Katie arrives beside Lufio to watch the spectacle. "My characters got involved. Sorry I'm late. OI! Kevin?!" She
hurries over and helps her team member to his feet.
The other half of Team KK arrived just Siobhan transformed back into human form. Formal declarations of a duel
were made as the commentator greeted the latecomer.
"Hello! Goodbye!" The lurking commentator chuckled as he waved goodbye right after just waving his greetings. He
then started humming the melody to the Beatles song. "Hum dee de dee... and I say hello... Hello, hello! I don't
know why you say goodbye, I say hello... Hum dee dum..."
"THERE ARE NO SUCH THING AS MIRACLES!!"
Startled out of his musical reverie, the news commentator turned from where he had been watching Katie making
her way down to the courtyard and then helping her teammate back into consciousness.
"What the hell was that? The Duel! The Duel!!! I forgot about the Duel!!!"
Panicked, the lurking commentator looked here and about the courtyard, trying to locate the duelists. He found
them near the South entrance of the central courtyard. They were just standing there, a small distance apart,
facing each other. Juri seemed to have been moving away and was looking back at her opponent. Siobhan stood there
imposingly, the breeze playing with the tip of her braided hair and the edge of her coat. A soft keening sound
could be heard in the air.
"Wha? Why are they just standing there for?"
Everything seemed to remain still as that not-quite ringing sound slowly drew to an end. Confused, the befuddled
commentator looked around, trying to determine what had happened. It was then he noticed the shortened length of the
rapier cradled by the Rose Duelist. Siobhan's saber, on the other hand, seemed fine while being held at rest.
"Huh? Did Arisugawa-san lose? Did she lose because her blade broke? Did her blade break because she lost? Did
her blade break as she lost? Did she win? Arrgh! What happened?!?"
Then the Rose Duelist turned her face about and walked on. She made her way towards the side of the building.
There, she looked at something embedded into the wall. After a moment or two, she moved on to leave through the
South entryway. After Juri disappeared from view, Siobhan put away her sword.
"What the heck is going on?!? Who won? Did Siobhan win? Did Arisugawa-san win? Argh! And what the hell was she
looking at?" One of the floating vid screens moved closer to the commentator and showed a view of the scene as it
zoomed in for a close-up of the wall. "Huh? What the heck is that? Oh! The hell?!? That's a sword! Well, the blade
of a sword... Wha? Is that Arisugawa-san's broken-off blade? Aspects above and below, that's stuck in deep! So
that's what was making that noise... Damn, that must have been some swordplay... Too bad I missed it! Aaargh!"
The commentator then proceeded to quietly mumble several strings of curses about missed chances and bad luck.
Siobhan merely watched silently as Juri left the courtyard. The expression on her face is an odd one. Not quite
sorrow, not quite worry, not quite solomen... not really quite anything at all. But the surprising part is that
there in no trace of triumph on her features at all.
Then, slowly, she removes herself from her reverie, strides fowards and lifts from the ground the shattered
remains of the hilt of Juri's saber where the golden-tressed woman had dropped it mere moments before. Then,
cradling the piece almost tenderly in her arm, she moved to where the blade of the rapier still sang in the wall,
wrapped one leather gloved hand about the quivering steel and withdrew it from the wall with a single smooth motion.
Siobhan gazed down upon the remains of the once powerful sword in her hands. "From the broken, you shall once
more be made whole, and be that much greater for the breaking."
Then the pieces were secreted away inside her great coat as she gazed in the direction of Juri's dissappearing
form. Finally, without any further words, she turned about on her heel and stalked over to the lurker gathering.
"Lufio. Katie. Sorry about the mess. I'll get the others to help clean it up, promise."
There was a strange look in her hazel eyes as she gazed at them.
The news commentator was standing at the edge of the debris pile that had spilled out from the wrecked portion
of the academic building. Nearby, Katie acknowledged Siobhan's message with a nod as she continued trying to make
Kevin coherent again.
"Ahhh... sure, okay... umm... yeah, we sure don't want the Chairman running across this mess before we cleaned
it up. Eh hehe heh he..." He mumbles to himself. "Boy, the mood's gotten so solemn..."
Unsure as to what to do next, the tense commentator straightened the lapels of his purple blazer and checked
the functionality of his headset. The show must go on!
"And we continue with this forum's coverage of There's Something about Katie. Here, in the aftermath, the
remaining players have gathered together to clear away the damage left behind by their battles."
The floating vid screens display the gouged lawn of the courtyard, the flooded sidewalks, the extensive hole
breaching the side of the academic building across three floors.
