Umm . . . *blushes* Sowwy everyone . . . for the delay.
DISCLAIMER - *bonks lawyer on the head* I don't own it you scum!
There's not much I have to say right now, I'm just exhausted. *falls over, mumbling incoherently*
Oli: *leads over the men with the needles*
Needle Man #1: Is this the case you were describing.
Oli:Yup.
giggle: But I don't WANNA go back to the funny farm!!!
Review Responses (so unnaturally delayed and sad):
Little Ball with 'review response' taped to the front of it: Yes! We are sad and neglected . . .
Anywho . . . here they are;
NeoStar - The Men in White are so horrible. The worst part, is they insist that everything's going to be alright, and that makes me feel all scared inside . . . *shivers* I'm glad you still like it! *huggles NeoStar* I'm so lonely; everyone went away, but not you! Thanks! And . . . aw hell, YES to your question/request! *mumbles*
(Impatient Reviewer) Kitty-chan66 - *wipes sweat off of forehead* My goodness, I hope I haven't disappointed you . . . *bows* I am subject to your will, because you are so, so nice! *gushes* ESPECIALLY if you were the same "impatient reviewer" from before! I'm really sorry about the wait, and I hope you will be able to forgive my undeserving soul, please?
KitKatt0430 - No, keep THE FIEND AWAY! *forms 'X' sign with fingers* Well, my homework actually isn't too bad, it's just that I am now officially enrolled into Central Catholic, Collage Prep High School so naturally, there is a lotta paperwork that comes with it. But hey, at least I'll be able to take Japanese next year! YAY! *looks around nervously* Now, my update ~was~ quick enough for you . . . right?
Ryou's Gal - *blushes* I'm glad you like it so far! When I first wrote the beginning of this story, I was unsure how people would react. But it's people like you that keep me going, really! Oh, and a 'funny farm' is what my friends and I refer to (what is more commonly known as) a mental institution. I actually had a friend that was enrolled in a . . . "home" when he was back in sixth grade, but that's a whole different story. ^^;;; I have strange friends.
Yami Krissy - YAY! You came back! My computer was sick a few times this year as well . . . those were sad times. Congrats on a successful recovery (even if it is a bit late)! Wow, I'm still amazed that such a talented writer as yourself put this on a fav list . . . *blushes* Heh, thanks for the glimpse again, I like that microphone!
S.A. Bonasi - Thank you, hope you like the rest so far! ^^
*Vulcana* - Well, the last chappie was sort of cute, but this one isn't even that cute. *sighs* really need to move onto something more interesting. Next chapter I'm going to have Shaadi visit the Sanctuary, I think. ^^ I can't wait until I get to write that!
Shenya - Thankies, though I doubt such a defense can be used in this chapter. Ah well, I HOPE the next will be better. Sorry about the exclamation marks, I am slightly obsessed in expression . . . *laughs nervously*
******OKAY, BEFORE WE BEGIN, JUST REMEMBER, FELLOW DUB-JUNKIES: DUKE=RYUUJI. I REFUSE TO CALL SOMETHING THAT PRETTY SOMETHING SO . . . UNFITTING. MAYBE VINCENT, LIKE IN FF7, BUT NOT DUKE!******
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hmm . . . " his eyes wandered across the page thoughtfully "where are you my darling . . . "
Evan and another boy from the shallow 'posse' were currently loitering around the deserted, and shiny spiffed hallways that served, literally, as a backbone of Domino High. They could hear a few muffled murmurs of lectures and introductions from the classrooms they slowly wandered past, but for the most part, they were ignored, as was the couple that walked in between them.
The other boy's name was Derek, but not even Evan knew that. Posse members had been slinking around for years; successfully harvesting a booming community on it's own that worshipped themselves by no modest means. Derek had lived in a sort of shadow for all of high school previously of the 'true' magnificence of the not-so-exclusive group, probably because in his freshman and sophomore years, he had been nearly always a head shorter than the rest of his female companions.
But all of that had changed around last June, for he had been subject to a nearly remarkable growth spurt that left him only slightly shorter than Evan and the rest of the inner group. The summer had been amazing for him; girls were actually coming up and introducing ~themselves~ to him, and not the almost pathetic events that he was forced to participate in ever before.
That of course, had signaled the other players to notice his charms as well.
Though he admitted to himself, this idiot was not what he expected.
One event had led to another, the main points being that only one person that meant anything had the same science class that he did, and was nearly religious to be fashionably late on your first day of school, in ALL of your classes. So here he stood.
