Chapter Five: The Rat and the Snake

"Maxwell! Detention!" Mr. Jones hollered and pointed to the door.

"Yes sir…" Duo noticed he was becoming increasingly unpopular with the teachers and even with some of the students now. Not to mention someone now knew he would turn into a rat when a girl hugged him. But he didn't let it get him down! He only failed two tests, tripped on the stairs into a garbage can, and walked into several doors… all in the same day too! Oh sure, it wasn't bothering him at all… he only thought about it twenty four-seven.

The detention room had its usual occupants in it. Thugs, lazy guys, and also a few girls spent most of their school days in detention. Duo sat at a desk in the back and slumped in his chair. How could he let himself slip this much? He didn't like school but he would rather sit in class than detention. You get less attention when you're in detention with other people that could care less if you were the Prince or not. The detention door swung open and a girl wearing a sloppy, tomboyish senior uniform with blue bangs walked in. Duo's heart turned to ice. He pulled out one of his textbooks and propped it in front of his face so she wouldn't recognize him. Since the girl seemed to come to detention on a regular basis she walked up to the front and chatted with the detention teacher, Mrs. Fury.

"What are you in for this time?" Mrs. Fury asked casually.

"Nothing serious today, Mrs. Callendracula decided she didn't like my hair today and sent me here." Blue bangs dug into her school bag and brought out what looked like a sandwich. "It's roast beef today. What do you have?"

Mrs. Fury brought out another sandwich. "It's tuna."

"Good deal." Blue bangs and Mrs. Fury exchanged sandwiches and then Blue bangs turned around to pick a seat.

Duo prayed she wouldn't notice him when she looked in his direction. All in vain though, Blue bangs recognized his long braid at once and sat next to him. Pretending not to notice her, Duo suddenly found out how fascinating the word "prophylactic" was.

"This was the last place I expected to see the Prince, of all places." Blue bangs chuckled with amusement.

"Can't say the same about you." Duo replied softly while still staring at the word "prophylactic".

She snorted and pulled out a small piece of paper. "That's my address. I think it would be in your best interest to show up tonight." Blue bangs said threateningly.

Duo looked nervously between her and the sheet of paper. "Um… sorry… I don't want to hurt your feelings but I can't be your boyfriend and-"

WHAP!

"Ow! What the Hell was that for?!" Duo demanded while rubbing his cheek.

"Ms. Midori, don't make me give you Saturday detention." Mrs. Fury said in a monotone without looking up.

"First of all, I wouldn't want you as a boyfriend, you idiot! Secondly, you are my partner in that Mythology project so you better show up to do some of the work!" Blue bangs growled.

Duo shrank in fear. "Okay!" He squeaked. "S-so you're Yume Midori?"

"Yah." Yume sharpened her very long nails and Duo scooted his desk farther away.

Duo was waiting for the moment that Yume asked him about what happened last night. But she never asked. Didn't even speak to Duo for the rest of her time in detention. The final bell rang and everyone exited the detention room. A girl was waiting outside the detention room for someone. She had long shimmering silver hair that went past her waist and her eyes were a golden color. She also wore the junior high uniform. When Yume walked out of the classroom ahead of Duo the silver-haired girl practically pounced on Yume.

"Oh Yume-chan! That mean teacher put my poor little Yume-chan in detention because of her beautiful blue bangs! How cruel this world is!" the other girl exclaimed.

Duo tensed, half expecting to see Yume cut the girl to ribbons with her harpy nails. Once again Yume surprised Duo by patting the other girl on the head. "Thank you for your concern, Gin-chan."

"Oh Yume-chan! You are so misunderstood! And that guy's got a staring problem!" Gin pointed to Duo. "Doesn't anyone get any privacy in this world?!"

"Uh… uh…" Duo stuttered. Gin seemed to make such a big deal out of things.

"The poor boy can't even speak he's so ashamed of his eavesdropping!" Gin let go of Yume and hugged Duo.

"Ack! Lemme go!" Duo panicked and tried to push her away. Refusing to let go, Gin clutched Duo around the waist. Duo blinked twice, confused. A girl had just hugged him but he didn't turn into a rat. "What the Hell?! Why didn't I change?"

Yume burst out laughing. Gin just snuggled closer to Duo. "Gin-chan is a bit clingy." Yume explained while trying to hide her smile.

"I can see that! But it still doesn't answer my question." Duo muttered bluntly.

Gin looked up at Duo with anime tears in her eyes. "At last! I have found thee! Another one of the Zodiac!" Squeezing him harder, Gin didn't notice that Duo was turning a slight shade of purple.

"Help… me…" Duo gasped.

"Gin-chan, I think you should let go of Maxwell long enough to explain to him some things." Yume said while leading the other two outside of the school.

"Forgive me my dear Yume-chan!" Gin released Duo. "I love you most of all, you shouldn't get jealous over a rat." Gin smiled lovingly.

Sweat dropping, Yume returned Gin's smile with a crooked grin.

It was Duo's turn to burst out laughing. "Now I know why you refused to want me as a boyfriend! It's because you're gay!"

WHAP!

Duo stumbled backwards with another blow to his cheek. "Bitch!" He spat.

Yume grabbed Duo's shirt collar and was inches from his face. "It's a pity such good looks should end up with someone with such a rotten personality." She hissed.

"Oh Yume-chan! You are such a wonderful friend. You really do love me." Gin smiled and a bubbly background appeared behind her.

"Okay Drama Queen, on with the explanation of the zodiac." Yume mumbled while dropping Duo.

"Ah! Of course." Gin became somewhat serious or at least as serious as she could be. "The reason I can hug you even though I am a girl is because I too, am cursed by the zodiac. I am the snake… and lucky me! Yume is the rooster which means we are destined to be together!" Gin hugged Yume tightly and Yume smiled.

"Oh…" Duo trailed off in thought.

When he looked back at Yume and Gin, they were gone. Confused, Duo walked home to grab a snack before going to Yume's house to work on their project.

TO BE CONTINUED

I'll have short bios up next chapter. And will Yume kill Duo? Find out next week on The Second Zodiac!