Complications>>
Aeris seemed to be looking for someone in the crowded school canteen. Meanwhile, Yuffie tilted up her nose and tested the canteen air, she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the amount of fatty oily smell floating around. A movement to her right caught her attention and a quick glance nearly made her blanch. A jolly fat man, who appeared to be the main cook and was currently dancing round and pouring lard into his apprentices' pots with sadistic joyful glee.
Yuffie gulped and found it terribly hard to swallow the saliva. Her eyes flitted to the huge sign pasted just above her. "WELCOME to Palmer's fun and lardy canteen. LARD!!! LARD!!! We add them in chunks, lumps and as a lovely slick sauce".
"Aeris? I feel sick-"
"-HE'S HERE!!!" Aeris literally screamed into Yuffie's ear.
"Ow ow… ok, yes I know, I know he's-wait he's who?" Aeris excitedly nudged Yuffie in the direction of the farthest bench.
Yuffie inspected the …
"I hope you're not talking about that ugly punk."
"HE is NOT." Aeris gasped in horror. Yuffie stared at her cousin, appalled.
"Aeris… listen to me. You USED to have good taste. HANDSOME guys do not wear a saggy purple outfit and they do not have severely styled blonde hair that looks like a porcupine," Yuffie advised dryly.
"B-but… HE's… " Yuffie covered her ears again. Ow… I'll get deaf in a year at this rate. Aeris's besotted face broke down all of a sudden and she burst out laughing. Now Yuffie was really worried and pulled her dear cousin over to a nearby bench where Aeris panted for breath after her giggles subsided.
"You… you should… have seen… your (giggle) … face!" Aeris panted out in between her gasps of air. As her tearing green eyes peered up at her, Yuffie now noticed the mischief that rode on Aeris's twitching eyebrow like a flea. Yuffie pretended to mock whack her while she fought back a smile of her own.
"Tsk tsk Aeris… you used to be such lovely role model of a cousin. All innocence and ignorance. Now, where have you been picking up all these bad habits?" Yuffie teased before she bent low and whispered, "you really don't like him?"
Aeris blushed and twiddled with her skirt. Yuffie smirked. Some habits never change.
"… well, just a bit," Aeris whispered back and smiled in that sickening way lovesick fools do.
"Aha. Right. Just a bit,"
Yuffie nodded, barely restraining a smile.
"Oh, quit teasing me! He
is… quite cute, don't you think?" Aeris asked shyly, all at once being
the exact same inexperienced older cousin that Yuffie was so used to. Yuffie
glanced at him sceptically and shook her head gravely.
"He's just… just… ew," Yuffie replied. Aeris stuck out her tongue.
"If you're trying to be polite, don't force it. As tactful as always huh? So, made any enemies already?" Yuffie blinked, now, how had the tides suddenly turned such that she was the one being teased. Aeris had matured, well, a little anyway.
"Oh, just a certain red hair idiot, that's all."
Aeris blinked. "Be more careful with your tongue Yuff-kins-"
"-quit calling me that stupid nickname!" Yuffie growled and dragged Aeris off the chair. "Come, introduce me to your dear crush."
Before you could say, "Cloud needs a life", they were standing in front of the guy.
"Hey Cloud, this is Yuffie," Aeris smiled as she slid into the seat opposite him. Cloud stared at Yuffie uncomprehendingly.
They waited.
And waited.
And waited.
In the course of their waiting, Palmer managed to get five more people down with diarrhoea. Aeris smiled weakly and added helpfully, "You know? The cousin I was talking about?"
The rugged face of the cool-wannabe transformed into…
… the face of a dim-wit who looked as if he finally understood that the place he was sitting in was… the school! What a revelation!
"Oh. The cousin… that's right… now I remember, hi," he greeted slowly and looked up at Yuffie with a friendly albeit silly smile. Yuffie smiled weakly back.
Yuffie started making plans about setting Aeris up for blind dates if she was falling for punks cum idiots. At this point, Cloud appeared rather embarrassed at his own slow nature and scratched his head. Yuffie watched in wonder as his hand emerged from the maze of metallic looking blonde spikes, unscathed. Talk about tough. She wondered if his skull was as thick too, that would certainly explain a lot of things. She glanced at Aeris who had that aw-wasn't-his-action-so-cute-look on her face and considered sending her for therapy. Yuffie coughed discreetly which was only just enough to arrest Aeris's attention for a second.
"Enjoy your meal with your special friend," Yuffie teased and wiggled her eyebrows. Aeris panicked, for what Yuffie had no idea, she doubted Cloud got it at all. Yep, the fog was back in his eyes.
"No, it's not like-like that! Erm .. er.… wanttogogetlunch?" Aeris mumbled quickly and pointed at one of the unhygienic stores.