It was not as if he even cared to have company, because he had certainly managed himself quite successfully on his own before, and alone. It was just that the genius beside him had oh-so-smartly brought up that ~perhaps~ they should wander ~together~.
Derek rolled his eyes; partly at Evan, and partly at himself for being so stupid of allowing him to come along.
/I KNEW I should have taken Honor's this year!/
"Ah-ha!" Evan exclaimed, with much effort of pure ecstatic happiness "There you are! There she is!"
Unable to contain his glee, the blonde immediately shoved the old worn yearbook, of indeterminate color, into the brunette's face. Derek backed up, smelling something awful. No one really knew what Evan constantly kept in his locker besides the old yearbooks, and for that matter, no one really understood why he was so determined to keep the old paper booklets in there.
Of course, the confrontation with the younger face of Evan's latest fixation was unavoidable, so Derek sneered, but surveyed the page carefully. There was a pause, as the somewhat oblivious boy waited anxiously for a response as she stood and shook a little with excitement.
"What the hell are you on?!" Derek asked with a growl, taking Evan by surprise. "That's a ~GUY~. See, 'Ryou Bakura'!"
"Huh?" he took the booklet back with great care, a crinkle appearing in between his eyebrows when he started to laugh nervously. "Well, whaddya know!" he scratched the back of his head.
"I'm leaving."
"What?!"
Evan struggled to keep up with the shock of the unexpected event. It wasn't helping his cause that Derek was walking away from him as fast as was possible, without drawing any teacher-attention, unwanted attention, to himself. Their footsteps became louder, and echoed a bit to and fro.
"Wait a second!"
They took an abrupt turn at the sight of 212 on the right, and rose speed at the straight hall that sported a majority of sophomore lockers--Derek was nearly panting now, as they passed a pretty senior--a frosh on the way to the bathroom--Evan wasn't showing any sign of letting up--
A door opened, right in front of the flushed face of Derek.
He literally screeched to a halt, leaving a lengthened black mark on the newly polished linoleum tile. His head spun for a moment, and he heard the same action committed by Evan behind him.
Subconsciously, he knew that they were near the office. Subconsciously, he knew that many people would have been coming out of the back door at all times. But that didn't prevent him from pushing the interfering bystander out of the way, or yelling a million obscenities that would have each sufficed individually . . .
What stopped him, was the sight of him.
He was of an abnormal type in Domino City, with very perplexing white hair that reached to the middle of his back in showering layers, and a slender figure that further accentuated his already-considerable height. His outfit was plain and simple; a sweater and slacks that were finely pressed and matched perfectly.
His eyes were lifeless.
That was what caught the astonished attention of both boys, they stared with forgotten shame and the other boy just quietly looked back at them, with a sad uncaring. ~Sad~, depressed and repressed somehow.
He left them after simply a glance.
"S-sorry, Ryou." Derek stuttered, distracted, and temporarily disabled of any sort of reasonable thought.
That stopped him. He turned, his deep voice shaking slightly as if he were on the precarious verge of tears, but he still spoke clearly.
"I am not Ryou Bakura."
He left them in a bewildered haze, standing transfixed.
~*~*~*~
Rei sighed into her cream-cheesy bagel. "I told you you should have packed a lunch this morning . . . "
Mai responded with a 'hmph' as she dramatically collapsed into the plastic chair situated beside her friend. She ran her fingers through her hair, something that Rei had long since translated as an action of either profound exasperation, or considerable annoyance. But Mai WAS the one who insisted on sleeping in that morning, so the doe-eyed girl seemed to hold no pity for her situation.
"Honestly, isn't there some kind of law as to providing crap instead of food?! Ridiculous, they always tell we ARE the future, so why do they insist on poisoning us at an early age?!"
The lunch-room was bathing in a constant babble of excitement; a fitting lunch for the first school day. Mai and Rei had immediately claimed the table farthest away from the horrible stenches of 'food', and the meaningless gossip nonsense that seemed to eventually hurt anyone involved.
Gossip and the eventual hurtful comments probably never were simple misunderstandings, just some heartless person with a wish for revenge. It just wasn't meant to be understood, and those sort of things frightened Rei.
Ah well. No wonder they always told you public school prepared you for the real world . . .
/Yeah. I've had enough of 'life being unfair' already./
"Whaddya know," Mai suddenly stood, but considering the noise, Rei couldn't even hear her chair legs scraping on the floor. "look who's here!"
