Everlasting

Everlasting

by: Reiko-chan

Standard Disclaimers apply.

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Chapter 5: Found Out

Kate sighed as the previous events filled her mind. She was walking through the local L.A. district, passing through various streets and corners, her mind filled with so many thoughts. She couldn't forget about what happened a while ago at school. They almost blew their cover. She sighed as she remembered what exactly had happened to her and Kevin half an hour ago...

*******

Ever since the incident, Tony and Mikki have been very close lately. One was very rarely seen without the other, and now, Tony became a full-fledged member of the gang. Everyone wondered what happened to the two of them. They just couldn't seem to imagine what did Mikki do to him.

"Maybe it was something in the food," Kate mused aloud.

"Maybe it was something about the air," Kevin added.

"Maybe Mikki made a love potion which made Tony fall madly in love with her," Meg laughed, fox's ears popping out of her head. Everyone stared at her hopelessly.

"Are you still making those stuff Meg?" Sean asked. "You're such an old timer, relying on your grandmother's recipe's for success in your love life..." He was cut off by a heavy smack on the head.

"Don't you dare insult my grandmother like that," she whispered dangerously, the fox ears disappearing. "Don't you dare insult any Pryce."

"Heh, I wasn't insulting your grandmother. I was insulting you," was Sean's quick reply. Another smack on the head from Meg made him see stars. Kate and Kevin could only sigh.

"Or maybe Tony confessed his undying love for Mikki one night." Sean fell on his knees on the floor and began emoting. "'Oh Mikki, I've loved you ever since the time I've laid my eyes on you... You're the sunshine, and the rain of my life. You're my sorrow, my joy, my pain, my pride, my happiness...'" he turned to look at his audience. They were all staring at him like he was crazy.

"What?" Sean sighed, exasperated. "I was just acting out." Meg quickly gave him a mighty smack on the head, rendering him unconscious.

"From what I've been observing," Meg turned her attention to her other friends. "It's not only the two of them who seem very changed. What's been going on between the two of you?" Meg's eyes flashed, a mischievous glow shining from them. The two of course, could only stammer.

"Um, uh, nothing really!" Kate immediately replied, her face looking quite guilty.

"There is nothing happening between the two of us!" Kevin replied hastily, trying to cover up for his guilty feelings. Meg stared at the two queerly before turning to look at an unconscious Sean.

"Oh well, I believe you, for now," she told them. "But as soon as I sense anything fishy, you guys have a lot of explaining to do." She waved a finger at the two of them, and turned to her bag. She tisked, scolding herself for who knows why.

"I should bring that more often," she scolded herself. She then looked at her thumb and index finger and sighed. "Oh well, this would have to do." And using her two fingers, she gave a mighty pinch at the unconscious Sean beside her, who immediately let out a yelp of pain, jerking awake. There were giggles and chuckles from the background. Meg clapped her hands and smiled. "That was effective!"

"What did you do that for!" Sean bellowed, his eyes slits, burning with anger.

"To wake you up. You can't stay asleep for long can you?" Meg simply replied. "Well, I'd be off now. I have to go home. To my... mansion." She and Kate shared a laugh.

"Off to your silly little home? Heh, I bet it really isn't big anyway," Sean sneered. Meg flashed a death glare at him.

"Why don't you ask people who have been there? It really is big. You just haven't seen it," she snapped. "And I'll never let you have a glimpse of it. Ta ta! Au revoir!"

*****

I wonder, Kate thought. Mikki and Tony have sure been acting weird lately. For one moment there, I believed Sean's 'emoting' and thought he knew about it... But wether it be true or not, Mikki's definitely hiding something from us... from me! I wonder what it is...

She walked slowly through the sidewalk. Far ahead of her was a girl in her early teens, pulling a boy behind her who was her age. Of course, Kate didn't notice them. She was busy thinking about Mikki. She did, however, once the girl ran past her, and the boy bumped into her, sending her crashing down to the floor on her bottom. It was all too much of a shock for her, that she screamed once she heard a large thump once she hit the ground. The two kids stopped to look at her, the young girl's eyes full of concern. The boy just stood in front of her, motionless. He was staring at her curiously though. Kate saw him, and swiftly stood up, unleashing her anger at him.

"Watch where you're running kid!! It's bad manners to run in the streets!!" she scolded the boy in front of her. The boy retaliated.

"Who're you calling a kid! I am not a kid! And who said it was bad manners to run in the streets? You ugly, old hag!!"

"Ugly? Old?... HAG?!" Kate clenched her fists in fury, her temper reaching breaking point. Just then, the boy stuck his tongue out at her. But before she was able to react, his companion stepped in between them and started apologizing to her.

"I'm so sorry," she said, looking up at her. "If I hadn't pulled him through the streets he wouldn't have bumped into you. It's all my fault! Please forgive his actions! I'm sure he didn't mean it! He's really like that most of the time..."

"What do you mean by 'like that most of the time'?" the boy's eyes grew big. But Kate paid no attention to the retaliating boy in the background. She stared at the young girl's eyes, which were shining with sincere apology and concern. Her insides softened. How could she say no to such an angel?

