Sixth chappie!
Super rookie: My school site? It's okay. I'm supposed to add a link to it. Heh heh. I'll start after I finish updating.
Kylie: Thanks for reviewing! I'll see about writing more into my chapters – but to tell you the truth, I stop according to my whim. If I think it's a suitable place to stop, then I will. Just pray that it's only suitable after more than ten thousand words! Ha ha!
Fiery-ice: *slaps fiery-ice* hey! You asked for it!
Rapt142: No, I don't mind. You can throw anything you want at them – just make sure you don't accidentally hit me. : )
Patty g: Heh heh, actually Rukawa Joycie did not get hit by a car – it was a misunderstanding – it's a long and embarrassing story, actually! Ha ha!
Unchained: Heh heh. I get what you mean! I think I'll take it as a compliment! Ha ha!
Silhouette panther: *pats silhouette panther on the shoulder* you're forgiven. Ha ha!
Joy: Updated!
Jo-sen7: Yeah, I agree with you that there's only so much kaede can take. Oh well.
sLL: Am I purposefully making you worry through half o my stories?? *thinks about it* perhaps. ^_^
frozenfemale: No, I can't promise you anything about the story yet. You'll just have to see. : ) How old am I? Well….. not very old. Ha ha! If that annoyed you, then I've just completed my mission. *grins* I'm fifteen.
December Morning Owl: Yes, I suppose I do write a lot. Now, if only I was this hardworking with my English essays in school…
Tiran: Sorry that the FUjima chapter disappointed you! *bows down apologetically* Forgive me now, why don't you?
Lazuli: I love Rukawa too… : )
Fer-chan: Okay. Just don't forget to come back for the updates.
Kka: Ha ha ha!
Kathleen: Updated!
Tensaispira: Why were all your reviews gone? Which reviews? For your stories?
Lambie: No, I didn't know ika meant squid! Whahaha! What a perfect coincidence! *imagines a Squid with ika's head.*
Sen Battousai: Hey, why'd you change your name? Thanks for reading my other stuff!
Choco_no_baka: Face-to-face confrontation? Obviously, Rudi would lose to tough Rukawa! Nah, I pity Rudi. But hey, it's a good idea! I think about it! And I think you've just managed to guess this chapter! Ha ha! Darn! Now my pants are falling off!
Frack: No, I don't know exactly how pretty Akima is. *to self: baka! You created her, didn't you?* I tend to focus more on the personality than the looks, to tell you the truth, and I've never given a single thought to how Akima looks like! Not many people like her in that way. Just Rukawa – and now, Rudi. : )
Reika Zelon: Waaah! Rocks?? *ducks* You're cheering for rukawa? *wry smile* I'm so shocked. Ha ha!
Reiko: Thanks! I was kind of afraid Akima was turning mary-sueish. If she does, please bomb my fic at once!
"I have heard that this wine is absolutely delightful," Akima muttered, trying to get the right tone as she sat on her table, eyes struggling to read the scrawl Rudi had called 'the script' which was set on the table in front of her. "You seem to have very mature tastes, Mr. Wanto."
In front of her, seated on a chair, Rudi replied without looking at the script, having memorised his lines. "Call me Mizuno, Renei dear. Let's not be so formal with each other."
Akima smiled at how serious Rudi was and checked back a laugh that would surely crush his confidence. "Ah, but I don't think it's wise for us to get into too close a relationship, Mizuno. You and I barely know each other."
"Why, you're already calling me by my first name."
"I did? I didn't notice."
"And I am ever so glad about that." Rudi opened his mouth to continue, but then suddenly clamped it shut and turned beet red.
Akima gave him a questioning glance. "What? You forgot your lines?"
"No, no I didn't. It's just that…" he looked uncomfortable. "… um, well, things get rather mushy from here on." He stared determinedly at the floor.
Akima grinned. "We can skip the part," she said, chuckling. "Since you're so shy."
"But I want to do this," he blurted out. "I mean, I have to. I must get into the character! How else will I be good at it?"
"Well, get it on with then." She looked understandingly at him. "It's just acting, Rudi. I doubt your girlfriend will come running after your head just because you had to give me one lovey-dovey look or wink."
That's because he didn't have one. Rudi knew Akima had fully misunderstood his awkwardness for something else. It wasn't going to be 'just acting' once he started, he knew that. He couldn't help it if he was attracted, could he? It was one of the symptoms of maturity – so said the Science magazine.
Maybe he should forget all about it. But then he remembered what Suki had said. "It's your chance, Rudi. Don't waste it." He rarely wasted chances. And they were alone now, just at the right time and setting, after all.
Why waste it?
He cleared his throat. "There's something about you that catches at my throat."
Akima looked at the script again and then turned back to him. "Go on. I'd like to hear more." She recited, still grinning.
