A Sense of Self
by Evilkeen
Furinken
Furinken High School had been unusually quiet, and Daisuke hated it. He hated it because it reminded him constantly on the cause of this newfound lack of enthusiasm in the student body, namely Ranma. Ranma wasn't exactly a friend, or at least, not as much a friend as Hiroshi, but he was a fixture in their lives. Being there, talking at lunch, artfully teasing Ranma about his curse.
Out of the blue, he was tapped on the shoulder from behind, he turned in surprise and saw Hiroshi standing behind him with a desperate look on his face. "Um, Akane's heading this way," his friend warned, "I suggest hasty retreat."
Daisuke nodded in rapid agreement as they both made a beeline to the nearest Male Washroom door, they both rushed inside and leaned against the door. At first, nothing could be heard, but then a slight thumping was audible, and slowly growing louder. A growl of "Perverts" could be heard, as well as the sickening bone-crunching sound of Akane taking out her anger on a hapless male hallway pedestrian. Plaster could be heard breaking outside. Then, with a roar of "I hate BOYS, I swear I'm gonna kill the next one I see" footsteps moved away and faded to nothingness.
Hiroshi and Daisuke were still leaning against the door with very wide eyed stares, neither one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Hiroshi cleared his throat. "Well, she certainly sounded serious."
"That she did, Hiroshi."
"So . . . "
"What?"
"Don't you think it's time to leave this washroom, Daisuke?"
"Nuh-uh, you heard what she did. Why don't you leave first?"
"Nuh-uh, I like living."
"Well then . . . "
"Yes"
"Missing a few periods of classes isn't too serious, Hiroshi."
"That it isn't."
***
Half an hour later, the two gingerly peeked out the door and declared the hallway safe, as they exited, Daisuke noted the poor freshman, head planted deep in the wall, legs kicking futilely. Otherwise the hallways were completely empty, long straight corridors with flourescent lights in the ceilings that buzzed and flickered constantly. Hiroshi could smell something cooking in the nearby Home Ec. room, and there was a low murmur of voices from the direction of the Classical Japanese class.
Daisuke rubbed his chin, "Well we're well underway on missing the last period of the day, wanna go home early and play a video game?"
Hiroshi was about to apply in the affirmative when he heard something: A faint whimper, eery and inhuman could be heard from down the hall toward the administration wing. The hair on the back of his neck stood absolutely stiff, there was an innate sense of wrong in the air, and Hiroshi didn't like it one bit. He raised an arm to motion Daisuke to silence. He listened again, it was faint, but he could hear that whimper again. Yes, definitely from the office area.
"What the fuck is that!" hissed Daisuke, shuddering at the inhuman noise that reached his ears
"Take off your shoes and follow me," Hiroshi whispered under his breath.
The boys quickly undid their shoes, carrying them in their hands as their sock feet padded across the polished floor. The door to the outer office was open, and the two boys peaked inside. Nothing but thick Hawaiian-style foliage greeted their eyes--a product of Principal Kuno's interior redecoration. They snuck inside the outer office which was completely devoid of office staff (as usual, staff acquired a taste for leaving early under the Principal's administration.) The office looked completely normal.
Except the principal's office, the always open door was shut tight, and the window blinds were lowered over the interior windows. Hiroshi crawled silently to the door frame; Daisuke followed behind, inside they could hear heavy breathing, as if someone had just run a marathon, then, a sob?
"Come on now, tell us where Arakawa is," threatened a deep voice from inside the office, "you do want to keep your fingers right?"
"All right," gasped out another voice, it was principal Kuno, lacking his foreign accent and colloquialisms "He's in goddamn Todai State! Ok? For a B&E, you bastards. Why can't you leave him alone?"
"Because he interfered with us," stated a higher pitched but still-menacing voice, "let that be a lesson. Don't fuck with us Godai, you only get one chance. Just be glad that Saotome brat can't remember shit or your daughter wouldn't have a face anymore."
"We'll be seeing you Godai Kuno," chimed in the deep voice, "It was nice seeing you again, catching up on old times."
Suddenly footsteps could be heard in the room approaching the door. Hiroshi and Daisuke both dove under a nearby desk. Peering out underneath the small gap at the floor, Daisuke saw the door open and two pairs of feet strode out toward the door.
"What about Tendo?" deep-voice asked on the way out.
"Hopefully it won't come to that," malicious-voice replied, "but if it does then we'll . . . "
The outer office door slammed shut, cutting off the rest of the sentence.
The principal's office door slowly opened again, and a new pair of feet slowly limped out toward the main desk phone. The sounds of dialing could be heard and then:
Principal Kuno's voice: "Oh hello Sasuke, could you bring the car to school please to pick me up? And bring bandages." A small pause, "no that's none of your concern, just bring the car out front in fifteen. I'm taking a week off, make the relevant arrangements. Oh, and Sasuke? Keep a close eye on my kids ok?" the phone was hung up.
Daisuke had noticed throughout the exchange with growing horror, the red stain that was rapidly soaking through the Principal's left white loafer, which was now being dragged back into the office. With a sound of finality door shut behind it.
The boys waited a few seconds, then bolted upright and ran out of the office, down the hall, and out the
main entrance. But only an unseasonably cold wind greeted both of them. Of the men, they could find
no trace.