Okay. Now that we have chapter number 14 I really believe that by now, I don't have to right a disclaimer....but, just in case some big-shot FLCL or Bebop 'person' decides to check out my story here it is: Disclaimer: I neither own, will own, or ever know someone who owns the anime shows Cowboy Bebop or Furi Kuri (Fooly Cooly/FLCL) THERE! Are you happy...oops...I'm still in 'official' print, aren't I? Hehheh...uh...on with the story then!
14 – Friendly Relations
Naota leaned lazily against the chain-link fence of the baseball field and fixed his dark blue uniform on him. It was one of the few times that their coach was there; he only seemed to appear during games, and always seemed to enjoy heckling Naota about his bad baseball skills. He sighed again and eyed the blue-haired boy, surrounded by his friends that he worked so hard to earn. Ed, Haruko, and even Ozuwa, who was at least 2 years older, was drooling over him as he 'helpfully' carried their bags and equipment over to the field. "The bastard..." he growled under his breath. "Trying to steal my friends away..." Out of nowhere, Naota felt a hot burst of air on the back of his neck which made the hairs there stand on end. He turned around quickly. "Ma-Mamimi!?! What are you doing here?" he choked out. Mamimi smiled mysterious. She rocked back and forth childishly, fingers laced around the fence. "I heard there was a game today, Nandaba Naota." she cooed gently. "I came to see you play." Naota's face went flushed. "W-well...are you...ah...just gonna s-stand there or are you going to come in and sit down?"
Spike flopped lazily onto the couch at his house. He still couldn't believe that he was talked into acting in that stupid Macbeth play. Even worse, he got a part, a SPEAKING part, and wasn't cut in the beginning as he had hoped. What was worse, his aunts were over, and, since Ed had a stupid baseball game to go to, he was stuck doing all the work while the three witches talked. "SPIKE!" called his mother, as if on cue. "MAKE YOUR AUNTIE CHERYL SOME COFFEE!" He groaned loudly and walked past to the table where his mother and her two other sisters were sitting, chatting away, and into the kitchen. Cheryl, the oldest one, was the one that annoyed Spike the most. For one thing, her voice drove him crazy. She had a high-pitched, nasal voice, which sounded as if she had a cold at all times of the year. She had green hair like him, but it was put in the most horrible perm you could ever imagine. It curled into jagged, ugly locks that framed her gaunt, sunken in face. Another thing that annoyed him about her was how, no matter how old he got, she still imagined that he was still a four-year old boy and pulled him into bone-shattering bear hugs that left him gasping for air whilst she yanked at his "adorable cheeks" as if she were trying to pull them off. The other one, Ester, annoyed him almost as much, but in a totally different way. She would always start talking about how he was a bad role-model for Edward, and a menace to society, and that he needed to be straightened out. "I know a wonderful boot camp for thugs like that boy" she'd always say. Every time she visited it was the same thing. He was ungrateful. He wouldn't do anything with his life. He was a pain-in-the- ass. It drove Spike nuts. "Get me some too, Spike." Ester screamed into the kitchen. "Be polite this time, Spike!" his mother had told him right before they showed up. He walked back into the room where the three women were chatting and stuck his head between his two aunts, a huge and obviously fake grin forced onto his face. Cheryl couldn't pass up the chance. She started yanking viciously at his cheeks while cooing to him about what a handsome young man he turned out to be. Meanwhile, Ester pummeled him with a barrage of insults. "Spike, do you EVER comb your hair? It's like a bird's nest up there. I think you should get a hair-cut, God knows you need one!" "Why get just one cut when I could get them all shaved off?" he said sarcastically. "Don't get smart with me!" she hissed, slapping him in the face. Cheryl, who was still yanking his face, scowled at his sister. "No need to hit the boy, Ester! He was just making a funny. Weren't you, sweetheart?" Spike nodded mechanically, fake grin still there, looking like a demented Chesser cat. "Yes Aunt Cheryl." he muttered. He then stood up, and picked up their plates, looking like a male version of a Stepford wife, he spat out. "What do you ladies want in your coffee? Sugar, cream, or Pepto Bismal?"
Naota sat on the bench as he watched Ed dash around the bases. "Are you going to go up, Naota?" asked the blue-haired boy. Naota was trying his hardest to ignore "Toby" as he requested to be called, and his tries at making friendly conversation. "Eventually." he growled. "When it's my turn." This time it was Toby's turn not to pay him any mind. He was cheering Ed on, screaming like a banshee. "YEAH EDWARD! COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!" He was being annoyingly positive. He always was. Naota scowled grumpily as Ed ran over to him. "Did Naota-kun see Ed?" she asked, all out of breath. "Ed made a home run! Didja see!?!" Naota ignored her, his glare fixed on Toby. The boy came over and gave Ed a huge hug, and they both went off talking at an unused edge of the field.
