Okay, I loved Jade's review. It was full of akugis for the chapter, and things like that always make me feel like putting out (in a totally non-sexual way, thank you very much.) So here's the next bit!
Pain Inside
Part 6
"Must we carry on with this ridiculous plot?" Taiki sighed dramatically as he took up walking alongside a clearly cheerful Yaten and a very confident looking Seiya.
"I want to see her turn him down!" Yaten was almost skipping, which Taiki noted as a very un-Yaten-like behavior. "Maybe she'll slap him!"
"You know, Yaten, just because no one wants to date you doesn't mean I'm not in high demand." Seiya ran a hand through his hair, clearly trying to muss it just enough to make it seem he had just run in off the soccer field. He seemed to think it made him look much cooler.
"Yeah, well, clearly not as a babysitter, since you're a total pedophile." Yaten shot back, still gleeful at the impending idea of free entertainment. "Usagi looks like a twelve-year-old."
"She's our age, Yaten." Seiya clucked his tongue as though he found Yaten's behavior very immature. "And I have no intention of dating Usagi for real. I've been there, and it's not that great. She's cute, but she's no Kakyuu."
"It is truly a proud day when our little Seiya starts wanting to date girls who have actually been through puberty." Yaten clasped his hands to his heart and Taiki wondered yet again why he was friends with these people.
"Taiki?" the soft voice caused the brunette to turn, already smiling as he recognized the girl behind them as Mizuno Ami. "Where are you off to?"
"Ami, these are my friends Seiya and Yaten." Taiki introduced politely, and was pleased that the boys seemed to leave their quarreling aside for the moment. "Seiya, Yaten, this is Mizuno Ami. She is in Literary Criticism with me."
"And Kakyuu?" Seiya blurted the name out immediately, and Yaten's polite face went immediately to a malicious grin.
"Don't mind Seiya, he's only just learned that girls are pretty, not stinky like he always used to think before." Yaten gave Ami a broad wink and Taiki let out a long-suffering sigh. "I think I've seen you before…Ami…" he mulled over the name as though trying to come up with a mental connection.
"She's in our class, Yaten." Taiki pointed out. "And she was in our middle school, as well. She is a friend of Tsukino-san's."
"Oh…her?" Yaten twisted a face of annoyance. "I don't really know about that bunch of banshees that follows Dumpling-Brains around, but if she's in our class, she can't be that stupid. Although, Seiya got in. But I'm still pretty sure he did some favors to earn that grade." Yaten made an extremely rude gesture that only lasted a few seconds before Seiya smacked him upside the back of his head and both boys immediately began to struggle with each other playfully as they walked.
"I am sorry. My friends mean…well, no, they usually don't mean well, but at their very base, they are decent people. These are the bonds we hold onto even when all common sense tells us severance is the wisest course of action." Taiki apologized to Ami, who giggled at his poetic lines.
"I think I can understand you, Taiki." She told him softly, her lips quirking in the slightest of smiles. "I was just heading to the arcade as I usually do after school to meet with my own friends, and I must say that while I love them all dearly, they are a rather interesting group of girls."
"We're going to the arcade as well, coincidentally." Taiki told her in a highly ironic tone. "Why don't you walk with us the rest of the way?"
"Don't mind if I do." Ami grinned, and Yaten rolled his eyes, although he had mentally decided that while Ami did not score high on his coolness meter, (only a four out of ten) she was also very low on the annoying as all hell meter, (at about two out of ten, only because she was clearly a dork and she was also friends with Tsukino Usagi who he found immensely irritating) and so he was not going to fight against having to walk with her. At least she wasn't trying to attack him like some girls their age. And besides that, Seiya was about twenty seconds from making an utter ass of himself. Nothing could spoil a good mood caused by the assurance of such wonderful entertainment. "Actually, I needed to ask about the study group. Zoicite was wondering if we could meet on Thursday this week instead of Friday, as he has other obligations that evening."
"That should be perfect, as Seiya has a soccer match on Friday, and I really should offer my support there." Taiki nodded slightly.
"You just want to be there in case he gets injured again so you can have an excuse to take him to that hot nurse chick." Yaten teased, and Taiki flushed slightly in what he hoped appeared to be anger.
"Her name is Meioh Setsuna, and that is not why I was intending to go. I support my friends as best I can in all of the activities they love. Do you think I will only attend your first concert if I think you might choke on your own tongue?" Taiki asked, clearly embarrassed.
"Yaten would do something that stupid!" Seiya laughed raucously, glad that the insults had shifted to another target. "And then I'd have to help him, of course."
