The scandal continues: see the beginning for all disclaimers.
By the way, several reviewers have mentioned wanting to write Samantha/Ikki stories of their own, but seem to be afraid it'll be viewed as copying. I've got just one thing to say to that: Go for it! I'd love to see other people writing about this or any other couples they can come up with! I'm not about to be anal about this and whine 'No, I made the pairing and you can't use it!' For crying out loud, I don't even own the rights to the characters! I have no claim on them, so why would I have any business telling you what you can or can't do with them? This is fanfiction, it's supposed to be fun and creative, and I'm not about to impede anybody's creativity.
…I should probably put that in the first disclaimer too, just to make sure everyone sees it. Anyway, in short, everyone: Go ahead! Nobody's going to stop you, least of all me.
~ * Friends Finding Out (Is Never a Pleasant Process) * ~
A dull moan accompanied Ikki Tenryou's return to consciousness as he slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on the cool green-white tiles of the Hop Mart's floor.
"Welcome back to the real world," commented Henry, learning over the boy with a smile and a cup of water in one hand.
Unable to say a word, Ikki just nodded weakly and reached for the drink, gulping down the cool, fresh, wonderful liquid. Henry smiled sympathetically even as he stepped back to retrieve two more glasses of water: another for Ikki, and one for Samantha once she woke up. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on your view of things – he'd seen the symptoms of a Coach Mountain training session many times before. It was to the point where he didn't even ask questions anymore, just dealt with it like it was a normal, everyday occurrence.
Sadly, there were times when it seemed like a normal, everyday occurrence.
"So, feeling better now that you're back among the living?" the teenaged clerk asked.
"This is living?" Ikki choked out slowly, turning his tired blue eyes on his older friend in what could have been a glare if he wasn't still so weary.
Henry just smiled, sweating a little.
Ikki looked around a bit, trying to get his bearings back and see exactly where he was. As it turned out, he was sitting on the floor in one corner of the Hop Mart, away from the door. Henry was sort of hovering nearby, standing in the general area and keeping an eye on the recovering kids while looking busy at the same time.
Samantha was lying next to her rumored boyfriend, obviously still out cold. Ikki watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest for a while, envious of the fact that she was still getting rest while he was awake and once again feeling twinges of pain from his workout. It was practically a crime for her to look so peaceful like that, chestnut hair fanned out around her relaxed face, with him right there still suffering…
"Dude, can you quit staring at her for just a minute already?"
That loud, abrupt question made Ikki snap his head up so sharply Henry swore he heard a crack. However, the third-ranked medafighter didn't so any reaction that hinted he'd hurt himself again: instead, he just gaped in shock, wide blue eyes meeting wider purple eyes.
"R… Rin…"
"Even if you like her a whole lot, dude," the shorter boy paused in his sage advice long enough to lick his dripping ice cream cone once, "It's kinda rude to stare."
"Rintaro…?" sputtered Ikki, pointing dumbly at him.
"That's my name!" Rintaro grinned widely, adding, "See, dude, you're already making progress! Not only are you not staring at your girlfriend, you're talking to your friends again, dude!"
"Heh. Commoners like him don't exactly have a penchant for decent manners," Koji commented, and Ikki turned his head to see the rich boy sitting at a nearby table and smirking smugly.
"Koji… you…" Ikki started slowly, staring not only at his rival but at who was seated next to him.
"Well, I'm glad to see you like her so much," beamed Karin. Hands clasped in front of her and stars in her jaden eyes, she went on, "Oh, it's just all so romantic! Don't you think so, Koji?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course, Karin," hastily agreed Koji with a vigorous nod.
"Secret meetings in the park and sharing kisses in front of the lake," the redhead continued dreamily. "Watching the sun set together…"
"Doesn't seem like something Ikki could come up with, does it?" Koji prompted, not certain he exactly liked the tone of voice she was using to describe it.
"Really," muttered Metabee, glaring at the boy over the top of the magazine he was pretending to read while 'ignoring' the conversation.
"But he did, Koji," insisted Spyke, wondering why that was even under debate. "I even saw the note he put in Boss's locker when she found it yesterday."
"Really, dude?!" Rintaro rounded on the boy, nearly plowing over Sloan in his overeager haste to learn all about what was going on. "Tell us what it said!"
"Yes, please!" added a still starry-eyed Karin.
"Yeah, we'd all love to hear it," drawled Koji.
The rich boy gave Ikki a very meaningful glance, and it didn't take much for his rival to understand what he meant.