Spike sat crammed in between his two, irritating aunts, glaring viciously at a picture of his mother who was putting him through this hell on earth. "Entertain them, honey, while I go to the market." she had said. Now, about an hour later, she still wasn't back, and he was stuck listening to Ester's harsh criticisms and Cheryl asking him about his friends, did he want candy, did he still go to amusement parks, etc. "...Look at you, boy! You're as thin as a stick! And hardly any muscle to boot! Why, if Bradley were here, he'd show you what a boy your age is supposed to look like!" Bradley was Ester's 19-year-old son, the only relative he could honestly say was a dumb blonde. It was a miracle that he even passed high school. "Brad is a gorilla." he said harshly. "He's got the body and brains of one. I wouldn't be surprised if the principal was bribed into passing him through. Probably something else though." He glanced at his aunt; he knew she knew what he meant. She went completely red at his comment and slapped him hard across the face. "How DARE you!" she screamed. "How dare you even SUGGEST such a lewd thing! That just proves that that innocent little girl shouldn't be anywhere near you! You'll tarnish her mind!" All of a sudden the bulk of Spike's dislike switched from Cheryl to Ester. He switched his attention to Cheryl, who, once again, took up he favorite hobby: trying to pull Spike's cheeks off. "I am just AMAZED by how tall you've gotten!" Tug. "You are just the sweetest young man these days!" Tug. "Are you blushing? Those cheeks are so rosy and red!" Tug, tug, tug. He shook her from his face. "No, dammit, my cheeks are red because you've been yanking at them for the past two hours!" he yelled. He stood up from the couch, body rigid from frustration, anger and most of all, trying desperately to CONTROL that frustration and anger. "You," he yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing at Cheryl. "Stop touching me! Stop hugging me! Stop cuddling me! I am NOT a little boy and I do NOT have the PATIENCE to deal with you anymore!" Cheryl looked at him, stunned and kind of hurt. Spike didn't pay her any mind though. He continued on his rant, by going on to the next one. "You, Ester, are a fucking nymphomaniac! You heard me! You, lady, are a whore! A slut! A bimbo! A hooker! A tramp! I know what you've been doing! You slept with her husband! I SAW you! On Thanksgiving, you slept with her husband!" Spike pointed madly at Cheryl. "You heard me right! And then, you have the nerve, the audacity even, to criticize my every move, thought, and action! You are scum! A FUCKING WHORE!" Spike took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Now that that's out of my system, I'm going to bed. Hope you two can straighten things out. G'night!"
14 – Friendly Relations
Naota leaned lazily against the chain-link fence of the baseball field and fixed his dark blue uniform on him. It was one of the few times that their coach was there; he only seemed to appear during games, and always seemed to enjoy heckling Naota about his bad baseball skills. He sighed again and eyed the blue-haired boy, surrounded by his friends that he worked so hard to earn. Ed, Haruko, and even Ozuwa, who was at least 2 years older, was drooling over him as he 'helpfully' carried their bags and equipment over to the field. "The bastard..." he growled under his breath. "Trying to steal my friends away..." Out of nowhere, Naota felt a hot burst of air on the back of his neck which made the hairs there stand on end. He turned around quickly. "Ma-Mamimi!?! What are you doing here?" he choked out. Mamimi smiled mysterious. She rocked back and forth childishly, fingers laced around the fence. "I heard there was a game today, Nandaba Naota." she cooed gently. "I came to see you play." Naota's face went flushed. "W-well...are you...ah...just gonna s-stand there or are you going to come in and sit down?"
