::Byakko No Miko:: Chapter 1 ::
Caerria awoke to the incessant ringing of the alarm clock next to her bed.
"What the…" She muttered in annoyance, and knocked the kawaii Hello Kitty alarm clock off the bedside desk with the back of her hand, as was her routine every morning. It clattered noisily onto the wooden floor, and… disappeared under the bed.
Caerria moaned.
"Darn, why do I have to do that every morning when I know I've got to crawl under the bed to get it back…" She picked herself off the bed for a moment, then flopped back onto it.
(Too tired… to move…)
She had been up till about two reading up on some Chinese literature, then compiling a report on it. Not that it was a chore. She loved the Chinese culture and whatever that came with it, including… surprise, homework.
"Yawn…" Caerria laid in bed for a moment, looking out of the window. Her grey eyes searched the clear cerulean skies. For what, she didn't know. She just did it every morning, strangely enough.
"Hmm?" She sat up, a sudden realization dawning in her eyes as snatches of last night resurfaced momentarily in her mind.
(Wasn't it… snowing last night?)
Unless she had been dreaming, there was no way there could have been snow last night, but the roads free of sleet and ice, no trace of the semi-solid H-Two-O whatsoever.
(Maybe…maybe, I was dreaming…)
Caerria thought with a wry smile.
She slid out from under the covers, slipping on the soft bedroom slippers by the bed, and plodded over to her wardrobe, where she pulled out a white shirt and black pleated skirt that was the uniform of Jonan Academy, her current high school. The outfit also included a black tie, and a beret in the same colour, which Caerria laid next to the uniform.
Then, stripping herself of her pyjamas, she pulled on the top of her karate uniform, which was the next best thing to a bathrobe, grabbed her towel, and left the bedroom.
She shared the apartment with two other girls, both older than her, one a photographer, and the other a teacher. But that was just all that she knew of them, besides their names.
"Ohayougozaimasu, Silk-san, Yuui-san," Caerria smiled at the women sitting at the coffee table, who simply smiled and nodded politely in return.
And that was all. The interaction between Caerria and her two apartment-mates never exceeded more than 10 words in a sentence, even if it was time to pay rent, since Silk-san, the photographer, never pressed for the money. Not that she had to be pressed for rent. She paid punctually enough, thankyouverymuch.
As Caerria was about to enter the bathroom, she suddenly heard a voice call her.
"Silk-san?" She turned around.
Maybe this day would be an exception and they would actually exchange eleven words for a change.
"Aisu-chan. Just for your information, there will be someone new renting the room opposite yours," Silk Ran said, watching the silver-haired youngster as she digested this new piece of information. She found the girl especially interesting, and with the professional eye of a photographer, she also knew that the girl was a perfect subject. It was just that she had refused, time and time again, to be photographed.
"Hai, Silk-san," Caerria replied, before turning to enter the bathroom again, but a call from the brunette made her turn back again.
"Hai?" If she was giddy from all that spinning around, she definitely didn't show it.
"It's a male, this time. Akira Ross, age twenty, researcher," Ran said with a wink.
(What the?) (She's acting like… Like she's trying to introduce him to ME?!)
Caerria's thoughts showed plainly on her face, which triggered off laughter from the two adults.
"What? Do I have 'matchmaker' written all over my face?" Ran asked the girl mischievously. To say the truth, she was rather surprised. She never saw Caerria's emotions outright before. Never. Maybe this topic would make her livelier.
"Uh no… but--" Caerria was cut off by a loud "Itai!" from Ran, who had leapt up from the chair she had been sitting in, glaring at the person who had given her a good pinch on the arm.
"Miyuki!"
The last Caerria saw as she disappeared into the bathroom, was Ran advancing on the seated Yuui-san, growling.
"Itai!"
!!-!!
By the time Caerria emerged from the bathroom, the two adults had already left, leaving her alone in the large apartment she had called home for the past 3 years. She was walking back to her room, drying her shoulder-length hair with her towel, when she took a cursory glance at the clock in the living room.
"Fifteen minutes?!"
Caerria made a mad rush for her room, and pulled on her clothes in a hurry before dashing out of the house.
As soon as the front door slammed shut, it was reopened again, and a black figure ran to her room, dove under the bed, hitting her elbow on the case of her zither, and grabbed her Hello Kitty alarm clock from under the bed, setting it on the bedside desk, before dashing out of the house again.
!!--!!
Hey, just your lovely author(ess) here. I never write author's notes, seems kinda weird typing a reply to someone's review on Microsoft Word, if you get what I mean.
Anyways
To Meta Lise: Thanks :D
To Arreis Kurai: The spaces btw paragraphs are there cos I'm somewhat of a freak when it comes to paragraph spacing, lol.
To Hydra-star: Hey thanks for the suggestion. Seriously, I used to have more imagination than a simple (((Slap))), but I guess this sort of thing goes with age :D
To Rhapsody: Arigato! :D
In case you didn't understand that last part, it just means Caerria's a neat freak :D