"Um, Seiya, I would rather you keep away from my tongue if it's all the same to you." Yaten told the other boy pointedly. "I may be pretty, but I definitely have no interest in that sort of thing. Save it for your boyfriend."
"My…dammit Yaten!" Taiki absently stuck out his arms to separate the two boys and then pointed at the building they had just reached.
"Enough, children. We're here." He told them as Ami raced ahead to greet her friends. Yaten recognized one of them immediately. Damn. It was the choir fan-girl.
"Wow! Yaten and all his friends!" Minako nearly tripped over herself racing to greet them. Yaten could feel his good mood dissolving rapidly as he was abandoned by Taiki, who went to continue his study-group discussion with Ami, and Seiya trailed off searching for Usagi, thus leaving him utterly alone with the fanatical blonde girl. "Do you come here often? Cause we come here like every day, and I'm sure that if you did come here often I would have seen you, since, well, you know. You're kind of hard to miss."
"Yeah, unfortunately." He grumbled, trying to judge who the least annoying person in the arcade would be, was annoyed to find that it was Taiki, who was clearly busy with book-dork business, and settled for heading toward the front counter where it looked like a confrontation could be brewing if he was lucky. Of course, according to his opinion of the girl who had now attached herself to his arm, he was most definitely unlucky. But then again, it seemed that Usagi already had company, in the form of a dark-haired boy Yaten had never seen before. This could definitely be good.
"Well, look who it is!" Seiya had switched into Suave Mode, a mode which Yaten found utterly hilarious. "Usagi-chan, you are definitely a sight for sore eyes."
"Back off, Kou-san." A dark haired girl with angry violet eyes was upon them at once, and she looked like she meant business. Yaten sat down and ordered a strawberry shake, ignoring Minako's blathering that was still going on to one side. "You've caused enough damage here, don't you think?"
"Who is this?" the boy who was next to Usagi addressed her, but as she was currently making a face like a fish gulping for air, it was necessary for her female defender, a girl Yaten thought was named Rei, to answer for her.
"This, Mamoru-san, is the utterly egotistical prick, Kou Seiya, at your service. Usagi and him dated last year. He dumped her recently so that he would be free to date high school girls. As you might surmise, he's a real catch." The sarcasm dripping off of every syllable had Yaten snorting into his shake, and Seiya flushing with anger.
"I don't see how any of this is your business, Hino-san. I'm here to talk with Usagi. I've realized that she's the one for me, and I wanted to get back together." Seiya explained, his tone slipping toward angry and annoyed.
"Really?" Usagi squeaked in shock. Mamoru was clearly livid.
"I don't see what gives you the right to play with girls' hearts like that." He was on his feet right beside Rei, who gave him a satisfied smile of agreement. "Usagi-chan is a wonderful girl, not a doll that you can just cast aside when you're sick of playing games and then come back to later. She deserves someone who cares about her more than they do about themselves. Someone who can give her everything she deserves."
"What, someone like you?" Seiya snorted. "What was your name again?"
"Chiba Mamoru." He spoke through his slight blush.
"Well, Chiba-san, I suggest you peddle your second-rate wares elsewhere, as Usagi-chan is already spoken for. She's mine, so just back off."
"Makoto!" Rei could sense a fight about to explode, so she called for reinforcements. "We could use your help over here!"
"Playing Sailor V…just a minute…" Makoto was so engrossed in her game, Rei wondered if she had any idea what was going on at the moment. Yaten sighed as he decided that the coolness of watching Seiya flounder so helplessly was quickly being outweighed by Minako's ability to giggle far more than any human should even be capable of. He turned to her in irritation, thinking of what he could possibly say to chase her away.
"Yaten-kun, could I have a sip of your shake?" she batted her lashes and dissolved in giggles once more. Yaten's scowl deepened as he answered.
"I don't think so. Have you even had your shots?" Yaten was too distracted to notice that Usagi had decided to flee to Makoto's side, and Rei was now raining her man-hating vibes down on him instead of Seiya.
"Can you stop picking on Minako? She's trying to be nice to you!" she scolded him, and he snorted in annoyance, turning in time to see that Mamoru and Seiya were silently glaring at each other and trying to stand closer to Usagi. Makoto looked annoyed.
"You guys, if you start fighting and ruin my chance at the high score, I will kick all of your asses." She told them matter-of-factly, but they seemed not to notice.
"Usagi, is Seiya annoying you? You can just tell him to go away, you know." Mamoru told her while still glaring at the boy opposite him.
"Are you kidding? I'm Kou Seiya. Girls would kill to get this close to me." He informed Mamoru helpfully.
