Dark Chocolate, White Diamonds

By Dixxy

Chapter Eight: Missing You

(Kento)

After my forced break up with Keisha, I pulled myself into a little reclusive shell. I didn't talk to anyone much with the exceptions of Cye and Sage. I lost interest in my schoolwork (though Sage managed to get me to do it through some strange miracle of persuasion). I didn't eat as much and spent a lot of time in my room when I wasn't in school.

I was depressed.

A week and a half before Christmas break was to let out, I was sitting in my third period science class, listening to the teacher babble on about nitroglycerin and it's explosive properties. I yawned, bored with the lecture. Mr. Jackson sent me a look, grunting irritably. Out of all my teachers, he was probably my least favorite. I liked Mr. Wimbly compared to him.

"Mr. Rei Fuang, do you find my class boring?" he asked coldly in this high, nasal voice. All eyes turned to me as I tried to shrink down in my seat and disappear. Perfect. Not only was I probably going to get detention from the science Nazi but now I was going to get embarrassed, too. "Because if you do, I can liven it up for you, if you'd like."

"There was a slight crisis last night," I heard Sage pipe up. "One of the other kids that live with us had a really bad stomach bug. Kento stayed up with her for a while. It was SOO bad. She couldn't go fifteen minutes without puking all over the place. The house STILL smells really bad and-"

"That's enough, Mr. Date," said Mr. Jackson. He was turning a slight green color, then went back to his lecture. I sent Sage a look of thanks, which he acknowledged with a slight grin. Cye gave us both a look of disgust at Sage's bluff, ignoring us for the remainder of the lesson.

Of course, it hadn't been a complete lie. Sue Lee DID have a stomach bug that week. In fact, Cara and Mike were taking turns staying home with her. I had stayed with her for a little while, but only a half hour past my normal bedtime. Not nearly enough to get me to the point of exhaustion the next day, but it had SOME truth to it. He just stretched it to save my butt. I would've done the same for him.

There was a knock at the door and Mr. Jackson called the knocker in. Jerome, a fellow football player and Keisha's neighbor walked in. "Mr. Jackson, I'm here to pick up homework for Keisha Narrlobi." After he announced his reason for being there, he saw me and Sage and waved. Naturally, we waved back, looking to annoy our teacher even further without getting a detention. Hey, we knew how to piss off Trulpa without serious confrontation, so a high school science teacher was no problem whatsoever, as long as we didn't yawn in his class.

Mr. Jackson looked at Jerome and nodded. "Why you?"

"Her grandma came in while I was in the office. She was looking for homework for Keisha and her brother. Since I was right in the neighborhood, I offered to collect it and drop it off after school," he said. "So, seeing as Keisha has her science class here, I came here to pick up whatever it is she's missed."

"Do you honestly think my class needed to know that?" said Mr. Jackson, tapping his foot. He sighed heavily. "All right. Class, keep yourselves out of trouble for five minutes while I get some work together for Ms. Narrlobi." He turned to Jerome. "Do you know when she plans to return?"

"No, I don't," he said. He scratched his head, looking thoughtful. "The grandma wanted all the way up through Christmas break, but I don't know how long she plans to keep them home. I mean, her parents were MURDERED and they SAW the corpses when they got home!"

"Enough," said the teacher, looking a little disturbed. "All right." While he began to dig through some folders, I grabbed one of my notebooks. While my fellow students really could've cared less about Jerome's mission for homework, I saw an opportunity knocking and started to write like crazy.


The end of the day came. I held the note I had written in my hand as I started to look for Jerome. If I could catch him before he left to deliver the assignments to Keisha and Evan, then my idea could very easily work. If not. . . it probably wouldn't, unless one of their teachers forgot something.

I eventually saw him with a pile of books next to him as he stood at his locker, replacing a few and taking some out. "Jerome!" I called. Jerome looked up at me, smiled, and waved me over. I walked up to him and found myself looking up. While I'm by no means a small guy, Jerome was gigantic and I found myself craning my neck to look up at him.

"Hey, Kento, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing really, but, could you do me a favor?" I asked.

Jerome looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Sure. Shoot."

I gave him the note. "I know you're getting Keisha and Evan their homework." Jerome nodded, pointing at the pile of books at his feet, some of which I didn't recognize. Those must've been Evan's senior year text books. "Could you give this to Keisha for me?" I asked.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just a note," I said.

Jerome nodded, smiling. "I get it. A love letter. Okay, Kento, I'll get it to her for you."

"Thank you," I said, smiling. "I owe you one."

"Oh, no you don't," he said, laughing. He smiled happily. "You and Keisha are a nice couple. The way you made her smile is something short of magnificent. I swear, she was a happy chick before she met you but after she met you it was like a whole new person. I'd love to see you guys get back together."

"I'm hoping she does, too," I said. "Look, I've signed my name in it and she knows my handwriting pretty well. You don't have to mention my name to her- she'll know. And besides, her grandmother would have a conniption if she found out that I wrote a note to her- she hates me for some reason."

