Slips of the Tongue

by Yukitsu

Disclaimer: Crush Gear Turbo isn't mine. I guess I finally decided to write a CGT fanfic. I have plans for two fics, and this is the lesser of the two evils. I don't think the other one would get any lower than R.

" yadda " - dialogue

* yadda * - thoughts and italics

YADDA - bold, emphasis, and stress

Mary Sue Bashings, be warned. God, I HATE Mary Sues.

~~~~~~

Prologue

Sometimes at night, when it's all dark and quiet, and everything is still, don't you ever get the feeling that something... isn't... quite... right?

Kuroudo peered suspiciously at his window, irritated at the continuous tapping noise the branches of a tree kept on making against the panes.

"I really should have that old tree cut down" Kuroudo muttered irately, burying his head under a large pillow.

~~~~~~

Chapter 1

The Tobita wasn't an overly grand club like the Manganji. It wasn't as populated and active as the Japanese Griffon. It wasn't as famous as when it was in the days of its glory either. The Tobita Club was a far cry from being popular.

True, the Tobita Club wasn't the perfect club, but that fact didn't stop its members from being the best and cheerful players that they were.

"Yo, Kuroudo!" Kouya called, waving a red bean bun towards the blond.

"Kouya" Kuroudo nodded towards the younger boy's direction. He gave Jirou and Kaoru similar nods before sauntering off in Jin's direction.

Kyousuke Jin, gear master and fighter, was slouched over a very harrassed looking Dino Phallanx. The gear had been stripped of all its parts, and its insides were scattered all around it.

"Jin, what are you doing to Dino Phallanx?" Kuroudo nearly demanded. The green gear was being disassembled to it's very last part right in front of him, and the blond felt a little queasy at the sight. He never did like it when gears were in pieces around him.

"Fixing it. One of the parts have a crack, and I couldn't wait until you pinpointed the problem for me, so I started as soon as I got here" Jin muttered. He would have done his work in his lab as usual, but his more hyper active teammates wanted the whole Tobita Club present everyday.

"Have you found it yet?" Kuroudo looked over his bestfriend's shoulder, wondering how on earth was Jin supposed to see a hairline crack with his bare eyes.

"I think I just did" Jin muttered. Kuroudo raised an eyebrow. It wasn't a hairline crack after all.

"What happened to that, anyway?"

"I don't know. I guess it's because this is one of the older parts when I first made Phallanx. And that had been ages ago. It doesn't matter" Jin muttered again, but mentally making a note to replace parts more often. He quickly took a new version of the damaged resin and replaced it. The other parts went back in as well, and Kuroudo felt more at ease as the Dino Phallanx was rebuilt.

"So, Kouya, how are the new members?" Jirou asked, munching on another red bean bun. Kuroudo looked up from what he had been watching and echoed the question.

"Yes, how good are they?"

"Well..." Kouya swallowed his piece of the pastry before replying. "Some of the new guys are pretty good, but most of them are just awful. They'll get better, though, once they start training under the Tobita team" The brown haired boy grinned and gave a whoop, his enthusiasm getting the better of him.

"I guess there'll be blood on our hands this year" Jin commented, finished from his work

"What do you mean?" Jirou titled his head in the gearmaster's direction, swivelling in his chair to look at the smaller boy.

"You've never seen us teach rookies, have you?" Kuroudo gave a thin smile, remembering his teaching days back at the Griffon team.

"Uh... no"

"Well, then. I suggest that you refrain from watching us if you have a weak heart" Jin said seriously, abruptly facing his laptop. Jirou gave a small jump before looking at Kuroudo. The blond looked amused, and Jirou gave a disgruntled sigh.

"Kids these days" Jirou muttered. Kouya blinked owlishly at him while Kuroudo shrugged. Jin just ignored the big guy.

"KUROUDO MARUMEEEEE!~" Someone yelled noisily and angrily outside. Kouya nearly fell out of his chair at the shout and immediately ran towards the source.

"What the---?" Jirou blinked and quickly followed.

Kuroudo locked eyes with Jin for a while before the two made a quick marathon to get outside.

"Hey! Stop yelling!" Kouya demanded, nose to nose with a girl about his height.

"I want to battle with Kuroudo Marume!" the girl -- blonde -- said with a highpitched voice.

"Geez, you're even worse that Kaoru!" Kouya exclaimed, covering his ears and wincing at the shock.

Kuroudo stared at the blonde girl and nearly fell over. He looked at Jin with wide eyes before involuntarily backing away. Jin nearly did the same, if it weren't for his shock.

The young girl looked exactly like Kuroudo!

Albeit, a female version.

She had the exact same hair, but she had darker roots. Her clothes were even matched to Kuroudo's, although her pants were tighter around the thighs. The vest, the ribbon, the white shirt, everything was nearly identical. The difference would be that she had everything fit for a girl.

"Who are you, what do you want from me?" Kuroudo demanded, slightly shaken by the sight. He growled low in his throat, annoyed when she glared at him.

