Chapter Summary: An goes in for another round of student torture, Hyoutei style, and has a chance encounter with every body's favorite sleepy tennis player.
Notes: Again, thank you every one for the reviews! It's nice to know that people are following this fic =)
To charz, your comments didn't piss me off at all, I'd like to know when my writing is confusing. I was actually worried about that part of chapter two, which was a flashback. I even asked my English teacher, who said the tense change was well done enough, and none of my beta readers had any problems with the scene. Still, if you didn't know what was going on, other people might have had the same problem, so I went back and changed the word choice to make it more obvious.
Also, I'm glad people find the TachibanaFuji pairing so interesting. I haven't read the manga, which I know is different, but I feel there are more hints for TachibanaFuji then the more popular TezukaFuji in the anime. I mean, Fuji goes to visit Tachibana in the hospital, with flowers no less, despite the fact that they barely know each other... Tachibana gives Fuji his grip tape with no hesitation... Tachibana storms out of the hospital when he finds out Fuji is losing his match to Kirihara just to cheer him on... it's all very suspicious.
Apparently, the students of Hyoutei used violence to intimidate students they didn't like off their campus. Or that was what An reasoned, when she got to school the next morning, and was confronted by a group of girls she didn't know.
"Why don't you go back to Fudoumine?" asked one girl snidely. "We don't need trash like you on our campus."
And then another girl had pushed her, sent her stumbling into the bushes behind her. An thought they would have done more than that, if the bell hadn't sounded at that moment. As it was, they only shot her some scathing glances before making their way into the school.
When she entered her classroom, she was bombarded with wads of paper thrown by her classmates. She looked at her teacher, who was staring resolutely ahead. Apparently the faculty of the school tended to look the other way when it came to their wealthy students. An ignored the harassment and walked to her seat, which had been pushed into the far corner of the room, effectively isolated from every one else.
Gym was even worse. They were studying tennis, which An usually would have loved, but Mukahi was the guest for the day and was showing the students serves. An wasn't surprised when most of his serves "accidentally" hit her instead of going in the direction they were supposed to. Then, after gym, she had finished surveying the new bruises that dotted her legs and made her way to her gym locker, only to find that some one had taken her clothing. After a fruitless search, she was forced to take some dubious clothes from the lost and found. She spent the rest of the day in mismatched pants and a shirt, both of which looked much too big on her small frame.
Then, during lunch, the girls from the morning were back, and with more of their friends. Apparently they thought it would be fun to form a circle around An and push her back and forth. At the moment she was sitting on the floor, covered in dirt and small cuts from the rocks she had tripped over during their bullying. Some familiar figures passed above her, stopping for just a second before starting off again. An immediately recognized the most popular boys in school.
"Atobe!"
Atobe turned his head for just one moment, but then continued walking away. "I told you, An-chan, not to come running to me when this happened."
After they had walked forward a few yards Shisido looked back at An, then at Atobe. He opened his mouth, speaking in low tones even though they were out of earshot. "Are you just going to leave her like that?"
For a moment Atobe's footsteps faltered, but then he started walking again as though nothing had happened.
"Kabaji," he said, still not turning, "make sure they don't hurt her."
"Usu."
Meanwhile, An couldn't help but be a little shocked. It was true she thought Atobe was a lot of things, arrogant and spoiled being among those, but she never thought he was the kind of person to let an innocent girl be physically mistreated. Then it struck her... Atobe wasn't helping because she had refused to go out with him. This was her punishment for rejecting him. For the first time, An could honestly say that she thought Atobe was a genuine bastard. Somehow, she broke out of the circle and ran away from the mob that was following her. After a few minutes she had finally lost them, and found herself outside on a large balcony attached to a staircase. It must have been the school's fire escape.
An walked towards the stairs, curious as to where it led, when she tripped over something. She stumbled and fell, landing on the hard surface only to look up into two amused brown eyes. Apparently she had tripped over a boy. And, she realized, blushing a little, a very cute boy.
