Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Flame of Recca (all is borrowed) I am only using them to entertain myself and others in the writing of fan fiction.
Chapter 1: The Begining *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"She will be mine," a dark voice cackled, "all mine, promised by destiny...Fuuko...you cannot escape..." A slight smile crept across his face as he watched Fuuko disappear into a classroom after elbowing Domon.
Fuuko slapped herself. Did she just hear someone whisper her name? Illusion. Well, if this illusion's voice belonged to anyone, that someone would definitely go by the name of Domon. Fuuko grinned slightly as the memories of Domon's various attempts to kiss her, hug her, encourage her, and pursue her came gushing back into her mind. What a klutz, she muttered as a sudden pang of guilt hit her, but...I just cannot, his honey needs to be someone else...besides, don't I like...ewwwww! Can't believe I was about to think something that I would definitely regreat and beat myself up later for thinking. The wave of guilt surged stronger as she tried to push it away. Raiha, she sighed, more guilt, miscalculation, betrayal and the unbearable emptiness that came after he left. The promptings of fate, I must leave it at that. She tried to dismiss her thoughts, but they lingered persistently at the back of her mind.
"Kirisawa Fuuko" a stern voice detached her from further contemplation "Kirisawa Fuuko!"
"Ah! Hai" Fuuko stammered, a little bit flustered because of the sudden detachment from her musings.
"Kirisawa," the voice continued, "I would appreciate having an active listener in my class, not an active daydreamer"
"Sumimasen sensei" Fuuko flushed, not realizing that her thoughts could carry her so far away from reality. Ah reality, she really should linger in that realm and not venture off into the nothingness of her thoughts. Fuuko signed, the nothingness of my thoughts, the nothingness. I can't bear it, especially the "nothing."
"As I was saying, prior to the interruption caused by our daydreamer, a student will be transferring into our class this afternoon and I need a volunteer to show him around" As soon as the word "him" was uttered, a ripple of excitement, undoubtedly caused by the female population of the class, spread across the room.
"I wonder if he is cute?"
"Perhaps he is rich...oooh!I hope he likes me!"
"I wonder who will be lucky enough to spend those *extra* hours with our new boy"
Girls, sighed Fuuko, I'm glad I'm not like them, ogling over a guy that they know nothing about. Ahhh poor Mi-chan, a rare, genuine smile stretches across Fuuko's face, female lunatics like these mob him daily...not to mention the uh, her smile extended into a wide grin, occasional males.
"Kirisawa," Sensei was getting quite agitated by Fuuko's constant negligence to the happenings of the classroom.
"huh? What?"
"Seeing as you have succeeded in ignoring me yet again, you will thus be awarded with the job of welcoming our new student. Consider this a light detention. Meet me soon after school ends." Great, Fuuko shuddered, I have yet another reason for those psychos to get *jealous* of me. My life is already in peril because of my *ahem* close relationship with Mi-chan, Fuuko smiled wryly, if you can call that close. Oh crap, Fuuko realized suddenly, I promised Ganko I would take her to the park and spend the afternoon with her today. I will need to do a bundle of explaining. Fuuko shook her head in dismay, a lot of explaining, especially to a furious Ganko.
The lunch bell chimed loudly. Sanctuary! Fuuko suppressed an urge to cry out in joy as she leapt out of her seat to meet the rest of the Hokage on the rooftop. She kicked open the door that led to her escape with great force but the usual cheerful Hokage lunch gathering did not meet her eye. An empty rooftop...Fuuko glanced around...empty.
"Dammit!" she cried aloud to herself as she slammed her head against the rusting fence that encircled the landing, trying to fight off the onslaught of the emptiness in her. "Dammit! Stop thinking these thoughts. Just Stop it Fuuko...can't help it. Can't..." For the first time, Fuuko caved in the nothing.
"Stop thinking what?" an icy cold voice interrupted Fuuko's exacerbated cries.
"Nothing" Fuuko's eyes wandered until she saw a crack on the roof's floor. "Only nothing...nothing" Darkness seeped slowly into Fuuko. Tokiya stopped her thoughts abruptly with a slap on her face. "Aie! Mi-chan...wha..what the hell?" Fuuko snapped back into reality as she retorted ferociously.
"Stupid monkey..." Tokiya murmured just loud enough for her to hear. Fuuko was still quite dazed from Tokiya's sudden slap that she didn't react to his insult. "Now that you've gotten over yourself...**Slap**" Fuuko's hand interrupted Tokiya as it grazed his cheek heavily.
"You...you...you stupid ice box, no wait...make that retarded ice berg!" Fuuko fumed as she recovered from his slap and fathomed the meaning of Tokiya's words. "You have no right to listen to my thoughts...What are you doing here?"
"Hmph. Lunch away from a mob scene of idiot girls" Tokiya bore a cold, condescending stare into the furious eyes of Fuuko. Good, I've finally got her back, for a moment her eyes conveyed nothing. Is something wrong? Tokiya was surprised at his concern for Fuuko...it is only because she's part of Hokage, he reassured himself quickly, only because of the Hokage...