Spike flopped lazily onto the couch at his house. He still couldn't believe that he was talked into acting in that stupid Macbeth play. Even worse, he got a part, a SPEAKING part, and wasn't cut in the beginning as he had hoped. What was worse, his aunts were over, and, since Ed had a stupid baseball game to go to, he was stuck doing all the work while the three witches talked. "SPIKE!" called his mother, as if on cue. "MAKE YOUR AUNTIE CHERYL SOME COFFEE!" He groaned loudly and walked past to the table where his mother and her two other sisters were sitting, chatting away, and into the kitchen. Cheryl, the oldest one, was the one that annoyed Spike the most. For one thing, her voice drove him crazy. She had a high-pitched, nasal voice, which sounded as if she had a cold at all times of the year. She had green hair like him, but it was put in the most horrible perm you could ever imagine. It curled into jagged, ugly locks that framed her gaunt, sunken in face. Another thing that annoyed him about her was how, no matter how old he got, she still imagined that he was still a four-year old boy and pulled him into bone-shattering bear hugs that left him gasping for air whilst she yanked at his "adorable cheeks" as if she were trying to pull them off. The other one, Ester, annoyed him almost as much, but in a totally different way. She would always start talking about how he was a bad role-model for Edward, and a menace to society, and that he needed to be straightened out. "I know a wonderful boot camp for thugs like that boy" she'd always say. Every time she visited it was the same thing. He was ungrateful. He wouldn't do anything with his life. He was a pain-in-the- ass. It drove Spike nuts. "Get me some too, Spike." Ester screamed into the kitchen. "Be polite this time, Spike!" his mother had told him right before they showed up. He walked back into the room where the three women were chatting and stuck his head between his two aunts, a huge and obviously fake grin forced onto his face. Cheryl couldn't pass up the chance. She started yanking viciously at his cheeks while cooing to him about what a handsome young man he turned out to be. Meanwhile, Ester pummeled him with a barrage of insults. "Spike, do you EVER comb your hair? It's like a bird's nest up there. I think you should get a hair-cut, God knows you need one!" "Why get just one cut when I could get them all shaved off?" he said sarcastically. "Don't get smart with me!" she hissed, slapping him in the face. Cheryl, who was still yanking his face, scowled at his sister. "No need to hit the boy, Ester! He was just making a funny. Weren't you, sweetheart?" Spike nodded mechanically, fake grin still there, looking like a demented Chesser cat. "Yes Aunt Cheryl." he muttered. He then stood up, and picked up their plates, looking like a male version of a Stepford wife, he spat out. "What do you ladies want in your coffee? Sugar, cream, or Pepto Bismal?"
Naota sat on the bench as he watched Ed dash around the bases. "Are you going to go up, Naota?" asked the blue-haired boy. Naota was trying his hardest to ignore "Toby" as he requested to be called, and his tries at making friendly conversation. "Eventually." he growled. "When it's my turn." This time it was Toby's turn not to pay him any mind. He was cheering Ed on, screaming like a banshee. "YEAH EDWARD! COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!" He was being annoyingly positive. He always was. Naota scowled grumpily as Ed ran over to him. "Did Naota-kun see Ed?" she asked, all out of breath. "Ed made a home run! Didja see!?!" Naota ignored her, his glare fixed on Toby. The boy came over and gave Ed a huge hug, and they both went off talking at an unused edge of the field.
Spike sat crammed in between his two, irritating aunts, glaring viciously at a picture of his mother who was putting him through this hell on earth. "Entertain them, honey, while I go to the market." she had said. Now, about an hour later, she still wasn't back, and he was stuck listening to Ester's harsh criticisms and Cheryl asking him about his friends, did he want candy, did he still go to amusement parks, etc. "...Look at you, boy! You're as thin as a stick! And hardly any muscle to boot! Why, if Bradley were here, he'd show you what a boy your age is supposed to look like!" Bradley was Ester's 19-year-old son, the only relative he could honestly say was a dumb blonde. It was a miracle that he even passed high school. "Brad is a gorilla." he said harshly. "He's got the body and brains of one. I wouldn't be surprised if the principal was bribed into passing him through. Probably something else though." He glanced at his aunt; he knew she knew what he meant. She went completely red at his comment and slapped him hard across the face. "How DARE you!" she screamed. "How dare you even SUGGEST such a lewd thing! That just proves that that innocent little girl shouldn't be anywhere near you! You'll tarnish her mind!" All of a sudden the bulk of Spike's dislike switched from Cheryl to Ester. He switched his attention to Cheryl, who, once again, took up he favorite hobby: trying to pull Spike's cheeks off. "I am just AMAZED by how tall you've gotten!" Tug. "You are just the sweetest young man these days!" Tug. "Are you blushing? Those cheeks are so rosy and red!" Tug, tug, tug. He shook her from his face. "No, dammit, my cheeks are red because you've been yanking at them for the past two hours!" he yelled. He stood up from the couch, body rigid from frustration, anger and most of all, trying desperately to CONTROL that frustration and anger. "You," he yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing at Cheryl. "Stop touching me! Stop hugging me! Stop cuddling me! I am NOT a little boy and I do NOT have the PATIENCE to deal with you anymore!" Cheryl looked at him, stunned and kind of hurt. Spike didn't pay her any mind though. He continued on his rant, by going on to the next one. "You, Ester, are a fucking nymphomaniac! You heard me! You, lady, are a whore! A slut! A bimbo! A hooker! A tramp! I know what you've been doing! You slept with her husband! I SAW you! On Thanksgiving, you slept with her husband!" Spike pointed madly at Cheryl. "You heard me right! And then, you have the nerve, the audacity even, to criticize my every move, thought, and action! You are scum! A FUCKING WHORE!" Spike took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Now that that's out of my system, I'm going to bed. Hope you two can straighten things out. G'night!"