Story. Here. Now. Read.
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Sora walked into the classroom and carefully sat on her customary seat. There seemed to be no booby traps here… she narrowed her eyes. So far, today, there wasn't any sign of a prank and it was Matt's turn for retaliation for her latest…display. Warily, she glanced around.
There he was. Sitting at his table being surrounded by his fans. She scowled at one of them who was attempting to sit down and test the law of impenetrability. She didn't seem to be from their class…it was Jun Motomiya.
With a little huff, she looked away and found herself being stared at by Aki and Chloris. They seemed to be watching for something. She arched her eyebrow. "What are you two looking at?"
"You, actually," Chloris said casually. "It seems that you are bothered by the torture Matt's going through."
"Torture?" Sora snorted. "Look at him. He's enjoying it."
Aki shrugged. "The point is that you're bothered. Could it be that you're finally turning human?"
Sora stood up angrily, causing her chair to screech and slide backwards. She scowled at them and slapped her palms on her table, growling, "What are you getting at, Aki dearest?"
"Any problem girls?" Taichi slid into the seat next to Aki.
"For your information," Sora snapped, ignoring their big-haired friend, "I was just abhorred by the girls' shameless display of idolization for someone most definitely *not* suitable for being the center of idolatry."
"Huh?" Tai looked confused. "What are you girls talking about?"
"Let it slide, Tai," Aki said to him, patting his shoulder. "Let it slide."
Tai shrugged. "Anyway, I passed by the bulletin board today and saw that old poster advertisement for the astronomy convention next Saturday." His eyes grew slightly starry. "They will be serving free food…Are any of you going? I'm definitely in."
Sora shrugged, sinking back into her seat. Chloris nodded, smiling cheerfully. "I've never been to an astronomy convention before, even in Greece. I heard that they are interesting to go to."
"Not really," Tai admitted. "The speeches and theories get really boring. We had one last year and I fell asleep as soon as they started greeting us. It takes a really long time for them to begin the stargazing. They didn't serve free food, either. I was really bored."
"That's because you have the attention span of a dead rat," Aki quipped, laughing gleefully. Tai glared at her.
Chloris questioned Tai. "So why are you going then?"
"I'm in it for the food."
She glanced at Aki. "What about you, Aki? Are you going?"
"I probably have to," she said, shrugging.
"What do you mean?"
Aki was about to reply when the teacher of Biology class walked in. Her name was Ms. Kei and Sora rather liked her. She was a good teacher, although she sometimes demanded too much from them. Ms. Kei was very vehement on her environmental points of view. "Good afternoon, students. I want all of you over there by Mr. Ishida's desk to return to your seats."
They didn't seem to pay attention to the teacher.
"GIRLS!!!" Ms. Kei's voice boomed. The girls, after emitting little girly gasps, suddenly vanished. Ms. Kei let out a few choice swear words and stomped off behind her desk.
Ms. Kei was also very assertive and stood for no messing around.
It was rather admirable, actually. The Biology teacher looked like a very dainty woman and her voice, when speaking normally, was light and feminine, but when she yelled, it was as if the ghost of a dead evil sergeant had taken over. (A/N: Remind you of anyone? ^_^)
Sora chuckled and watched as Ms. Kei took the role call. Soon after, she passed her essay on environmental rights along with everyone else. Ms. Kei then began her lecture. Sora listened avidly. Admittedly, Biology was one of her favorite subjects. They were frequently sidetracked from cells and evolution by current environmental news, most of which caused Sora a number of emotions. (A/N: I won't be boring you with the details. None of us want school at the moment…at least, I hope none of us want school at the moment. Otherwise would be too freaky.)
The day went on…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TK walked down the nearly empty halls, smiling happily. Today was a pretty good day, for a school day. (A/N: ARGH!! Too many 'day's!)
His class had a free period for this day because their Math teacher was currently out of commission—it appeared that she had taken one too many lunches at the cafeteria lady's hands…
He wondered how his friends were doing, still stuck in their classrooms. TK was the only one of their close friends who was given a free period.
