Perfection

Chibi Tsuki

A/N: I'm sooo sorry about the late update but I was sick for a while and the teachers still piled us up with assignments during the last week of term. Well thanks to those who reviewed! I enjoyed reading them as any author would. I mean, reviews are good, very very good and helpful to stimulate the mind.

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Chapter 4

Letter from Home

Smirking, Duo glanced around for the sight of his cousin on the basketball court. She had mentioned to him earlier that she would be playing in a 'disguise'. The young braided boy, a fan of most sports like his enthusiastic cousin who just 'happened' to be a girl. He padded towards the court, wearing a singlet and some shorts all in a slightly battered condition. Several girls were crowding around the tall blonde who at first seemed to look like a girl from behind. He shrugged and looked around again, noticing a raven-haired stranger who wore a cap indoors while completing some stretches. More than several thoughts popped into his head. I wonder who the loser is, wearing his cap indoors. I'm sure he'll like an introduction. Grinning, he made his way over to the loner, his braid following smoothly behind him.

Noin let her eyes slide to the side when she heard light footsteps coming towards their way but she continued to hold her stretched out arm. She could hear the footsteps before slightly louder, this seemed fairly familiar. Just as the moment came, she swivelled around and grabbed at the swinging braid expertly and held it straight until she heard a yelp and released the hair. "Ow… That hurts what did you do that for?" he whined as he nursed his head and slowly looked up.

"Do what Duo?" Noin sniggered softly, her blue eyes shining with innocence when she looked at her cousin.

"Lu…" suddenly the boy felt someone pinch his arm. He yelped and glared at his cousin who was sending him stern looks.

"Noin," Louie uttered as he approached the pair, "you ready?" He glanced down at Duo was still a half a head shorter than Noin. "Who's this little guy?"

"That's my cousin Duo Maxwell. He's only a year younger than us," Noin replied. "Duo, this is my friend Louie Eran."

Duo stood dumbfounded for a second before reaching forward to shake the older boy's hand, supplementing the handshake with some polite words. Grinning at him, Louie ushered the pair towards the court as the crowd noticed the face of a new comer. The braided boy was already on the court, shoving a player off Louie's team so that he could play the first five minutes. This time Noin was paired with Louie and Duo whereas the tall blonde whom Duo was told to be aware of was on the other team. Being the tallest of his team, Louie stood in front of Zechs in position as the referee readied himself with the ball in one hand. Both players leapt for the ball as it left the referee's hand and to Noin's prediction, Zechs was able to hit it. She gestured towards Duo with the slight tilt of her head and the younger player sped off towards the ball, his braid flying behind him. Countering the ball, Duo bounced it low on the ground at a steady rhythm while Noin charged to the other side of the court. He made a mad dash up the court, dashing towards Noin in great speed. On either side of him were two opposing players, trying to steal the basketball off him with their hands as if swatting at flies. But the boy only continued to move forward towards the key. Noin was standing in a suitable position for a shot, if only he could get through the two.

"Here kid!" Louie shouted from behind the braided youth as Duo jerked his head backwards. That guy was free. He tossed the basketball backwards before he ended outside the court.

Suddenly a blur whipped up in front of Louie, intercepting the throw. Zechs had caught it and was racing back down the other side of the court with it in his possession. The other two players in Louie's team were already after the tall blonde but they couldn't match his big strides. Cheers followed him down the court. Within five minutes into the game, the score was three nil, leaning Zechs' way.

"That guy sure is fast," Duo muttered as he passed Noin who merely nodded. Raising his hand for a sub, Louie gestured towards the other five players who were waiting for their play. The match commenced again once the players were on the court.

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"My first match here and we lost," Duo complained, slumping into his chair during the evening meal. "If they had let me play the last five minutes, I would've evened up the score and we probably would've won." Although the constant protest was still going on, Duo's appetite was just as large as it usually was. His cousin sat beside him shaking her head at his ridiculous manners which she had learnt… a bit of since she arrived at the school. "You've changed a lot since you came to this school, No-" Duo yelped at the pinch on his arm, disturbing the dining hall of its quiet chatter. "Sorry everyone." The boy eyed his cousin and muttered. "Actually you haven't changed that much after all."

Lucretzia gave him a cheeky grin and left the table.

His gaze followed her out of the dining hall. Something about this girl told him that she was… unique. Zechs smiled dreamily. "Zechs," the gentleman seated beside him uttered. "Zechs? Hello? Anyone in there?"

Someone chuckled and replied the teenager, "Zechs' just admiring."

"Admiring what Treize?"

Speaking softly, the third person said, "Admiring a girl."

"Which one? I feel sorry for her, I wonder how many jealous admirers are going to be after her."

The one called Treize chuckled again. "I wonder too."

Walking into her room whilst towelling her hair, Lucretzia yawned. The showers were two doors down from her shared dormitory which made it convenient for her to be one of the first to grab a shower. There were about six showers in total shared among twenty-four girls in that particular bathroom but the dormitories were divided into particular sections so that each twenty-four students shared one bathroom. Altogether it was easier to manage shower times. The boys' dormitories had the same system but were totally separate from the girls'.

