Okay… this is a very long chapter (for me) so I probably will be a bit slack on updating this story afterwards… but then again I might not because it's got quite a few more chapters to go before we hit terminal writer's blockage… I guess we'll just wait and see.

A few little things to note… I've edited some of the things in the story and the ball is now a 'week' away. Sorry, I edited it in my version of the story just after I posted it and forgot to tell you… (to fit in with the timeline thing yeah)

Oh… one last thing… Hayabusa rules! Okay? I will convert you… actually, I won't, because I want him all to myself. Okay. Enough of my caffeine rants. Let's go!

*

Emerald eyes narrowed as they looked over the question again. No, still as confusing as the last time. What was wrong with him? In the back of his mind, he knew how to do the question. Just that the answer wasn't coming out the way it should have been. Something was bothering him more then he wanted to admit, and he knew what.

Ayane… what's happened? What's changed between us? You had me fooled. I opened up to you because I thought you were a nice person, so much for that… I suppose Father is right in that respect after all…

His father's words echoed in his head, making him drop his pen to the desk with a resounding clatter, half the class turning around in their seats to stare at him.

You know, people could easily like you, Ryu, until they find out who you really are…

"Thanks, Father," he muttered under his breath. "Great parent that you are,"

"Ryu, are you having a problem?" the teacher spoke up, sounding rather surprised, as though the concept of Ryu Hayabusa actually having a problem was a foreign concept.

Ah. I have problems, just nothing to do with physics. Physics is the least of my problems.

"No, thankyou," his voice was soft as he picked up his pen and looked at the paper in front of him again. The question was there, still glaring up at him, black ink intense against the creamy white of the paper. And still, the answer was in his head, begging 'write me' and still his hand declared strike and refused to write.

And still, he had no idea what was going on with Ayane.

"You're not writing anything… are you sure you're alright?"

It was almost sickening, really, the way the teachers had been so dotingly concerned about him since Irene passed away and the accident, and everything. Actually, it was sickening.

He glanced around the room, before turning back to the teacher.

"Other people aren't writing as well, so does that mean that there's something wrong with them too?" He stood up, and handed in the paper with nothing on it. "Here you go, you can fail me. Thankyou,"

With that, he picked up his books and walked out of the room, twenty eyes watching him in absolute amazement.

Gah… Distantly, she was surprised that she hadn't smashed anything by this stage, especially that bitch Helena's pretty-girl face, more specifically. Although, that could have been simply because she was absent. Probably because her mother carked it or whatever… good. Hopefully her father dies too so she spends more time away from me.

"Isn't it terrible?" Several girls were crying, her stupid half-sister one of them. "Poor Helena!"

"What about 'poor Helena's Mum', considering she was the one that got run over by a freaking truck?" she asked sarcastically.

"Shut up!" the girl with brown plaits, Leifang, shouted, tears glistening in her eyes. "You're so rude!" Then, she turned away as the tears continued flowing. "Poor Helena, first she loses her grandfather, then she loses her mother… oh, it's not fair!"

She glanced up, not before giving Leifang the finger, to notice the blonde she had run into at the start of yesterday… Tina, that was it. She was standing with Kasumi's crowd, but seemed reluctant to join in the tears and sympathy. Subtly, while Leifang was sniffling away in her handkerchief, Tina walked over.

"Hmph. Never really liked Helena, I have to say. Just because she was rollin' in it, she never let anyone forget it," Her Texan accent was especially obvious, something which Ayane didn't remember noticing previously. "Always used to call me a slut. Probably just jealous," There was a look of dislike on the blonde's face.

"Oh, really? So oh-so perfect Helena isn't as lady-like as she thinks she is or would like to be," she sneered. "Serves her right. If that truck guy hadn't gotten there first, I would have happily run over her mother,"

Tina smiled. "Hmm. I would have run over her fortune. You see; she always gives me rubbish because my father works here, see? He's the PE teacher. Kinda sucks that I have my own dad teaching me, but he's okay, albeit a bit over-protective sometimes. And he ain't no oil painting, but you know. She's always making those little comments about our family, when she knows nothin' about what goes on in our house,"

"Okay, girls, let's stop those tears and get acting. Emotions draw out your best acting skills," the seagull chirped.

She narrowed her eyes. "Stupid class. Just because I'm new, I get all the shitty subjects. I mean, drama? What skills does that give you?"