When he reached his locker, he opened it and began to pile his books in. As he tidied it up, his eye caught sight of a picture of him and Kari that was stuck to the wall of his locker. If his memory served him correct—though it usually didn't, if his grades in Biology were to attest to this—the picture was taken more than a few years ago. There was another more recent picture of the two of them, though. They were sitting down on the sandy beach, holding hands and grinning at the camera.
He smiled cheerfully and continued to arrange his locker in a more systematic way. It seems that it had the tendency to mess itself up consciously, since TK always kept his locker tidy.
He paused. What was this? He picked up a orange striped polka-dotted sock. I don't own this…He glanced at his locker warily.
"Hey, TK!" someone yelled.
TK hurriedly stashed the sock back into the locker and turned around for a few moments and saw Ryube Nokito striding toward him, backed up by a few of his friends. Ryube was a jock who always seemed to yell whenever being talked to in an otherwise normal conversation. He smiled a little hesitantly and nodded. "Hey, Ryube."
"I'd like to talk to you, Takaishi," the fellow said loudly.
"Oh?" TK kept his face carefully neutral and hoped that his ears would last him the day at least. "What for? Is there anything wrong?"
Inside, TK wondered what Ryube wanted to talk to him for. He didn't remember talking to Ryube for the past few weeks. He didn't even recall meeting with Ryube. Until now, that is.
Ryube glared at him slightly. "My girlfriend thinks you're hot."
TK looked puzzled. Was this how Ryube normally began conversations or was it supposed to mean something. "Is that good?"
"Hell, no!" Ryube yelled. But then again, he might have just said it, since Ryube seemed to be born with a megaphone built into his vocal cords. "She's MY girlfriend and you'd better stay away from her. Stick to your own." He growled and banged his fist against TK's locker, causing all his things to fall out of order again. TK winced. He'd have to do it all over again…
Luckily, the strange sock managed to stay out of sight, therefore TK was spared (for the moment) from his peers' merciless avoidance. Who would wear a sock like that? (A/N: Uh…*coughs*)
"My own what?" (A/N: OK, so I'm making TK kinda clueless, but I think it's rather charming. ü)
He pointed to the picture of him and Kari. "Stick to your own girlfriend, Takaishi."
TK's cheeks reddened as it dawned on him and he protested, "She's not my girlfriend, Ryube. She's just my best friend."
The larger youth snorted. "Yeah, right. I've seen the two of you."
Ryube's friend grinned and leered at the picture. "She's pretty cute. If you won't have her, would you mind giving her to me? She'll still be your best friend, you know. She'll be my girlfriend, though."
TK glared at him. "I'd like it a lot better if you didn't."
"Yeah," Ryube growled to his lackey. "If you did, my girlfriend would have a reason to see TK more often, and we don't want that, do we?" He pounded his fist against TK's locker again, causing a few books to fall out. The sock dangled out precariously, standing out against the dark green of his locker.
TK didn't notice though. People thought that Kari and he were dating??? He didn't know why, but the idea of it seemed different but not too strange to him. Kari and he were close and all, but they never went out. But he did kind of love her…
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. (A/N: Like an Etch-a-Sketch!) He and Kari had been labeled as 'together' before, so why did he have these kinds of thoughts? There was no difference from there to now.
He sighed. Ryube and his lackey were tussling with each other at the moment. "If you two will excuse me, I've got to get going now." He closed his locker and spun the lock—he'd neaten it up the next chance he'd get. Right now would be too risky.
"It was nice talking to you two," he said to the fighting pair of students. "Se you some other time…"
TK hurriedly walked away, wondering where he would go next. The cafeteria was closed at the moment, but he didn't really want to go there, come to think of it. He didn't want to see the lunch ladies in their daily cooking activities, perhaps blending opossum carcasses with berry juice.
…
But taking their school lunch ladies into consideration, it probably wouldn't even be berry juice. Most likely something they'd fished out of the sewer.