"You! I want a battle!" she used her gear to show her point, and once again, the Tobita players were nearly floored. Why in the world did she have the exact same gear as Kuroudo?! She was holding the lighter version of Shooting Phantom angrily, obviously itching to throw it in Kuroudo's face.

"Who are you, and how did you copy Shooting Phantom?" Jin demanded furiously. He was the one who made Shooting Phantom. No way in hell was it going to be manufactured and mass produced for amatures to use!

"You don't remember me?" the girl asked Jin.

"Would I be asking you if I knew who you were?" Jin retorted irately.

"Where did you get a copy of my Shooting Phantom?" Kuroudo strode towards the girl, looming, for he was taller.

"First of all, I'm Keara, as Kyousuke obviously forgot. Secondly, I had this made just for the sake of fighting you, Kuroudo Marume. I had a gear master duplicate Shooting Phantom from the tapes of your matches" Keara, as she said her name was, nearly spat at Kuroudo's face. So much was her anger at the other blond that her fake Shooting Phantom was trembling in her grip.

Jin frowned at the name, but couldn't remember. "I don't know who you are, but I demand that you give me that gear"

"No! Not until I defeat Kuroudo Marume so badly, he'll never play another crush gear again!" Keara huffed, glaring Jin.

"Fine, let's have a match" Kuroudo snapped, striding angrily into the club.

"Uh... guys?" Kouya squeaked, hiding behind Jirou. He's never seen the two players so angry before!

Kuroudo, as soon as he got inside, snapped at an unfortunate rookie to open the lights for the arena. He went into the room they vacated earlier and grabbed HIS Shooting Phantom from his gear box.

"A three minute sudden death match" Jirou called from the middle of the ring. Kuroudo narrowed his eyes, determined to beat Keara so bad, she wouldn't know what happened to her fake gear.

"I remember you know!" Jin suddenly exclaimed from the sides. Keara looked at him with a large grin and gave him a wink. Jin looked absolutely revolted but stood his ground without a blush.

"I don't care who you are, but copying me is unforgivable" Kuroudo hissed. At the shout of the 'Go!' they both launched their gears for the middle of the ring.

"Hey! She's moving just like Kuroudo!" Kouya pointed out. Jirou nodded and Jin frowned even more. The rest of the Tobita Club -- the new members -- were gathering around the arena to watch the fight.

"Hey, I didn't know Kuroudo had a twin sister" a redhead commented. His friend nodded and stared at the fight.

Kuroudo was so angry that he delivered his Raging Tornado immediately. Everyone in the room gasped in surprise at Keara delivered the EXACT SAME MOVE!

Nobody was as surprised as Kuroudo Marume. His technique was being delivered almost perfectly in front of him.

Almost perfectly

However, Kuroudo had been too startled to take advantage of the flaw. Instead, the faulty move neutralized his own attack when Shooting Phantom wavered.

"That's IT!" Jin yelled. He strode over to Keara's side of the ring and yelled at her face.

"That's ENOUGH from you, Keara!" Jin bellowed. He grabbed the fake Shooting Phantom straight from the ring and shoved it to the girl's hand. "I remember you now! How many times do I have to tell you, I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOU!"

"But Kyousuke! I know that you like Kuroudo better! That's why I did this! I even got my hair bleached! And my gear, isn't it the same? You like Kuroudo better than me, so I'm imitating him so you'll like me better!" Keara explained in short bursts of sentences.

The room fell silent after Jin's outburst, and everybody stared at the pair of raging kids.

"I confessed to you once, then you told me that you didn't like me at all! I knew you liked Kuroudo, so now I'm going to be like him so you'll love me too! You can't love me because you love Kuroudo, so I'm making you see that I'm better!"

"What made you think..." Jin's voice was low, theatening, absolutely terrifying, and almost a hiss. "...that I like Kuroudo at all? I don't like traitors and backstabbers. I don't like traitors and cowards, so I cannot and do not love Kuroudo, get it? "

Kuroudo blinked. He grabbed his gear at watched the two's dialogue. His anger had dissipated, replaced by indigance and hurt. He did not show his reactions, though, and continued to listen passively at the speech.

"You mean... you don't like Kuroudo?" Keara blinked.

"No" Jin glared at her, scoffing at her stupidity.

"Then... I don't have a reason to fight him anymore. I'm going home to change from this tacky outfit" Keara hopped down from her spot, threw her fake Shooting Phantom at a trash can, and immediately left the club's structure.

Everybody was silent.

"I guess... that's that, then" Jirou remarked uneasily.

Jin walked down from the stage quietly and appraoched the trash bin. He took the discarded gear from the pile of paper and retreated to the back room.

No sooner done and a loud, sickening crash was heard.

The fake Shooting Phantom was no more.

And so was Kuroudo's luster.

~~~~~~

Umm.... Mary Sue bashings... will be welcome. I hate Keara, and is just letting her live for the sake of having an antagonist.

This is actually my first CGT fanfic. Not my first fic, though. Also, this WON'T be a JinxOC/MS or AnybodyxOC/MS. God, I hate female original characters.... I can never work properly with them.

Please, do give me constructive criticisms if you can manage that.

October 26, 2003

Bows and Arrows ~ Yukitsu