"Stop flicking that water onto me, it's getting me all wet!"

Lucretzia halted on the spot and glanced down at her room mate who was wiping her face delicately with a tissue. The one mean girl who was in her grade she had met. Only within half a day, Lu had remembered her name: Calli Broadchers. "Sorry ma'am," Lucretzia muttered casually and sat down on her bed, brushing water out of her short hair with a brush. After arriving at the boarding school for over three weeks, Lucretzia Noin had adopted the habit to brush her hair each day so that at least she would look 'decent' in her everyday education classes and not receive warnings seven times a day for having scruffy hair. Calli gave her a glare and resumed reading her romance novel, over-reacting at all the so called scary parts and mushy stuff.

As she placed her brush and towel on her desk, Lucretzia noticed a sealed envelope lying next to her lamp. She slowly reached for it, touching the paper softly. There was a distinct scent of lavender on it. Picking it up and opening it, she dipped her hand inside and pulled out a letter that had an even stronger smell of the same scent on it. A smiled boarded Lucretzia's face. The smell was comforting and familiar; her sister always preferred the smell of lavender and often sprayed lavender perfume on herself. Written neatly on the fancy flowery paper were words of comfort.

Dear Lucretzia,

It's been a while since I've spoken or talked to you. I hope you're having fun at boarding school. Do you remember that French gentleman Father requested me to meet? Well I'm sure you'll be happy to know that engagement is off and Father has found a charming gentleman from England instead by the name of Matthew Parkes. He doesn't have a strong accent though, luckily. Father and Matthew's father are still deciding on a wedding date though.

Your principal has been sending Father letters nearly daily about your progress. Although he always says how bad you are, I think that he's secretly pleased with you. 

Lucretzia smiled as she continued to read the long letter. It had been quite a while since she had really spoken with her sister who had become her closest relative in the family. When at last she had finished the letter, it was already close towards lights out and her fussy room mate had already gone to bed, leaving Lucretzia's lamp on. For once she seemed quite… nice since she didn't yell at Noin for keeping the lamp on.

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Today was Saturday, her day, a day alone for her to spend, to waste. Lucretzia grinned, wearing some baggy cargo pants, a loose cotton T-shirt, covered by a spray jacket. Her black cap sat neatly on her head, her bangs hanging under, shielding her face slightly. With permission, the students were allowed to roam town, as long as they stayed in the shopping town and assembled in the town square before four in the afternoon. She made her way alone down through the shops, glancing sideways at the sports bags that were displayed neatly in the display window. Stopping, she turned around, looking at them nonchalantly with both hands in her cargo pockets.

"Hello, sir?" Noin looked around towards the voice, realising that the voice was addressing her. She noticed a short girl staring at her. "You're from Acrosha Private College right?"

The raven-haired youth glanced behind her, noticing two other females accompanying her. She nodded silently, her cap tipping forward slightly.

"May I be so rude as to ask whether you're the gentleman who plays basketball every lunch?" The girl was wearing a mini skirt, a pink jacket and a white blouse and smiling up at her almost too friendlily. Once again Noin was dumbstruck. Truthfully she wasn't the 'gentleman' and so she had no idea how she was going to answer.

"Sorry ladies," an arm flopped over Noin's shoulder almost too expectedly, "but Noin and I have some business to take care of. See ya around ladies." Noin was being steered away by the one and only Duo.

"Thanks Duo, I never knew that you're actually helpful until now," Noin commented casually as they left the girl's sight.

"Well thanks for recognising my talent now. Well while we're out here, how about a hot chocolate or something?" Duo suggested as they continued walking aimlessly inside the shopping mall. Without waiting for a reply, Duo dragged his cousin along towards one of the most expensive cafeterias around.

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Listening intently in the teacher's introduction to astronomy, Lucretzia wrote down notes ever so neatly in her exercise book, copying down the important ones that she would possibly forget. The subject had grabbed her interest ever since she was just a little girl, no older than seven. Her passion in space had grown larger when she found a piece of meteorite during her visit to the Arabian deserts. From then on, she was so fascinated that she started questioning her parents about space and what lay beyond the stars but unfortunately, she wasn't able to find anymore knowledge about her beloved universe.

While everyone was packing up to leave the science laboratory, Lucretzia was discussing astronomy with her teacher, hugging her books close to her body as she asked questions. A pair of eyes stared at her from outside the lab, admiring her, enjoying the moment. The teacher shrugged at her question and suggested for her to look up some books in the library. Lucretzia smiled and excused herself, passing a familiar blonde on her way out. Why is that Zechs Merquise everywhere? She sighed and made her way to her next classroom.

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A/N: I know, it's a short chapter. But I promise a bigger one next time and hopefully it'll come out sooner. Hehehe, I just realised that I've forgotten quite a few disclaimers but I'm sure you all know that I don't belong GW or any of its characters, unfortunately.