it all over the floor. Some of the yellow spilled onto her heels. The furious Utau stalked up to the laughing Kukai and dumped a can full of white paint over his head. She smiled delightedly as she watched him sputter and try to wipe it off his face. He tried to do the same to her but missed her head. Instead, the majority of the brown paint splashed onto her clothes. Kukai laughed so hard that he was clutching at his sides.
"Is something wrong? You look like crap... literally!" he exclaimed, finding himself hilarious. The pop idol was so far past furious that she was calm now. Giving a smile eerily reminiscent of Nagihiko, she lunged at him with a paintbrush dipped in purple. While he tried to recover from the shock of having her assault him with a paintbrush, she wrote LOSER on the parts of his jersey that was still relatively clean and clear.
And, for the first time in years, she laughed as if she didn't have a care in the world.
For the first time in years, he did too.
~*~
A/N: Wow, that was a really cheesy ending. Anyhow, have I somewhat satisfied all you Kutau fans out there?