Me, Myself, and My Haunted Shadow

By Ryoken

Riko heard a voice trying to pull her from her subconscious. "Hey...Hey Sara, wake up or you'll be late for school!"

"Huh?" She said, opening her eyes a crack. It was Justine, trying to wake her up.

"Come on! Get up, lazy bones!" She responded, pulling her off of the couch. Riko landed with a heavy thud and a slight "oww..." "Do you actually WANT to be late?"

"No..." She got up and went upstairs to go to her room. When she pulled on the rope, a gust of cold air hit her face. That really woke her up, and she began to dread that this was going to be the coldest room in the house, just like when she was back in good ol' California.

She went up the stairs and noticed that the window was wide open. Funny, I remember closing it last night. Should my memory serve me correctly, I even locked it. Riko went over to close it, but it wouldn't shut all the way. She looked down to see that the lock was still engaged. "What the..." But she shrugged, not having time to contemplate how that had happened, and she quickly relocked it after completely shutting the window. She grabbed her things, which were now ice-cold, and headed for the front door. She tiredly climbed into the truck and slouched into a comfortable sleeping position.

"Hey Riko, sorry you couldn't grab some chow before heading off to school," Justine apologized.

"That's ok, I've gone through worse, I'll live."

"I kinda have to work late today so I can't pick you up from school." Then Justine got an idea. "Maybe that bishounen could walk you home?" She teased.

"Justine..." Riko sighed. "That's all right, I think I can catch another ride."

"Oh? Is it going to be from some other cute boy?" But Riko didn't answer, for here they were at the gates of the school.

"Hey, look where we are, guess I'll see you later, buh-bye now!" Riko said before her guardian would make her talk. Wow, she's even better about not knowing people and taking rides from them than my mom. Cool, she thought. Even though her mind may have been working, her body wasn't. She was still tired, and falling asleep on that couch didn't exactly help. At least today was the last day before the weekend. Tomorrow she'd be able to sleep in and catch up on the many hours she'd missed on the plane.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the guys standing around a tree. Just for this morning, Riko was going to dodge them, she'd like a little peace before class. Just like the old days. Funny, never thought I'd miss being alone, she thought.

When she had made it inside the school halls safely, she looked at the now-crumpled paper that held the number of her first period classroom. Unfortunately for her, as Riko turned a corner, she ran into the misfortune of running straight into Deana, head on.

"Oh, gomen!" Riko said apologetically, picking up her books and not noticing what horror she'd run into.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, you little-"

"Is there a problem here, redi-zu?" Came a gruff voice. Riko looked up to see the principal.

"Iie, Sama!" Deana quickly stated. The principal looked at her suspiciously. Deana gave him the biggest most fake smile Riko had ever seen in her life, but it worked, and he shrugged and walked away. Her stupid-looking smile vanished. In a low tone, she threatened "today, after school, you are soooooooo nai." Then she stormed off, her "friends" haughtily following her.

Riko sighed. "How do these things keep happening to me?"

Finally, Riko found her class, a few minutes left before the final bell would ring, and sat where her biology teacher told her to sit. As soon as she sat down, however, Cye came in through the door and sat down in front of her. Figures I'd get first period with one of them. Ironic really because I won't be getting my little peace and quiet. She silently sighed, and Cye turned around.

"Hey, where were you this morning?" He asked.

"Oh, I guess I didn't come in the way you guys did, sorry," she shyly said.

"Would you stop apologizing? People are going to walk all over you if you keep that attitude up."

"Would you rather I be a particularly mean and cruel black-haired girl who's name we shall not mention?" She asked slyly.

"No, but you don't have to say you're sorry for everything you don't get right," he said. She could already tell that he didn't like fighting and that he was trying to be nice in what he was saying.

Riko shrugged. "It's just..." she started to say. But she stopped herself. "I'll try harder to be not so nice then," she winked.

Cye laughed. "Good." Then he whispered. "Not exactly as exciting with an overly apologetic person around, wouldn't you agree?"

She made an attempt to laugh, but she was just too tired and it came out as a small giggle. So she settled on nodding. Then he looked serious.

"You don't look so good. You ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, that's all." Cye turned around as the final bell rang it's toll.

