Dorobo no Kokoro
A Shoujo Kakumei Utena Fanfiction
By Prospero Hibiki
The Grandmaster Mongoose
God of Misdirection, Caffeine, and Those Socks You Lost Last Tuesday
http://prospero.anifics.com
hell_frost@hotmail.com
Disclaimer:
Were I anything but a poor college student I would ... well I don't know what would happen since I doubt that this situation will change in the foreseeable future except if I fail out of said college. As it is I'm not making any money off of these characters and any character that you don't recognize from Shoujo Kakumei Utena is mine. And the truly sad thing is I'm not even making money off of them. The characters you do recognize however belong to Saito Chiho, Ikuhara Kunihiko, Be-Papas, Viz, Animerica, Animerica Extra, Shogakukan, and/or any combination of these and others.
This story takes place during the timeline of the regular Utena series but in a slightly adjusted universe. For those not familiar with the idea this is considered an Altiverse fic. With this said there will be changes in the original timeline and series content for reasons better left unexplained (it also smoothes over some gaps in my memory). So please don't flame me saying that these characters are wrong or that I've completely mangled your favorite scene from the series.
***
It was the beginning of a new term at Ohtori. Soneil Thane walked towards the school from his dorm building as he had every previous term. There really were no differences this year for him despite having advanced into the High School. He chose to wear the standard teal uniform despite the fact that his grandfather's efforts at getting him into the prestigious academy had entitled him to a different one. But then choosing to wear that uniform would have attracted too much attention to him. Soneil was nothing if not a private person. He hid his blue eyes behind brown contacts that he was so religious about using that no one knew of them. As it was he stood out too much with his hair being a shocking white and the thin, almost invisible scar that traveled a short vertical distance down his left cheek. Only with a great amount of difficulty could he change his hair color. And despite that he had a wide variety of dyes hidden away behind a removable panel in his single room at the dorm as well as several other locations unknown to others.
Aside from his hair color there was very little to distinguish Soneil from his fellow students. He knew everyone's name in his grade but few could come up with his name off the top of their head. He could engage in conversation with anyone at a moment's notice, but if anyone thought about the conversation afterwards they would fail to find that they had learned anything other than what they'd already known. His grades were kept at an acceptable level, often coming close to perfect but never reaching it due to the occasional careless response. Not a joiner, he couldn't be classified as a loner for he could converse on any school activity as if he had participated himself.
All of these things would have greatly interested anyone who cared to discover the information, but because Soneil took great pains to make sure no one became so curious, no one knew this. The patriarch of the Thane family had been desperate when he'd sent his grandson to Ohtori Academy. It had been his hope that the structured experience that the school offered would force Soneil to abandon the things taught to him by his uncle. And to his knowledge the school had succeeded admirably. He would have been most dismayed if he'd known that instead of abandoning his uncle's teachings Soneil had instead perfected them beyond anything his uncle could have done.
Soneil was an average student because and only because he wished to be perceived as one. Attracting attention in one field of interest could lead to attracting attention in others, and that was simply something that Soneil could not allow. Which wasn't to say that he wasn't irked by the need to maintain a low profile. For one thing it made if fairly difficult to appeal to members of the opposite sex.
Sighing once more at the great ironies of the world he continued on his way to his homeroom to begin another hopefully dull term.
***
It was with some dismay that he learned that he would be in the same homeroom as Juri Arisugawa for the year's remaining term. It was a change and a bad one because he hadn't known about it ahead of time. He had no time to prepare for it before he'd been hustled by the teacher to his new room. There had apparently been a small overflow in his old homeroom because of some new students. For once his tactic for choosing his academic level had backfired. He'd done well enough that the faculty assumed the transfer wouldn't disrupt his studies, and poorly enough that he wasn't classified as a prize pupil that a teacher would keep around for bragging rights. So there he was standing in front of the classroom full of people, the sole center of attention. Needless to say he absolutely hated it.
There were no good things about the move, only less horrible things. One of these was the fact that everyone was at least familiar with the fact that he was in their grade and so paid very little attention to him. But then that little attention was almost too much as he could see one or two girls get a little starry eyed as they looked at him. Obviously these girls were hard up for dates. Another of the less horrible facts was that this WAS Arisugawa's classroom. Being the person that she was she would probably receive much of the attention that might have gone his way. The bad side of this was of course that since the only open seats in the room were those surrounding her, he might gain some additional attention simply from being in her vicinity.
Soneil looked at the seats for a brief moment trying to figure out which one would be least likely to draw attention to him. The one immediately next to her was out as it put him between her and the rest of the class. Not good. Finally he settled on immediately behind her, because one of the girls who'd been giving him the come hither glances was beside the desk in front of her. Juri was of course staring out the window and had been for sometime. In fact except for a brief glance as he was introduced she'd seemingly ignored everything that had happened in the room.
The class itself progressed about as he'd thought it would, with the teachers occasionally picking him to see if they were correct in his ability to adapt to his new situation. He, of course, provided them with his usual standard performance with perhaps an incorrect answer just slightly more frequent than usual as if to say he'd be fine if they'd give him a chance to get adjusted without bothering him. Needless to say none of them caught the hint, not that he'd expected them to.
He ran into yet another complication when it drew time for him to go to Physical Education. The school had apparently decided to hire a new teacher without asking his permission. He'd come to a good compromise with the previous teacher, which was to say the coach had overlooked it when students finished assignments early and wandered off when they were finished. This new teacher seemed to have the silly idea that people needed to sit around and watch the other people do things for the entire period. It made him reassess his idea of joining a club. Club activities were one way to get out of gym class. It was definitely something to think about.
***
He was about to leave for the day when he ran into one of the few faculty members that he had talked to outside of the classroom. Hasekana- sensei was the head librarian for the High School and a person that he had carefully cultivated because of the research potential located within the enormous library. It was never possible to tell when the smallest piece of trivia could prove essential. Preparation was something that his uncle had drummed into his head enough that it was second nature.