"The latest confrontations in this rollercoaster chain of events have severely disrupted the peaceful
atmosphere of Ohtori Academy. An ordinary lunch break for the students has been interrupted and turned into a
struggle to escape from danger. In the last battle, between the..." The lurking commentator grins at his word play
on a name. "the Orange Rose of Ohtori Academy and the- Bleah!"
@}'-,--
The bloom of an orange rose thumped against the face of the grinning commentator. He looked around, trying to
determine the culprit.
"Alright, who's the wise guy?"
Nearby, Katie was still tending to Kevin. It seemed she had propped him up sitting against a tree. She was
poking him with a small PoD. In the another direction, Siobhan knelt besides some of her fallen characters. She
seemed to be in a better mood. She was looking away while whistling some tune.
"I see..."
In the distance, Juri had managed to retire herself to her favorite vantage point. The simple garden grotto
that had, on her long ago arrival at Ohtori become her place to hide away when all got so heavy that it was hard to
even breathe. She hugged herself hard as she stood, head down cast above the simple fountain, her waivering
reflection shimmering up at her with clenched shut eyes.
"Defeated... AGAIN!"
Her eyes flash open and she slams her clenched fist hard against the stone fountain. She glares unseeing down
into the cold pool. Her teeth are clenched tight behind lips peeled back in a feral snarl.
"And this time... THIS TIME IT WASN'T EVEN *HER*! Just some crazed half-wit that I've gotten stuck with again!
*mocking* The Adradic Duelists make their own miracles... ARAGH!"
She slashes her hand fereciously through the water, disrupting the clear surface into jagged waves. Spinning
about on one heel in a crisp militaristic fashion, she storms back in the direction of Siobhan and the others, her
features a clouded storm of fury.
"I'll teach her what it means to be a Rose Duelist! Even if it means going to Akio himself..."
MEANWHILE!!! (back at the ranch...)(For those who get that... you have SERIOUSLY just proved your age... for
those who don't... what is WITH kids these days? ';p )
Siobhan finally managed to wake up Ikariko, who had finally managed to shut X-merc back into the box in her
psyche, Chibi-Haruka, and Chibi-Anthy.
She was heading over to try and wake up Ami and the others when she got a strange feeling of something
missing. Curious, she delved into her coat... only to discover that the shattered remains of Juri's rapier had
vanished.
Siobhan sweatdropped nervously at her discovery. "Oooooh-kay... Now... *that's* different..."
While the "crazed half-wit" was examining her coat, the news commentator was making his way over to his fellow
CHIBI-Lufios.
"Hey, you bums. Time to get up. We've got a mess to clean up. Hoy!"
The sports announcer prodded the pile of Lufios with his boot.
"Upsy-daisy! Rise and shine! We've got a job to do."
The rest of the news team disentangled themselves amidst a bunch of moaning and groaning. They got back to
their feet, their mouths and bodies making noises of complaints.
"Lufio tired... Lufio want to go home..."
"Oy, my achin' back! I think I broke it..."
"Why, for once, can't we cover a normal sports event? You know, like a football/soccer match? Or a rhythmic
gymnastics meet? Why do we always cover these weird ones involving life-and-death struggles or save-the-Forum
competitions?"
"Feh! You're one to talk, San-ban. Mr. "EAT LUFIO! EAT LUFIO! EAT LUFIO!". You three jumped in here with
your eyes wide open. Not to mention your mouths... Sheesh. It's going to take me forever to repair my vest and
tie..."
After straightening out their clothes and clearing out the kinks in their bodies, each one of the Lufio's
took out a blanket. With their Security Blankets (TM) in tow, they started clearing out the debris by stowing
them in their make-shift bags.
"Man, this is a first."
The lurking commentator shoves one end of an I beam into the blanket's folds
"People are actually cleaning up after themselves. Usually, a thread gets abandoned before that happens.
Heh."
He finishes lodging the twisted I beam completely inside the blanket.
"This is stuff you don't see every day."
He pauses for a moment to frown.
"Usually, by this point, something would pop up to interrupt things. Like another thread going off-topic. Or
some weird plot twists involving pies and gratuitous violence. Man, for once, it'd be nice to be interrupted by
gratuitous nudity. But that never happens. You never get fan service. It's the clawing-out-your-eyes variety that
pops up. Or some yaoi action."
He pauses to reconsider.
"Wait, that's the other forum. Hmmm... I wonder what happens in this forum then?"
The Goddess Eris, Sister to Akasha the Mother of Stars, and CHaos incarnate, simply smiles down at Lufio.
"Ask and ye shall recieve."
@-`--,|,--`-@
Kevin sits up rubbing his head. "owwwiesss..... I hate getting bonked in the head. Messes up my hair something
fierce. I didn't hurt somebody with my skull again did I?" he asked tenatively.
Blinking, he realized something seemed missing. Looking down, he realized what it was.