"Not me, I think you're annoying as all hell." Makoto added her opinion, now that the building fight was occurring just at her side. Yaten was vaguely aware that Rei was still going on about the way to treat a woman properly, but he was sure what he was watching was much more fun than all that.
"Seiya-kun…um…" Usagi was struggling, so Mamoru grabbed her hand gently, turning from Seiya finally as he spoke.
"Just tell him what you think. It's all right." He assured her, and she smiled lightly before Seiya wrenched Mamoru's hand away from her.
"Hey, hands off the merchandise, buddy." Seiya snapped, and Makoto let out a noise that her friends recognized as a warning sign.
"If you just called Usagi-chan merchandise, I will be kicking your ass as soon as I lose." She told him sharply.
"Did I ask for your opinion, Amazon?" Yaten snorted at Seiya's comment, but he kept it muffled with his shake.
"Don't call Makoto names! She knows Usagi a lot better than you do!" Mamoru defended the brunette who was clearly steaming.
"Like I care what you think. You're just some loser with a crush on my girlfriend. Get in line." Seiya seemed vastly pleased with this, but it caused Usagi to blubber his name several times before bursting into tears and running out. Yaten only barely restrained his laughter at this turn of events.
"That's it! You have no reason to treat her like that! Look what you did!" Mamoru was in a rage, and Rei finally seemed to pause in her totally ignored tirade.
"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, then?" Seiya, clearly seeing that he was bigger and more athletic than Mamoru, was not at all afraid as Mamoru pulled back to hit him as hard as he could, but was dodged and instead received a sharp hit in the gut from Seiya, which floored him utterly. Yaten laughed out loud at this, but it was quiet enough that amongst the ensuing panic, no one seemed to notice. Minako had finally left his side, as had a very angry Rei.
"Mamoru!" the dark-haired girl was unsure whether to yell at Seiya or tend to the boy on the floor, but her decision was made when Makoto turned, tapped Seiya on the shoulder, and when he turned, hit him in the face so hard he crumpled to the floor. Yaten actually snorted his milkshake at this.
"Oh man, I'm so glad I came!" he laughed hysterically, ignoring the disapproval aimed at him by Taiki, who was edging toward Seiya warily.
"I think…maybe we should make our exit now." He spoke, walking past Rei who was now down at Mamoru's side, biting her lip in worry as he sat up, panting in an effort to regain his breath. "It was nice talking with all of you. Ami, I will see you tomorrow, then."
"I hope…Seiya's…um, not too injured, I suppose." Ami was clearly confused about what she should say, as Makoto was glaring at everyone around her.
"He made me lose!" she cried out at the injustice of it all, cracking her knuckles in annoyance.
"Um, you guys…" the boy who worked behind the counter was making his way over, clearly afraid, but feeling it was time to interfere. "Could you…um…"
"Holy…my face!" Seiya had recovered slightly when Taiki reached down to help him up, but he was infuriated to realize his nose was bleeding freely. Yaten was still laughing, but he calmed himself long enough to set down his shake and stand, waving at all the chaotic mass around Mamoru and Seiya.
"Well, I have to say, it's been great, but we have to go. Makoto-san, you are definitely cool in my book. I'll catch you later." Yaten ignored the cursing issued from the bleeding boy beside him. "We have to get the loser home."
"Mamoru, are you all right?" Rei was still trying to help the winded boy up, and he brushed her aside impatiently as he finally reached his feet.
"Where's Usagi?" he asked, and at least three people pointed out the door, through which he immediately ran.
"You stay away from her!" Seiya's voice sounded rather odd as he clutched his nose and called after the long-gone Mamoru.
"Easy there, dork-boy." Yaten patted his back comfortingly as they still worked their way to the door slowly. "If you get blood on my shoes, I'll kill you, which shouldn't really be all that hard, considering you just got your ass kicked by a girl. Let's go before they all rip you apart." And with that, the Kou's exited the arcade, and the boy in his apron sighed sadly.
"Thanks…for not breaking anything." He managed finally.
"No problem, Motoki." Makoto waved and smiled at him as though she had done him a great favor. "Any time."
"Well…I hope Mamoru finds Usagi." Rei sighed in disappointment. She had well and truly lost him, though she'd never really had him to begin with. "Is anyone else hurt?"
"My knuckles are fine." Makoto offered.
"Yaten-kun is soooo cool!" Minako squealed dreamily, and Rei let out a long-suffering sigh.
"Minako-chan, please." She rubbed her temples slowly. "Do not make me hit you."
The End (Of Part 6, That Is)