"Thane-kun, I'm so glad I caught you." Hasekana-sensei was almost out of breath, not very unusual since she had always seemed rather weak of constitution. It was surprising though that she had been looking for him in particular.
"Yes, Hasekana-sensei?"
Taking several minutes to catch her breath she then continued. "I just recently heard that Kuoma-sensei left us recently," she was of course referring to the late gym teacher, "knowing how much you disliked gym class, I arranged for you to be my assistant during that period."
Suddenly everything made more sense. He'd been telling her for some time now that he didn't like to exert himself overmuch physically instead preferring to take calming walks throughout the campus. Soneil had done this more to create in her a feeling of sympathy, as well as giving the two of them something in common. Hasekana-sensei had had weak lungs as a child something aggravated by strenuous activity. It appeared that the slight exaggeration was going to prove quite beneficial.
Seeing as Soneil had paused overlong she continued. "I understand that you'd like to continue as you have been, but this will actually prove better than before. You'll only need to check in with me at the beginning of the period so that I know you aren't absent for the day. Perhaps if other faculty members are expected by you could do some filing for me in the office. Every other day you'd be free to explore the campus as you saw fit."
It really was extremely generous of her and for a moment he was slightly choked up. She'd cared enough about him that she'd gone out of her way to arrange for him to be more comfortable. He knew just how much she hated to come out of her cozy library, and yet she'd done so to help him. It wasn't her fault that he'd lied to her. He wanted to admit to everything to her, but instead he settled for a simple, "Thank you, Sensei." As it was appropriate for the situation he bowed fairly lowly. And for the first time in a long while he really meant it as the form of respect that it was supposed to be.
***
Arriving back at his dorm room Soneil goes through his usual routine to make sure everything was as he left it. Of course it was. Everything was in exactly its proper place indicating that no one had entered his room. Which of course meant that his secrets were completely safe for another day. Immediately crossing over to his desk he removed the false panel that housed the small turquoise rod he'd bought almost five years before. He'd spent the first profits that his uncle had let him keep on it. It was the only item in the entire room that he cared about at all, despite there being several million yen's worth of jewels hidden under the floorboards. Finally making up his mind on something he'd been contemplating for the longest time he decided to keep it with him whenever he wasn't on a job. Especially since he wouldn't have to entrust it to a gym locker.
As he absently twirled the thirteen cm rod around his fingers as he thought about what he was going to do next. Because of the abrupt change in classrooms he was just a little bit too fresh in people's memories to proceed with his usual evening activities. It'd probably be best to just wander around the campus. In his line of work it never hurt to know one's surroundings better than one currently did already.
Decided on a course of action Soneil walked over to his dresser and pulled out a nice button up shirt in a dark gray as well as some black slacks just slightly less durable than denim. So attired he also grabbed a light jacket of a slightly lighter shade of gray than his shirt. With this combination of clothes he was prepared for situations where he had to interact with people as well as ones where he wished to remain unnoticed. Some people would have expected him to be dressed in all black but, as his uncle had taught him, solid black shadows actually drew more attention to one than lighter shades did. The human eye refused to accept the total absence of color and often drew a person's gaze where a person in darker grays could blend much easier. Soneil had the additional problem of hiding his hair, but then that was what the jacket was for. The rod of course was left on the desk because there was no telling what could happen while exploring.
Calmly strolling out of the dorm building he made his way through the town to the school. Moving a fairly brisk pace it wasn't very long at all until he reached it. Thinking of where to start lead him to the track. Once there Soneil was just looking around when the final rays of the sun reflected off of something. Looking up he saw a large balcony overlooking his current location. It seemed like the perfect place to start to explore.
It was a difficult climb up the wall, but less so than some he had experienced in his time. He'd stuck to the shaded side of the wall to avoid any casual observation. Getting ready to poke his head over the small railing he paused for the briefest of instants because of instinct alone. Which was just as well because it was then that three people passed through some sort of opening in the building and onto the balcony.
The beating of his heart drowned some of their early conversation out, but then cautiously he raised his head over the railing. For once he was lucky that his hair was white for it would be much more difficult to distinguish it from the marble façade. His eyes widened when he realized where he was. He'd heard rumors of course of the meeting place of the student council but he'd always thought them just that. That such a large space would be set aside solely for their use was staggering.
He of course recognized all three of the people present immediately, for they were among the most famous of the student body. Touga Kiryu, the council president was there in his white uniform. Something about it struck him as odd, but he couldn't figure out just what it was. Miki Kaoru, the council secretary and the only middle school student on the council, sat beside him in white and blue. Soneil also noticed the cord and sleeve decoration were on the opposite sides than his fellows. The last member was the one that he had been holding till last. Juri Arisugawa was there as the faculty liaison dressed in her standard white and orange. For the first time he really just looked at her. She looked good. Beautiful really, with her orange hair done in neat curls that framed her face. Not that he hadn't known that before of course. He had, but for the first time Soneil regretted the decisions he'd made in his life that prevented him from becoming known as the prodigy he was. He could quite easily imagine himself sitting at the empty place at the table by her side in the white and gray uniform that he had hidden away in the closet.
It was only with the greatest of difficulty that he shook off those thoughts. It was strange that he was having them now, because he hadn't even thought about that uniform in over a year and ambition wasn't something he'd ever desired. It was almost as if being so close to such power was affecting him some how. These were three of most powerful students on campus and with Kyouichi Saionji practically ruled the school. That thought brought him up so short that he almost lost his grip on the wall. Where was Saionji? Apparently the others were wondering the same thing for that was what the conversation turned to.
"Touga-sempai, do you know where Saionji-sempai is?" Miki clicked the off the timer of his stopwatch with his right hand as he wrote with his left.
"Yes, Touga. Where is Saionji?" Juri tossed her head as if it didn't really matter where the vice-president was.
Touga smiled in such a way that Soneil shuddered in disgust. He'd heard the rumors about Touga, but they were merely another thing he'd thought untrue. Apparently he had been mistaken about that as well. Touga Kiryu was apparently just as manipulative as some of the rumors suggested. "Well apparently the vice-president is answering a challenge from a previously unknown duelist."