First period came and went. She soon discovered that in her next class, she had to deal with both Rowen AND Kento, who seemed to make up the class clowns when put together. The teacher must have been very weary of having to go through the same thing everyday, or any teacher for that matter. Seeing as the teacher was busy trying to settle down the class from Rowen and Kento's antics, and that her next class was art, Riko decided to draw. She didn't know what, maybe of Rowen and Kento being the class clowns as they were at this moment. They sure were an interesting duo. But her eyes decided to land on the poor figure of their teacher. She was slumped at her desk, her head in her arms. She seemed very distressed. Seeing as no one was really paying much attention, Riko got up and went around the classroom, considering that it was in the middle where the ruckus was going on and placed a gentle hand on the sensei's shoulder. The teacher, who's name was Sensei Kinchi, looked up. Riko was surprised. She looked very young and figured that she hadn't been teaching for very long and that she wasn't sure what she should do. She even almost seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"I don't know what to do. I'm about ready to give up this teaching career, start from scratch."

"Did you really want to become a teacher?"

"Oh yes, ever since I was in my seventh grade class. Everyone loved our history teacher, and I thought to myself that that's what I wanted. To have students who would enjoy my lessons and would love to keep coming back to my class everyday. But it's just so hard..."

"Do you really wish to give up all your hard work just because this particular class doesn't want to cooperate?"

"They're like this everyday. It's rare that I can calm them down and keep them that way so I can teach. I-"

"I think I can help. What you need is..."

"What the heck is SHE doing???" Kento asked from his seat. The teens were getting to be so rambunctious that some were jumping from the desk to desk. Rowen looked to where Kento pointed.

"I dunno. Maybe she was a teacher's pet back in America?"

"Hey, she's taking your job then! You'd better go get it back!!" Kento teased.

"My, what a brilliant insult."

"Urusei! Hey, what's going on?! Riko just shook hands with her!"

"So?"

"Dude, she's coming back! Go ask her what she was doing by stealing your position!" Rowen stared at him like he was crazy. Suddenly, the teacher spoke up, thought it was hard to hear her over the noise.

"Class, can I have your attention please?" None heard or paid attention as Riko sat patiently in her seat and got into position to cover her ears. "I said, could you please turn your attention to the front of the class?" She said, raising her voice. No response. Then, in a loud voice that surely the classes next door heard, she yelled "WILL YOU ALL PLEASE BE QUIET?!!?!?!?" That got their attention as everyone covered their ears. They seemed to whimper a little and they sat quietly in their seats. "Gomen!" She said. She gave a slight nod to Riko and as Sensei Kinchi began to write on the board, everyone turned to face her, including Kento and Rowen, and glared. How could she take away the only class they could goof off in???

Riko groaned and hid her face in her arms. Why the hell does this keep happening to me?! Now two of the only friends I've got are mad at me! Stupid Riko, bad Riko!

The last bell rang for second period, and Riko was relieved. Even though she kept her head down, she knew that everyone was glaring at her with every chance they got. Once she didn't hear any more shuffling of feet, she raised her head, but was met with the angry faces of Kento and Rowen.

She knew what they were going to say and stopped them before they could say it. "Save it. Just save it and get in line with Deana and every other person in this world who wants to kill me, okay!?" Then she stormed out, jumping over desks as she went. Their angry faces were changed to overwhelmingly surprised.

"What just happened?" Sensei Kinchi asked from her desk.

"I think she's mad at us," Kento said.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious for us, Kento," Rowen said. "Come on, let's go apologize."

"NANI?! After she-"

"She was just doing what she thought was right! And she did. Besides, if anyone's a jerk after that, it's us, and you know it."

Hmm...perhaps I won't have to lecture or punish them after all, Sensei Kinchi said to herself.

"Let's go and we'll both apologize to her at lunch, okay?"

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right," Kento said, not wanting to discuss the matter further. They walked out of the classroom.

Riko's next class was art. She hoped that nothing bad would happen here. It just wasn't her day today. Unfortunately as she went to take her seat, someone from behind her pulled her stool out from under her and she landed hard on the floor.

A rather soft voice said "you ok?" She looked up from rubbing her side to see Sage squatting down next to her.

"Yeah, I think so," Riko said, hearing the girl tricksters grumble as their plan backfired greatly. She glanced and noticed that it was a few of Deana's friends. Great. Didn't they ever leave her or Sage alone? She sighed heavily as she got up from the floor, placed her stool near the table, sat and laid her head on the table. Sage stood up, but otherwise didn't move.

"Why didn't you come over and talk to us this morning?"