"All right, all right, I get the idea! Big secret mission, the grandmother is not to find out, I got it!" he said, holding his hands up in mock defense. "Anything I can do I will do!" Jerome patted my shoulder, smiled and bid me good-bye as he walked off. I watched him go, keeping my fingers crossed.


Days passed, and soon, Tuesday the fifteenth rolled around. There was only a few more days left before we were off for Christmas break. Sage had talked me into going over to Cye and Anubis' apartment for a little while. Considering we all had light homework loads (some of the teachers didn't seem to realize vacation didn't start until that Friday, which was fine by me), we watched movies and ate popcorn.

Anubis would've been there, but he had gone out of town with Mike and Cara for some sort of a convention that Mike had gotten two extra tickets to. They wouldn't be back until late that Saturday. Sue Lee was left under mine and Sage's care until their return, though that evening Ria had her. The Senshi LOVE to mother Sue Lee and take every opportunity to do so.

"I LOVE the noisy cricket!" said Cye as the ending credits began to roll.

"Ah, point," said Sage. "But what about the talking dog? He was pretty cool."

"Or the alien birth? THAT was a riot! The giant tentacle just kept smashing him onto the roof of the car."

"That reminds me a little TOO much of our first battle with Talpa," said Sage, shuddering. "Don't you recall that lovely little incident when he picked up Rowen with that giant disembodied hand and started to beat you with him? That looked a little too painful is you ask, me."

Cye went silent. "Let's watch something else," he said, pointing the remote at the VCR.

Sage looked at the small collection of videos on the coffee table from his position on the floor. He picked up a box and took a drink from his soda can before grabbing a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into his mouth. "How's about a round of Monty Python movies to get the evening REALLY going?"

"Yes!" said Cye. "Trojan rabbits, llama induced credits, and the castle of virgins."

"Yeah! 'Run away, run away!'" said Sage, falling over as he began to laugh.

"What do you think, Kento?" Cye asked.

"Hmm?" I asked. I was curled up in the corner of the couch, minding my own business as I drank my soda and absently watched their discussion. I was clutching a pillow, only paying a little attention to the movie and the conversation. When I saw Sage holding up Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I shrugged. "Oh, that sounds good."

"Kento, snap out of it. You're not being yourself," said Cye. "Keisha's grandmother is being anal and she's either going to snap out of it or Keisha or Evan are going to give her a reality check and explain that there was a POINT to the civil rights movement."

"I don't know if you understand," I said. "You and Sara don't have the problem I do."

"What about me and Sam?" said Sage. "We're not even the same species and we went out without much of a problem. Well. . . her father tried to kill me but he's a scorch mark on the pavement now, remember? You guys are both human, and if a Flitteree and an Amazon can go out on a date there's still hope."

"Sage, since we still aren't sure what happened to Celeste, you're basically the last one of your species. Sam and Ella are the last two Amazons considering you fried Damion. There's no one to complain about it," I said. "And if I recall it was ONE date- you two decided to just be friends."

"That kills that argument," Sage mumbled.

"But what if it can't work, even if we did get back together?" I said.

"It CAN work. Your racial differences didn't stop you from being together for a solid four months. And you act like you've been dating for four YEARS Kento. There's something special there, and both of you have to admit it. You didn't CARE about your races. You just cared about each other," said Cye.

"I know that," I said. "But. . ."

"You didn't let this get in the way of your emotions before. Heck, right after we beat Trulpa in the first thing you two did was lock lips, and when we had our first encounter with Sheila you told her off and showed your love for her all in the same act. Why are you letting it take advantage of you now?" said Sage.

"Because Keisha's grandmother just shoved it down his throat, that's why," said Cye, folding his arms. He cocked his head to the side, which meant he was getting ready to give a good explanation for a really sucky situation. "She's probably being just a bit overprotective of them right now. Her daughter and son in law were just murdered, after all. She doesn't want to loose her only grandchildren, now does she? Give it time and she'll be back in your arms before you know it."

"Maybe you're right," I said. I thought about what he said, then cracked a grin and started to chuckle. My friends gave me an odd look, seeming to be afraid I had just bought a one way ticket to the loony bin. "You do realize we sound like a bunch of girls right now?"

Sage and Cye both burst out laughing at the comment. I joined in, feeling a little better about what was going on. "Enough about this," said Sage. After taking a thoughtful pose, he looked out the window and frowned. "Dark out. What time is it? We should get home soon if it's too late."

"After nine," said Cye.

Sage pouted. "We have to get back home. It's a school night," he said, sticking his tongue out. "Screw school! Let's just drop out, start a band, and let the Japanese government know where we are, so then the US Government would realize we're actually a bunch of illegal aliens, getting us into a world of trouble!"

"How about not, Sage? Look, we're off next week and a week after that for New Years," I said, reminding myself that while having a happier Sage was good sometimes, he could occasionally get out of hand in his perkiness. "A solid two weeks off from school. Be happy with what we've been given."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," said Sage. He stood up. "C'mon, let's help Cye clean up."

"That's all right, I'll take care of it. You guys get back before Mr. Jackson gives you detention for the rest of the year," Cye said, laughing about the stunt we'd pulled earlier that week. Sage sent Cye a wry grin as I waved and the two of us headed out of the apartment.