Juri and Miki both came rigidly to attention in their chairs. Juri was the one to speak first. "So it's true. There are others with the rose seal." She lifted her hand to in front of her face and Soneil could see a glint off of something on her finger.
It was rather frustrating for him that he was so busy trying to decipher what he'd already heard that he missed the rest of that conversation. When he returned his attention to the council members they had moved onto other topics. Seeing as he wasn't going to learn anything else and since he already had much to think on, Soneil decided to head back down the wall. He vaguely heard Juri excusing herself from the meeting above him. The descent was much more difficult than the ascent because of the greatly decreased lighting caused handholds to appear where there were none and hid others. Finally he reached the bottom and turned around. Only to end up staring directly into a pair of light green eyes framed by the same orange curls he had admired earlier.
Inwardly Soneil started to swear. The timing of her departure from the meeting could have been coincidence or it could have meant that he'd been spotted. Either way she obviously knew that he'd been climbing the wall, the only question was whether or not she knew he'd been listening to them. "Good evening. Beautiful weather we are having." As opening statements went it wasn't his greatest but it would have to do.
"Yes it is Thane-san isn't it? Might I ask what you were doing spying on the student council?" She arched a single eyebrow and waited for him to answer.
It did at least answer the question about how long she'd known he'd been there. It was strange that she hadn't said anything to the others. He ran a quick hand through his hair pulling it out of his eyes. He just couldn't think of anything that he could say that would convince her that he hadn't been spying on the council, which admittedly he had been doing. Then it came to him. It was embarrassing, demeaning, and quite possibly the most humiliating thing he'd ever thought of, but it just might work on Juri because of what the student body made her out to be.
Quickly he adjusted his posture and forced himself to blush furiously by thinking of the most embarrassing incidents in his entire life. Not really that hard since this had the potential to replace all of them. "Oh Juri-sama, I'm so embarrassed. I just saw you and next thing I knew I was climbing up the wall trying to get a better look at my hero. I'm you biggest fan. I've probably seen all of your matches, but I've never worked up the courage to actually say hello to you before." He had to pause for a moment or he risked becoming ill. "I have no idea what came over me. I'm so, so, so sorry. Please don't tell anyone. I'd be so embarrassed." He bowed as low as he could and held it because it was getting difficult to maintain a straight face. And it was also strangely appropriate to the situation.
Several long moments passed and with each heartbeat Soneil could see all of his carefully prepared anonymity slipping away because of a stupid restless evening excursion. He'd about given up hope when he heard Juri give an exasperated sigh. "Get up. That story is almost too stupid to be anything other than the truth." He slumped in relief but stiffened again when she glared at him. "I agree that it would be highly embarrassing if it got out, however I am suspicious of your reasons. I won't tell anyone about this incident, but you can be assured that I will be watching you, Sonal Thane."
"Oh, thank you Juri-sama! And it's Soneil Thane." He turned to head off, mentally swearing up a storm, when he heard her speak again.
"I'll remember that, Thane-san. I'll remember that."
***
As he'd known she would Juri was watching him like a hawk. He'd completely stopped his evening excursions for the past week acted as completely in character as he possibly could. In fact he'd even spent his free gym period actually helping Hasekana-sensei get caught up in the library office. But everything he did to contain the damage was useless. He'd slipped up a few times in class and hadn't answered a few questions wrong when he should have. He doubted that anyone except Juri had noticed that but others had noticed the fact that Juri was watching him. People occasionally pointed him out and what whispers he overheard were comments on how little people really knew about him. Once he'd even heard someone say he was a hidden member of the student council and was secretly dating Juri. More and more his turquoise rod was finding its way into his hand to be twirled endlessly while he worked. This despite every effort to not do so as it attracted more attention to him.
There wasn't anyway he could go back to being the person he'd been before. Which was more annoying than anything else because it took a great deal to time to create as elaborate a lie as that one. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered the connections between he and his grandfather. He nodded to himself as he leaned against a tree in one of the courtyards. Any more time he spent trying to salvage his current identity was time he could have spent creating a new one. Looking up he caught sight of Juri sitting at one of the tables on the dining hall's balcony. Since he was giving up he did something he'd been wanting to for the entire week. Raising two finger of his right hand to his temple he gave her a quick salute conceding her the victory. Standing quickly Soneil calmly left the campus for his dorm.
He ignored the people who tried to get his attention in the dorm. They never tried to talk to him before and he didn't want to talk to them now. He shut the door of his room behind him and leaned against it. It was hard to name the feeling that he felt, but it finally came to him. It was relief. Trapped for so long behind anonymity he'd forgotten what it was like to be noticed. It was frightening, exciting, and wonderful. Shaking off the feelings running through his head he concentrated on what he'd returned to do. It was time to reinvent Soneil Thane.
***
Several hours of work had turned out pretty well he thought as he surveyed the sheets of paper that he'd used to detail the new Soneil Thane the previous night. Where as the old Soneil was average in everyway, the new one was much closer to his true potential. Still not equal but closer. Academically perfect. Cheerful and sarcastic. Well dressed but tasteful. Overall much closer to the truth than before. This persona would be much easier to maintain, because it was him. Or at least what he wanted to be when he wasn't sneaking in through someone's second floor window.
He'd enjoy himself with this. Besides his grandfather would probably be happy that he was settling into the prominent position that their family deserved. He looked over at the white uniform that was hanging off of the top of the bunked beds. It was much like the one he'd seen Saionji wearing. His however consisted of the standard white jacket with the left sleeve done in a light gray rather than Saionji's green. The cord was also similarly replaced, as were the slacks. Unfortunately it also wore in a way that was slightly different than that of the teal one he was used to and it took several moments for him to be able to settle it properly. Walking over to the mirror he looked at his reflection and wasn't displeased by what he saw. Still he thought something was missing. He didn't quite stand out enough yet. He pulled a large part of his hair to behind his head and clasped it with an onyx barrette. It was better but not quite enough. He finally sighed and walked over to his desk and took out his brown contacts. Looking back into the mirror he nodded. It certainly worked. He could only hope the effect startled Juri enough that she might overlook any other mistakes he might have made in his planning long enough for him to correct them. Settling himself into the appropriate frame of mind he opened his door and set out for the school. Even before he left the dorm Soneil could hear the gasps of the surprised students and inwardly he smiled.