Riko looked at him solemnly and she could tell that he had seen her trying to not look awkward as she snuck around to avoid them that morning. She blushed. "I...wasn't feeling too great. Fell asleep on the couch." It wasn't much of an answer, but Sage didn't press the matter. Instead, he changed the subject and asked the one question she was relieved to hear. "Having a bad day?"

Riko didn't know whether to hug him or exaggerate her answer to show how she felt. Considering the fact that Deana's goons were in the room and watching her extremely carefully, she didn't think it appropriate to do either. "Hai."

"Want to talk about it?" Now she was beginning to think he was psychic. It was getting to be weird, even for her, but she complied, nodded, and told him all about second period and Deana. When she finished, he was leaning on the edge of the table. "Feel better?"

"Hai, arigato." She realized something as he started to walk away to his own seat. "You don't like to talk much, do you?"

Sage stopped in his tracks and turned around slightly so that he could see her with his uncovered eye. "Let's just say I'm not much of a fan when it comes to talking to girls." Riko could've sworn she saw a slight smile on that face of his. The final bell rang as just sat down.

The rest of her classes went smoothly as lunch time came around. Ryo and Riko came out the hall the Ryo was used to coming out of and she noticed Deana out of the corner of her eye, smirking and passing one finger across her throat at her. As the two sat down, Riko tried to sit as far away from Rowen and Kento as possible, and the five Ronins began to talk about a camping trip for this weekend. She kept as quiet as possible, as well as her growling stomach. Suddenly, a finger tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around to see a grim-looking Kento and a stern Rowen. Kento firmly grasped her shoulder and practically dragged out of her seat. As she was dragged away to a tree, she pleaded with her eyes towards the others to come and save her from her grisly fate, but, except for Sage, they didn't know what they were doing. She looked over towards him, but his eyes were shut. Oh no, I am so gonna die. Well, at least Deana won't get a shot at me, Riko thought. She saw Kento curl up his hand into a fist and she closed her eyes tightly, ready to embrace the punch.

"Kento, iie!! What the hell are you doing?!" She could hear from the table. She could then hear the thumping of feet running on the ground towards her. Riko also recognized the voice as belonging to Ryo. But strangely, when the fist was supposed to hit her, a very strong arm wrapped around her neck and a knuckle rubbed sharply on her scalp. She opened her eyes.

"OW, ITTAI, LEGGO!!!" Riko yelled, trying unsuccessfully to move around and get herself free. But the arm around her was too tight, too strong. She could just barely hear two people laughing and another one laughing closer to her. "Grrrrr, don't make me have to bite you, Kento!!" It was the first threat that came to mind. But it seemed to work as Kento released his headlock. She scampered away from them, rubbing her neck, but they only laughed more. She was very confused. This morning they looked like they were going to kill her, and now they were only playing around with her! "You know where I come from people usually beat the crap outta you, not give them noogies..." She said, rubbing her scalp.

Rowen's laughing was renewed, but he did his best to recompose himself. "We...We wanted to say sorry for earlier. Guess we were really big jerks, huh?" He said.

He noticed Kento was still laughing so he elbowed him rather sharply. Kento just growled at him, then turned to Riko.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Yurushi?" He said with a big smile.

"Sure I do. But that really hurt, you know! You big meanie!"

"I think someone wants another!" Kento grinned evilly.

Riko's eyes grew wide and she ran behind Ryo. "Ryo, help me!" Ryo laughed at the scene.

"Don't worry, I won't let the big bad 'meanie' get you," he said.

"My hero," Riko said sarcastically.

"Aww, c'mon on now, Riko. Where's your sense of fun??" Kento whined.

"Back in California along with my other stuff that has yet to arrive," she said from behind Ryo. For the first time, they all laughed, even Riko.

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was now officially over and that students had ten minutes to get to class. As they went their separate ways, a bad feeling began to grow inside the pit of Riko's stomach.

Kento and Riko sat down and once the bell rang, Riko made sure that no one was looking at her, not even the teacher. She then searched through her backpack and pulled out a hard-bound, gothic-decorated journal. She placed it on her lap under the desk, where no one would be able to plainly see it and turned it to the one of the back pages. She placed one hand on her left index finger and began, in a voice so low it looked as though all she was doing was moving her lips, to chant something that not even the world's greatest lip reader would be able to decipher.

