AN: Yeah, Van's a lot more cockier in this story ^^;; But when things get serious, he'll still be forward, but less cocky XD I plan to make this a looooong fan fiction, so don't expect any serious V/H yet! *grins evilly* Muahaha.... *pats fan fic* This will be my baby for a while, so review and review! ^______^
Neostar22: Haha, I didn't know before that I didn't accept anonymous
reviews! ^^;; Whoopsies, I changed it though! Thanks! ^_^
Dariel: Thanko! I like the cocky Van too XD I've seen him portrayed as a more
cocky character, and I loved it! So here's my try at cocky Van ^^;;
LOVE WITCH: Yup, very different attitude, imagine Van trying to hug Millerna and
tease Hitomi about kissing her? *imagines how other Van would react... Rolls on
floor laughing* Poor Van XD
Magicman/Smokegirl: *grins like a moron* Hehe *blushes* Thanko!
SabineballZ(): Hehe, the page is from her mom, haha, sorry I didn't make that
clear... She was going to be late for dinner! XD
Hitomi groaned inwardly as her alarm sounded. She rolled over and clumsily hit it, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Rolling out of bed, she stretched out her arms, and stumbled into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth vigorously, gargled with mouth wash and washed her face with warm water. Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, she grabbed her brush and made her hair smooth, and put a touch of lip gloss and mascara. I can't BELIEVE I'm waking up at 6:30 to tutor Van... she thought, occasionally hitting herself to stay awake. She kept her hair down, which was slightly below her shoulder, and changed from her pajamas into hip huggers and a red zip up hoodie. She grabbed her school bag, a granola bar from the cupboard, and left the house after yelling 'goodbye' to her family.
***
Finishing up her granola bar, Hitomi threw the wrapper into the arena entrance's garbage can, and felt the temperature drop slightly as she pushed the doors open. She walked into the stands, and spotted Van on the top row in the far left, headphones on, eyes shut. She smiled, and made her way over to him. Prodding him in the side with her index finger, Van woke up with a jolt.
"Who? What? Huh.... Oh, Hitomi" he stammered out. The devilish gleam returned to his tired eyes, and he straightened up.
"Au revoir!" he said with a proud grin. A large sweat drop appeared over Hitomi's head.
"Um...Van? Au revoir is goodbye. Bonjour is hello"
"Oh. I knew that."
"Okay, Van. Let's review the basics. And I mean the BASICS."
"Kay."
"What are the 10 pronouns?" Van stared at her blankly.
"The 10 what?"
"Pronouns" Van continued to stare at her blankly.
"You know, like 'I', 'You', 'He', etc"
"Oh. Um.... No clue" Hitomi groaned inwardly.
"'Je' is I. 'Tu' is you. 'Il' is he. 'Elle' is her. 'On' is one. 'Qui' is who. 'Nous' is we. 'Vous' is you as an important person, such as a teacher, or you as a group."
"Ah! There's two you's?" Van complained. Hitomi nodded.
"'Tu' is for one person, and casually. 'Vous' is for many people, or one important person" '
"Gotcha" Van said, desperate to understand everything.
"'Ils' is they, as in a group of guys. 'Elles' is they, as in a group of girls."
"What if there are girls and guys?"
"Then it's automatically 'Ils'"
"What if there's 5 thousand girls and 1 guy?"
"It's still 'Ils'"
"So it's only 'Elles' if there's ALL girls?"
"Yup"
"That's pretty sexist. How will we ever rid the world of the message that men are more dominant then women?" Van grinned. Hitomi rolled her green eyes, but she couldn't help but let a smile spread on her face.
"Okay, so can you repeat that for me?" Hitomi asked Van.
"Um.....Could you repeat that?" Van asked, grinning as two sweat drops appeared over his head. This is going to be a long, long, LONG tiresome journey Hitomi thought.
***
At the end of the lesson Van could say all the 10 pronouns, count up to 20 in French, recite the alphabet, and how to distinguish if a word was masculine or feminine by looking at the article. He could also conjugate regular "ER" verbs. And he knew how to say hockey in French. And how to say 'I play hockey' in French. And puck in French. And hockey arena. And goalie. And ice. The two walked out of the hockey arena together, and headed down the block towards the school.
"You know, they should pave over the football field and turn it into a hockey arena so we don't have to rent the Palas one." Van thought aloud.
"I don't think too many people would be happy" Hitomi smiled. Van smiled softly, and turned his gaze to the floor. He fell almost silent, and Hitomi felt slightly nervous at his silence. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Who, me? Of course" said Van, forcing a smile on his face.
"You sure?" she pressed.
"Never been surer." Hitomi nodded, and the two kept walking quietly.
***
Hitomi knocked on Mrs. Costella's door.
"You wanted to speak to me?" she asked.