"I'd rather not," Yuffie replied weakly. She could not imagine eating lunch dipped in lard and facing these two dimwits for her entire meal. The idea was as appealing as, her face paled at the memory, the dress her father gave her. It had fluffy sleeves and its print looked like Smarties on a limegreen background. Her father had then proceeded to tie her hair up in shiny pink ribbons. If she was not wrong, he even took a picture of her. Yuffie had now lost all appetite. She glared at her flustered cousin and her stupid crush, rolled her eyes and resigned herself to her fate.
She would try one last time. "Aeris…"
Cloud accidentally splattered some ketchup on his nose. Yuffie watched on in disgust as Aeris wiped it away with her finger and giggled. GIGGLED?!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………..
Yuffie screamed in horror
at the adorably mushy scene and a trail was smoke was all Aeris saw before
Yuffie vanished.
Yuffie only stopped running when she was in safe distance from the canteen, which was approximately 1 mile away… (just kidding). By the time she had slowed down and started to take in her new surroundings she noticed that she was 3 blocks away. The hallway she was walking along was eerily empty and she was… lost. Her stomach juices sounded like some kind of feverish revolt… she was hungry too. Lost and hungry, how pathetic could you get?
Yuffie was not one to wallow in angst and self-pity. You could say, she preferred more external forms of venting out her pent up… emotions. I know what you're thinking, but no… she's not your typical violent spicy spoiled chick. Although she did de-stress herself by kicking around the gangsters in the neighbourhood, often would not take "no" for an answer, had her very own punching dummy in her home… Despite all these special qualities, deep down she was still your normal average girl.
She was.
Really.
And right now, she was very hungry… which she could only appease by finding a way out of this deserted place. She noticed that the rooms she had been walking past were quite long… and she blinked, there certainly were a lot of shoe racks along the corridor. Could she be in the sports centre? She grinned. At least she knew where that place was now. The major reason why she had finally agreed to come over to Midgar High was because it was the only respectable high school that was a training centre for the fighting arts.
All of a sudden, she heard a rapid succession of confident gunshots. She was amazed, Midgar High actually had a rifle practise room? This place was cooler than she thought. She peered in through the glass pane to check out the skills of the smart shooter, she was not good with guns and therefore had deep respect for those who were.
He didn't look human.
Not in his expensive white shirt and designer-cut trousers. Sunlight poured in from the windows at one side of the room, natural spotlights filled with glittering dust motes (the extras on the stage). The star stood confidently on his ground, hair immaculately combed down neatly and a slight sheen of sweat tinged on his nose like fresh dew. He fascinated her, this strange paradox of an angel with his beauty and his cold alien face. She wondered if he ever smiled.
She turned away and leaned against the door and felt for the first time in her life, truly frightened. She licked her lips, a bad habit she had when she was confused and thinking. There was another first, she questioned one of her basic rules of life: "Weren't guys merely fodder for bashing?"
Her eyebrow twitched.
This was all Aeris's fault. If Aeris had shown her around like she had promised to and not gone and started drooling over some stupid punk… she would not be feeling so crappy and… her stomach protested even louder this time, it sounded like it was about to kill someone.
At this choice moment, she heard loud sniggers coming from round the bend. Yuffie cursed herself for being so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had failed to notice the intruder's presence. She raised her head and …
… great. Just the person I wanted to see.
"Look carrot head! I'm NOT in a good mood. Come and laugh at me some other time you… you emaciated piece of celery!" Yuffie fumed as he burst out into real laughter this time before leaning against the wall with one arm for support.
"At first, I couldn't believe it when I heard an all great ninja's tummy making such loud noise! And what kind of insults are those?" He cried out in between his guffaws. The next thing Reno knew, he was pinned to the wall by silver streaks of light. The laughter stopped abruptly and he gazed at Yuffie with newfound respect as she played around with those needle like things of hers.
"Don't insult my skills as a ninja," she warned dangerously then added as an afterthought, "you're not hurt are you?"
"Of course not," he replied with a smirk that Yuffie was beginning to realise was a trademark.
"I could have hurt you. But I didn't," she coolly added, "and, you don't want me to try." Reno heeded her warning. He might like to live life dangerously but he would still like to live for a little while longer. The tension in the air dissipated when Yuffie's stomach comically growled again and she blushed hotly. Reno managed to keep his face straight and pulled off the thin daggers before he tossed something to her.
Catching it in mid-air, Yuffie realized that the package was hot, oily and smelled… bloody good! Cautiously, she brought it down, all the while watching Reno suspiciously and opened it. A delectable smell wafted close and her gaze shifted sharply to the scrumptious chicken mayonnaise baguette in front of her. She wet her lips was about to take a bite before her instincts kicked in and she paused midway. She went back to studying Reno once more as he was carefully inspected his shirt for any permanent holes.