"How to over-react more then usual?" Tina asked, pointing to Leifang, who had just burst into a fresh lot of tears. "Everyone knows how to do that. Big deal,"

"Why do you hang around with them if you don't like them?" she asked, Hayate's words from earlier biting unpleasantly at her. Maybe if you weren't such a bitch yourself you wouldn't have to hang around with me at school, you would have some of your own friends…

I'll show you, you bastard.

"Well, that's not completely true. Normally, I like Leifang, sometimes she gets on my nerves and we disagree, but usually she's okay. And Hitomi's nice, but she isn't here, she did Geography. Your sister isn't too bad, either, whether you choose to believe me or not…" Tina smiled at the look on her face. "Take that as a no. And, yeah, it's pretty much just Helena,"

"Oh," Well, so much for that idea. If she likes my sister, then there's no way we could ever get along…

"But, hey, that's alright. You're a good chick. Don't let Helena bother you,"

The rest of the lesson went pretty fast, actually. Although she and Tina got told off for talking several times, it didn't matter. Wow. Classes are a lot less boring when you have someone to actually talk to, she mused. Even if they do like my sister.

"Hayate?"

He started as he heard his name being called by his best friend. "Bloody hell, Ryu, how did you know I was in here?" he asked, wiping away the tears on his cheeks, embarrassed.

"Well, if you really want to know, I ran into your geography teacher, and I mean that literally. And then you came into the conversation, and it was suggested I check on you to make sure you didn't fall in, considering you've been in here for over a period,"

"So? It's not lunchtime yet. Don't you still have physics?"

"Uh…" For only the second time, Ryu sounded extremely hesitant. "Sort of. I walked out,"

Hayate blinked. "You? Walk out? That's something Ayane would do,"

There was a sad, yet bitter laugh from the other side of the cubicle door. "I know. Scary. She must be rubbing off on me or something. Come out of there, Hayate. It's harder to converse with you when you're in there,"

He sighed, but did as requested, washing his hands and splashing some water over his cheeks. "So what made you go up and out? Doesn't seem very in character for you,"

Ryu frowned delicately, seemingly unconsciously supporting his injured arm. "Does it matter? I was supposed to be checking up on you, not you mothering me,"

For the third time that day, he felt the tears fall freely down his cheeks. Ryu cares, even if it's in the most damned annoying way. He shouldn't. Why does he? I'm just a failure who can't even do a bloody maths test. This is not my day today.

The whole incident was even worse when he felt Ryu's stare burning into his skin. He quickly ducked back into the cubicle, hoping that Ryu had a sudden period of insanity and thought it was raining on his cheeks or something.

"What's wrong, Hayate?"

So much for that idea.

"Nothing. Get lost, Ryu,"

"I really hope you're not actually in the toilet for a reason, because I'm going to break the door down,"

"You're what?!"

"Come on, Hayate. Get out. Besides, it'll hurt more having a solid door slamming into you then having to face me, won't it? I honestly don't care, if that's what you're worried about,"

Ryu's voice was gentle and coaxing. Reluctantly, he unlocked the door, splashing more cold water onto his face. He glanced at himself in the mirror. He looked as bad as he felt.

They walked down to the usual tree they sat under, as always, sheltered from view. It must have been then that he decided that Ryu would have seen worse things then him crying. He hoped so, anyway. To his surprise, he felt an arm go around his shoulders briefly, before dropping. He looked at his friend, astonished at the contact. Usually it seemed to be his friend's religion; thou musth not touch anyone else for fear of cooties.

"It's alright, Hayate. Really,"

"You think I'm beating myself up just because of this maths test? There's something else that's getting to me, I suppose. Hitomi asked me to the formal today and I accepted, but the only reason that I accepted was because she-" he cut off abruptly, realising that Irene was probably a sensitive topic for the both of them.

"She reminds you of Irene. Don't worry, I know,"

What the hell? Bloody psychic bastard… "Of course you did. You seem to know everything about me before I do,"

Ryu smiled faintly, leaning back against the tree. "Not quite. I've noticed that as well. She's almost like another Irene. I'm glad you accepted. If you can't have Irene, then I suppose that Hitomi's the next best thing. But even still, I'm assuming that you feel as though you're using her as a replacement, right?"