Kilin decided to take a glance behind him at the new girl. He saw that Riko was looking straight ahead, but didn't seem at all focused on what Sensei Haun was saying. It looked as thought there was a book hidden in her lap. He strained hard to hear what she was saying, but it was impossible. All of a sudden, she closed her eyes and she stopped chanting. As though she knew he had caught her, she quickly put the book away and started to take notes.

"Kilin-kun, I would appreciate it if you use your social time to stare at Riko-kun and not during my class," Sensei Haun said. She didn't even look at him because she was still writing on the board. He immediately turned around and hurried to catch up in his notes, but then Kento decided to turn around as well.

"Looks like someone's got an admirer!" He whispered, smirking. Riko blushed, but didn't meet his eyes.

"That goes for you too, Kento-Kun," she said. Kento cringed and turned back to his work. Riko again caught Kilin taking glances at her every so often.

After class, Kilin didn't bother to ask her what she had been doing. But that was because everyone was throwing Kento, Riko, and he, strange and suspicious looks.

Kento noticed she was being more silent than usual as they waited for Cye. "Hey, you ok? If it's about what happened-"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," she replied, laughing a little.

"Well, ijou."

"Eeto, Kento?" Riko said, suddenly remembering this morning.

"Hai?"

"Would it be at all possible for you to give me a ride home today?" She said shyly.

"Aww, why'd you have to pick today of all days?! Right after school me and the guys are going camping!!" He cried.

"Oops, eheh, that's right. Yaso, never mind then."

Kento tried to get a good look at her face. He could tell she was still worried about something. "Maybe I could talk the guys into dropping you off on the way..."

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to do that on my account!!"

"Nah, it'd be no trouble. I'm sure they'd agree with me," he said, winking. She seemed to become her normal blushing self with that. "Well, speak of the devil!" He said, noticing Cye just coming out of the doorway. "Just the person I wanted to see!"

"Huh? Doushite?"

"Well, you see, Cye..." He said, whispering in his ear so that Riko couldn't hear. "What'dya think?"

"Are you sure it could fit another person? Plus with all that luggage..."

"Ah, she can handle it, right Riko??"

"Eeto...I suppose I could..."

"Well, so long as she doesn't mind being uncomfortable, I don't have a problem with it."

"Yeeessssssssss!" Kento exclaimed with glee, jumping around like a child. Cye and Riko both sweat-dropped.

"But you should still ask the others!" Cye included quickly.

"Yeah, yeah...Hey c'mon you slowpokes!!" Kento said, racing towards his last class with excitement.

"Hey, wait up!! That Kento!!" Cye said as he tried to catch up. Riko half-heartily joined him, trying with all her might not to get too far away from Cye. The last thing she needed right now was Deana pulling her into the girl's bathroom again so she could have a private cat-fight session on her.

Riko reached the doorway of her last class and there she was, talking with Sage, blocking the entrance. Poor bastard, she thought. He looked like he really wanted her to go away, but she must have been blind at the time because she didn't pay any attention. I am so gonna regret this, she thought, gathering her courage, taking a deep breath, and walking straight up to them.

"So I said to her, like, 'you are such a freak!' and she was just totally-"

"Hey Deana, I'm guessing that you must have REALLY bad eyesight, right?"

Deana looked disgustedly at her as thought she was some ugly piece of trash. "Excuse me?"

"I said, that you must have EXTREMELY bad eyesight. Can't you, like, totally see that, like this poor guy's in, like, total pain from your scratchy voice?" She said in an really heavy valley girl accent. She was very good at impressions. Deana must have been surprised and speechless that someone stood up to her. Without knowing what to say, she angrily stormed off in a direction other than the classroom.

"I never would have thought that you had it in you," Sage said.

"Had what in me? The ability to really really piss someone off?" She suggested.

"No. The ability to impersonate Deana so well," he whispered so no one else would hear. Riko laughed.

"Well, that's muh specialty!!" She said in a heavy country accent. They laughed and went inside. She is a very strange girl. Still, best to be careful. He thought as he sat down.

"Hey, how'd your last period go, Riko?!" Came the familiar voice from behind her. It was Kento.

"Good, I guess."

"I'm surprised you're not dead yet!"

"What do you mean?" Cye asked.

"Weren't you listening to those girls in the back?" Kento asked as if it were a dumb question. Cye glared at him.

"No, I was focusing on what the teacher was saying."

"Well, in any case, they were talking about how Riko stood up and told Deana to lay off Sage!"

