I own nothing as always ~
Chapter 4: Rinse and Repeat
History has the tendency to repeat itself. Sometimes through grand gestures, and sometimes through old nicknames. Dame-Tsuna had seemingly returned from the dead to haunt me again. Every time mama and I moved away I hoped that damn name would stay behind with the town we had abandoned. It wasn't always "Dame-Tsuna" per say, but there was always some variation of it hanging over my head. This time I had gotten it on the first day of school! I had set a new record for myself. I couldn't decide if it was a person best, or a personal worst. Yamamoto-san had sent me a curious glance, obviously not able to hear what the boy behind me had said. I resolutely kept my eyes on the board though, I wasn't going to deal with this until the name started circulating around the classroom, as it inevitably would. I was pretty used to nicknames and bullies at this point. It was just one of those things that made you groan and roll your eyes.
The rest of math class had gone by in at a snail's pace. Once he was done preying on unsuspecting students with math questions, Nezu-sensei had droned on about various formulas for the rest of the period. I'm pretty sure he spoke in Japanese, but he might as well have been speaking Greek. I didn't understand half of what he was talking about. At least the graphs I copied down looked like his, I just had no idea what they meant or how to draw them on my own. I slumped into my desk in relief when the bell finally rang. My back gave a satisfying pop and I relaxed. I had nearly fallen asleep during class, but the fear of what this teacher would do to me had forced my eyes to stay open.
I felt the brain fog melting away as the classroom quickly became noisy again. I decided I should go talk to Sasagawa-san, hopefully she could tell me where to find her brother after school, too. She was seated at her desk, already surrounded by a group of people. My stomach gave a little flip, of course she would end up being the class idol. She was cute, seemed friendly, smart, and did I mention cute? I was going to make a total fool of myself. I turned to Yamamoto for support, but he was already catching up with a couple of other guys, one of them being the boy who had called me 'dame'. I decided I would rather talk to him later.
I left my desk and slowly approached the group of gossiping girls. I think they could smell my fear because they all turned to give me appraising looks at the same time. Some of them didn't look very satisfied with what they saw. God, there were so many scents. I could feel the judgment rolling off them in waves. One girl stood out in particular. She was seated in her own desk right next to Sasagawa-san. She had long wavy black hair and dark eyes. She was detached from the group of the girls, but she still had a clear line between her and Sasagawa-san. The other girls were steering clear of her, being careful not to crowd her desk. My nose could pick her out of the crowd just as easily as my eyes; she smelled like red wine. It was a dry and bitter smell, but it had the faintest trace of something fruity and feminine. Not my taste, but mama would probably like her. I could tell from her bored expression and confident posture that this is not a girl I wanted to tangle with. Her eyes pinched in a subtle glare and a spicy undertone lanced through her scent, she was getting annoyed with my staring. I quickly turned my eyes towards Sasagawa-san, who had taken notice of me too and offered an awkward smile towards her. She beamed in reply.
"Hello! You are Hikawa-san, right?" she asked. I nodded in response. She really was a cute girl, and now that I was paying more attention it was obvious that the vanilla scent was coming from her.
"A-ah, it's nice to meet you." I replied formally.
"I'm Sasagawa, Kyoko. It's nice to meet you too!" she said cheerfully. I nodded my head again.
"Y-yeah, I know." I said. Sasagawa-san's smile dimmed a little and something minty started threading through her scent, I was making her uncomfortable. The spicy scent from the black haired girl was picking up some heat too. "O-oh, uhm! Not for any weird reason! I just, I wanted to apologise to you for this morning, so I asked about who you were." I said, eager to blurt out the truth and get it over with. Mint vanished and was replaced by a scent that was like dry wood and sharp florals all at the same time – confusion.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. Did something happen this morning?" she asked. I rubbed the back of my head, I could feel the heat rising up my neck.
"U-un. I was one of the people your brother was chasing this morning. I think I'm the reason he, uh, he got in a fight." I admitted with some difficulty. Understanding dawned on her face, her scent returning to its natural vanilla.
"Oh! No, not at all. Onii-chan is always rough housing with Hibari-sempai. He likes to fight, though I wish he wouldn't do it quite so often or with someone as… intense as Hibari-sempai." She said, something bitter drifting through her sent before flickering out. I shuffled my feet where I stood and wrapped my right hand around my other arm.
