~Chapter Seventeen~

Intervention

Pretty Girl is Suffering While He Confesses Everything.
Pretty Soon She'll Figure Out What His Intentions were About.

It's the Way that He Makes You Feel.
It's the Way that He Kisses You.

She's Beautiful as Usual, with Bruises on her Ego.
And the Killer Instinct Tells Her to be Aware of Evil Men.

Pretty Girl… Pretty Girl.

~Pretty Girl, by Sugarcult

Disclaimer: Me No Own; You No Sue.

Neko gazed down at me, an unreadable expression on his pale face. "I'll part with this doll on one condition, and one condition only…" A flicker of candlelight illuminated his face and I shivered at the strange gleam in his icy blue eyes.

"Name it!" I exclaimed, hands thrown in the air in exasperation. "Just hurry it up, Neko-chan! I haven't got all day, you know."

The younger boy slowly approached me, a sly grin on his lips, as he whispered in my ear, "I want a kiss."

Takashi's P.O.V.

With an irritated sigh, I leaned back up in my chair and stared forward, not really focusing on anything in particular. After a moment though, I found myself glaring at the clock in a rather accusatory manner. It merely stared back at me with glowing, red eyes. If I were Sammy, I might even claim that it had been possessed by the devil; Satan did such things, did he not? As it were, however, I was not Sammy and the clock was not the devil incarnate.

So why did it feel as though the damn thing was laughing at me?

"Don't worry, Takashi!" Mitsukuni chirped, repeatedly swinging his feet under his desk in his excitement. "Class is almost over, and then we can search for Sammy-chan. She can't have gotten very far!"

I sweatdropped. My cousin has such a way with words…

Seemingly, he had not realized that his words insinuated something quite demeaning – or he might just not care. I couldn't really tell if he had actually meant to refer to her as a lost puppy. It was difficult to read his thoughts when he was in one of his moods.

To my surprise, the older male placed a warm hand on my own. I stared down at him, confused and a little apprehensive; it was never a good sign when he was this…concerned. Generally, it meant that Mitsukuni was feeling mischievous. And we all know where his last bit of mischief led me – Sammy had avoided me for almost two straight weeks before I'd managed to corner her at the park.

For such a ditzy little thing, that girl sure could perform some amazing evasive tactics.

"Mitsukuni…" I began, pausing when I was unsure of how to continue. Putting my feelings into words wasn't exactly my forte.

He smirked, tawny eyes glinting with mischief as he interrupted, "You might as well admit that you're worried about Sammy-chan." The smaller male held his rabbit up to his face and tweaked its nose. "Isn't that right, Usa-chan?"

My cheeks flushed, embarrassment coloring my tanned skin red. The blush spread to encompass the entirety of face, my ears, and the back of my neck. I hastily jerked my head to the side, praying to whichever deity was listening that Mitsukuni hadn't seen my reaction. Based on his smug expression… I failed.

"Well, I suppose that you're right to be worried about her. She is quite the danger magnet," Mitsukuni mused, his cute expression souring somewhat.

That was an understatement. Sammy could walk into a room and trip on nothing but the air surrounding her small form. For some strange reason, our classmate had a rather klutzy nature, in spite of her obvious intelligence; a complete and total lack of common sense. Nonetheless, I still found her to be incredibly cute – clumsiness and all.

The corners of my lips were twisted upwards in a tiny smile. It must have been a strangely funny sight to see me with such a goofy smile on my face because Mitsukuni snickered, covering his mouth with a small hand to hide the sound. I glared at him with dark grey eyes, but said nothing in response. Neither of us wanted to attract the attention of our sensei, as he was still seething over being bested in front of his audience – er, class.

And now that I thought on the matter, I found myself growing even angrier. I had seen the pained expression on her face when Yamaguchi-sensei had decided to verbally torment the small blonde. Her face had remained blank, save for the small, sad smile on her lips and the hurt in her blue eyes. To be honest, I was glad that Sammy had the brains to outsmart our sensei. The arrogant jerk deserved it.

I admit that I had considered seeking revenge in her stead. I'd been planning to punch his lights out after class had her blackmail not worked. Normally, I wasn't a violent man, but I couldn't stand the sight of someone being hurt – let alone my girl. She was mine to protect.

"Why haven't you asked her to be your girlfriend yet, Takashi?" Mitsukuni demanded, puffing his cheeks out in a childish manner. I said nothing, to which he pouted and muttered, "I hope you come to your senses before some other guy feels the need to ask her out…"

My left eye twitched nervously as I considered leaping from my seat and chasing after Sammy, if only to protect her from the rest of the male population. There was no way in hell that I was going to let her slip through my fingers. Not for a second time; not ever again. And if my parents had a problem with that, then I would disown myself – consequences be damned!

Brown eyes sought mine as he whispered, "If you think that your parents would disown you for courting her…you're an idiot." His words were harsh, but more than likely true; however, I was loath to admit it.

I shrugged, trying to seem unconcerned. "I am only trying to prepare myself for the worst possible outcome, Mitsukuni. My parents might not take too kindly to someone like Sammy-chan. She's rather…eccentric," I muttered with a small shake of my head.