His inward smile turned into the smallest of smirks as he walked the to campus and caused people to stop and stare. It was always good to keep people off balance. Just then one of the elementary students ran up to him and tugged on his sleeve.
"Sempai, you dropped this." The boy handed him a large black ring with the school's crest on it. Oddly enough it seemed to be sized to fit his finger. Remembering something that had been said at the student council meeting about duels and rings he was glad that the ring wasn't his.
"I'm sorry, but that isn't mine. You should probably turn it into the main office so its owner can reclaim it." He turned away when another tugging on his sleeve stopped him.
"It is yours Sempai. I saw it fall out of your pocket."
Soneil went cold. It was impossible. He'd checked all of the pockets of the uniform before he'd put it on. There had been no such ring in them and he didn't own such a ring. Wordlessly he held out his hand for it. "Thank you." As he turned the ring over in his hand he watched the boy run off to be with his friends. He paused when he realized he felt something on the inside of the ring. It must have been engraved. Probably with the owner's name. Chuckling that the puzzle would have such an obvious solution he looked at the characters written in the metal. He almost dropped it altogether when he saw that it had his name on the inside. Not his real name, but rather the name he went by on the rare occasions he was hired to do a job. His father's name. Hands shaking he put the ring into one of the jacket pockets being careful to button it. He'd deal with the ring later. At the moment he needed to concentrate on pulling himself back together as he walked the rest of the way to the classroom.
***
He'd managed to pull himself together enough that there weren't any visible signs of how shaken up he was by the time he entered the building. In fact outwardly it seemed that he was just slightly superior to everyone else. Juri was sitting in her usual place as he walked into the classroom. She looked over briefly as he entered and went back to looking out the window for a few seconds before whipping her head back around and staring with her mouth hanging slightly open. Soneil knew then that he would treasure the expression on her face for the rest of his life.
Threading his way through the desks of his fellow stunned students he calmly sat down in his usual seat, the only indication that he was aware of Juri's stare being the slightly upturned corner of his mouth. He pretended to ignore her for several minutes before seeming to notice her. "Can I help you this morning, Arisugawa-san?"
Her eyebrow arched up. "It seems I misunderstood the salute yesterday afternoon. I had thought you were indicating a loss." She made a small show of looking him up and down. "Perhaps I have misjudged you in other areas as well, Thane-san."
"You compliment me. Yesterday was a loss. But only a point." He looked at her and narrowed his eyes slightly before flicking them towards the other students who seemed to be collectively holding their breath. "The bout continues does it not? Perhaps there should be a review of the rules at a later time?"
"I look forward to it." For a brief moment Soneil thought he saw the smallest of smiles on Juri's face, but if he did it was gone much too quickly to be sure. Still if he had seen it correctly he too would be looking forward to matching wits with Juri Arisugawa.
The rest of the time until lunch passed somewhat normally, with the only difference being that he spent even less time paying attention to class than Juri usually did. The teachers were of course highly annoyed until hey realized that he was failing to answer anything incorrectly as he had occasionally done before. He could almost see Juri's eyebrow raising despite the fact she didn't so much as glance back at him during this time.
Despite having drawn a whole new level of attention to himself Soneil found it rather easy to get out of the room without having to answer any questions from the other students. He only imitated what Juri and acted as if he was too busy to even notice that people wanted to talk to him. The trip to the dining facility was equally uneventful until the point that he sat down at the table he'd often seen Juri sitting in over the past few days. The table was apparently hers by unspoken right and so the hall quieted immediately when she walked in. Again he smirked slightly at the shocked expressions on the students' faces as the most popular girl in the school silently sat herself down across from him and then coolly glanced at the people seated at the closest table. They immediately left.
"I believe the point went to you earlier today, Thane-san." Juri calmly began eating. "So what are the rules of the bout?"
He thought for a moment. "I don't see as how we really need rules as we were doing well enough before hand without. Points are to be conceded by the opponent." He paused and looked directly at her for a moment. "I do hope that this will be interesting, Arisugawa-san."
She nodded. "I think that is one thing that can be counted on. May I ask where you found such a uniform?"
"My closet. I've had it for quite a while really. But as I dislike undo attention I haven't worn it." He shook his head ruefully. "It seems that attention isn't something I can avoid anymore so I figured why not wear it?"
"I had thought that only members of the student council wore such a uniform?" She made her statement into a question that asked several things, and it was clear she wanted them all answered.
"In reality that is close but not exactly true. The school gives the uniforms out to both the school's elite and those children of important patrons. It is just that the council members happen to number among the elite."
She frowned slightly. "And which are you, Thane-san?"
"It'd be fairly arrogant for me to say both wouldn't it? The truth of the matter is that my wished to educate his heir at a fairly prestigious school and so sent me here. No doubt he was highly disappointed when he discovered that I wasn't flaunting myself as he would have done, and I did so enjoy acting contrary to his preferences." He tilted his head to the side. "I would appreciate it if you'd let me know how much longer you plan on watching me because all of this public attention gets quite tiring after a while. Don't you agree?"
For a brief moment he thought he saw her roll her eyes. She then frowned slightly once more. "Weren't your eyes brown earlier?"
"I'm honored that such a beautiful woman took the time to remember the color of my eyes. Yes they were."
"And yet they are blue now. I assume there's a reason for this."
"There is. Contacts." He pushed away from the table and started on his way. When he'd gotten about halfway to the exit Soneil heard her call out to him.
"But which is the truth?"
He laughed out loud. "The truth? I don't deal in truths, Arisugawa- san. I deal in reality. If you want truths you'll have to find them yourself. Good day."
She tipped her fingers to her head. "Point to you then."