His clothes. All of them. With a start, he tried to summon his shadows to cover him until he could steal a
new set. No luck. So there he was, Clad as the Sky for all to see. So what's a Shadowmaster like himself supposed
to do? He simply shrugged and walked off to the Men's Dorm. It's not like Ohtori Academy hasn't seen it's share of
naked Bishonen after all. (Although some would be hard to claim Kevin as Bishonen, but that's neither here nor
there.)
"Wot' the 'ell? Wot' Katie do now?"
The comment from one of the Lufios drew the attention of the rest. They glanced at where Katie had been
attending to her teammate. Except she wasn't there with Kevin. That was most curious. There was something else
missing from the picture, too. Which was "curiouser and curiouser."
"Hey! The Kevin-man is nekkie! Kevin-man is all nekkie!"
And that he was. In all his glory. In the shadow of the tree. He was just standing there, as if posing. Then
he walked off. Most of the former players in the courtyard were stunned. Most.
"What are you all staring at? He's naked. So what? What's the big deal about that? I do that all the time.
Tsch!" Chibi-Haruka resumed helping her teammates back up to their feet. That helped break up the awkward moment.
Until two more things happened. One, Juri Arisugawa had made it back into the courtyard, just in time for her to
meet Kevin at the entranceway. Two, one of the Lufios unearthed a bokken, green hair, and a towel in the rubble.
It seemed a certain someone got caught in the collapse of the fourth and third floors.
Juri just stands there, looking Kevin up and down taking a looooong look. Finally, one golden eyebrow arches
delicately and a hand comes up to rest thoughtfully upon her chin. Then, with a sniff.
"I've seen better."
With that, Juri stalks back into the courtyard, purposifully ignoring both Siobhan AND Kevin in her Stalk for
Akio.
No doubt about it, someone got caught in the partial collapse of the building. A couple of the Lufios gathered
around the buried figure.
"'Oy. Is 'e still alive? Somebody check 'im."
"If green guy dead, can Lufio eat him? *thwack* Owie..."
"Let's not start that again, shall we? Not so soon anyways... Come on, help me dig out this guy."
The bishounenmons carefully dug around the half-buried man, clearing away the rubble. Underneath the metal
piping and ceramic tiles, the unconscious figure of Kyouichi Saionji was revealed. Kyouichi held the handle of a
shinai in his hand. A ragged-looking hakama covered his body. It seemed as if he had been on his way to or from
the kendo practice hall. What he was doing in the dojo during lunch, only he knew.
"I think he's alright. He's still breathing. Doesn't seem like he's injured. No signs of blood or bruising."
"So... green guy not dead? Can Lufio still poke him? *poke* *poke* Ahh!"
As soon as the CHIBI-Lufio prodded at the uncovered kendoist with a stick, the eyes of the green-haired young
man opened.
Juri paused for a moment besides Pod-1... (;p)
"Sayonji. You fool. You should have known better than to go after the Feeding Frenzy Team with just a shinai.
Tell me... Where is Akio?"
Sayonji only blinks a few times at Juri's droll questioning.
Juri stalks off again, muttering. "Damn fool. Don't tell me he was going to the kendo hall... that's not even
NEAR that building!"
Siobhan can only watch, startled, as Juri stalks across the courtyard, a dim aura of molten gold flickering
ghost-like around her...
"Juri...?"
Kevin just looks at Juri and shrugs. "so when did you see Akio naked then?"
Without waiting for a response (which would most likely be painful) he headed off again to find clothes.
"I didn't do anything," replied Katie from behind the commentator. "His clothes disapeared on their....ACK!
Kevin's Naked!" The short brunette flushed bright pink and hid behind Lufio. "My virgin eyes!"
Kevin, ever in the Mischiefous mood, HAD heard Kate and had to reply.
"Ah, don't be like that Kate. I'm sure it's nothing you haven't already seen a thousand times."
Donning the only outfit that he could find, he shrugged at the odd epaulets and cut of the uniform.
A duelist's uniform.
An Ohtori Duelists uniform.
In Red.
Mikorei simply looked at kevin and laughed. "well, I doubt very much she's seen the 'K' Shaped scar on your
backside unless she really was peeking through her hands. Should I tell them where you got that little charmer?"
"You wouldn't even dare."
Mikorei simply vanished like a cheshire cat - grin last of all.
There was much blinking as the Orange Rose of Ohto- *smack* Ow! What? What's wrong with that title? Sheesh!
Everyone's a critic. ANYWAYS, much blinking took place as Juri Arisugawa abruptly walked off from the pile of
people gathered around and near Kyouichi Saionji.
"'Wot was that about?"
"Lufio not know. Orange lady scary!"