TK wandered the school halls. As he was strolling by the auditorium, he heard beautiful music wafting through the air. It sounded slightly familiar, though TK couldn't put his finger to it. It didn't sound like Kari's brother's music, although TK felt that he had heard this music before. His curiosity overcame him and he opened the auditorium door.
Walking inside, he saw a solitary violinist standing alone on the stage, fluidly bowing the strings as the tune's tempo escalated. It was Ken Ichijouji, the fellow who they all had become particularly close to due to Yolei's persistent nagging. TK didn't know the whole story, but he got the gist of it.
Yolei had seen him somewhere and, as usual, was smitten and completely taken over. She wasn't deterred by the fact that he was probably a million points smarter than she was, although Yolei was rather intellectual when she wasn't obsessing over anything. TK had the feeling that Yolei and Kari's 'chance' meeting with the raven-haired musician wasn't as chancy as people would've thought.
The music ended and TK was pulled out of his reverie. He smiled at the startled Ken. "Hey, Ken."
Ken regained his composure and easily leaped off the stage. "Hey, TK. What are you doing here?"
TK shrugged. "Actually, I don't really know. Our math teacher's out, so we were given a free period to run around and ruin the campus. So far, though, I haven't been feeling any destructive urges, contrary to popular beliefs about adolescents. I must be some sort of freak of nature."
Ken laughed. "You and I both. Although I have a feeling that I'm wearing away my violin at the moment."
"So what are *you* doing here?" TK then asked him. "Other than sawing away at your violin. You don't have a free period with me, I think."
Ken nodded his head in acquiescence. "I was given this period to practice my violin for the recital we're having next month."
"Next month? But that's so far away…"
"Apparently not for the music teacher," Ken remarked. "Anyway, is anyone else out already?"
TK could tell by the light in his eyes that he meant Yolei. TK grinned inwardly. It appeared that Ken also felt something for Yolei. "No, no one else is out. But then I wouldn't know. She's a year older than us."
He turned bright pink. "Wh-what do you mean? I'm talking about the others—you know, Kari and Davis."
TK laughed softly. Ken was OK. "They're still in Science."
Ken smiled slightly at that. "May I ask why Davis always seems to be hanging around her so eagerly?"
TK shrugged. "He likes her a lot."
The musician mused, "She doesn't seem to return the affection that way. But doesn't it bother you?"
TK was startled. "What?" he exclaimed. "Bother me? What do you mean? Why should it bother me? It's their lives, not mine. They're just my friends. They can spend all their time like that if they like."
Ken looked at him for a few minutes in silence and shrugged. "Just wondering."
The auditorium door opened and a woman popped her head in. "Mr. Ichijouji, I do not hear your violin singing out in its lovely voice! You will have your pieces ready by next week." She nodded to TK and popped back out as quickly as she had popped in. TK then realized that it was the music teacher.
"Well, I've got to get back to rehearsing." Ken sighed. "My hands feel like they're falling off, though. I've been here since lunchtime."
TK grinned. "I've got glue in my bag," he offered. "I think that if you put enough, they'll last you through the day. Maybe they'll last until after the Social Sciences teacher's exams, if you're lucky…in a way." (A/N: Whatever works, right?)
Ken laughed and began to walk back to the stage. "I think I could manage to bear the anguish of missing an exam. Bye, TK."
TK replied, "Bye, Ken."
As he walked past the aisles to the door out, TK wondered what Ken had been talking about. Certainly, Davis' attitude towards Kari was odd and sometimes slightly irritating, but why did Ken believe that he should have been bothered by it? Davis had been crazy about Kari for such a long time and Kari had been unresponsive for just as long that TK no longer thought much about it.
Then it occurred to him. Ken thought that he and Kari were walking out together! Why did everyone think that he and Kari were dating? Sure, the two of them hung around a lot more with each other than with their other two friends, but that was because they had known each other a lot longer than anyone else. They were best friends. It should be obvious that they would hang out a lot with each other.