Her white hair flowed in reaching strands as she looked up.
Tea was standing there with a tin 'Care Bears' lunchbox, her posture reflecting that she had turned at the sound of Mai's voice, and hadn't seen them there. Her lovely azure eyes were widened slightly, and Rei suddenly noticed something about Tea she hadn't before. Unlike most teens of her stature and age, she wore no make-up on her face; her appearance was precisely how you saw her.
It was actually transcending into quite an uncomfortable pause, as it were some sort of weird, b-movie showdown, with the freshmen wandering around being the tumbleweeds, and Tea and Mai being the two egotistical shooters.
Rei was beginning to have her doubts, as Tea was standing there for a ~very~ extended stare, without so much as a blink. Mai's smug expression didn't particularly express this as a friendly exchange; her slightly ironic smirk, her bored eyes, or her elbows pivoted on the table as they held up her head.
But she actually didn't need to worry.
"Mai?!" she gasped, rushing over and giving her an extra-friendly hug. They leaned back happily and giggled in some sort of girlish understanding, making Rei wonder slightly as she paused mid-chew on her plain bagel as it was temporarily forgotten, even in it's ready and poised position.
They separated energetically, and though their identical expressions were a bit disturbing, Rei began to chew again without choking.
"Wow, it's amazing I haven't seen you here before now!" Tea gushed, and with a little smile; "Are you ~actually~ losing your flamboyancy, Mai?" she joked, sitting herself down by Rei.
"Not by a long shot." Mai assured her, with a certain level of smugness evident in her tone.
The dancer smiled down to open her lunchbox with a *~clink~* of the little latch against tin, or more descriptively, 'BraveHeart's' big, smiling face.
"How are you two? How was Black's class, Rei?"
Tea was smoothing out the plastic wrapping of her sandwich, and didn't see Mai's questioning glance, as if she supposed her supposed 'cousin' had let something slip she shouldn't have. The girl took particular pride in smiling to show the situation was all under control, and that Tea and Rei indeed had a side-conversation as though Rei had no idea who the aged and lecherous Mr. Black was.
"I managed to survive." She said promptly, opening a Tupperware case full of assorted pasta noodles. Tea's actions were fairly efficient in opening the can of peach nectar and chugging it so much, that the other two girls were having trouble believing that she was alive and actually breathing.
"Someone's thirsty . . . " Mai muttered.
Tea concluded her extraordinary talent with a nice refreshed sound, and after another moment of stunned silence--
--she belched, loud. Loud enough that the entire cafeteria was at a lost for words for a split second.
It was actually unlike anything Rei had experienced before, so naturally she laughed until it hurt. Mai looked embarrassed, and Tea looked as though she wouldn't have minded either way, when a string of applause carried over from a table near the exit of the cafeteria; Yugi's table.
She blushed, looking slightly sheepish now. Mai and Rei noticed her reaction from the small boy's praise, and each traded identically evil looks that reflected they both knew what ~she~ was thinking about.
"Wow Tea," Rei started, leaning over so that they both had the same view of the Game King duo. "Yugi looks pretty lonely over there . . . hey, he's pretty cute when he's lonely . . . "
Rei suddenly realized what she had said, and choked away with horror at expressing an opinion like ~that~, but fortunately, Mai took off where she had left, very enthusiastically in fact.
"Oh my! Black makes him look very sexy, even when it's not leather. But I bet you really like him in leather better . . . "
"Leaves less to the imagination . . . "
"Oh my god!" Tea finally exclaimed, blushing furiously "Will you guys ~stop~?!"
They finally broke the charade, laughing madly at the dancer's embarrassed expense. She finally gave a great and powerful roll of her eyes, but just as she was about to pack back up, an uninvited guest quickly sat down with their hand on her shoulder and commanded; "Don't move."
Her face was beyond quizzical, when she finally realized with eyes even wider than usual (if that were even possible);
"Ryuuji?!"
Mai's face, already flushed from laughing, enjoyed the moment even further, even if Rei was a little too surprised to join in on the fun. They all noticed Ryuuji's hooded figure begin to wring his hands nervously, contrasting with his seemingly-careless disguise of something a little more upscale than poser-punk.
"Please Valentine," he hissed "you're bringing too much attention to us!"
"You're the one to talk."
It took Rei a moment to realize that it was indeed ~she~ who said that.
She saw a shimmer of emerald-green under the gray hood; contorted in mistrust. He muttered suddenly "Who's she?" in a sort of demanding tone, which didn't make sense considering the consequences.
