Disclaimers: Nope, still not mine. Doubt it ever will be mine *runs off to a corner to cry*
Notes: Um…Told through Noriko's point of view, since she always has so much to say. (even though this chapter is shorter than the first one)
~*The Bible of Kumagoro—Achieving Your Dreams*~
I sighed as I waited for Ryuichi during lunch…just leaning against my locker and waiting. Nothing else…except maybe a little bit of thinking. Yeah, I'd been thinking ever since I'd met that blonde troublemaker, and I wasn't normally one to waste my time in school thinking. No friendly notes had been written, no random sketches drawn, nothing but staring off into blank space and thinking. It was so boring, really.
How long could it take Ryuichi to get here? Honestly, it normally didn't take him half as long…did he have to serve detention during lunch? I wasn't going to stand for that! They couldn't take my precious Ryuichi's attention away from me! I barely got to see him as was
Everyone else had already left before he finally showed up, smiling like the idiot that he was. Stupid boy, making me worry like that.
"Sorry Noriko-chan," he apologized even before I could scream at him, and immediately I noticed that blonde kid following him. Oh… "I didn't know where Seguchi-san's class was, so I tried to find him na no da." Seguchi-san (I was assuming that was his name) seemed to be trying his hardest not too look at me as he walked. Geeze. I wasn't THAT intimidating, was I?
"Honestly Ryu-chan, is causing trouble all you can do?" I complained, pushing away from the wall and turning to stand facing them, hands on my hips.
"But I'm so good at it!" he cheered happily, smiling at me. Damn him and his smiles. It was hard to scream at him when he smiled at that…wait…scratch that. It was hard to be angry with him when he smiled like that…sometimes.
"Well, learn to be good at something else, then! Making a young lady like myself wait here…all alone. Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Who knows what might have happened to me." Ryuichi laughed and started on his way outside, resting a hand on my head as he walked past me.
"But Noriko-can isn't a young lady, she's Noriko-chan," he tossed back as he moved his hand and continued on his way, Seguchi-san trailing behind him. I knew he didn't mean it in a cruel way, but it was in me to make a scene no matter what he said.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean? I'm all lady, thank you very much!" I screamed at his retreating back, chasing him down the hallways. Ryuichi just laughed and didn't bother running away, knowing I wasn't going to cause him any major physical damage when I caught up with him. At least, that's what he thought anyway. "Hey, why are you being so quiet?" I asked when I finally caught up with Ryuichi and Seguchi-san, turning to face my little blonde troublemaker (I was willing to bet no one else called him that).
"I…just don't have anything to say," he responded quietly, still not looking at me.
"Haven't you heard that it's polite to look at people when they talk to you?" I complained, glaring at him and placing my hands back on my hips as we walked along the empty hallways. People peered at us from where they were chatting in their classrooms, but I generally ignored them. They could have their conversations and we could have ours.
"Sorry," he apologized, looking up at me slightly. One teal eye peered at me from between blonde bangs, looking apologetic. "I just…didn't think you liked me," he added after a while, burying his hands in his pockets. I blinked a few times before smiling slightly.
"I don't like you, you're a little troublemaker. But you know what, so's Ryu-chan. If I can deal with one of you, I can deal with two of you." He glanced up at me quickly at that, looking worried. I must not have looked too threatening, though, because he smiled slightly and turned away again, continuing on his way.
"Noriko-chan's a trouble-maker, too. Skipping class again na no ka? I thought you'd promised you weren't going to do that anymore." Crap. I was hoping Ryuichi wouldn't bring that up. It wasn't my fault, though…it was his. Making me worry like that! I mean, honestly! I think any girl in my position would have done the exact same thing. Ryuichi was almost like family to me. I couldn't have let him go without a good scolding.
"Well, if you hadn't gotten into another fight I wouldn't have had to." Ryuichi didn't say anything at that, but I could tell he wasn't angry with me. That was good, because I wasn't really angry with him, either. "I thought you'd promised me you'd be a good boy."