"Yes, I've decided to set up a new option for the peer tutors. It's going to be a bit hard at first, but this way your student will be more likely to increase his or her grade by 10%, guaranteeing you that credit." Hitomi waited for her to continue. "It's not mandatory, but we're giving you the option of rearranging your schedule so you have the class in which you are tutoring your student for at the same time. That way, you'll know exactly where the student is, what they have trouble with, and whether it's that they're not concentrating or they really don't understand it." Hitomi nodded, and considered.
"Well....." she started.
"We did this a few years ago, and over 85% of the peer tutors received their credit. When we took away that option, only about 70% of the peer tutors got their credit." Hitomi knew she needed, well in the actual fact WANTED this credit badly, and she nodded.
"Sounds great. When will my new schedule be in place?"
"In a week. I'll talk to Mr. Hathmore, the head counselor."
"Okay, thanks."
***
"Hey Dilandau, haven't seen you in a while" called Allen. A boy with silver hair walked over to the boys' table, grinning.
"Hey guys. Yeah, I've been sick" he said, plopping down in a chair.
"Dilandau! My long lost baby brother! I've missed you!" came a voice from behind them. Dilandau stuck up his middle finger at Van, and they both grinned.
Most people in the school thought that Van and Dilandau hated each other, when the truth was that they were close friends. They had originally got off on the wrong foot, when Van accidentally slashed Dilandau on the face with his hockey stick during a game. But they had gotten over their differences, and now his scar was one of Dilandau's proudest possessions, along with his silver hair.
"How was your game last night?" asked Dilandau, who was -almost- as big of a hockey fan as Van.
"I didn't get to play. I'm not allowed to for 3 games" muttered Van.
"WHAT?!" burst out Dilandau, clenching his fist.
"Coach Grava says I'm suspended for 3 games, and if I don't pick up my marks he's kicking me off the team."
"But you're the bloody captain!"
"I know. He plans to make Andrew the captain if I get kicked off."
"Andrew Robinson? THAT PANSY?" yelled Dilandau, incredulously.
"Yeah, so I understand English, Math, and Science all good--"
"All FINE" corrected Dryden, smirking.
"Slip of the tongue" Van grinned. "As I was saying, all FINE, except for French."
"Shit, so what are you going to do?"
"I've got myself a hot French tutor" Van smiled broadly.
"Really? Who?"
"Hitomi Kanzaki" he announced proudly. "Not a bad teacher"
"That girl? She only came here a month ago right?"
"Yep"
"Damn, she's hot. Lucky bastard" grinned Dilandau. "Where's Gaddes anyways?"
"He's over there, sitting with Merle" Van smirked. Dilandau's gaze went to where Van was pointing, and he saw Merle and Gaddes sitting alone at a table.
"Did he--" Dilandau started with a smirk.
"He did" interrupted Van, grinning. Dilandau's eyes widened.
"Is she the one? He's looking at her like she's a piece of rocky road pie with whipped cream on top! He usually stares at girls like they're a piece of meat"
"You and your food comparisons" Allen laughed Dilandau grinned proudly.
"He thinks so. We've lost him, little brother!" Van fake sobbed into Dilandau's sleeve.
"Get off me, you twit" laughed Dilandau, and Van noticed Millerna and Hitomi leaving the lunch line, in search for a table.
"Millerna! Hitomi!" yelled Van. The two girls looked at his direction, and smiled, walking over. "Eat with us, let the lovers have some privacy" grinned Van, motioning at Merle and Gaddes.
"Is there enough room?" Millerna said uncertainly, but smiling nonetheless.
"Pull up a chair, we'll be as snug as a bug in a rug" Van twinkled.
"This is what we go through everyday" groaned Allen, half laughing. Millerna smiled at Allen. Hitomi grabbed a chair from the next table, and Van and Millerna scooched their chairs over to make room for her. Her leg grazed his, and her shoulder was very close to his. Van felt a slight warmth go through his body, and inhaled his burger to distract himself. Dilandau watched Van carefully, his eyes gleaming.
"So, Hitomi, I hear you're Van's tutor" grinned Dilandau. Van gave Dilandau an evil stare, but Dilandau merely grinned even more.
"Yeah, and next week my schedule's being rearranged so I'll have French class with him" replied Hitomi.
"Really?" blurted out Van brightly. "Uh, I mean, why?" he added gruffly, as Dilandau smirked at him.
"Mrs. Costella said the chances of you improving will be increased, and that way I'll most likely get my credit"
"Oh, so it's not just to see me" Van pouted, hiding a grin. Hitomi blushed slightly, and Van turned light red.
"Hitomi, can you come to the bathroom with me?" asked Millerna suddenly.
"Uh, sure" she said, and they left.