While the three bishounenmons were chattering amongst themselves, Kyouichi looked around him. He seemed to be
in the wrecked shell of part of the main academic building. He had been seeking solitude in the kendo training hall
during the lunch break, but then he had to go. Somewhere. And then, something happened. Something involving water,
and screaming, and falling stone. He shook his head. Maybe he was having flashbacks. Though he found it odd that he
had an impression of Arisugawa being in there, too. He looked around him once again.
"What is all this?!"
The kendoist shakily got back to his feet. The hakama he was wearing had protected him from the rubble, but it
looked worse for wear. Large strips seemed to have been torn from them.
"Why is it that I am finding myself within a large, gaping crater on the side of this academic hall?"
"That simple, my friend."
Sitting nonchalantly on the edge of the third floor, the Student Council President smiled down at the Student
Council Vice President. With the easy smile on his face, the red-haired young man dropped down to the second floor
where Kyouichi was beginning to frown.
"The Players had run amok."
"Who is it you are referring to as "friend"?"
Still smiling, Togua continued pouring on the charm. "Come now, Saionji. What a cold greeting to give a friend.
Come, let's see what else the Players had wrought."
The Student Council President grabbed the only remaining sleeve on Kyouichi's hakama and started dragging
the recalcitrant Student Council Vice President behind him. They left the three bishounenmon who had been clearing
the rubble away to continue chattering to themselves. The pair made their way down the debris pile towards the
courtyard. And if Touga had noticed that his friend's hakama had gotten caught upon some steel rod reinforcements
and was slowly being stripped off of Kyouichi's body, he wasn't saying anything.
The embarassed Katie continued to blush and mutter to herself as one of the Lufios resumed clearing away the
debris from the courtyard. The other bishounenmon had entered the wreckage inside the building, after one of them
had called for some help, and were clearing away the mess there.
"I wonder what they're doing in there?"
The former commentator looked up to peer into the large gap gouged out of the side of the building after a
portion of the third and fourth floors had collapsed. What he saw was not what he was expecting.
Stepping down through the wreckage was Touga Kiryuu. Leading a mostly naked Kyouichi Saionji. The remaining
flaps of the keikogi on his legs were more like a mini-skirt than a pair of trousers. The much-abused hakama on
his body resembled a tube top and was rapidly unraveling as the two descended.
Katie coughed. "Well I've never seen YOU naked. Baka-boy, as you call him, is a different matter." She
continued to hide until passing narrative informed her that he was clad once more.
"Thanks," she said and began helping the cleaning crew. "Oi... hey... Lufio? Kevin? Is that... Saionji? Good
thing Rachelle's not here, she'd freak at her character parading around barely clothed. Or that Neko left. She'd
glomp him for sure."
A strange feeling of doom made the brunette shiver before she returned to her task.
"hmm. Your right. that Is Saionji. This could only end badly."
Kevin pondered something for a moment then looked up at Kate "I should apologize for constantly calling your
boyfriend 'Baka-boy' by the way. It's not very fair of me, since I don't really know him." Kevin shrugged as he
grabbed a wheelbarrel and started loading it with debris. "I guess I just have a sort of Ideal of how someone
should deal with the Fairer Sex, and sometimes he offends that."
Katie shrugged. "It's not all his fault. I expect him to act a certain way sometimes too, and when he doesn't
I get hurt. My fault." She paused. "Oi! What IS he doing?!"
Kyouichi Saionji was reluctanly led down the debris slope by Touga Kiryuu. As he was somewhat recalcitrant
about the affair, he still hadn't noticed the state of his clothing. Or rather, the unstateness of it.
"Touga, unhand me this instant! I will not be lead by the likes of you!"
"Come now, Saionji. You would let your dear friend face the Players alone?"
"That's a first. The great Touga Kiryuu asking for help with girls."
Just then, the moody kendoist noticed one of the characters helping out with the cleaning in the courtyard.
Though somewhat bedraggled and muddy from the impromptu waterslide, the ever-smiling chibi-Anthy Himemiya was
doing her part in the clean-up. She would pick up some of the smaller pieces of debris and promptly hand it to
one of her "friends." All over the courtyard, a swarm of animals scampered, flew, and slithered with the concrete
chunks in their beaks, jaws, claws, and paws.
"Anthy! *rip*"
And just like that, Kyouichi took off and left Touga behind. And apparently, his modesty, too. Touga was left
holding what remained of his companion's hakama. And trailing behind the hasty young man were the tattered flaps
of his keikogi, which had given up the fight with gravity. They scattered in the wake of the greenish white streak
that stops in front of the less than immaculate chibi-Anthy and picks her up.
"Anthy, what has happened to you? Who has mistreated you so? Who?"