"She's my cousin--"
"She's a new friend of mine--"
"I'm Rei."
His thin right eyebrow arose at the praise of the unsuspecting Rei, who stared back fearlessly at his careful assessment of her appearance. He was about the same height as her sitting down, and she noticed that he was gripping his baggy beige pants with increasing force.
Her eyes tore from his appraisal, as she seeing the scene as uncomfortable; like she were being looked at as if she were a new pack animal. The eyes under the orange scarf and the deep-black brows darted between the smirking face of Mai Valentine, and the openly friendly one of Tea Gardener.
She was a diminutively uncertain of what she should do next.
He turned to Tea, probably the only reason he joined the table, for Mai was never the ideal of inconspicuous behavior, and besides, Tea was too nice to betray a secret.
"Can she be trusted?" he asked coldly, fiddling with his dice-shaped earing.
Mai sighed heavily, obviously not taking his caution seriously, which Rei realized, she wasn't herself really either "Of course she can, pretty dice master, she's my cousin."
"Can ~you~ be trusted?" another raising of an eyebrow, a sound of disgust.
"I should damn well hope so you moron!"
"Mai," Tea put in softly "why don't you just settle down."
The glamorous blonde finished temporarily with the glamorous black-haired boy, with a 'hmph' for good measure. They all sat stiffly, Rei suddenly wishing she wasn't causing so much trouble. Tea obviously sensed her discomfort, because she was whispering to her in a flash of her blue shirt.
"Don't worry, they're just both too proud." She smiled humorously, as Rei turned to her as if she were slightly mad "Too proud for their own good."
/Well,/ she thought /she does have that point well sorted out./
"So Ryuuji, what happened to that lovely sense of fashion?" Mai asked, her viciously violet eyes glittering.
"The girls caught up to it." He glanced around "Too conspicuous."
Tea snorted with disgust at his assumptions. She wasn't about to let ~that~ comment slide by; a lesson so conveniently taught by the pretty girl across the table. The only other ~true~ girl.
"Well, you must be distressed, considering that you ARE talking to girls, and your normally wordy sentences have been considerably shortened."
"Might I ask ~why~ you chose this particular look?" Mai tilted her head to the side, as her fingers wrapped around themselves when she let them fall from the supporting of her head and slouched forward, stretching her back.
"They can't see me from under the hood." Was his simple reply
"Well," Mai continued loftily, as if it were a logical theorem that was proving a proof. "I suggest you at least update this so-called look; the whole dueling expo sweatshirt makes you look like a nerd."
"Oh, you mean a nerd like you Mai?" he countered, annoyed.
Silence.
"Sorry Ryuuji, that was entirely too entirely ridiculous to be taken seriously . . . "
"Yeah."
"Damn!"
Rei realized that her friends she had thought she knew, were quite curious once you thought about it.
The reminding lunch bell rang out in clear 'g' tones, so the four of them bid each other farewell, some goodbyes more tender and serious than others, and journeyed their separate ways.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, I must say this IS a chapter that is slightly more uneventful than the others, but the confrontation with everyone's favorite psychopath (unless you're a Malik fan of course!) was a somewhat important aspect . . . if . . . uh, I forgot what I was going to say! ^^;;;
Let this be a lesson to you kiddos; don't stay up until 1:30 five nights in a row, wake up at 8 on ~each~ of the following mornings, and then go to school. Even if "Trigun", "Inuyasha", AND "Cowboy Bebop" (*blows kazoo*) are on. It's a BAAAAAAD experience, trust me!
Just say to yourself; "dubbing is bad for your mind ANYWAY" and maybe, just maybe, it won't be ~quite~ so bad. Oh no . . . I got myself all sniffling again . . .
Oli: *bangs giggle on the head with her pink stapler* Shaddap! You're such a lazy bum, it's not like they care!
giggle: *grumbles* Why . . . you little . . . MUNCHKIN! AHHHHHH! *chases after Oli with a wicked-looking gunblade (Final Fantasy 8 reference to the coolest weapon in existance)*.
Kuja: *looks* Wonder where she got that. Huh. Well, since giggle has gone postal ~again~, I think it's time to wrap up this charade.
*curtains close*
. . . but please, review? Maybe we can make it to 82 reviews this time . . . *prays*
Happy belated Easter everyone, and hope the long stretch of the semester will be just as pleasant for you, as it is for me *grins sarcastically* BETTER, actually.