***
A Shoujo Kakumei Utena Fanfiction
By Prospero Hibiki
The Grandmaster Mongoose
God of Misdirection, Caffeine, and Those Socks You Lost Last Tuesday
http://prospero.anifics.com
hell_frost@hotmail.com
Disclaimer:
Were I anything but a poor college student I would ... well I don't know what would happen since I doubt that this situation will change in the foreseeable future except if I fail out of said college. As it is I'm not making any money off of these characters and any character that you don't recognize from Shoujo Kakumei Utena is mine. And the truly sad thing is I'm not even making money off of them. The characters you do recognize however belong to Saito Chiho, Ikuhara Kunihiko, Be-Papas, Viz, Animerica, Animerica Extra, Shogakukan, and/or any combination of these and others.
This story takes place during the timeline of the regular Utena series but in a slightly adjusted universe. For those not familiar with the idea this is considered an Altiverse fic. With this said there will be changes in the original timeline and series content for reasons better left unexplained (it also smoothes over some gaps in my memory). So please don't flame me saying that these characters are wrong or that I've completely mangled your favorite scene from the series.
***
It was the beginning of a new term at Ohtori. Soneil Thane walked towards the school from his dorm building as he had every previous term. There really were no differences this year for him despite having advanced into the High School. He chose to wear the standard teal uniform despite the fact that his grandfather's efforts at getting him into the prestigious academy had entitled him to a different one. But then choosing to wear that uniform would have attracted too much attention to him. Soneil was nothing if not a private person. He hid his blue eyes behind brown contacts that he was so religious about using that no one knew of them. As it was he stood out too much with his hair being a shocking white and the thin, almost invisible scar that traveled a short vertical distance down his left cheek. Only with a great amount of difficulty could he change his hair color. And despite that he had a wide variety of dyes hidden away behind a removable panel in his single room at the dorm as well as several other locations unknown to others.
Aside from his hair color there was very little to distinguish Soneil from his fellow students. He knew everyone's name in his grade but few could come up with his name off the top of their head. He could engage in conversation with anyone at a moment's notice, but if anyone thought about the conversation afterwards they would fail to find that they had learned anything other than what they'd already known. His grades were kept at an acceptable level, often coming close to perfect but never reaching it due to the occasional careless response. Not a joiner, he couldn't be classified as a loner for he could converse on any school activity as if he had participated himself.
All of these things would have greatly interested anyone who cared to discover the information, but because Soneil took great pains to make sure no one became so curious, no one knew this. The patriarch of the Thane family had been desperate when he'd sent his grandson to Ohtori Academy. It had been his hope that the structured experience that the school offered would force Soneil to abandon the things taught to him by his uncle. And to his knowledge the school had succeeded admirably. He would have been most dismayed if he'd known that instead of abandoning his uncle's teachings Soneil had instead perfected them beyond anything his uncle could have done.
Soneil was an average student because and only because he wished to be perceived as one. Attracting attention in one field of interest could lead to attracting attention in others, and that was simply something that Soneil could not allow. Which wasn't to say that he wasn't irked by the need to maintain a low profile. For one thing it made if fairly difficult to appeal to members of the opposite sex.
Sighing once more at the great ironies of the world he continued on his way to his homeroom to begin another hopefully dull term.
***
It was with some dismay that he learned that he would be in the same homeroom as Juri Arisugawa for the year's remaining term. It was a change and a bad one because he hadn't known about it ahead of time. He had no time to prepare for it before he'd been hustled by the teacher to his new room. There had apparently been a small overflow in his old homeroom because of some new students. For once his tactic for choosing his academic level had backfired. He'd done well enough that the faculty assumed the transfer wouldn't disrupt his studies, and poorly enough that he wasn't classified as a prize pupil that a teacher would keep around for bragging rights. So there he was standing in front of the classroom full of people, the sole center of attention. Needless to say he absolutely hated it.
There were no good things about the move, only less horrible things. One of these was the fact that everyone was at least familiar with the fact that he was in their grade and so paid very little attention to him. But then that little attention was almost too much as he could see one or two girls get a little starry eyed as they looked at him. Obviously these girls were hard up for dates. Another of the less horrible facts was that this WAS Arisugawa's classroom. Being the person that she was she would probably receive much of the attention that might have gone his way. The bad side of this was of course that since the only open seats in the room were those surrounding her, he might gain some additional attention simply from being in her vicinity.
Soneil looked at the seats for a brief moment trying to figure out which one would be least likely to draw attention to him. The one immediately next to her was out as it put him between her and the rest of the class. Not good. Finally he settled on immediately behind her, because one of the girls who'd been giving him the come hither glances was beside the desk in front of her. Juri was of course staring out the window and had been for sometime. In fact except for a brief glance as he was introduced she'd seemingly ignored everything that had happened in the room.
The class itself progressed about as he'd thought it would, with the teachers occasionally picking him to see if they were correct in his ability to adapt to his new situation. He, of course, provided them with his usual standard performance with perhaps an incorrect answer just slightly more frequent than usual as if to say he'd be fine if they'd give him a chance to get adjusted without bothering him. Needless to say none of them caught the hint, not that he'd expected them to.
He ran into yet another complication when it drew time for him to go to Physical Education. The school had apparently decided to hire a new teacher without asking his permission. He'd come to a good compromise with the previous teacher, which was to say the coach had overlooked it when students finished assignments early and wandered off when they were finished. This new teacher seemed to have the silly idea that people needed to sit around and watch the other people do things for the entire period. It made him reassess his idea of joining a club. Club activities were one way to get out of gym class. It was definitely something to think about.
***
He was about to leave for the day when he ran into one of the few faculty members that he had talked to outside of the classroom. Hasekana- sensei was the head librarian for the High School and a person that he had carefully cultivated because of the research potential located within the enormous library. It was never possible to tell when the smallest piece of trivia could prove essential. Preparation was something that his uncle had drummed into his head enough that it was second nature.