"*with a cheery voice* Oh! Hello, Saionji-sempai!"
hurries over and helps her team member to his feet.
The other half of Team KK arrived just Siobhan transformed back into human form. Formal declarations of a duel
were made as the commentator greeted the latecomer.
"Hello! Goodbye!" The lurking commentator chuckled as he waved goodbye right after just waving his greetings. He
then started humming the melody to the Beatles song. "Hum dee de dee... and I say hello... Hello, hello! I don't
know why you say goodbye, I say hello... Hum dee dum..."
"THERE ARE NO SUCH THING AS MIRACLES!!"
Startled out of his musical reverie, the news commentator turned from where he had been watching Katie making
her way down to the courtyard and then helping her teammate back into consciousness.
"What the hell was that? The Duel! The Duel!!! I forgot about the Duel!!!"
Panicked, the lurking commentator looked here and about the courtyard, trying to locate the duelists. He found
them near the South entrance of the central courtyard. They were just standing there, a small distance apart,
facing each other. Juri seemed to have been moving away and was looking back at her opponent. Siobhan stood there
imposingly, the breeze playing with the tip of her braided hair and the edge of her coat. A soft keening sound
could be heard in the air.
"Wha? Why are they just standing there for?"
Everything seemed to remain still as that not-quite ringing sound slowly drew to an end. Confused, the befuddled
commentator looked around, trying to determine what had happened. It was then he noticed the shortened length of the
rapier cradled by the Rose Duelist. Siobhan's saber, on the other hand, seemed fine while being held at rest.
"Huh? Did Arisugawa-san lose? Did she lose because her blade broke? Did her blade break because she lost? Did
her blade break as she lost? Did she win? Arrgh! What happened?!?"
Then the Rose Duelist turned her face about and walked on. She made her way towards the side of the building.
There, she looked at something embedded into the wall. After a moment or two, she moved on to leave through the
South entryway. After Juri disappeared from view, Siobhan put away her sword.
"What the heck is going on?!? Who won? Did Siobhan win? Did Arisugawa-san win? Argh! And what the hell was she
looking at?" One of the floating vid screens moved closer to the commentator and showed a view of the scene as it
zoomed in for a close-up of the wall. "Huh? What the heck is that? Oh! The hell?!? That's a sword! Well, the blade
of a sword... Wha? Is that Arisugawa-san's broken-off blade? Aspects above and below, that's stuck in deep! So
that's what was making that noise... Damn, that must have been some swordplay... Too bad I missed it! Aaargh!"
The commentator then proceeded to quietly mumble several strings of curses about missed chances and bad luck.
Siobhan merely watched silently as Juri left the courtyard. The expression on her face is an odd one. Not quite
sorrow, not quite worry, not quite solomen... not really quite anything at all. But the surprising part is that
there in no trace of triumph on her features at all.
Then, slowly, she removes herself from her reverie, strides fowards and lifts from the ground the shattered
remains of the hilt of Juri's saber where the golden-tressed woman had dropped it mere moments before. Then,
cradling the piece almost tenderly in her arm, she moved to where the blade of the rapier still sang in the wall,
wrapped one leather gloved hand about the quivering steel and withdrew it from the wall with a single smooth motion.
Siobhan gazed down upon the remains of the once powerful sword in her hands. "From the broken, you shall once
more be made whole, and be that much greater for the breaking."
Then the pieces were secreted away inside her great coat as she gazed in the direction of Juri's dissappearing
form. Finally, without any further words, she turned about on her heel and stalked over to the lurker gathering.
"Lufio. Katie. Sorry about the mess. I'll get the others to help clean it up, promise."
There was a strange look in her hazel eyes as she gazed at them.
The news commentator was standing at the edge of the debris pile that had spilled out from the wrecked portion
of the academic building. Nearby, Katie acknowledged Siobhan's message with a nod as she continued trying to make
Kevin coherent again.
"Ahhh... sure, okay... umm... yeah, we sure don't want the Chairman running across this mess before we cleaned
it up. Eh hehe heh he..." He mumbles to himself. "Boy, the mood's gotten so solemn..."
Unsure as to what to do next, the tense commentator straightened the lapels of his purple blazer and checked
the functionality of his headset. The show must go on!
"And we continue with this forum's coverage of There's Something about Katie. Here, in the aftermath, the
remaining players have gathered together to clear away the damage left behind by their battles."
The floating vid screens display the gouged lawn of the courtyard, the flooded sidewalks, the extensive hole
breaching the side of the academic building across three floors.
"The latest confrontations in this rollercoaster chain of events have severely disrupted the peaceful
atmosphere of Ohtori Academy. An ordinary lunch break for the students has been interrupted and turned into a
struggle to escape from danger. In the last battle, between the..." The lurking commentator grins at his word play
on a name. "the Orange Rose of Ohtori Academy and the- Bleah!"