Ja ne! ^^
giggleplex
DISCLAIMER - *bonks lawyer on the head* I don't own it you scum!
There's not much I have to say right now, I'm just exhausted. *falls over, mumbling incoherently*
Oli: *leads over the men with the needles*
Needle Man #1: Is this the case you were describing.
Oli:Yup.
giggle: But I don't WANNA go back to the funny farm!!!
Review Responses (so unnaturally delayed and sad):
Little Ball with 'review response' taped to the front of it: Yes! We are sad and neglected . . .
Anywho . . . here they are;
NeoStar - The Men in White are so horrible. The worst part, is they insist that everything's going to be alright, and that makes me feel all scared inside . . . *shivers* I'm glad you still like it! *huggles NeoStar* I'm so lonely; everyone went away, but not you! Thanks! And . . . aw hell, YES to your question/request! *mumbles*
(Impatient Reviewer) Kitty-chan66 - *wipes sweat off of forehead* My goodness, I hope I haven't disappointed you . . . *bows* I am subject to your will, because you are so, so nice! *gushes* ESPECIALLY if you were the same "impatient reviewer" from before! I'm really sorry about the wait, and I hope you will be able to forgive my undeserving soul, please?
KitKatt0430 - No, keep THE FIEND AWAY! *forms 'X' sign with fingers* Well, my homework actually isn't too bad, it's just that I am now officially enrolled into Central Catholic, Collage Prep High School so naturally, there is a lotta paperwork that comes with it. But hey, at least I'll be able to take Japanese next year! YAY! *looks around nervously* Now, my update ~was~ quick enough for you . . . right?
Ryou's Gal - *blushes* I'm glad you like it so far! When I first wrote the beginning of this story, I was unsure how people would react. But it's people like you that keep me going, really! Oh, and a 'funny farm' is what my friends and I refer to (what is more commonly known as) a mental institution. I actually had a friend that was enrolled in a . . . "home" when he was back in sixth grade, but that's a whole different story. ^^;;; I have strange friends.
Yami Krissy - YAY! You came back! My computer was sick a few times this year as well . . . those were sad times. Congrats on a successful recovery (even if it is a bit late)! Wow, I'm still amazed that such a talented writer as yourself put this on a fav list . . . *blushes* Heh, thanks for the glimpse again, I like that microphone!
S.A. Bonasi - Thank you, hope you like the rest so far! ^^
*Vulcana* - Well, the last chappie was sort of cute, but this one isn't even that cute. *sighs* really need to move onto something more interesting. Next chapter I'm going to have Shaadi visit the Sanctuary, I think. ^^ I can't wait until I get to write that!
Shenya - Thankies, though I doubt such a defense can be used in this chapter. Ah well, I HOPE the next will be better. Sorry about the exclamation marks, I am slightly obsessed in expression . . . *laughs nervously*
******OKAY, BEFORE WE BEGIN, JUST REMEMBER, FELLOW DUB-JUNKIES: DUKE=RYUUJI. I REFUSE TO CALL SOMETHING THAT PRETTY SOMETHING SO . . . UNFITTING. MAYBE VINCENT, LIKE IN FF7, BUT NOT DUKE!******
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hmm . . . " his eyes wandered across the page thoughtfully "where are you my darling . . . "
Evan and another boy from the shallow 'posse' were currently loitering around the deserted, and shiny spiffed hallways that served, literally, as a backbone of Domino High. They could hear a few muffled murmurs of lectures and introductions from the classrooms they slowly wandered past, but for the most part, they were ignored, as was the couple that walked in between them.
The other boy's name was Derek, but not even Evan knew that. Posse members had been slinking around for years; successfully harvesting a booming community on it's own that worshipped themselves by no modest means. Derek had lived in a sort of shadow for all of high school previously of the 'true' magnificence of the not-so-exclusive group, probably because in his freshman and sophomore years, he had been nearly always a head shorter than the rest of his female companions.
But all of that had changed around last June, for he had been subject to a nearly remarkable growth spurt that left him only slightly shorter than Evan and the rest of the inner group. The summer had been amazing for him; girls were actually coming up and introducing ~themselves~ to him, and not the almost pathetic events that he was forced to participate in ever before.
That of course, had signaled the other players to notice his charms as well.
Though he admitted to himself, this idiot was not what he expected.
One event had led to another, the main points being that only one person that meant anything had the same science class that he did, and was nearly religious to be fashionably late on your first day of school, in ALL of your classes. So here he stood.