A sudden thought occurred to him.
Should he be bothered?
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Matt strolled through the halls of the school, flocked by his ever-present fans. They gaggled around him eagerly, babbling things Matt quite didn't listen to. They hung around him as he left the school but he ordered them to go home. Most did, fearing to have the famous rock star displeased with them should they disobey and stick around to worship him more, but some diehards didn't seem to care and continued to cling to him. He managed to get rid of them through bribery. He wasn't too keen on the lack of morality involved in the activity, but at least it got them off his trail.
His schedule for the next three days would be rather busy, though, thanks to his evasive maneuver. But that was merely a small payment for the price of freedom…in a way.
He smiled, relaxed now, and continued to walk down the sidewalks of Odaiba. The day was bright, the sky was unnaturally blue, and the fans, at the moment, were gone but still pining away for him.
Things were good. And, of course, whenever things are good, Fate always has a way of bringing good things into the polar opposite.
Matt, upon turning a corner, saw Sora walking ahead of him. She seemed to be struggling with several books piled up in her arms and a large duffel bag. He stopped in his tracks, debating whether to help her out or to simply leave her alone. Helping her would probably lead to another mind-wrangling argument with Sora, but leaving her alone wouldn't work, either. Although he knew his conscience wouldn't bug him if he didn't help her, he knew that it was necessary.
Chloris and Aki's 'request' hung heavily in his mind. Already, he had done what they wanted—he didn't retaliate on Sora's latest gesture of her affection for him: stealing his gym clothes and stashing them in the girl's locker room. (She was an artful little pest.) He knew that they would never leave him alone until he and Sora had patched up the hole that had formed upon his simple act of opening a door.
Matt believed that it was a pointless gesture—all he had to do was step on the patch and it would give way. Why bother wasting time with all this stitching? (A/N: What the heck is he talking about?)
He was on his way to band practice and as things were, he was running late. Either way, he noted with a twinge of regret, a confrontation with Sora Takenouchi was inevitable. They both seemed to be heading the same way.
He sighed, bracing himself, and sped up walking, trying not to jostle his guitar. "Hey, Takenouchi," he called to her.
She stopped and turned around carefully. When she saw it was him, she scowled and turned away, continuing her delicate struggle with the teetering books as she went on down the sidewalk. Just as a few books were about to topple over, Matt was there in time to catch them.
He handed them back to her wordlessly and she took them, equally silent, and walked on. Matt arched his eyebrow and hurried after her. "What, no thank you for saving your precious books?"
She looked at him curiously. "Why would you care?"
He paused then shrugged. "Actually, I don't. I just thought that propriety demanded a thank you whenever people do favors."
She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't ask you to help me," Sora replied tartly. "I didn't ask for a favor. You just did it yourself. I don't owe you anything."
He sighed irritably. "I didn't say you owed me anything. You don't."
"All right, then." Sora nodded to him and turned around to make her way down the sidewalk.
He caught up with her. "Hello?"
She frowned at him. "What now? If you're intending to bother me, you've done it. I'm too tired to deal with whiny bigheaded head bangers. Now go away and let me go on life without having to bear the blame of strangling a person to death in a black rage. I understand that that is the thing angels tend to kick people out of heaven for. At the moment, my rage is turning an unhealthy gray shade." She looked at him pointedly. "It would be wise for you to go away now."
"And what makes you think you'll go to heaven?" Matt retorted. "Besides, I'm still waiting for my thanks."
"You'll be waiting for a long time, then, because I'm running late," she answered. "Besides, I thought I didn't owe you anything."
He let out an explosive sigh. "Would it kill you to thank anyone?"
She cocked her head thoughtfully. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
There was a short silence before Matt admitted, "I wouldn't be keeled over with devastation if that's what you mean."
Sora's face darkened and she glared at him. "You're a jerk, you know?" Haughtily, she stomped away the last few meters of sidewalk and turned the corner, disappearing quickly.