@}'-,--
The bloom of an orange rose thumped against the face of the grinning commentator. He looked around, trying to
determine the culprit.
"Alright, who's the wise guy?"
Nearby, Katie was still tending to Kevin. It seemed she had propped him up sitting against a tree. She was
poking him with a small PoD. In the another direction, Siobhan knelt besides some of her fallen characters. She
seemed to be in a better mood. She was looking away while whistling some tune.
"I see..."
In the distance, Juri had managed to retire herself to her favorite vantage point. The simple garden grotto
that had, on her long ago arrival at Ohtori become her place to hide away when all got so heavy that it was hard to
even breathe. She hugged herself hard as she stood, head down cast above the simple fountain, her waivering
reflection shimmering up at her with clenched shut eyes.
"Defeated... AGAIN!"
Her eyes flash open and she slams her clenched fist hard against the stone fountain. She glares unseeing down
into the cold pool. Her teeth are clenched tight behind lips peeled back in a feral snarl.
"And this time... THIS TIME IT WASN'T EVEN *HER*! Just some crazed half-wit that I've gotten stuck with again!
*mocking* The Adradic Duelists make their own miracles... ARAGH!"
She slashes her hand fereciously through the water, disrupting the clear surface into jagged waves. Spinning
about on one heel in a crisp militaristic fashion, she storms back in the direction of Siobhan and the others, her
features a clouded storm of fury.
"I'll teach her what it means to be a Rose Duelist! Even if it means going to Akio himself..."
MEANWHILE!!! (back at the ranch...)(For those who get that... you have SERIOUSLY just proved your age... for
those who don't... what is WITH kids these days? ';p )
Siobhan finally managed to wake up Ikariko, who had finally managed to shut X-merc back into the box in her
psyche, Chibi-Haruka, and Chibi-Anthy.
She was heading over to try and wake up Ami and the others when she got a strange feeling of something
missing. Curious, she delved into her coat... only to discover that the shattered remains of Juri's rapier had
vanished.
Siobhan sweatdropped nervously at her discovery. "Oooooh-kay... Now... *that's* different..."
While the "crazed half-wit" was examining her coat, the news commentator was making his way over to his fellow
CHIBI-Lufios.
"Hey, you bums. Time to get up. We've got a mess to clean up. Hoy!"
The sports announcer prodded the pile of Lufios with his boot.
"Upsy-daisy! Rise and shine! We've got a job to do."
The rest of the news team disentangled themselves amidst a bunch of moaning and groaning. They got back to
their feet, their mouths and bodies making noises of complaints.
"Lufio tired... Lufio want to go home..."
"Oy, my achin' back! I think I broke it..."
"Why, for once, can't we cover a normal sports event? You know, like a football/soccer match? Or a rhythmic
gymnastics meet? Why do we always cover these weird ones involving life-and-death struggles or save-the-Forum
competitions?"
"Feh! You're one to talk, San-ban. Mr. "EAT LUFIO! EAT LUFIO! EAT LUFIO!". You three jumped in here with
your eyes wide open. Not to mention your mouths... Sheesh. It's going to take me forever to repair my vest and
tie..."
After straightening out their clothes and clearing out the kinks in their bodies, each one of the Lufio's
took out a blanket. With their Security Blankets (TM) in tow, they started clearing out the debris by stowing
them in their make-shift bags.
"Man, this is a first."
The lurking commentator shoves one end of an I beam into the blanket's folds
"People are actually cleaning up after themselves. Usually, a thread gets abandoned before that happens.
Heh."
He finishes lodging the twisted I beam completely inside the blanket.
"This is stuff you don't see every day."
He pauses for a moment to frown.
"Usually, by this point, something would pop up to interrupt things. Like another thread going off-topic. Or
some weird plot twists involving pies and gratuitous violence. Man, for once, it'd be nice to be interrupted by
gratuitous nudity. But that never happens. You never get fan service. It's the clawing-out-your-eyes variety that
pops up. Or some yaoi action."
He pauses to reconsider.
"Wait, that's the other forum. Hmmm... I wonder what happens in this forum then?"
The Goddess Eris, Sister to Akasha the Mother of Stars, and CHaos incarnate, simply smiles down at Lufio.
"Ask and ye shall recieve."
@-`--,|,--`-@
Kevin sits up rubbing his head. "owwwiesss..... I hate getting bonked in the head. Messes up my hair something
fierce. I didn't hurt somebody with my skull again did I?" he asked tenatively.
Blinking, he realized something seemed missing. Looking down, he realized what it was.