"Alright, I forgive you," Kate told her, smiling. All at once, the young girl beamed.

"Oh! Really? Thank you so much!" she thanked her, her eyes sparkling.

"However," Kate turned to look at the boy behind her. Their eyes made contact, tension erupting from them. Suddenly, both their eyes bulged once they had a good look at each other.

"D-David?" Kate gasped.

"K-Kate?" David gasped. Right away, in a split second, their moods changed, and anger flared from both sides.

"I won't forgive you for what you've done!! Even if you are my cousin and the last living relative of mine on earth!!" Kate's temper flared. "How dare you call me a... a..."

"Hag?" David finished for her, a mischievous smile creeping across his face. "HAG! HAG! HAG! HAG! HAG!" And he began prancing about the sidewalk, his cry never ceasing. Kate began to blush furiously, much to his delight.

Hag, eh? I know only one person who would dare call me by that name, and that is...

"David, stop that!" the girl scolded. David blushed bright red as Kate managed to stifle a snigger, and stopped. "Shame on you!... You two are cousins?"

"Talk about reality," Kate replied, turning her back on him as he did the same.

"Yeah. The daughter of my dad's brother," he added. "And my fencing senior."

"It's nice to meet you!" the girl beamed. "I'm Lisa Anders, David's classmate."

"Kathryn Laurence," Kate replied, smiling at her. "Everyone calls me Kate."

"Okay," Lisa replied, the smile never leaving her face. "Um, where are you going?"

"Me? I'm off to fencing lessons," Kate replied. David flinched inwardly. "Oh, and, David, before you face me with a sword, perfect that pathetic show of yours you call a move." David visibly flinched at her taunting.

"You bet I would!" he snapped, grabbing Lisa's hand. "Let's go Lisa! I can't stand the hag's company!" He broke into a run, starting Lisa. He led her through a couple of streets, before stopping.

"She... is a nice... girl," Lisa panted. "That Kate... Although... the two of you... fight like... siblings..."

"Siblings?!" David reacted violently to her statement. "Of course not!! She is such a pain in the neck that's why we fight!!"

*******

Kate reached a tall building and walked inside. She took the elevator to the third floor to get to her lessons. It opened, revealing the main center of her fencing school; the same fencing school she and Kevin attended. However, he wasn't around today since he had to go visit some relatives. She went to the locker room and retrieved her equipment, suit and sword. She slipped them on inside the dressing room and reported to her coach.

"Ah, Miss Laurence!" her coach smiled, seeing her in her training suit, her helmet and sword clutched around her left arm. "You're here early."

"I just wanted an early start," Kate smiled. "You were talking about a new student coach?"

"Oh, yes, the new student. It's a shame Kevin isn't around. He'd be fascinated at this new student's potential," the coach sighed. He led her to the other corner of the training hall, where a student was practicing his battle stance. "Here he is. I want you and Kevin to be his seniors. Well, since he isn't around, you'll have to do alone." He patted the student gently at the back to get his attention. The new kid immediately removed his helmet and turned around to face the coach.

"Here he is, our new potential, Aaron Truman," the coach introduced the young boy to Kate. Aaron was probably the same age David was. He had light brown hair and fair skin. He was as tall as David too. "Aaron, this is your senior. You will train with her for the meantime until you get old enough to be one yourself. This is Kate."

"Hi," Kate smiled at him. Aaron returned the smile. "Just call me Kate." Aaron nodded politely.

"As you will," he replied.

"So, I trust the two of you will get along well," the coach said, patting his two students on the shoulders. "Well, start training!" And with that he left them to their devices.

"I heard a lot of you from Coach Thompson," Kate said. "He's really proud of you. You have much potential according to him."

"I heard a lot about you too from him," Aaron replied. "He told me you're one of his most skilled students, and the two seniors I'm having are his best." Kate blushed pink.

"Well, I won't say that I'm the best," she replied, smiling. "Thank you for the compliment though. Why don't we spar for a while to see how much you've learned? That's how I'll start to get to know your skills." Aaron nodded. The two of them put on their helmets and went into battle stance, their swords pointed at one another. (Of course, in regular fencing, swords aren't pointed. They're blunt. And the practice swords they use aren't too hard. They don't use hard metal, since the swords are flexible, though fairly hard.)

"On the count of three," Kate said behind her mask. I think I'll just go easy on him. After all, he's just a new student. "One... two... three!" And they charged at each other wordlessly. They were both silent as their swords made contact, their bodies moving flexibly, just like their swords. They both blocked and avoided attacks easily, the soft clanging of steel forming rhythmic pattern, their bodies moving ... just like a dance. That was when Kate decided to try a few of her own special moves. She stopped, resetting her stance. She grinned behind the masked helmet, and charged at her opponent, first using one of the basic moves. Aaron blocked, like she anticipated he would, and she quickly retreived her sword and aimed for his side. He realized this, and tried to block her move. Once the two swords made contact, Kate hastily twisted her wrist in a circular motion, even though both of their swords were pointed downwards. Aaron didn't have time to counteract her quick move, and a second later, he was disarmed, his sword falling to the floor in front of him. The two of them removed their helmets and grinned.