Matt stood there for a moment. He scowled. "That's what I get for trying to be nice to Takenouchi. Well, never mind," he declared to a bright blue bird staring at him. "It won't happen again." He paused. "Until it does. Damn."
He stalked down the sidewalk and crossed the street. As he trudged through the streets of the city, his mind turned from a certain red-haired nuisance and deviated towards the practice today. Their manager had called in with an announcement. Matt had no idea what she was up to.
When he arrived at the drummer's home for practice, he entered the building and hours later, he left in a daze. The manager had let out her earthshaking announcement:
He was going on tour in a few weeks.
Matt had protested on leaving so soon; he had just enrolled in school. Leaving so early would cause a steep decline in his already stooping grades. Why was he leaving? There was nothing he could do, however. This was the price of being as devastatingly handsome and famous as he was. (A/N: *snorts*)
He turned the corner—
"OH MY GOD!! IT'S YAMATO ISHIDA!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHH!!!!"
And turned right back around, beginning his frantic run back home. His guitar banged against his back and sent him a spiteful jolt through the guitar case. He winced and wondered, for the first time, how things would be if he were normal.
Hurriedly, he turned his mind from these mutinous thoughts and focused on running. He was heading for the street ahead of him and saw that the traffic light turning yellow. If he could just make it—
His guitar shot him another nasty spark and he jerked up, nearly tripping over a traffic hydrant that wasn't there a while ago. (A/N: *coughs, looking slightly guilty*) He swerved around it and glanced up—
In time to see the traffic light turn a shade of red that seemed to taunt him maliciously.
Your wanted doom is running behind you, it seemed to remark. Enjoy.
Yamato Ishida sighed. This just wasn't his day.
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Sora scowled as she turned the corner. She had already deposited her load in her mother's store and was now on her way to Nancy Takaishi's now. She was going to receive her next photographic assignment. She hoped that Matt wasn't going to be there, and it appeared that he wasn't going that way when she met him on the sidewalk a while ago.
Therefore, she didn't need to bring some pesticide with her when she'd leave. Nancy's house had an infestation in it by the name of Ishida.
She reached Nancy's apartment building and paused outside, wondering whether her sparring partner was there or not. She frowned. She liked her job, so creep or not, she would have to go through his hurricane.
That would be the only use for his hot air, wouldn't it?
She rang the doorbell and waited for Nancy to open the door. She stared at the panel by the door. Takaishi. So she was Matt's mother. Sora could see the resemblance—the good ones, unfortunately.
The door opened and she found herself facing the monster's younger brother, Takeru.
Sora smiled at him. "Hey, TK. Is your mom here?"
TK grinned at her. "She's here, Sora. I think she's waiting for you in the kitchen."
She nodded. "Thanks," she answered, walking inside. She paused. "Your brother isn't here, right?" she asked, hoping for an affirmative.
He laughed. "He's not staying here for the night. He's with my dad today. Why do you ask? You're not one of his rabid fans, are you?"
"Gods, no!" she exclaimed. "Your brother and I—we don't exactly click. We're the jagged pieces of different jigsaw puzzles."
"Ah."
Sora went to the kitchen and saw TK's mother sitting at the table, leafing through the piles of paper scattered over the table. The last time she had been here came to her mind quickly and she winced, remembering the time she had eaten with Matt and Nancy.
"Good afternoon, Nancy," she greeted the woman.
"Sora!" Nancy exclaimed. "I'm glad you've come! I have a new assignment in mind for you."
"So you've said."
The woman looked slightly embarrassed. "I tend to repeat myself every now and then, don't I? Well, that's just another one of my bad habits to pass on to my children."
"What are you talking about?" TK asked. "I never repeat myself!"
"What about the time when you and I went trick-or-treating and you dressed up as a rotten tomato?" Nancy challenged.
"What are you talking about?" TK…repeated. "I never—" Then he sighed. "Very sneaky, mother."
"I rest my case."
Sora laughed.
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