(Why don't you be the one to enlighten us, Ikki? Just see how much Karin wants to hear about your new girlfriend…)
"You guys…"
"I don't remember the exact words he used," Spyke said, not realizing Ikki was trying to interrupt, "But I remember the general idea."
"It told Boss that he wanted to talk to her, to meet him at the park around sundown, and to come alone," recited Sloan quietly.
"Wow…!" breathed Karin.
"Dude, how cool is that?" Rintaro seconded the emotion, pumping a fist in the air.
"It's almost like a soap opera," Metabee observed mildly, then quickly added, "the ones that come on between the commercials, that is."
"You're right," Brass agreed with her fellow medabot slowly.
However, the Sailor-Multi was not paying as much attention to Ikki's being grilled by the others over his no longer secret meeting with the still sleeping Samantha as she was the lone figure standing away from the other children, quietly watching, observing. Every now and then, the girl snapped a photograph of the scene, or jotted down quotes on her notepad.
"Miss Erika…"
From the moment Erika had come running into the house yesterday Brass had known something was wrong. Her medafighter's distress had been all the more confusing because when she had left earlier, insisting that Brass stay behind, she had been in a very good mood… The type she was normally in when she knew about a really good, exclusive story, or some wonderful secret had brightened her day.
She'd left happy, self-satisfied, and eager. She'd returned crying, heartbroken and despondent.
At the time, Brass had no clue what had happened. Erika hadn't exactly been forthcoming with details, unusual enough in itself considering the girl's dream profession: instead she rushed to her room a sobbing wreck, clutching something tightly wrapped to her chest, slammed the door in the startled SLR-type's face, and locked it.
She locked the door.
She locked Brass – her best friend and most trusted confident – out of her room.
That, in itself, set alarm bells off for the Sailor-Multi. Whatever had changed her medafighter's mood so abruptly not only hurt her bad enough to make her attitude do a complete about-face… she couldn't talk to her own medabot about it.
Couldn't talk about it… or wouldn't talk about it.
And Brass had no clue what to do about it.
She hadn't known how to handle being locked out all night, listening at the door to her friend's anguished sobbing and frenzied muttering.
She hadn't known what to do when Erika emerged early the next morning, passed her without even a greeting, and headed off to school by herself.
She hadn't known what her next move should be when she tried meeting her just outside the school after it let out, only to get several folded papers dumped into her arms and led to the Hop Mart.
She hadn't known what to think when the reason why Erika was acting so strangely finally made itself known.
Suddenly, it had been as clear as the front-page spread, the massive color picture plastered over the newspaper of Ikki and Samantha kissing.
Ikki and Samantha. Kissing each other.
And Erika was the one who'd witnessed it all. Taken the pictures. Written the article.
Erika had seen the exact moment when her own heart shattered – and documented the entire thing.
And Brass hadn't known. Hadn't been there for her. Hadn't helped her through the shock.
She hadn't been there for her own medafighter.
Now that she finally knew… What could she do? Was there any possible way she could draw Erika back out of the shell she'd withdrawn into?
(Or will Miss Erika have to come out on her own… the same way she went into this alone?)
Standing beside her and still pretending to read his magazine (even though it was clear he still wasn't reading a word), Metabee was actually grappling with questions that, in a sense, mirrored the Sailor-Multi medabot's own doubts.
(Ikki never said a word to me about any of this. Not only did he ditch me yesterday, then show up late, worrying his mother…! But now… this…!)
It could be seen as a matter of trust, repeatedly broken and abused by both sides in the past, eventually patched up into the partnership they currently shared.
It could be seen as a matter of friendship, the need for both members of an equal team such as theirs to be completely honest with each other as much as possible and always know what the other was up to.
It could be seen as a matter of nosiness, the result of one medabot's overwhelming curiosity and love for the soap operas that came on between commercials playing with his overactive imagination and demanding he learn the whole story as soon as possible.
No matter how much that last item played a factor, however, Metabee was unlikely to acknowledge it.
So it boiled down to the KBT-type believing that, in keeping a secret as major as the possibility that he and Samantha were an item from him, Ikki was undermining their ability to trust each other and work as a team.
That was why Metabee felt it was perfectly justifiable for him to glare daggers at Ikki's head and silently debate whether to use Seeker Missiles to blast his medafighter all the way back home.
Even without the threat of immediate bodily harm hanging over his head, however, Ikki was far from comfortable. All of his friends were not only accepting the rumor about him and Samantha being a couple, but seemed to be dealing with it very nicely – something he certainly couldn't say about himself.