It was not as if he even cared to have company, because he had certainly managed himself quite successfully on his own before, and alone. It was just that the genius beside him had oh-so-smartly brought up that ~perhaps~ they should wander ~together~.
Derek rolled his eyes; partly at Evan, and partly at himself for being so stupid of allowing him to come along.
/I KNEW I should have taken Honor's this year!/
"Ah-ha!" Evan exclaimed, with much effort of pure ecstatic happiness "There you are! There she is!"
Unable to contain his glee, the blonde immediately shoved the old worn yearbook, of indeterminate color, into the brunette's face. Derek backed up, smelling something awful. No one really knew what Evan constantly kept in his locker besides the old yearbooks, and for that matter, no one really understood why he was so determined to keep the old paper booklets in there.
Of course, the confrontation with the younger face of Evan's latest fixation was unavoidable, so Derek sneered, but surveyed the page carefully. There was a pause, as the somewhat oblivious boy waited anxiously for a response as she stood and shook a little with excitement.
"What the hell are you on?!" Derek asked with a growl, taking Evan by surprise. "That's a ~GUY~. See, 'Ryou Bakura'!"
"Huh?" he took the booklet back with great care, a crinkle appearing in between his eyebrows when he started to laugh nervously. "Well, whaddya know!" he scratched the back of his head.
"I'm leaving."
"What?!"
Evan struggled to keep up with the shock of the unexpected event. It wasn't helping his cause that Derek was walking away from him as fast as was possible, without drawing any teacher-attention, unwanted attention, to himself. Their footsteps became louder, and echoed a bit to and fro.
"Wait a second!"
They took an abrupt turn at the sight of 212 on the right, and rose speed at the straight hall that sported a majority of sophomore lockers--Derek was nearly panting now, as they passed a pretty senior--a frosh on the way to the bathroom--Evan wasn't showing any sign of letting up--
A door opened, right in front of the flushed face of Derek.
He literally screeched to a halt, leaving a lengthened black mark on the newly polished linoleum tile. His head spun for a moment, and he heard the same action committed by Evan behind him.
Subconsciously, he knew that they were near the office. Subconsciously, he knew that many people would have been coming out of the back door at all times. But that didn't prevent him from pushing the interfering bystander out of the way, or yelling a million obscenities that would have each sufficed individually . . .
What stopped him, was the sight of him.
He was of an abnormal type in Domino City, with very perplexing white hair that reached to the middle of his back in showering layers, and a slender figure that further accentuated his already-considerable height. His outfit was plain and simple; a sweater and slacks that were finely pressed and matched perfectly.
His eyes were lifeless.
That was what caught the astonished attention of both boys, they stared with forgotten shame and the other boy just quietly looked back at them, with a sad uncaring. ~Sad~, depressed and repressed somehow.
He left them after simply a glance.
"S-sorry, Ryou." Derek stuttered, distracted, and temporarily disabled of any sort of reasonable thought.
That stopped him. He turned, his deep voice shaking slightly as if he were on the precarious verge of tears, but he still spoke clearly.
"I am not Ryou Bakura."
He left them in a bewildered haze, standing transfixed.
~*~*~*~
Rei sighed into her cream-cheesy bagel. "I told you you should have packed a lunch this morning . . . "
Mai responded with a 'hmph' as she dramatically collapsed into the plastic chair situated beside her friend. She ran her fingers through her hair, something that Rei had long since translated as an action of either profound exasperation, or considerable annoyance. But Mai WAS the one who insisted on sleeping in that morning, so the doe-eyed girl seemed to hold no pity for her situation.
"Honestly, isn't there some kind of law as to providing crap instead of food?! Ridiculous, they always tell we ARE the future, so why do they insist on poisoning us at an early age?!"
The lunch-room was bathing in a constant babble of excitement; a fitting lunch for the first school day. Mai and Rei had immediately claimed the table farthest away from the horrible stenches of 'food', and the meaningless gossip nonsense that seemed to eventually hurt anyone involved.
Gossip and the eventual hurtful comments probably never were simple misunderstandings, just some heartless person with a wish for revenge. It just wasn't meant to be understood, and those sort of things frightened Rei.
Ah well. No wonder they always told you public school prepared you for the real world . . .
/Yeah. I've had enough of 'life being unfair' already./
"Whaddya know," Mai suddenly stood, but considering the noise, Rei couldn't even hear her chair legs scraping on the floor. "look who's here!"
Her white hair flowed in reaching strands as she looked up.