"Why do girls always travel in packs to the bathroom?" complained Dryden, shaking his head.
"Who knows" said Van, taking a sip of his pop. Dilandau, however cackled evilly.
"You like her, don't you?" he accused.
"Who?"
"Don't pretend you don't know. HITOMI, dumbass" Dammit Dilandau, why do you have to know me so well?
"Um.... Hitomi who?" asked Van.
"You love her!" Dilandau yelled, grinning like mad.
"Alert the media, why don't you" Van muttered. Dilandau slapped him on the back.
"I give you my seal of approval"
"Like I need YOUR approval" grinned Van, and the two smirked.
"But I think she likes you"
"Really?" he asked.
"I think it's obvious" stated Dryden, smiling.
"Ask her to the dance" suggested Allen, and Van shook his head smiling, popping a french fry into his mouth.
***
"Hitomi, do you have a thing for Van?" asked Millerna once they were out of ear shot.
"N-n-no, why?" asked Hitomi, blushing.
"Well, usually he's a cocky, arrogant bastard, but with you he was acting relatively normal" she grinned. "And I've never seen your face so red before"
"I don't!" Hitomi insisted, although her mind and body were telling her differently.
"It's okay if you do, he's actually really sweet" Millerna coaxed Hitomi, determined to be matchmaker.
"I honestly don't" Hitomi assured Millerna. But you do, Hitomi... "Okay, maybe I have a tiny, tiny, TINY crush. But that's all, in fact I'm already over him." Millerna nodded, but her violet eyes were twinkling.
The girls returned to the table, and for the rest of the lunch Millerna and Dilandau shot glances at Hitomi and Van, while the two blushed like mad, keeping their eyes on their food.
***
A week later, Hitomi entered Van's French class third period. He smiled at her, and the teacher placed her in the desk beside him.
"Bonjour, classe. Au jour d'hui, nous avons une etudiant nouvelle, Hitomi Kanzaki (Hello, class. Today we have a new student, Hitomi Kanzaki."
"Salut, Hitomi" the entire class said in unison.
"Alors..." the teacher began. "I will revert to English to make sure you understand your assignment. With the person beside you, you will study one aspect of French culture. The choices are Love, Food, Architecture, and People. I will give each group it's topic. If you get 1, you are Love. 2, Food. 3, Architecture, and 4, People. The entire project will be in French of course, and I expect this to be done in 2 weeks."
The teacher walked down the rows, giving each pairing a number.
"Mr. Fanel and Ms. Kanzaki, you are 2, food." Hitomi looked over at Van, who nodded. The teacher finished numbering off all the pairs.
"Voila. Okay, class. You may brainstorm for the rest of the class. Push your desks together" Hitomi pushed her desk so it was facing Van.
"So--" she began, until a guy from the table next to theirs called her name. He had golden brown hair, and blue eyes. He was handsome, in a squeaky clean sort of way, but not at all like Van. Van was almost exotic, he had the looks of the dark and mysterious. His unruly black hair, the grin that easily spread on his face, the devilish twinkle in his eyes, his strong arms crushing her to death made her go warm. Still, this guy was very attractive, Hitomi thought.
"Are you Hitomi?" he asked.
"Uh, yes, who are you?" she asked, turning slightly towards him.
"I'm Jacob Uchida. Nice to meet you. I've seen you around, but I never had an excuse to talk to you" Hitomi blushed slightly, not noticing Van's eyes darken.
Uchida, what the hell do you think you're doing? he glared at Jacob.
"Nice to meet you too" Hitomi replied, and Jacob smiled at her. "I haven't seen you before though" she added apologetically.
"That's probably because I spend most of my time at the Palas Arena" he told her. "I train there"
"Oh, do you play hockey too?" she asked.
"No, I think hockey's a stupid sport. I train there for the football team" Van clenched his fist, steeling his jaw. Ignore him, Van. Don't let him know he got to you. Hitomi looked over at Van, who appeared to be emotionless. His eyes however, were dark and alight with a flame.
"I like hockey" Hitomi said quietly, and Jacob laughed.
"A pretty girl like you like sports where they push a piece of rubber around with sticks? Football's a real Gaean sport, the thrill of the outdoors, the sun pouring down on you, the way the ball arcs through the air... Now that's a sport."
"I guess... I do like football" she admitted, and she was about to continue how she still loved hockey, but Jacob interrupted her.
"Cool" he said with a smile. "Yeah, hockey is for losers" Hitomi didn't know what to say, she tried to think of a way to respond without hurting Jacob or Van's feelings. She snuck a glance at Van, who's eyes were hurt, but when they met her own they suddenly turned icy. Van looked down, and Hitomi slowly returned her gaze to Jacob. She opened her mouth to reply, when he stopped her.