"I did not." Well…all right, so he hadn't really, but he knew that I wanted him to. I thought I scolded him enough that it would be easy to figure out that I really worried about him. Obviously Ryuichi didn't figure it out, though. He was going to end up with a lot of marks against him if he didn't learn how to ignore people sometimes. He was good enough at ignoring it when people made fun of him, but for some reason he always felt the need to play the hero for everyone else. I couldn't see why, though. None of them would have done anything for him if their roles were switched.
"So…where are we going?" Seguchi-san asked after a while, and I wondered if he would have followed Ryuichi anywhere at the moment. It didn't seem unlikely. He hadn't said a word so far, except when I scolded him. Other than that he had just followed Ryuichi. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd even said anything to Ryuichi before they met with me. Was I the reason he wasn't talking, or was he just overly quiet?
"Outside, of course. It's too nice to be cramped up in this school building all day long!" I stretched as I talked, following Ryuichi out the door with a yawn. Seguchi-san dropped back to follow me now, so we were all walking in a pretty little line. It was a rather impersonal way to walk, but it wasn't like we were walking very far. "So, Ryuichi…I take it you're staying after school today for detention?" I asked as I sat down under a small tree nearby, wanting to stay in the shade.
"Yeah, so I guess you'll be walking home by yourself. Is that all right, Noriko-chan?" I nodded and Ryuichi sat down next to me, pulling on Seguchi-san's hand so he'd sit down as well, almost making the poor boy fall on his face. "Ouch! What was that for!" Ryuichi asked as I smacked him, rubbing the back of his head and looking utterly miserable. Most girls would have given in at that look and apologized, so it was a good thing I was used to it.
"Be nice to Seguchi-san. You could have killed him, idiot!" Ryuichi sniffed a little, tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at me. The boy was just plain difficult, that's what he was. I was well aware Ryuichi probably couldn't have killed Seguchi-san, but it was the principle of the matter.
"But he wasn't sitt…"
"No buts, be more careful Ryu-chan!" With a sigh Ryuichi gave up, tears vanishing from his eyes. As if that wasn't proof enough that it had all been an act.
"I'm all right, I didn't mind," Seguchi-san tried to cover for him, smiling nervously. Darn it! How was I supposed to scold Ryuichi if everyone kept on covering for him? Stupid troublemaker, ruining my fun.
"Fine, be that way! See if I care!" I whined and Ryuichi laughed at me, poking me a couple times. I don't see why he feels the need to do that sometimes, but he does it anyway. He knows it drives me nuts! I was willing to lay down money that that was a part of the reason he kept on doing it, too. "Hey, stop picking on me. Pick on your little troublemaker," I tried, motioning towards Seguchi-san. Hopefully he'd leave me alone now and poke Seguchi-san instead. I just wanted to relax a little…just a little. Ryuichi seemed confused for a few minutes, blinking, before turning back to Seguchi-san.
"Are you a troublemaker na no ka?" Seguchi-san smiled slightly, blushing a little, and I couldn't help but laugh. As frustrating as Ryuichi's idiocy could be sometimes, it was just cute at others. Poor little troublemaker probably hadn't the slightest idea Ryuichi was being serious…at least as serious as Ryuichi got. He could have been teasing for all either of us could tell.
"Yes, he's a troublemaker." Ryuichi was about to say something else when I grabbed his hand, looking at it carefully. Speaking about Seguchi-san had reminded me. I hadn't really seen much before at the nurse's, just dried blood…not that staring at bandages was any more interesting, but at least I could tell where he was cut now. "Ryu-chan…I just don't understand you sometimes. You should be more careful."
"I know. I won't miss next time, I promise." I couldn't help but smile a little at that, letting go of his hand and dropping the conversation. There wasn't really much else to be said, after all. "I'm sorry, you must feel really left out, huh?" Ryuichi asked, turning to Seguchi-san. It was true, we had kind of been leaving him out…but at the same time, he hadn't said much of anything to either of us. It was all of our faults.
Besides, he had gotten out of Ryuichi poking him. Lucky little troublemaker.
"No, that's all right. I'm normally on my own, so at least now I have someone to spend time with." I felt a little guilty for that. Poor Seguchi-san would have been eating lunch all by himself if it wasn't for Ryuichi, but…we were pretty much ignoring him. I would have figured that would hurt even more than being alone.