Tea was standing there with a tin 'Care Bears' lunchbox, her posture reflecting that she had turned at the sound of Mai's voice, and hadn't seen them there. Her lovely azure eyes were widened slightly, and Rei suddenly noticed something about Tea she hadn't before. Unlike most teens of her stature and age, she wore no make-up on her face; her appearance was precisely how you saw her.
It was actually transcending into quite an uncomfortable pause, as it were some sort of weird, b-movie showdown, with the freshmen wandering around being the tumbleweeds, and Tea and Mai being the two egotistical shooters.
Rei was beginning to have her doubts, as Tea was standing there for a ~very~ extended stare, without so much as a blink. Mai's smug expression didn't particularly express this as a friendly exchange; her slightly ironic smirk, her bored eyes, or her elbows pivoted on the table as they held up her head.
But she actually didn't need to worry.
"Mai?!" she gasped, rushing over and giving her an extra-friendly hug. They leaned back happily and giggled in some sort of girlish understanding, making Rei wonder slightly as she paused mid-chew on her plain bagel as it was temporarily forgotten, even in it's ready and poised position.
They separated energetically, and though their identical expressions were a bit disturbing, Rei began to chew again without choking.
"Wow, it's amazing I haven't seen you here before now!" Tea gushed, and with a little smile; "Are you ~actually~ losing your flamboyancy, Mai?" she joked, sitting herself down by Rei.
"Not by a long shot." Mai assured her, with a certain level of smugness evident in her tone.
The dancer smiled down to open her lunchbox with a *~clink~* of the little latch against tin, or more descriptively, 'BraveHeart's' big, smiling face.
"How are you two? How was Black's class, Rei?"
Tea was smoothing out the plastic wrapping of her sandwich, and didn't see Mai's questioning glance, as if she supposed her supposed 'cousin' had let something slip she shouldn't have. The girl took particular pride in smiling to show the situation was all under control, and that Tea and Rei indeed had a side-conversation as though Rei had no idea who the aged and lecherous Mr. Black was.
"I managed to survive." She said promptly, opening a Tupperware case full of assorted pasta noodles. Tea's actions were fairly efficient in opening the can of peach nectar and chugging it so much, that the other two girls were having trouble believing that she was alive and actually breathing.
"Someone's thirsty . . . " Mai muttered.
Tea concluded her extraordinary talent with a nice refreshed sound, and after another moment of stunned silence--
--she belched, loud. Loud enough that the entire cafeteria was at a lost for words for a split second.
It was actually unlike anything Rei had experienced before, so naturally she laughed until it hurt. Mai looked embarrassed, and Tea looked as though she wouldn't have minded either way, when a string of applause carried over from a table near the exit of the cafeteria; Yugi's table.
She blushed, looking slightly sheepish now. Mai and Rei noticed her reaction from the small boy's praise, and each traded identically evil looks that reflected they both knew what ~she~ was thinking about.
"Wow Tea," Rei started, leaning over so that they both had the same view of the Game King duo. "Yugi looks pretty lonely over there . . . hey, he's pretty cute when he's lonely . . . "
Rei suddenly realized what she had said, and choked away with horror at expressing an opinion like ~that~, but fortunately, Mai took off where she had left, very enthusiastically in fact.
"Oh my! Black makes him look very sexy, even when it's not leather. But I bet you really like him in leather better . . . "
"Leaves less to the imagination . . . "
"Oh my god!" Tea finally exclaimed, blushing furiously "Will you guys ~stop~?!"
They finally broke the charade, laughing madly at the dancer's embarrassed expense. She finally gave a great and powerful roll of her eyes, but just as she was about to pack back up, an uninvited guest quickly sat down with their hand on her shoulder and commanded; "Don't move."
Her face was beyond quizzical, when she finally realized with eyes even wider than usual (if that were even possible);
"Ryuuji?!"
Mai's face, already flushed from laughing, enjoyed the moment even further, even if Rei was a little too surprised to join in on the fun. They all noticed Ryuuji's hooded figure begin to wring his hands nervously, contrasting with his seemingly-careless disguise of something a little more upscale than poser-punk.
"Please Valentine," he hissed "you're bringing too much attention to us!"
"You're the one to talk."
It took Rei a moment to realize that it was indeed ~she~ who said that.
She saw a shimmer of emerald-green under the gray hood; contorted in mistrust. He muttered suddenly "Who's she?" in a sort of demanding tone, which didn't make sense considering the consequences.