"The school team's doing pretty badly, I heard."
"That's because there captain's been away" said Hitomi quietly. "And they're not doing that badly."
"Still, even with their captain, they're pretty bad. They should change their team name from the Black Hawks to the Gray Pigeons"
"Um..." said Hitomi. She smothered on a weak smile. "Maybe they just need support."
"Maybe, but I doubt it. I should be working though, I'll see you around" Jacob said warmly, turning back towards his partner.
"Uh, see you around" blushed Hitomi, and he winked at her. She turned to Van, who was writing furiously in his binder, not looking up at her.
"So..." she started awkwardly, and he ripped out the piece of paper and slammed it on the desk. The page was full of ideas, written in his messy writing.
"There, I thought we'd focus on French pastries, because my mom has tons of books on them, she makes them in her spare time." he said tensely, trying to keep his anger and jealousy at bay by twirling his pen in his fingers. He took a deep breath, and met her green eyes with an intense gaze.
"Oh...Good idea" she said. "Do you want to meet after school to work on it?"
"I've got hockey practice" said Van "I have to ask Madame Dupre something" and he got up, leaving her alone.
What did I do wrong? Hitomi asked herself at Van's sudden mood swing.
***
"Hey, Hitomi" a voice called.
"Oh, hi Jacob" said Hitomi, surprised.
"Listen, do you want to hang out sometime? Maybe go to the dance with me" he said slowly, giving her a dazzling smile.
"Um..." Hitomi started.
"It will be fun" he coaxed. "Please?" He gave her a sad face.
"Oh alright" she laughed slightly, and he nodded.
"Great! I'll pick you up the night of the dance at 7"
"Sounds great".
Van walked down the hall with Allen, and was talking about Allen's new car, when he stopped dead in his tracks. Jacob and Hitomi were talking, and she was a faint pink. God she's pretty thought Van. Her lips were shiny with gloss, and her green eyes sparkled. He knew no makeup could ever replicate that sparkle. She was leaning against her locker, and Jacob was hovering close by her. She looked slightly nervous, but not in an "I'm afraid of him" way, more in a "I'm in love" sort of way. At least that's how it appeared to Van.
"Great! I'll pick you up the night of the dance at 7" he heard Jacob yell. As Jacob passed by Van, he shot Van a triumphant look. Van glared daggers, and Allen nudged Van.
"Come on, he's not worth it" Van nodded his head, and continued walking, shooting one neutral glance at Hitomi.
***
After school, Van and Dilandau decided to hang out in Van's back yard, which was littered with tennis balls and hockey sticks. They set up the old hockey net, and began to practice shots. Van held his hockey stick as he aimed at the net, Dilandau deflecting his shots. Van stopped for a moment, and picked up the tennis ball.
"It's just... Dammit! Why did she take Uchida's side?"
"I don't know, Van. But if you want I can kick Uchida's ass." Dilandau grinned, eager for some violence. "I haven't had an excuse to hurt someone in a while"
"It's okay." Van walked over to the net, and leaned against the post. "It's just... She was blushing and shit with him. With me, she was nice, for sure, but... She was acting normally. With Uchida, she was all speechless and flowery" He threw his stick to the ground.
"Well, she's a stupid bitch is she doesn't like you. Unless, of course, she likes me over you, then she's smart" grinned Dilandau. Van smiled softly at Dilandau, and Dilandau held back his jokes. He hadn't seen Van serious about a girl in a while. "You really like her, don't you?" Dilandau asked.
"Well, if she likes Jacob Uchida, I can't do much about it. She said yes to him when he asked her to the dance"
"You could kill him?"
"And then she'd hate me forever. Face it Dilandau, she wants the pretty boy. Not stupid Van who likes hockey and can't learn shit."
"So what are you saying? Are you giving up?"
"Yeah."
Dilandau shook his head, but thought girls were stupid anyways.
"Well, then I guess we'd better get you over her" Dilandau smirked. "How about we start with a nice session of hockey? You get to play soon, right?"
"Yeah"
"So shoot, buckaroo."
"You're starting to sound like me" grinned Van, and Dilandau laughed. "Thanks, little brother" Van said seriously.
"No problem" Dilandau replied. Van lined up his shot, and the tennis ball shot into the net between Dilandau's legs. Van smiled slightly, and grabbed another tennis ball from the ground.
"I was going easy on you" grinned Dilandau.
"Suuuuuure" replied Van, and he prepared to slap another tennis ball into the net.
AN: Muahaha.... The next chapter will be.... The dance! *ooh* And no! It will NOT be that Jacob cheats on Hitomi and Van saves the day! This fic will be a long, emotional roller coaster! XD Please review! I'm not ecstatic with this chapter, but I have to include this to introduce the next one! Sowee! ^_____^ Please review!