"Akutagawa-sempai. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you."
"It's okay." The boy blinked, still half asleep. "I shouldn't have been sleeping here. Though I never expected any one would actually use this staircase. Call me Jirou, by the way, every one does."
An nodded and smiled, shifting so that she was in a more comfortable position. "Okay, Jirou."
"And who might you be?"
That's right, An thought. Jirou hadn't been at the game they had played against Fudoumine, and he never had come to the public courts with Atobe and the others.
"Tachibana An."
"Tahibana..." the blond yawned, and scratched his head. "I feel like I've heard that name before."
"My brother's the captain of the Fudoumine tennis team. He's really good."
"Ah. Maybe I'll play him one day. So that means... you're here on scholarship?"
An hesitated, then nodded, expecting Jirou's attitude to change towards her now that he knew she wasn't in the same social class that he was.
"Congratulations." And with that comment Jirou closed his eyes, and fell back to sleep.
An smiled down at her sempai. He hadn't seemed to look down at her at all when she told him that she was on scholarship. And there was something both irritating and endearing about a boy who falls asleep in the middle of the conversation. An decided, though, that she didn't mind. She sat back against the balcony, just enjoying the peace and quiet that the scenery offered, punctuated as it was by Jirou's soft snores. The fact that she had an unobstructed view of Akutagawa Jirou, well... that was just a pleasant side benefit.
After that day, An took to spending her lunch on the staircase with Jirou. Apparently the boy didn't just sleep. Sometimes An would find him reading manga, or eating something, even though his lunch was two periods before hers. He was the only person in the school that was kind to her, and An felt that he was the kind of person that could never be hurtful to anybody. He was different from all the other students at the school.
"Jirou," she said one day. They were seated on their staircase in the usual spot, and she was picking at her bento while he flipped through the pages of the latest Shonen Jump, laughing every so often. "Why are you always here this period?"
"Free study," Jirou yawned.
"I see." An picked up a piece of meat, looking over to see what was going on in the comic that Jirou was currently reading. She had found that Jirou didn't mind her reading over his shoulder at all; really, he was oblivious to it. She saw that he was reading this week's Naruto installment... hm... so the Sand trio was back...
Jirou sniffed the air, looking up to see what An had between her chopsticks. "Is that... mutton?"
"Hmm? Oh... yeah."
Suddenly Jirou broke out into a large smile, his face beaming. "I love mutton! It's my favorite food!"
An looked at her bento, then at Jirou's smiling face, and pushed the box towards him. "Do you want to share?"
"Really? Can I? For real?"
An blinked at the blond. She never knew that he could be so eager... it seemed as though he got fairly hyper when he was excited about something. "Sure."
"Mmm. This is really good. Did you cook it?"
An blushed, remembering that she had in fact helped her mother cook it. Of course, helping in this case had been limited to chopping up onions and adding spices, but Jirou didn't have to know that. And besides, she had watched her mom cook it, so that was kind of the same thing, right? "Yeah, I did."
"Wow! You're a great cook."
"Thanks." An blushed some more. "Eat more of it. You can try the other things, too."
"Wow, thanks, An. You're really great!"
An smiled and they enjoyed their lunch, Jirou picking at various morsels from her bento. After they were done Jirou turned back to his manga, but still kept up conversation with his companion.
"Say, An, how come you never eat with your friends?"
An frowned. "I don't really have any friends."
Jirou looked up, confused, then turned a little sheepish when he remembered. "That's right. The kids here can be a little mean to some students."
An snorted. That was an understatement.
"Are they that bad?"
"I'll be fine." An figured Jirou wouldn't notice that she hadn't really answered his question.
"Is Atobe still bothering you?"
An was a little shocked that Jirou knew about her and Atobe... but then, actually, the whole school knew, so there would be no reason for him not to. "No, he's pretty much left me alone. Which is good. I can't stand that snuck up jerk."
Jirou rested his chin in his arms and looked up at the girl. "Atobe's... spoiled."