His clothes. All of them. With a start, he tried to summon his shadows to cover him until he could steal a
new set. No luck. So there he was, Clad as the Sky for all to see. So what's a Shadowmaster like himself supposed
to do? He simply shrugged and walked off to the Men's Dorm. It's not like Ohtori Academy hasn't seen it's share of
naked Bishonen after all. (Although some would be hard to claim Kevin as Bishonen, but that's neither here nor
there.)
"Wot' the 'ell? Wot' Katie do now?"
The comment from one of the Lufios drew the attention of the rest. They glanced at where Katie had been
attending to her teammate. Except she wasn't there with Kevin. That was most curious. There was something else
missing from the picture, too. Which was "curiouser and curiouser."
"Hey! The Kevin-man is nekkie! Kevin-man is all nekkie!"
And that he was. In all his glory. In the shadow of the tree. He was just standing there, as if posing. Then
he walked off. Most of the former players in the courtyard were stunned. Most.
"What are you all staring at? He's naked. So what? What's the big deal about that? I do that all the time.
Tsch!" Chibi-Haruka resumed helping her teammates back up to their feet. That helped break up the awkward moment.
Until two more things happened. One, Juri Arisugawa had made it back into the courtyard, just in time for her to
meet Kevin at the entranceway. Two, one of the Lufios unearthed a bokken, green hair, and a towel in the rubble.
It seemed a certain someone got caught in the collapse of the fourth and third floors.
Juri just stands there, looking Kevin up and down taking a looooong look. Finally, one golden eyebrow arches
delicately and a hand comes up to rest thoughtfully upon her chin. Then, with a sniff.
"I've seen better."
With that, Juri stalks back into the courtyard, purposifully ignoring both Siobhan AND Kevin in her Stalk for
Akio.
No doubt about it, someone got caught in the partial collapse of the building. A couple of the Lufios gathered
around the buried figure.
"'Oy. Is 'e still alive? Somebody check 'im."
"If green guy dead, can Lufio eat him? *thwack* Owie..."
"Let's not start that again, shall we? Not so soon anyways... Come on, help me dig out this guy."
The bishounenmons carefully dug around the half-buried man, clearing away the rubble. Underneath the metal
piping and ceramic tiles, the unconscious figure of Kyouichi Saionji was revealed. Kyouichi held the handle of a
shinai in his hand. A ragged-looking hakama covered his body. It seemed as if he had been on his way to or from
the kendo practice hall. What he was doing in the dojo during lunch, only he knew.
"I think he's alright. He's still breathing. Doesn't seem like he's injured. No signs of blood or bruising."
"So... green guy not dead? Can Lufio still poke him? *poke* *poke* Ahh!"
As soon as the CHIBI-Lufio prodded at the uncovered kendoist with a stick, the eyes of the green-haired young
man opened.
Juri paused for a moment besides Pod-1... (;p)
"Sayonji. You fool. You should have known better than to go after the Feeding Frenzy Team with just a shinai.
Tell me... Where is Akio?"
Sayonji only blinks a few times at Juri's droll questioning.
Juri stalks off again, muttering. "Damn fool. Don't tell me he was going to the kendo hall... that's not even
NEAR that building!"
Siobhan can only watch, startled, as Juri stalks across the courtyard, a dim aura of molten gold flickering
ghost-like around her...
"Juri...?"
Kevin just looks at Juri and shrugs. "so when did you see Akio naked then?"
Without waiting for a response (which would most likely be painful) he headed off again to find clothes.
"I didn't do anything," replied Katie from behind the commentator. "His clothes disapeared on their....ACK!
Kevin's Naked!" The short brunette flushed bright pink and hid behind Lufio. "My virgin eyes!"
Kevin, ever in the Mischiefous mood, HAD heard Kate and had to reply.
"Ah, don't be like that Kate. I'm sure it's nothing you haven't already seen a thousand times."
Donning the only outfit that he could find, he shrugged at the odd epaulets and cut of the uniform.
A duelist's uniform.
An Ohtori Duelists uniform.
In Red.
Mikorei simply looked at kevin and laughed. "well, I doubt very much she's seen the 'K' Shaped scar on your
backside unless she really was peeking through her hands. Should I tell them where you got that little charmer?"
"You wouldn't even dare."
Mikorei simply vanished like a cheshire cat - grin last of all.
There was much blinking as the Orange Rose of Ohto- *smack* Ow! What? What's wrong with that title? Sheesh!
Everyone's a critic. ANYWAYS, much blinking took place as Juri Arisugawa abruptly walked off from the pile of
people gathered around and near Kyouichi Saionji.
"'Wot was that about?"
"Lufio not know. Orange lady scary!"