"No, no, no, that's no excuse. You can't just let Ryu-chan and me be rude to you." Seguchi-san didn't say anything to that, and I wondered if maybe he really didn't want to be eating with us. Maybe he was one of those kids that liked being alone. I always thought those kinds of kids were weird, though. Not to say I knew anything about Seguchi-san. He could have been really weird for all I knew about him. Ryuichi was the one that actually knew him…somewhat.
"Ah! I have an idea, how about Noriko-chan and Seguchi-san come over after I leave detention? Then we can all get to know one another na no da!" Ryuichi cheered happily, probably glad that he had thought of something intelligent. Too bad I couldn't go. I think it would have been fun to all hang out at Ryuichi's place.
"I would love to, Ryu-chan, but I have piano lessons after school. Honestly. I don't mind them, but they take forever. Maybe later?" Ryuichi nodded happily, and for once Seguchi-san actually seemed interested in our conversation.
"You take piano lessons?" he asked, looking rather curious. I had never really thought it was anything special, but he seemed interested enough. Maybe there was something about it that I didn't know. If it could make me super rich and famous, I'd start taking piano lessons more seriously. Someone as beautiful as I am needs to be in the spotlight. I'm sure Ryuichi and Seguchi-san would agree.
"Yeah, what about 'em?"
"I've always wanted to play an instrument," Seguchi-san admitted quietly, looking rather dejected. What did I do now? I hadn't been picking on him or anything. You'd think he wouldn't have any reason to be upset.
"Noriko-chan's played piano for a long time!" Ryuichi explained, being rather animate about it. Obviously Seguchi-san and Ryuichi thought it was some sort of huge deal. I mean…I sat in front of a big piano and clicked a bunch of keys to satisfy my teacher (who, I had to admit, was actually kind of cute). It wasn't really anything special, as far as I was concerned. I'd been doing it for as long as I could remember. "I want to learn how to play guitar, myself, but Noriko-chan says she can't teach me. Are you sure you couldn't teach me, Noriko-chan?" Ryuichi begged again, turning towards me and tugging on my sleeve.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Geeze. I don't know how to play guitar, otherwise I'd be glad to. Ask to learn something I know how to play and I'll teach you. You can't expect me to know everything." Ryuichi let go of me, but he didn't look too happy about it. What was I supposed to do, though? I couldn't teach him something I didn't even understand.
"But you do know everything," he muttered quietly, and I had to admit that rather made my day. True or not, hearing someone say you knew everything certainly did make a girl feel better. The only thing that could possibly top it was being told you were beautiful. Not to say I wasn't told that I was beautiful…frequently…by everyone I met.
"Um…do you think you could teach me how to play the piano?" I blinked as Seguchi-san spoke again, disrupting my train of thought. It was something along the lines of how great I was, I knew that much. The little troublemaker had actually spoken to me! He wasn't covering p for Ryuichi or apologizing or anything, he was actually talking to me! I was shocked, to say the least. Twice in a minute, that was a new record.
"Sure, I suppose so. It's not hard to teach…when you know how to play it," I added as Ryuichi turned to me hopefully. He went back to pouting afterwards, picking at the grass absently. "I can't today, since I have lessons, but…next week I could. Assuming I don't get grounded, of course." Seguchi-san nodded, and I nodded once in return. Good, we had plans…or something resembling them, anyway. I had a chance to get to know the troublemaker now, at least. If Ryuichi wanted his own chance, he'd have to find time on his own.
Maybe our little troublemaker wasn't so bad after all.
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YAY! And so I reemerge on the writing scene. Didn't you all miss me terribly? Aren't you glad I'm back, safe and sound?
Okay, okay, enough with the sucking up.
I actually have a PLAN for this story, unlike Getting Closer to Your God. I don't know how that might affect the flow of the story, but who knows. I guess it means this story is going to be much more plot-centric than Getting Closer to Your God was. That one was more about showing how life is a bunch of random plots. This one's…well, it's not. I don't know if this one really has something deeper to say about it.
Oh well, not like the deeper meaning in Getting Closer to Your God ever really came out very well.
Reviews would be loved muchly, but not necessary, of course.