"Thane-kun, I'm so glad I caught you." Hasekana-sensei was almost out of breath, not very unusual since she had always seemed rather weak of constitution. It was surprising though that she had been looking for him in particular.
"Yes, Hasekana-sensei?"
Taking several minutes to catch her breath she then continued. "I just recently heard that Kuoma-sensei left us recently," she was of course referring to the late gym teacher, "knowing how much you disliked gym class, I arranged for you to be my assistant during that period."
Suddenly everything made more sense. He'd been telling her for some time now that he didn't like to exert himself overmuch physically instead preferring to take calming walks throughout the campus. Soneil had done this more to create in her a feeling of sympathy, as well as giving the two of them something in common. Hasekana-sensei had had weak lungs as a child something aggravated by strenuous activity. It appeared that the slight exaggeration was going to prove quite beneficial.
Seeing as Soneil had paused overlong she continued. "I understand that you'd like to continue as you have been, but this will actually prove better than before. You'll only need to check in with me at the beginning of the period so that I know you aren't absent for the day. Perhaps if other faculty members are expected by you could do some filing for me in the office. Every other day you'd be free to explore the campus as you saw fit."
It really was extremely generous of her and for a moment he was slightly choked up. She'd cared enough about him that she'd gone out of her way to arrange for him to be more comfortable. He knew just how much she hated to come out of her cozy library, and yet she'd done so to help him. It wasn't her fault that he'd lied to her. He wanted to admit to everything to her, but instead he settled for a simple, "Thank you, Sensei." As it was appropriate for the situation he bowed fairly lowly. And for the first time in a long while he really meant it as the form of respect that it was supposed to be.
***
Arriving back at his dorm room Soneil goes through his usual routine to make sure everything was as he left it. Of course it was. Everything was in exactly its proper place indicating that no one had entered his room. Which of course meant that his secrets were completely safe for another day. Immediately crossing over to his desk he removed the false panel that housed the small turquoise rod he'd bought almost five years before. He'd spent the first profits that his uncle had let him keep on it. It was the only item in the entire room that he cared about at all, despite there being several million yen's worth of jewels hidden under the floorboards. Finally making up his mind on something he'd been contemplating for the longest time he decided to keep it with him whenever he wasn't on a job. Especially since he wouldn't have to entrust it to a gym locker.
As he absently twirled the thirteen cm rod around his fingers as he thought about what he was going to do next. Because of the abrupt change in classrooms he was just a little bit too fresh in people's memories to proceed with his usual evening activities. It'd probably be best to just wander around the campus. In his line of work it never hurt to know one's surroundings better than one currently did already.
Decided on a course of action Soneil walked over to his dresser and pulled out a nice button up shirt in a dark gray as well as some black slacks just slightly less durable than denim. So attired he also grabbed a light jacket of a slightly lighter shade of gray than his shirt. With this combination of clothes he was prepared for situations where he had to interact with people as well as ones where he wished to remain unnoticed. Some people would have expected him to be dressed in all black but, as his uncle had taught him, solid black shadows actually drew more attention to one than lighter shades did. The human eye refused to accept the total absence of color and often drew a person's gaze where a person in darker grays could blend much easier. Soneil had the additional problem of hiding his hair, but then that was what the jacket was for. The rod of course was left on the desk because there was no telling what could happen while exploring.
Calmly strolling out of the dorm building he made his way through the town to the school. Moving a fairly brisk pace it wasn't very long at all until he reached it. Thinking of where to start lead him to the track. Once there Soneil was just looking around when the final rays of the sun reflected off of something. Looking up he saw a large balcony overlooking his current location. It seemed like the perfect place to start to explore.
It was a difficult climb up the wall, but less so than some he had experienced in his time. He'd stuck to the shaded side of the wall to avoid any casual observation. Getting ready to poke his head over the small railing he paused for the briefest of instants because of instinct alone. Which was just as well because it was then that three people passed through some sort of opening in the building and onto the balcony.
The beating of his heart drowned some of their early conversation out, but then cautiously he raised his head over the railing. For once he was lucky that his hair was white for it would be much more difficult to distinguish it from the marble façade. His eyes widened when he realized where he was. He'd heard rumors of course of the meeting place of the student council but he'd always thought them just that. That such a large space would be set aside solely for their use was staggering.
He of course recognized all three of the people present immediately, for they were among the most famous of the student body. Touga Kiryu, the council president was there in his white uniform. Something about it struck him as odd, but he couldn't figure out just what it was. Miki Kaoru, the council secretary and the only middle school student on the council, sat beside him in white and blue. Soneil also noticed the cord and sleeve decoration were on the opposite sides than his fellows. The last member was the one that he had been holding till last. Juri Arisugawa was there as the faculty liaison dressed in her standard white and orange. For the first time he really just looked at her. She looked good. Beautiful really, with her orange hair done in neat curls that framed her face. Not that he hadn't known that before of course. He had, but for the first time Soneil regretted the decisions he'd made in his life that prevented him from becoming known as the prodigy he was. He could quite easily imagine himself sitting at the empty place at the table by her side in the white and gray uniform that he had hidden away in the closet.
It was only with the greatest of difficulty that he shook off those thoughts. It was strange that he was having them now, because he hadn't even thought about that uniform in over a year and ambition wasn't something he'd ever desired. It was almost as if being so close to such power was affecting him some how. These were three of most powerful students on campus and with Kyouichi Saionji practically ruled the school. That thought brought him up so short that he almost lost his grip on the wall. Where was Saionji? Apparently the others were wondering the same thing for that was what the conversation turned to.
"Touga-sempai, do you know where Saionji-sempai is?" Miki clicked the off the timer of his stopwatch with his right hand as he wrote with his left.
"Yes, Touga. Where is Saionji?" Juri tossed her head as if it didn't really matter where the vice-president was.
Touga smiled in such a way that Soneil shuddered in disgust. He'd heard the rumors about Touga, but they were merely another thing he'd thought untrue. Apparently he had been mistaken about that as well. Touga Kiryu was apparently just as manipulative as some of the rumors suggested. "Well apparently the vice-president is answering a challenge from a previously unknown duelist."