"Riko! I thought you'd be better behaved than to pull something like that!" Cye scolded.

She shrugged. "I think something of Kento's is rubbing off on me."

Cye glared at him. "Whaaaaaaaaaat?! I can't help it if she gets it from the master!!"

"Yeah, sure..." Sage just kept silent. "Hey, Sage, you were there, why don't you tell us what happened?" Cye suggested. Sage looked at him with a stern glance that told Cye to keep an eye out.

They could see Rowen coming into view from down the hall, looking cheerful, but his face turned dark. He tried to yell something, but it didn't reach the warriors' ears until Riko had been pulled backwards from them. She landed with a thud and a shoe in her face that she tried to hold back with her hands. Man, I'm getting weaker at this. I really need to practice on my strength, she thought as she tried to hold the foot from stomping on her. But then she remembered she didn't have anything to eat yet. So she did the only thing she could to do to protect herself from Deana's foot of doom: dig her incredibly sharp and long fingernails into her exposed leg skin.

Deana's scream must have been heard all throughout the school because it seemed to echo down every hall, and it blocked out any other noises that were coming from the other halls. She fell down to sideways to Riko's right as she tried to stay off her left leg and stay balanced. Riko got off the floor as fast as possible, her backpack staying on the ground. Now there was a whole ring of people, who blocked out any who tried to get in. Even the Ronins were blocked. Riko now took a quick glance at her nails. There was a little blood and then refocused on her target, who was now getting up. She looked at her leg and her anger grew even more. This punk had already embarrassed her twice and now she was winning the fight?!? Who the hell did she think she was?!!?

"You...You are so gonna pay for that!!" Deana shouted so that the whole school that had gathered around them could hear. This made the school 'narks'(the people who walk around and make sure kids aren't doing something bad or wandering aimlessly around school) try to get inside even faster, but to no avail. Even Kento was having a hard time trying to get in.

Deana threw a punch straight for Riko's nose, but she put her arms up in an x-form for a block just in time. Huh? What the-? The crowd cheered and booed. So Deana tried an uppercut. Riko just dodged it. Wha, what's going on?? Deana was very frustrated now and vented air. She just started to go for an all-out cat fight now, trying to pull out her hair and scratch her till she bled. But every hand she threw at her, Riko merely blocked. What's happening?? Finally, a bulky guy was able to hold Deana down-was that her name? Or was it something else?- long enough for another boy to pull her into the crowd. As soon as they got out, the boy pulled her outside with three others, one with strange blonde hair, one with long black hair, and another with short blue hair.

One of them yelled "Come on, let's get outta here!" And the same boy kept dragging her until they reached a van. He practically pushed her in. There were many suitcases around.

The boy who had dragged her around sat in the front passenger's seat. "Where's Kento?!" Kento? "Argh, he better not have gotten run over!" But the boy who had held that girl to stop her-what was her name again?- suddenly came into sight and hurriedly jumped into the driver's seat.

"Hold on!" He said, making the tires screech as he sped away.

Now far away from the school, the boy in front turned around, concerned. "Daijobu desu ka?"

Riko didn't understand. "What?"

"Are you hurt?"

She looked herself over. "No...I'm...ok." She said unsurely. He didn't seem convinced.

"Are you sure?"

Riko tilted her head a little and thoughtfully nodded her head, not making eye contact. One of the boys in back spoke up.

"Well, that was some adventure, eh kiddies?" They seemed to laugh, but Riko didn't see what was so fun about being dragged around.

The boy that was driving, Kento his name was, eyed her and said "Where's your house?" She immediately got a piece of paper out from her pocket, though how she knew that was there, she didn't know. She gave it to him. He nodded and drove for a little while longer before stopping. "Here you are, Riko." Did he mean her? Was that her name? She stepped out and hurried up the stairs. She didn't know why she hurried. She thought it was because everything was going so fast. She opened the door with her keys and as she took one step into that unfamiliar house, everything around her went dark with a thud.

************************************************************************

Words that were used:

Bishounen-handsome boy

Gomen- I'm sorry

Redi-zu -ladies

Nai- dead

Sensei- teacher

Nani- what

Urusei-shut up

Hai- yes

Arigato-thank you

Iie-no

Ittai- ow/ouch

Yurushi-forgiveness

Ijou- something wrong

Eeto-um

Yoso- oh well(I give up)

Doushite- why?

Daijobu deso ka?- Are you all right?

Sama-suffix for high ranking