"Oh… is that so? I still feel responsible. Do, uhm, do you know where I could find him after school?" I asked. Sasagawa-san tilted her head to the side.
"Hibari-sempai?" she asked. I tensed up and leaned back out of reflex. I probably should apologise for running into him too, but there was just no way!
"E-eh!? No, no!" I said waving my hands out in front of me as if to stop her from accidentally summoning the man, "Your – your brother!" I corrected.
"Oh, yeah! He will be out petitioning people to join the boxing club after school. You might be able to catch him in the gym before that if you hurry." She said.
"R-right. Thank you. U-uhm, sorry again." I said. Sasagawa-san made to reply again but suddenly the annoyed scent of spice reached a whole new level from the black haired girl. Startled, I looked up at her, even though she hadn't said anything yet. Luckily, this didn't seem to stand out to her too much as she glared at me.
"Oi, Monkey. She said it's fine already. Why don't you go take your seat before class starts." She said. It was posed like a question, but the dismissal was clear.
"Ehh! R-right! Right away, I'll do that!" I said and did a prompt 180 turn. I stumbled on the first step as I made a hasty retreat. Who ever said humans should be afraid of vampires was clearly mistaken, it should definitely be the other way around! I slumped down into my desk with a sigh of relief. I turned when Yamamoto-san tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey, Tsuna-san, this is Asano, Kaito-san and Furukawa, Haruto-san!" He said gesturing to the two boys beside him. It was the same two boys he had been talking to before I went to apologise to Sasagawa-san.
My eyes automatically locked on to the tallest of the two boys and my mind picked him apart. This guy, Asano-san, was the one that had called me Dame-Tsuna. I already had him on my radar as a threat. He was easily 170 cm tall and still growing. His tall body was lean, but the signs of muscle starting to bulk up were unmistakable. From what I could tell through the school pants and his posture, the most muscular parts of his body was his legs. Specifically his calves. Probably a soccer player. Fast, good endurance. I could out-run him, but if I were backed into a corner with him my best bet would be to keep him running and force him to use his arms instead of his legs. I turned my attention to his face. He had ok in his features, but they were twisted by a smirk. Arrogant. Arrogance could lead to mistakes. Brown eyes stared down at me briefly through shaggy black hair before dismissing me entirely. Unobservant, self absorbed. I scented him and found that he smelled something like rosewood, but it was currently saturated by citrus and metallic undertones. This guy didn't like me, and he found himself amusing for coming up with that forsaken nickname. Maybe I should take a bite out of him some time, I thought bitterly. People with woodsy smells often had an earthy flavour to them, like a vegetable from the garden.
His friend, Furukawa-san, was very different from him. He was much shorter, for one, and the best way I could describe the look on his face was spacey. He had short light brown hair and purple eyes. Physically there was nothing threatening about this boy at all. He smelled pleasant too, a mellow scent that was more cinnamon than sandalwood with a fruity undertone weaving lazily through his scent. I had a feeling that this guy was often content like this.
I blinked as my brain shifted gears and I stopped rapidly analyzing them. It had only taken me a couple seconds, but delaying a response any longer would look pretty awkward.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Hikawa, Tsuna." I replied. Furukawa-san offered me a lazy grin and turned back to the book on Yamamoto-san's desk. Asano-san, however, scoffed and tosses his head to get the hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah, we know who you are, Dame-Tsuna." He said, loudly. The sharp scent of citrus rippled through parts of the room. So, it has already begun, huh?
"Ahaha, Kaito-san, that isn't very nice." Said Yamamoto-san good naturedly. Asano-san lifted a placating hand.
"Now, now, it's only some friendly teasing. It's all in good fun." He lied. He said that, but his scent hadn't changed. This guy was going to be trouble for me. Joy of all joys. Furukawa-san picked up his book and stood, and though he moved slowly the action seemed abrupt.
"Class is starting." He said and walked towards his desk. Just then the door to the classroom slid open and our next teacher walked in. Asano-san had a disgruntled look on his face.
"Freaks me out when he does that." He muttered and sat down in the desk behind me. I tensed at having him behind my back. Letting him sit behind me went against my most basic instincts. Then again, as long as we were in class there wasn't much he could do to me, probably.