Juri and Miki both came rigidly to attention in their chairs. Juri was the one to speak first. "So it's true. There are others with the rose seal." She lifted her hand to in front of her face and Soneil could see a glint off of something on her finger.
It was rather frustrating for him that he was so busy trying to decipher what he'd already heard that he missed the rest of that conversation. When he returned his attention to the council members they had moved onto other topics. Seeing as he wasn't going to learn anything else and since he already had much to think on, Soneil decided to head back down the wall. He vaguely heard Juri excusing herself from the meeting above him. The descent was much more difficult than the ascent because of the greatly decreased lighting caused handholds to appear where there were none and hid others. Finally he reached the bottom and turned around. Only to end up staring directly into a pair of light green eyes framed by the same orange curls he had admired earlier.
Inwardly Soneil started to swear. The timing of her departure from the meeting could have been coincidence or it could have meant that he'd been spotted. Either way she obviously knew that he'd been climbing the wall, the only question was whether or not she knew he'd been listening to them. "Good evening. Beautiful weather we are having." As opening statements went it wasn't his greatest but it would have to do.
"Yes it is Thane-san isn't it? Might I ask what you were doing spying on the student council?" She arched a single eyebrow and waited for him to answer.
It did at least answer the question about how long she'd known he'd been there. It was strange that she hadn't said anything to the others. He ran a quick hand through his hair pulling it out of his eyes. He just couldn't think of anything that he could say that would convince her that he hadn't been spying on the council, which admittedly he had been doing. Then it came to him. It was embarrassing, demeaning, and quite possibly the most humiliating thing he'd ever thought of, but it just might work on Juri because of what the student body made her out to be.
Quickly he adjusted his posture and forced himself to blush furiously by thinking of the most embarrassing incidents in his entire life. Not really that hard since this had the potential to replace all of them. "Oh Juri-sama, I'm so embarrassed. I just saw you and next thing I knew I was climbing up the wall trying to get a better look at my hero. I'm you biggest fan. I've probably seen all of your matches, but I've never worked up the courage to actually say hello to you before." He had to pause for a moment or he risked becoming ill. "I have no idea what came over me. I'm so, so, so sorry. Please don't tell anyone. I'd be so embarrassed." He bowed as low as he could and held it because it was getting difficult to maintain a straight face. And it was also strangely appropriate to the situation.
Several long moments passed and with each heartbeat Soneil could see all of his carefully prepared anonymity slipping away because of a stupid restless evening excursion. He'd about given up hope when he heard Juri give an exasperated sigh. "Get up. That story is almost too stupid to be anything other than the truth." He slumped in relief but stiffened again when she glared at him. "I agree that it would be highly embarrassing if it got out, however I am suspicious of your reasons. I won't tell anyone about this incident, but you can be assured that I will be watching you, Sonal Thane."
"Oh, thank you Juri-sama! And it's Soneil Thane." He turned to head off, mentally swearing up a storm, when he heard her speak again.
"I'll remember that, Thane-san. I'll remember that."
***
As he'd known she would Juri was watching him like a hawk. He'd completely stopped his evening excursions for the past week acted as completely in character as he possibly could. In fact he'd even spent his free gym period actually helping Hasekana-sensei get caught up in the library office. But everything he did to contain the damage was useless. He'd slipped up a few times in class and hadn't answered a few questions wrong when he should have. He doubted that anyone except Juri had noticed that but others had noticed the fact that Juri was watching him. People occasionally pointed him out and what whispers he overheard were comments on how little people really knew about him. Once he'd even heard someone say he was a hidden member of the student council and was secretly dating Juri. More and more his turquoise rod was finding its way into his hand to be twirled endlessly while he worked. This despite every effort to not do so as it attracted more attention to him.
There wasn't anyway he could go back to being the person he'd been before. Which was more annoying than anything else because it took a great deal to time to create as elaborate a lie as that one. It was only a matter of time before someone discovered the connections between he and his grandfather. He nodded to himself as he leaned against a tree in one of the courtyards. Any more time he spent trying to salvage his current identity was time he could have spent creating a new one. Looking up he caught sight of Juri sitting at one of the tables on the dining hall's balcony. Since he was giving up he did something he'd been wanting to for the entire week. Raising two finger of his right hand to his temple he gave her a quick salute conceding her the victory. Standing quickly Soneil calmly left the campus for his dorm.
He ignored the people who tried to get his attention in the dorm. They never tried to talk to him before and he didn't want to talk to them now. He shut the door of his room behind him and leaned against it. It was hard to name the feeling that he felt, but it finally came to him. It was relief. Trapped for so long behind anonymity he'd forgotten what it was like to be noticed. It was frightening, exciting, and wonderful. Shaking off the feelings running through his head he concentrated on what he'd returned to do. It was time to reinvent Soneil Thane.
***
Several hours of work had turned out pretty well he thought as he surveyed the sheets of paper that he'd used to detail the new Soneil Thane the previous night. Where as the old Soneil was average in everyway, the new one was much closer to his true potential. Still not equal but closer. Academically perfect. Cheerful and sarcastic. Well dressed but tasteful. Overall much closer to the truth than before. This persona would be much easier to maintain, because it was him. Or at least what he wanted to be when he wasn't sneaking in through someone's second floor window.
He'd enjoy himself with this. Besides his grandfather would probably be happy that he was settling into the prominent position that their family deserved. He looked over at the white uniform that was hanging off of the top of the bunked beds. It was much like the one he'd seen Saionji wearing. His however consisted of the standard white jacket with the left sleeve done in a light gray rather than Saionji's green. The cord was also similarly replaced, as were the slacks. Unfortunately it also wore in a way that was slightly different than that of the teal one he was used to and it took several moments for him to be able to settle it properly. Walking over to the mirror he looked at his reflection and wasn't displeased by what he saw. Still he thought something was missing. He didn't quite stand out enough yet. He pulled a large part of his hair to behind his head and clasped it with an onyx barrette. It was better but not quite enough. He finally sighed and walked over to his desk and took out his brown contacts. Looking back into the mirror he nodded. It certainly worked. He could only hope the effect startled Juri enough that she might overlook any other mistakes he might have made in his planning long enough for him to correct them. Settling himself into the appropriate frame of mind he opened his door and set out for the school. Even before he left the dorm Soneil could hear the gasps of the surprised students and inwardly he smiled.