"She's my cousin--"
"She's a new friend of mine--"
"I'm Rei."
His thin right eyebrow arose at the praise of the unsuspecting Rei, who stared back fearlessly at his careful assessment of her appearance. He was about the same height as her sitting down, and she noticed that he was gripping his baggy beige pants with increasing force.
Her eyes tore from his appraisal, as she seeing the scene as uncomfortable; like she were being looked at as if she were a new pack animal. The eyes under the orange scarf and the deep-black brows darted between the smirking face of Mai Valentine, and the openly friendly one of Tea Gardener.
She was a diminutively uncertain of what she should do next.
He turned to Tea, probably the only reason he joined the table, for Mai was never the ideal of inconspicuous behavior, and besides, Tea was too nice to betray a secret.
"Can she be trusted?" he asked coldly, fiddling with his dice-shaped earing.
Mai sighed heavily, obviously not taking his caution seriously, which Rei realized, she wasn't herself really either "Of course she can, pretty dice master, she's my cousin."
"Can ~you~ be trusted?" another raising of an eyebrow, a sound of disgust.
"I should damn well hope so you moron!"
"Mai," Tea put in softly "why don't you just settle down."
The glamorous blonde finished temporarily with the glamorous black-haired boy, with a 'hmph' for good measure. They all sat stiffly, Rei suddenly wishing she wasn't causing so much trouble. Tea obviously sensed her discomfort, because she was whispering to her in a flash of her blue shirt.
"Don't worry, they're just both too proud." She smiled humorously, as Rei turned to her as if she were slightly mad "Too proud for their own good."
/Well,/ she thought /she does have that point well sorted out./
"So Ryuuji, what happened to that lovely sense of fashion?" Mai asked, her viciously violet eyes glittering.
"The girls caught up to it." He glanced around "Too conspicuous."
Tea snorted with disgust at his assumptions. She wasn't about to let ~that~ comment slide by; a lesson so conveniently taught by the pretty girl across the table. The only other ~true~ girl.
"Well, you must be distressed, considering that you ARE talking to girls, and your normally wordy sentences have been considerably shortened."
"Might I ask ~why~ you chose this particular look?" Mai tilted her head to the side, as her fingers wrapped around themselves when she let them fall from the supporting of her head and slouched forward, stretching her back.
"They can't see me from under the hood." Was his simple reply
"Well," Mai continued loftily, as if it were a logical theorem that was proving a proof. "I suggest you at least update this so-called look; the whole dueling expo sweatshirt makes you look like a nerd."
"Oh, you mean a nerd like you Mai?" he countered, annoyed.
Silence.
"Sorry Ryuuji, that was entirely too entirely ridiculous to be taken seriously . . . "
"Yeah."
"Damn!"
Rei realized that her friends she had thought she knew, were quite curious once you thought about it.
The reminding lunch bell rang out in clear 'g' tones, so the four of them bid each other farewell, some goodbyes more tender and serious than others, and journeyed their separate ways.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, I must say this IS a chapter that is slightly more uneventful than the others, but the confrontation with everyone's favorite psychopath (unless you're a Malik fan of course!) was a somewhat important aspect . . . if . . . uh, I forgot what I was going to say! ^^;;;
Let this be a lesson to you kiddos; don't stay up until 1:30 five nights in a row, wake up at 8 on ~each~ of the following mornings, and then go to school. Even if "Trigun", "Inuyasha", AND "Cowboy Bebop" (*blows kazoo*) are on. It's a BAAAAAAD experience, trust me!
Just say to yourself; "dubbing is bad for your mind ANYWAY" and maybe, just maybe, it won't be ~quite~ so bad. Oh no . . . I got myself all sniffling again . . .
Oli: *bangs giggle on the head with her pink stapler* Shaddap! You're such a lazy bum, it's not like they care!
giggle: *grumbles* Why . . . you little . . . MUNCHKIN! AHHHHHH! *chases after Oli with a wicked-looking gunblade (Final Fantasy 8 reference to the coolest weapon in existance)*.
Kuja: *looks* Wonder where she got that. Huh. Well, since giggle has gone postal ~again~, I think it's time to wrap up this charade.
*curtains close*
. . . but please, review? Maybe we can make it to 82 reviews this time . . . *prays*
Happy belated Easter everyone, and hope the long stretch of the semester will be just as pleasant for you, as it is for me *grins sarcastically* BETTER, actually.
Ja ne! ^^
giggleplex