While the three bishounenmons were chattering amongst themselves, Kyouichi looked around him. He seemed to be
in the wrecked shell of part of the main academic building. He had been seeking solitude in the kendo training hall
during the lunch break, but then he had to go. Somewhere. And then, something happened. Something involving water,
and screaming, and falling stone. He shook his head. Maybe he was having flashbacks. Though he found it odd that he
had an impression of Arisugawa being in there, too. He looked around him once again.
"What is all this?!"
The kendoist shakily got back to his feet. The hakama he was wearing had protected him from the rubble, but it
looked worse for wear. Large strips seemed to have been torn from them.
"Why is it that I am finding myself within a large, gaping crater on the side of this academic hall?"
"That simple, my friend."
Sitting nonchalantly on the edge of the third floor, the Student Council President smiled down at the Student
Council Vice President. With the easy smile on his face, the red-haired young man dropped down to the second floor
where Kyouichi was beginning to frown.
"The Players had run amok."
"Who is it you are referring to as "friend"?"
Still smiling, Togua continued pouring on the charm. "Come now, Saionji. What a cold greeting to give a friend.
Come, let's see what else the Players had wrought."
The Student Council President grabbed the only remaining sleeve on Kyouichi's hakama and started dragging
the recalcitrant Student Council Vice President behind him. They left the three bishounenmon who had been clearing
the rubble away to continue chattering to themselves. The pair made their way down the debris pile towards the
courtyard. And if Touga had noticed that his friend's hakama had gotten caught upon some steel rod reinforcements
and was slowly being stripped off of Kyouichi's body, he wasn't saying anything.
The embarassed Katie continued to blush and mutter to herself as one of the Lufios resumed clearing away the
debris from the courtyard. The other bishounenmon had entered the wreckage inside the building, after one of them
had called for some help, and were clearing away the mess there.
"I wonder what they're doing in there?"
The former commentator looked up to peer into the large gap gouged out of the side of the building after a
portion of the third and fourth floors had collapsed. What he saw was not what he was expecting.
Stepping down through the wreckage was Touga Kiryuu. Leading a mostly naked Kyouichi Saionji. The remaining
flaps of the keikogi on his legs were more like a mini-skirt than a pair of trousers. The much-abused hakama on
his body resembled a tube top and was rapidly unraveling as the two descended.
Katie coughed. "Well I've never seen YOU naked. Baka-boy, as you call him, is a different matter." She
continued to hide until passing narrative informed her that he was clad once more.
"Thanks," she said and began helping the cleaning crew. "Oi... hey... Lufio? Kevin? Is that... Saionji? Good
thing Rachelle's not here, she'd freak at her character parading around barely clothed. Or that Neko left. She'd
glomp him for sure."
A strange feeling of doom made the brunette shiver before she returned to her task.
"hmm. Your right. that Is Saionji. This could only end badly."
Kevin pondered something for a moment then looked up at Kate "I should apologize for constantly calling your
boyfriend 'Baka-boy' by the way. It's not very fair of me, since I don't really know him." Kevin shrugged as he
grabbed a wheelbarrel and started loading it with debris. "I guess I just have a sort of Ideal of how someone
should deal with the Fairer Sex, and sometimes he offends that."
Katie shrugged. "It's not all his fault. I expect him to act a certain way sometimes too, and when he doesn't
I get hurt. My fault." She paused. "Oi! What IS he doing?!"
Kyouichi Saionji was reluctanly led down the debris slope by Touga Kiryuu. As he was somewhat recalcitrant
about the affair, he still hadn't noticed the state of his clothing. Or rather, the unstateness of it.
"Touga, unhand me this instant! I will not be lead by the likes of you!"
"Come now, Saionji. You would let your dear friend face the Players alone?"
"That's a first. The great Touga Kiryuu asking for help with girls."
Just then, the moody kendoist noticed one of the characters helping out with the cleaning in the courtyard.
Though somewhat bedraggled and muddy from the impromptu waterslide, the ever-smiling chibi-Anthy Himemiya was
doing her part in the clean-up. She would pick up some of the smaller pieces of debris and promptly hand it to
one of her "friends." All over the courtyard, a swarm of animals scampered, flew, and slithered with the concrete
chunks in their beaks, jaws, claws, and paws.
"Anthy! *rip*"
And just like that, Kyouichi took off and left Touga behind. And apparently, his modesty, too. Touga was left
holding what remained of his companion's hakama. And trailing behind the hasty young man were the tattered flaps
of his keikogi, which had given up the fight with gravity. They scattered in the wake of the greenish white streak
that stops in front of the less than immaculate chibi-Anthy and picks her up.
"Anthy, what has happened to you? Who has mistreated you so? Who?"
"*with a cheery voice* Oh! Hello, Saionji-sempai!"