His inward smile turned into the smallest of smirks as he walked the to campus and caused people to stop and stare. It was always good to keep people off balance. Just then one of the elementary students ran up to him and tugged on his sleeve.
"Sempai, you dropped this." The boy handed him a large black ring with the school's crest on it. Oddly enough it seemed to be sized to fit his finger. Remembering something that had been said at the student council meeting about duels and rings he was glad that the ring wasn't his.
"I'm sorry, but that isn't mine. You should probably turn it into the main office so its owner can reclaim it." He turned away when another tugging on his sleeve stopped him.
"It is yours Sempai. I saw it fall out of your pocket."
Soneil went cold. It was impossible. He'd checked all of the pockets of the uniform before he'd put it on. There had been no such ring in them and he didn't own such a ring. Wordlessly he held out his hand for it. "Thank you." As he turned the ring over in his hand he watched the boy run off to be with his friends. He paused when he realized he felt something on the inside of the ring. It must have been engraved. Probably with the owner's name. Chuckling that the puzzle would have such an obvious solution he looked at the characters written in the metal. He almost dropped it altogether when he saw that it had his name on the inside. Not his real name, but rather the name he went by on the rare occasions he was hired to do a job. His father's name. Hands shaking he put the ring into one of the jacket pockets being careful to button it. He'd deal with the ring later. At the moment he needed to concentrate on pulling himself back together as he walked the rest of the way to the classroom.
***
He'd managed to pull himself together enough that there weren't any visible signs of how shaken up he was by the time he entered the building. In fact outwardly it seemed that he was just slightly superior to everyone else. Juri was sitting in her usual place as he walked into the classroom. She looked over briefly as he entered and went back to looking out the window for a few seconds before whipping her head back around and staring with her mouth hanging slightly open. Soneil knew then that he would treasure the expression on her face for the rest of his life.
Threading his way through the desks of his fellow stunned students he calmly sat down in his usual seat, the only indication that he was aware of Juri's stare being the slightly upturned corner of his mouth. He pretended to ignore her for several minutes before seeming to notice her. "Can I help you this morning, Arisugawa-san?"
Her eyebrow arched up. "It seems I misunderstood the salute yesterday afternoon. I had thought you were indicating a loss." She made a small show of looking him up and down. "Perhaps I have misjudged you in other areas as well, Thane-san."
"You compliment me. Yesterday was a loss. But only a point." He looked at her and narrowed his eyes slightly before flicking them towards the other students who seemed to be collectively holding their breath. "The bout continues does it not? Perhaps there should be a review of the rules at a later time?"
"I look forward to it." For a brief moment Soneil thought he saw the smallest of smiles on Juri's face, but if he did it was gone much too quickly to be sure. Still if he had seen it correctly he too would be looking forward to matching wits with Juri Arisugawa.
The rest of the time until lunch passed somewhat normally, with the only difference being that he spent even less time paying attention to class than Juri usually did. The teachers were of course highly annoyed until hey realized that he was failing to answer anything incorrectly as he had occasionally done before. He could almost see Juri's eyebrow raising despite the fact she didn't so much as glance back at him during this time.
Despite having drawn a whole new level of attention to himself Soneil found it rather easy to get out of the room without having to answer any questions from the other students. He only imitated what Juri and acted as if he was too busy to even notice that people wanted to talk to him. The trip to the dining facility was equally uneventful until the point that he sat down at the table he'd often seen Juri sitting in over the past few days. The table was apparently hers by unspoken right and so the hall quieted immediately when she walked in. Again he smirked slightly at the shocked expressions on the students' faces as the most popular girl in the school silently sat herself down across from him and then coolly glanced at the people seated at the closest table. They immediately left.
"I believe the point went to you earlier today, Thane-san." Juri calmly began eating. "So what are the rules of the bout?"
He thought for a moment. "I don't see as how we really need rules as we were doing well enough before hand without. Points are to be conceded by the opponent." He paused and looked directly at her for a moment. "I do hope that this will be interesting, Arisugawa-san."
She nodded. "I think that is one thing that can be counted on. May I ask where you found such a uniform?"
"My closet. I've had it for quite a while really. But as I dislike undo attention I haven't worn it." He shook his head ruefully. "It seems that attention isn't something I can avoid anymore so I figured why not wear it?"
"I had thought that only members of the student council wore such a uniform?" She made her statement into a question that asked several things, and it was clear she wanted them all answered.
"In reality that is close but not exactly true. The school gives the uniforms out to both the school's elite and those children of important patrons. It is just that the council members happen to number among the elite."
She frowned slightly. "And which are you, Thane-san?"
"It'd be fairly arrogant for me to say both wouldn't it? The truth of the matter is that my wished to educate his heir at a fairly prestigious school and so sent me here. No doubt he was highly disappointed when he discovered that I wasn't flaunting myself as he would have done, and I did so enjoy acting contrary to his preferences." He tilted his head to the side. "I would appreciate it if you'd let me know how much longer you plan on watching me because all of this public attention gets quite tiring after a while. Don't you agree?"
For a brief moment he thought he saw her roll her eyes. She then frowned slightly once more. "Weren't your eyes brown earlier?"
"I'm honored that such a beautiful woman took the time to remember the color of my eyes. Yes they were."
"And yet they are blue now. I assume there's a reason for this."
"There is. Contacts." He pushed away from the table and started on his way. When he'd gotten about halfway to the exit Soneil heard her call out to him.
"But which is the truth?"
He laughed out loud. "The truth? I don't deal in truths, Arisugawa- san. I deal in reality. If you want truths you'll have to find them yourself. Good day."
She tipped her fingers to her head. "Point to you then."
***