It was silent for a moment as the two of us hurried to finish our homework; we'd finished the quiz ages ago. Not that our sensei needed to be made aware of that little fact. It was bad enough that he had decided to sign us over forty pages of reading to complete before our next class session. If he were provoked, he might feel the need to add to that already ridiculously high number.

This was only one of the many reasons that I preferred history to something as asinine as science.

"Even so, we both know that you love her."

I choked on what appeared to be air as Mitsukuni continued skimming through the assigned reading, seemingly minding his own business. Another page was flipped, but nothing else was said. Thank Kami for small miracles. The muscles in my legs flexed as I glanced at the clock once more, staring at it hopefully.

Ten more seconds! My heart skipped a beat in anticipation. Seven more seconds…

Fisting his hands in his blonde hair, Mitsukuni groaned, "Just admit it already!"

Three more seconds…

"Takashi~!"

The bell rang, and not a moment too soon. My cousin appeared to be only seconds away from declaring open season – on me. Because I wasn't overly fond of the idea of being hunted by the older male (he was quite a bit stronger than myself, despite being shorter and less muscular), I quickly shoved my books into my briefcase and made my way to the door. Thankfully, I had longer legs than my cousin; I was already halfway through the school by the time he managed to catch up to me.

Mitsukuni leapt at me and I reached for him automatically, lifting him upwards so that he could clamber up to my shoulders. He patted me on the head, chirping a cheerful "Thanks!" before we entered the Third Abandoned Music Room. Upon entering, however, we both stared at each in confusion: weren't we supposed to be meeting the others here around this general time? And yet, odd though it may have been, there was absolutely no one else in the clubroom. Strange indeed…

My ears perked up as I heard the faint sound of cursing. Maybe I was wrong in my assumptions?

"Um…Takashi?" Mitsukuni nervously inquired, brown eyes focused on the far wall.

I raised my eyes to his, wondering what it was that had unnerved him. Not much frightened the small senior, but when it did – it was clearly something to worry about. He was the national champion in both judo and karate, after all.

When he had my attention, Mitsukuni pointed to an unfamiliar pair of black doors, asking, "Have those always been there, or am I imagining the fact that they're new?"

Now that he mentioned it… I'd never seen those particular doors before. And I am quite certain that I would have noticed them, considering that everything else in this room was painted pink, or some other obnoxious pastel color. This door was charcoal black.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered, as though afraid of being overheard by whatever fearsome beast was lurking behind the mysterious doors. "That sounded like Sammy-chan!"

More cursing – this time in German. Yes, it was definitely the petite blonde, and she sounded quite irritated.

As we neared the double doors, I threw caution to the wind and tugged at the handles, growling angrily when I found them to be locked. What the hell is that stupid girl doing down there without one of us to protect her?

I finally decided upon making my entrance in a less than subtle manner, slamming my foot down on the golden locks. The doors burst open and I jumped back to stand in a defensive position; preparing myself for an attack. When nothing leapt out at us, I stood to my full height and waited for Mitsukuni to descend from his perch.

"Stay here," I muttered to him, knowing that he was still afraid of the dark, even at his age. Ninjas were not immune to Achluophobia. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Mitsukuni frowned and tugged at my sleeve to prevent me from leaving. "I am not letting you go down there by yourself, Takashi!" he sternly declared. Ah, he was playing the age card…

With a sigh, I made my way through the doors and down the stairs. My cousin wasn't far behind, not that I had expected anything different; we were never far apart. That was how we had been raised and nothing – not even his fear of the dark – was going to change that. I admired that about Mitsukuni.

"Come on, Takashi, we should go see if she needs any help!" he said sweetly, although his tone wavered when he saw just how dark it was at the bottom of six flights of stairs.

I nodded in agreement. "Ah…"

Mitsukuni chattered incessantly, more than likely trying to ignore his current whereabouts, but I remained silent. My ears were perked as I tried to catch even the smallest noise, a hint as to where Sammy was hiding. Nothing. I scowled, wondering what it was that she could possibly want in such a dark, dirty section of the school. Of course, I was well aware that she had a certain fondness for the darker things in life, but this was just ridiculous.

"So…" Mitsukuni drawled, fingers gripping my pants leg like a relentless crab. "Have you decided to admit that you are madly inlove with Sammy-chan?"

I snorted quietly to myself and muttered, "Hardly."

"Oh, come on!" he whined. Brown eyes glared at me as he continued, "It's just three little words! Say it with me –"

My lips twitched at his efforts, but I kept my mouth shut. No one was going to hear such a thing from me, except the small blonde female in question. As it was, Sammy was currently missing in action, so I had no need to worry about confessing at this point in time. Take that, cousin.

"I…love…" Mitsukuni began, enunciating the words clearly and saying them slowly, as if he were afraid that I wouldn't understand such a simple statement.

The sound of a loud, frightened scream could be heard as we stood there, riveted to the spot. It echoed eerily in the empty staircase and I couldn't help but call out to her. "Sammy-chan!"

***Author's Note***

And I STILL haven't given you guys a proper ending - it is still a cliffhanger. XD So sorry about that!

As for my tardiness...

I have two excuses: 1) Final Exams for my final semester at a technical college, and 2) THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD WAS RELEASED!

...I love Zelda games. :D

Um...that is all?

P.S. I love ellipses... ^_^