Without even looking back at her, he mumbled, "Do you think I would poison my charge?"
"… …" Her flickering wary eyes told him all.
"Look. Just eat it ok? I will be in trouble if you die of starvation," He drawled and hardly looked as if he really cared if she really did drop dead. Unable to resist the temptation however, she took an ungracious bite and wolfed down the sandwich in a minute. Reno shook his head in amusement and threw her another package. Is she really that hungry, geez… she sure has a huge appetite for such a petite figure. Reno blinked, she had finished her second one and was eagerly licking off the filling on her fingers. She looks so innocent doing that… almost child-like. He mused before snapping himself out of it. I must be getting soft.
"Want a drink to wash it down?" Reno asked helpfully and almost laughed out loud at Yuffie's happy grin. Loser. He offered her a medium-sized cup and watched intently as she gulped it all down. Yuffie grinned, licked her lips and looked at Reno who was studying her intently, a knowing smirk written across his face. She blinked. What's he up to? Her eyes started to water and her tongue burned with intense fire.
"HOT! HOT!! HOT!!!" She screeched and started fanning her tongue, coughing and crying at the same time. She managed to throw a death glare at Reno who was currently dying of laughter on the ground.
"LOSER!!!" He hooted before he collapsed again.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!" She screamed and scanned the area for a water cooler of any kind. A chuckling Reno regained enough composure to reach into his bag and offer her a bottle of unopened mineral water. She grabbed it unceremoniously and wrenched of the cap.
"Tsk tsk… you have to learn to be more ladylike," he admonished with a wide-eyed innocent smile.
"…" Her steady murderous glare spoke volumes. When she had drowned the whole bottle then she turned upon him. "Thanks punk, you just made my day."
He shrugged and gave that same irritating suave smile again. "Hey, always glad to help, babe."
She narrowed her eyes. "Do not refer to me as 'babe'."
Reno arched his eyebrows and folded his arms across. "Fine, then don't refer to me as 'punk' either."
A light embarrassed flush crept up as she realized that she had indeed been rather unfair, by judging a person completely on appearances, even though he truly was a punk.
He raised his eyebrows. "I take that as a yes. Now, look, I've returned you the favour you bestowed on me this morning so don't you think it's high time we stopped acting like children and at least make sure you know how to get round this place?"
"Truce." She nodded, then tilted her head to one side. "How come you're so amazingly reasonable sometimes?"
"I'm a Turk." He grinned. "We always carry out our orders, however irritating. Look… Miss Kisaragi, if you'll just stay out of trouble and manage to know your way around here. I'll keep out of your hair and you'll keep out of mine. Got it?" Silver orbs focused and changed to a calculating stare as she weighed her current situation. The proposition he offered her was a win-all situation for her. When she came here, she had not counted on dear cousin to place family ties second place to some dimwit. It would certainly be useful if there was someone who could help her out. She grinned.
"All right." She stuck out her hand and they gave each other a firm handshake.
"Now, first thing off our list. I'm going to have so show you around so you don't get lost like today." Reno sauntered off at a casual pace.
Yuffie gaped and sputtered in indignation, "I was not lost!"
"Yeah right. Got it kiddo!" He called back and continued walking.
"I'm not a kid! I'm the same age as you!" She shouted back and jumped up and down.
"Just proves my point," his reply came back as a murmur and Yuffie ran forward to catch up with him. From his speed, she could tell that he was probably a mean fighter himself.
"What did you say?" She asked angrily.
"Women," he muttered under his breath.
"Say, you haven't told me WHAT exactly did you put in my drink!"
"Oh… well, the works you know, Salt, vinegar, chocolate fillings, marshmallows, hot spicy chilies…" Yuffie turned a shade greener with every utterance and put out her hand weakly for him to stop. He chuckled deeply at her expression
"Let me give you a piece of advice. Throw acorns at someone else next time."
Yuffie muttered something incoherent that vaguely sounded like "I-can-throw-acorns-at-whoever-I-bloody-like-especially-at-tomato-peabrain-immature-idiots-who-enjoy-endangering-my-life". A bemused smile crossed his handsome features before he shrugged and directed her around the school.
Kriyn's ramblings: Heh heh... I know I took a REAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long time to get down to doing the second chapter. Sorry about the delay. I'm such a pig huh? Anyway, thanks for the support you guys are giving me still. :) Will try to get chapter 3 out... as soon as possible. Hmm... I guess it's quite obvious who that mystery guy in white is huh? I hope you'll will like this chapter as much as the first one... sleepy. shall go to bed now. ^^