"You don't have to tell me that."
"No, I mean... he doesn't know how to be anything other then spoiled, because of how his maids and servants treat him. It's not really his fault. So when he wants something, he expects to get it. He doesn't know how to act any other way, even if he wants to."
"Whatever. His parents should put him in line."
Jirou opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when two figures came running up the staircase.
"Tachibana An? What are you doing here with Jirou?"
An looked up at Shisido suspiciously, then watched as Ootari appeared behind him. "Don't tell me Atobe's going to show up as well."
"He didn't feel like skipping class," Ootari said.
When An didn't look any less defensive Shisido raised his hands to his chest, palms out in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, let's call a truce! I don't want a pretty lady like you glaring at me like that!"
To An's elation, Jirou leaned over to whisper in her ear, and she could feel his breath tickle her just a little. "Shisido's a big flirt with the ladies, but he's not exactly a threat, if you know what I mean."
He gestured at the two other boys, and An turned to whisper back.
"Are you saying... Shisido and Ootari?"
Jirou nodded seriously.
"Jirou," Ootari frowned, "what are you telling her?"
"Hehe... nothing at all. So what did you guys want?"
"We can't just come to enjoy your company? It's not often we can find you awake, after all."
"True, true." Jirou smiled as his friends sat down.
"So, An-chan," Shisido smiled and put an arm around her, a gesture An would have minded if she didn't know he had a boyfriend, "the kids aren't bothering you too much are they? Because you know I'll protect you."
"Like you have so far?" An asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah... point taken."
"I'm sorry, An," said Ootari, and he did look genuinely apologetic. "We can't get involved, or else Atobe will be upset."
Of course. An nodded. "It's okay, I can take care of myself."
"They're not doing anything too bad, are they? Because if you get seriously hurt, we will try to put an end to it."
An shook her head. The students had been usual the normal bullying techniques, more focused on embarrassing her than anything else... the worse she had gotten so far was some cuts and bruises. "That's kind of you, Ootari, but it's nothing I can't handle."
"I know Atobe can be pigheaded some times, but he's really a nice guy."
"I'm sure." An was having a really hard time believing that right now.
"Maybe you could give him a chance?"
"No way in hell," An ground out between her teeth. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, and then An, Ootari, and Shisido broke out into soft laughs.
"I suppose," said Shisido, "I wouldn't want to give Atobe a chance either, if I were in your shoes. So, Jirou, how long have you been keeping An to yourself?"
The three turned towards the blond boy, only to see that he had fallen asleep again, with an absolutely content look on his face. Ootari couldn't help but notice though, that after Shisido's and his eyes had left the sleeping boy, An's had lingered. So the girl had a crush on their volley specialist.
"Hey," said Shisido, "doesn't next period start soon?"
"Oh, that's right!" An stood up hurriedly, grabbing her bento box and notebooks. "I have to go to class! It's on the other side of the building... I'll see you guys later."
Shisido and Ootari nodded as An went off, then Ootari leaned over to shake Jirou awake. "Hey, you can't miss math class again! Nakahima-sensei will be mad."
Jirou blinked his eyes open. "Is the period over already?"
The three friends headed down the stairs and towards the mathematics wing, surprised when they ran into Atobe going in the opposite direction.
"Did you guys just come from the fire escape?"
"Yeah," Ootari replied, "we just went to check on Jirou."
"How come An was coming from the same direction?"
There was an awkward silence before Jirou broke it, completely oblivious to the tension. "She eats lunch with me there."
"I see." Atobe's face was unreadable, but his tone was clipped. He turned and started walking away.
"Hey," Shisido called, and the three other boys raced to catch up with him. "You're not mad, are you?"
"Why should I be? It's none of my business."
Well, Ootari thought, that was almost uncharacteristic of Atobe. He looked over at Shisido, but the other boy just shrugged at him. There was no point in worrying about it, at least not until Atobe saw fit to fill them in on the situation.