"That was a nice move," Aaron complimented her. "I wasn't able to counteract right away."

"That was just speed," Kate informed him. "You should try battling Kevin, your other senior. He's much better than I am. His techniques will stump you."

"Really? I'd like to battle him once!" Aaron exclaimed, his eyes glittering.

"Well, you will, after you've received some more training. You seem to have a slight problem with that wrist of yours," Kate told him. "It's too slow."

"Oh, my wrist?"

"You seem like you need more practice in that disarming move," Kate observed. "Your wrist needs practice in disarming."

"Okay then."

*******

After a few hours of training, Coach Thompson ended the lessons and sent all of his students home. Kate and Aaron walked home together, since their recent discovery was that they both lived in the same street. They walked leisurely home, talking about fencing and other stuff. She found out that he was still in the sixth grade, twelve years old. They kept on chatting until they saw Kate's house, a few meters away.

"That's my house," Kate pointed at the fairly large house in the middle of the street with gray tiles on the roof and a spacious yard. They both noticed a shadowy figure standing in front of the gate as if waiting for someone. The two of them moved closer to it cautiously. Then, all of a sudden, Kate smiled. She put a finger to her mouth and creeped silently behind the figure. When she was just behind...

"Hello," she startled him, pinching his sides.

"What the..." was all Kevin could say as he fell flat on the face, very much startled. He swiftly rose and brushed off the dust he acquired from falling and faced her. "What did you do that for?"

"What were you doing waiting in front of my house?" Kate raised a brow playfully, grinning.

"Waiting for you," he replied, giving her his usual lopsided grin, making her insides squirm. He noticed Aaron behind her, staring at them curiously. "Who is he?"

"Oh, Kevin, meet our new junior," Kate turned around and faced Aaron. "Aaron, this is Kevin. Your other senior. The one I've been telling you about."

"That's him?" Aaron surveyed him from head to toe. He stared curiously at the guy in front of him, studying his features. Red hair that reached a little below his shoulders, tied in a ponytail, a fairly tall stature, loose shirt, black jeans... "He's my senior? Doesn't look impressive." Kevin seemed hurt.

"Hey, just because I look like this that doesn't mean I'm not good at the sport," Kevin pouted. He turned to Kate. "He's the new student Coach Thompson was talking about?"

"Yeah," Kate replied. "He's pretty good. I sparred with him a while ago and found out he has good reflexes. Except for a few flaws of course. His name is Aaron Truman."

"Kevin Willis," Kevin introduced himself, extending his hand. Aaron stared at him for another minute, before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Aaron Truman," Aaron smiled. "Nice to meet you. By the way, you and Kate seem pretty close." Kevin and Kate blushed.

"We're friends," Kate smiled uneasily at him.

"Oh, whatever. Well, see you guys tomorrow," Aaron waved, walking to the other side of the street. "I just live at number 418 Kate. We're neighbors. See you!" And he left.

"Now that he's gone," Kevin grinned, turning to Kate. "I can get a little more comfortable."

"Oh really?" Kate grinned. "What do you mean by that?"

"How long do we have to keep it a secret from everyone?" Kevin asked, putting on a face.

"Now Kevin, don't act childish," Kate scolded, folding her arms. "You know that we're still waiting for the right time."

"Yeah, I know, but when is the right time?" Kevin replied, moving closer to her. "I'm getting a little bit tired of pretending."

"I am too," Kate confessed softly. Kevin wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she leaned into him, wrapping an arm around his waist. "I'm tired of pretending." They just stayed like that for a while, still in front of Kate's house. They didn't notice Mikki and Meg walking up the other side of the road, looking forward to visiting their friend. They got closer to their destination, and saw a couple leaning against the gate, in each other's arms. They both gasped once they saw their faces.

"Kate! What are you...." Meg cried, rushing to her friend. The two were frightened when they saw Mikki and Meg rushing up to them with fierce looks on their faces. They stopped, dumbstruck, when they saw Kate with Kevin, both of whom were blushing furiously.

"What the hell.... Kate? Kevin?" Mikki could only gape at the two of them, standing side by side.

Author's notes:
So much for keeping secrets. Well, I introduced three new characters in this story. Although, I know you guys know who they are. Lisa, David and Aaron... you guys should know them by now. I bet you know who they really are. In the next chapter, I'm going to let everyone spill the beans on their relationships.
Well, if anyone of you don't like the 'fencing' thing in place of kendo, I'm really sorry, but they don't have kendo in the U.S. They do, however, have Taekwondo and other martial arts like Judo. I don't think I'd like reincarnated Kaoru or Kenshin doing some kickin' or some punchin' do you? They'd look better with swords. And besides, I'm struggling with Japanese. The only thing I don't struggle with is Japanese food. If you'd look up fencing, it goes back a long way too, just like kendo. And besides, fencing was mentioned in the anime once. Only for a short time though. But still, I've been fascinated with the art even before I heard of kendo... (what's that got to do with it anyway?)
Did you like it? I would certainly appreciate comments and suggestions.