"Speaking of mob girls..." Fuuko switched subjects quickly, fearing that emptiness might return if she was allowed to roam around in her thoughts. "I have just been awarded the tedious job of playing hostess to a new guy transferring to our class today, a severe punishment given by Sensei as I'm sure she's aware of the lethalness of those mob girls in my class. Heh heh heh. My life is already at risk because I know you, now the new guy is going to bring more...hmm...perils and problems" Fuuko titled her head back as she observed the paper white clouds floating slowly across the sky.
"You're quite subdued today...I have less bruises then I imagined I would have gotten from slapping you..." Tokiya couldn't help noticing the absence of the mischievous gleam and sparkle in her eyes.
"Ha ha. I'd give you a fresh one right now if you'd like" Fuuko was glad Tokiya was here, well...kinda...no...sorta...well, not completely overjoyed but just glad because he helped keep her mind off of certain things. "Do you know where everyone else is?"
"No." came the usual icy reply.
"Oh" An awkward silence squeezed between the two as they sat by each other, one gazing intently into the sky while the other observed at the ground with undivided attention. "So..."
"What's on your mind?" Tokiya surprised both himself and Fuuko by posing this question. It's just that he wanted to make sure that she's okay...if Domon knew that Fuuko was acting abnormally (well, abnormal in her standards) next to him, he'll never hear the end of it...actually Yanagai, Recca, Kaoru and Domon will all get on his back...and he's not finding excuses for himself. No no. no excuses.
"What!?" Fuuko was again, caught off guard by Tokiya's concern...hold it...that can't be concern can it? Since when did Mi-chan care about anything other than Yanagi or his sister? Must be hallucinating...must be illusion...must have misheard...
"Let me repeat that question so that it'll get through that thick head of yours, what's on your mind?"
"No-nothing...why? Since when did you care? By the way, I do not have a thick head..." Fuuko wasn't sure whether or not she should tell him...why is she even considering getting advice from the fridge master?
"You're not yourself..." Tokiya was puzzled to why he hadn't terminated this this conversation a while ago.
"So? Look...I'm...I'm fine." Fuuko stumbled over her words. If she told Yanagi...Yanagi would get all worried and sympathetic. Plus Recca was bound to know anyhow and he's not very ample at dealing with these situations. Then you can't really confide in Domon, he'll just end up trying to kiss you or...hmph. Better not even contemplate THAT. So that leaves Tokiya...the calm and cool headed one...but don't forgoet, he's also the cold and condescending one
"Fuuko?" Tokiya's eyebrows were raised high in question as he watched her drift away into her thoughts.
"If I told you that I..." Fuuko caught herself quickly before she said anything further. I don't know if I should tell him...I really don't know if I should tell anyone at all...
"Tell me what?" Tokiya's tone of voice altered slightly, a little more pressing but also a tad bit gentler...perhaps she was finally going to confess something...
"I'm...I'm..." Fuuko shifted her weight uncomfortably. I can't believe I'm going to share a secret with Mi-chan. "I'm...I'm..." Fuuko found it extremely difficult to verbalize her problem. It wasn't really tangible
"You are?" Why is it so hard for her to say? Maybe she finds it hard to talk to me. Hell, everyone finds it hard to talk to me. Tokiya creased his eyebrows in frustration.
"Look. I liked about being 'fine'. I'm no. But I hope I will be. Its hard to explain what I'm feeling right now. I mean, I have this slight feeling of distraction...distraction for, I guess, distraction for nothing. I keep on getting a foreboding of nothing. Like emptiness...or defeat maybe...and whenever I think too much, like right now, I get dragged away and I feel so lost. I am confused. I don't know what I can do to make myself feel better. Smiling doesn't help anymore...it just keeps coming..." Fuuko trailed off, that was much more than she planned to share...
"..." Tokiya barely caught himself as he put his hand on her shoulder. He couldn't find any suitable response to that complicated bundle of emotions Fuuko just threw at him. His brows furrowed. This feeling, warmth? why was he doing this?
"Arigatou Mi-chan" Fuuko replied, her voice barely louder than a whisper. She sensed warmth and concern from him...why was he doing this?
The lunch bell rang loudly. Lunch was over. Tokiya and Fuuko glanced at each other nervously as they were jolted back into reality.
"Ja ne Mi-chan..."
"Ja..."
They both turned and walked away silently, contemplating the situation.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Melyan Bows Deeply. Hopefully all the "iks" are gone :). Thank you to those who have just read this...**Grin** thank you :) If you have time...please do not hesistate to write me a review (good or bad...anything is helpful) I was going to continue writing untill we finally meet the "new guy" but I ran out of steam. **sigh** Besides, the silent ending seemed more peaceful than an agitated one. Is this actually a cliff hanger ending? hmph. I hope not...More suspense pending I suppose. I dunno. So what do you think? Apologies to Raiha/Fuuko supporters, I don't plan on making him appear in this series as a major player...words of gratitude for Raijin and Ice Water (yes! I'm inserting romance *grin*)who were both kind enough to review this fic. I know there is a lot of Tokiya/Fuuko around (saying To/fuu is like saying Tofuu...like bean curd...this Chinese food. yummy yummy...) :) that's enough from me. Till the next chapter we meet! Please! Read and Review Onegai! :)