He took a deep breath, struggling now to remember what he was supposed to say. "It's the colour of your eyes, they amaze me." He muttered softly, even as Akima nodded approvingly, genuinely pleased that he was doing very well despite it being his first practice. "Then there's your skin, pale and silky. Your narrow and competent hands, which I don't doubt, can do much more than they look capable of. And your lips," his eyes narrowed then. "full and red."
Akima decided he was indeed an excellent actor and that he should forget stage plays and go do a movie instead, and was on the verge of telling him so when he quite suddenly grabbed her cheeks with his hands. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Let me kiss you," he said then. "I've always wanted to."
"That's not in the scr-"
She didn't get to finish the sentence. Shocked, she sat where she was frozen, with her face stuck between his hands and in front of his face. Then, she dimly remembered a kissing part somewhere in the script and relaxed slightly.
When he let go, she released an explosive breath and smiled in amusement. "Well, I wouldn't recommend you going around grabbing your female leads like that," she advised. "Now's the part where you murder me and drag me off to-"
He kissed her again.
Alarmed and more than a little irritated, Akima shoved him away and glared dangerously. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, jumping onto her feet and bracing herself for a fight. "Stop grabbing my face like it's stretchable rubber or something." She pushed a finger into his chest. "That was not in the script, I'll have you know, so don't –"
"I wasn't following the script."
Akima stared at him, and then with one disgusted look, started to storm out of the room when he caught her hand. "No, wait, I can explain," he said desperately. "I'm sorry if I went overstepped the line. I thought… You see, I've always cared about you from the moment you-"
"Rudi," Akima cut him off with gritted teeth, hanging on the last drop of her patience. "I don't want to know. Get a new partner for your play practicing."
He tugged her hand again. "But I thought –"
Akima wondered if the knife he was using for the play was real or not. She'd like to use it. "You thought I'd be overjoyed by the fact that you're interested in me," she said acidly. "You thought I'd jump over the moon in joy. Well, you're wrong."
"Akima –"
She hissed. "You're a nice person, Rudi, and I respected you, though you sure lost quite a lot of it today. But if you think I'm a backstabbing two-timer, then you're wrong, and you need to re-evaluate me. You can start by letting me go." She gave him a murderous look. "Then you can go to Hell."
"Two timing –" He gaped at her. "You already have a boyfriend?" It was asked incredulously.
"Yes," Akima nodded, wrenching her hand away. "And he's irreplaceable."
Spewing with anger, she walked out, leaving Rudi staring after her with his mouth wide open. From behind the windows came a feline chuckle, and both Ika and Suki poked their heads out.
"Excellent show there," Ika complimented almost sincerely, fondly caressing her camcorder.
Rudi's hot eyes turned to Suki. "You didn't tell me she was attached!" he accused.
Suki's eyes widened with feigned surprise. "I didn't? Why, it must've completely slipped my mind." She gave a dismissive wave of the hand. "Sorry about that."
Rudi hissed ominously, and walked away angrily, both irate and ashamed with himself. Behind him, Suki and Ika burst into delighted and amused laughter.
The doorbell to the Hanashi's house rang noisily over Akira's blasting stereos.
Since her parents were out, and knowing that even a bull stampede couldn't compete with the sounds produced in he stepbrother's room, Akima resignedly dropped the cookie tin she was currently trying to open. "I'll get it!" she yelled, "because I know a certain lazy pig that resides in this house and eats all the food wouldn't!"
Akira's boom box turned all the louder.
Rolling her eyes heavenward, Akima opened the door and smiled delightedly. "Kaede!" she jumped at him and gave him a firm kiss on the mouth, outrageously happy for some reason that he came. He never did before.
He tolerated it for a moment, and then quite suddenly pushed her away.
Akima blinked. "What?" It was then she noticed his eyes were at their darkest colour – nearly black – and that his chin was a little too stiff to her liking. She felt the beginning of a pounding in her stomach.
He pushed a small tape into her hand. "Take this," he said viciously, making Akima's eyes grow wide in astonishment. "And throw it away into the sea. Then jump in yourself and drown."
With one bone-chilling glare, he turned and walked away, fists clenched with an urge to hit his head against a wall.
Akima stared at him like a fool, unable to speak, all of a sudden unable to move or think. There was some sort of blankness in her brain that refused to process the incident coherently, jumbling it all up into a weird puzzle. Her heart felt heavy, like it was pulled by a sudden powerful tug of gravity, threatening to fall out.
After some time, when it was obvious that Kaede wasn't going to reappear in front of her gate with a 'The Joke's On You!' cameraman, Akima looked down at the tape securely placed in her trembling hands. "What on earth –" she murmured in a tiny voice, which then broke and disappeared completely. Then an unexpected sob escaped her lips.
Panicking and blurred by tears, she ran for Akira's room.
Me still deciding whether I should apologise for a short chapter or not?
Is it a short chapter?
I think it's long, but some are telling me it's short.
Oh well. I'll apologise anyway. Sorry!