Henry had retreated some distance away from the group, once again busying himself while keeping an eye on everything. A thoughtful smile was on the teenager clerk's face as he studied Ikki even while working away.
Rintaro was bouncing around like normal, bombarding his hapless friend with questions about the relationship, suggestions on how Ikki should treat his girl, and other tidbits that were blurring together thanks to the hyper boy's rapid speech.
Spyke and Sloan were studying his reactions, as if sitting in judgement on how his replies to any suggestion might possibly affect their beloved Boss. While Ikki knew he and Metabee could easily defeat both at once in a robattle, somehow, that didn't take away his uneasiness at their scrutiny.
Koji was smirking like the saber-tooth tiger that just caught the pretty nurse he's been chasing – to use an analogy that occurred to Ikki as he studied his rival's expression. He seemed certain that something wonderful had suddenly been hand-delivered to him on a silver platter, something he'd been trying to get for a long time and now was even more certain he would eventually have.
Right beside the boy, Karin continued to coo in delight over the romance of it all, her perfect features made all the more radiant by her beaming exuberance. Caught up in her excitement, she seemed utterly ignorant of the open looks Koji was giving her, glances filled with appraisal, satisfaction, and possession.
Not only that, but Samantha was still snoozing away beside him, fast asleep and oblivious to the situation. Just as her nap enabled her to avoid physical agony from the after-effects of their workout, it helped her elude the mental anguish Ikki currently suffered.
No, it hardly seemed fair. Ikki shot her sleeping body a long, cold glare in a silent expression of his frustration.
Unfortunately for him, the others noticed it. Even worse, they misinterpreted it.
"Dude! I told you not to stare!"
"If you're going to shoot your lover affectionate glances, Ikki, it's much better if she happens to be awake."
"You're worried about Boss too, Ikki? It sure it taking her a while to wake up…"
"Oh, I know! Why not wake her up with a kiss?"
"What?!" exclaimed Ikki, feeling his cheeks burn again as he gaped at Karin.
"Like the fairy tale, remember?" Karin explained, beaming at her own ingenuity. "The handsome prince kisses the sleeping princess, causing her to open her eyes, and they live happily ever after!"
Over in the corner, Metabee made a sound oddly like gagging, and gripped his magazine so tightly the cover began to tear. Henry glanced over in concern.
"Rip that up, and you'll have to pay for it," he warned the KBT-type.
Brass stared over at her medafighter, rose eyes filled with sympathy, wishing she knew some way to help ease the pain she had to be feeling thanks to this entire situation. Erika seemed unaware of the SLR-type's compassion, her dull brown eyes locked on Ikki's blushing face. Similarly, the other young medafighters seemed unaware of the reporter's reactions, as they rounded on Ikki and supported Karin's idea.
"Dude, go for it!"
"Hey, can that really work, Sloan?" inquired Spyke, glancing quizzically at his fellow Screw, who simply shrugged.
"Come on, Ikki, try it," Karin pleaded, jaden eyes wide with delight.
"Yeah, come on, Ikki," echoed Koji, smirking. "Why not go ahead and kiss her? You did once already…"
That did it. Sapphire eyes filling with anger, Ikki took a deep breath and prepared to launch into a very loud and extremely vocal denial that he could feel even the slightest thing for Samantha.
But before the first syllable passed his lips, Rintaro leaned forward and shoved Ikki hard in the back, sending him sprawling to one side – and directly on top of Samantha.
The next thing Ikki knew, he was lying nose to nose with the Screw leader, Rintaro's loud cheers and Koji's whispered jeers ringing in his ears. Karin, Spyke and Sloan had lapsed into silence, like they were holding their breath waiting for the kiss.
All Ikki could do for a breathless moment was stare down at Samantha's relaxed, sleeping face. Some unknown factor at the back of his mind idly noted again how peaceful she looked, how pretty when she wasn't scowling at him or screwing up her features in some expression of anger. It then declared that the only thing really keeping this from being perfect was the fact that those beautiful bottomless pools of aquamarine that were her eyes were closed.
Then suddenly those beautiful bottomless pools of aquamarine that were her eyes flashed open. Said pools quickly filled with surprise, confusion and shock
That was about the same instant that Ikki realized that his attempt to stop his awkward fall had caused one of his hands to land in an even more awkward position.
Said pools traded surprise, confusion and shock for surprise, shock and boiling rage.
Erika just stood silently in the corner, snapping pictures of the whole thing.