"You're a freak," he said simply. "Stop reading my mind. Get out of my head,"

He received a blank stare for his statement. "I think I'll ignore that comment,"

"As always, you're right. So what should I do about it?"

Ryu paused, emerald eyes shining eerily in the light. "Just look for things that separate the two and embrace those. Not literally, of course, especially if they're something like her breasts…"

"Okay, that was not necessary. Thanks for just dropping my entire day with that sick comment," he muttered, but mentally he was thanking his friend for succeeding in lightening his mood. Thanks, Ryu. No doubt you can hear me thanking you as well, you freak.

"Any time," Ryu responded, deadpan. He resisted the urge to bang his head against the tree. Or Ryu's, depending on which was closer.

"Hey, faggot,"

Unusually enough, the voice made them both turn around. It was one of Leon's flunkies, the closely cropped black hair one. "Bayman, is it? You're here in Leon's untimely absence, I assume?" Ryu's tone was sarcastic as he stood up.

"Shut up," Bayman grunted.

"Where is he? He isn't gracing us with his presence today? How is his leg?" Ryu asked innocently. Bayman immediately lunged at him, time for words past.

"Ryu-" he was cut off as a sudden punch collided with his jaw. He spun around to see that blonde haired flunkey who was with them the other day. Must have been a new kid, he didn't recognise him. He immediately lashed back, kicking out at the blonde's head.

The blonde ducked, then attempted to kick his legs from under him, but he was ready. He flipped deftly into the air, lashing out with his feet, sending the blonde to the ground. Before the blonde could even think about reacting, he jumped onto his foe's back, flipping off again.

Easy enough, the blonde was out for the count.

Meanwhile, Ryu hadn't been kicking his heels. He had managed to easily parry most of the blows that Bayman had sent his way, although a clip to the side of his head had sent the ground his way for a moment. However, only being able to use one arm was proving a great disadvantage; especially when Bayman seized injured arm in question and shoved it behind his shoulder. He winced as he felt the muscles tear, pain shooting up his arm like wildfire.

"Trust you," he managed to spit out, getting slowly to his feet, trying to ignore the ever-present pain. "It doesn't surprise me that you'd play abjectly. Is it the only way you can win?"

"Who cares how I do it, as long as your pretty-boy face gets pushed into the ground," Bayman hissed, sliding to the ground and pulling him to the ground in the process. He pushed the taller male off him angrily, kicking him to the ground, before resorting to 'playing abjectly' with a sharp grind of his heel.

Bayman roared, small black eyes narrowing even further at him as he clutched himself in pain. "Serves you right," Ryu muttered, wincing again as another stream of fire rushed up his arm and shoulder. "If you're going to do it like that, then there's no reason why I can't, too,"

"You… you girl!" Bayman managed to hiss between gasps of pain. "Only girls… fight like… that... girls or… faggots,"

"Who cares how I do it, as long as your darn ugly face gets pushed into the ground," Ryu retorted, before turning heel and walking off. Hayate stared after him for a moment, before following.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Never been better," The pain was obvious, even the sarcasm didn't veil it. Ryu turned to him, emerald eyes flashing dangerously. "Faggot. You would think he would get a better insult. It seems to be the insult of the stereotypical brainless imbecile. My father uses it sometimes, as well, what with lack of thinking up something better,"

"Err, well I guess as it's not true, it shouldn't matter, right?" he said uncertainly.

"Of course it's not true. It's just aggravating. And un-original," Ryu turned away from him, to stare at the trees beyond. "Bayman and Leon both annoy me something chronic,"

He paused, not knowing whether he should speak his thoughts or not, considering that his friend was already in what seemed like a rather bad mood, then decided he could cope with the consequences of his big mouth. "Considering it's not true, you're extremely riled up over it," he mused aloud, studying his friend's face carefully for a reaction.

"Oh, shut up," Ryu snapped angrily. "I don't care what you think,"

Bad move, huh? "Okay, settle. It was just a musing. Nothing meant to offend you," he said hastily. "You might not want to, but… uh, could you go over some of the maths with me?"

"Sure," Ryu smiled at him, a genuine smile, which astounded him considering the circumstances. Whoa. Talk about mood swing. "Sorry. I'm just not in the best of moods right now. I'm going to try and get a painkiller for this arm, okay? I'll see you in… what do we have next?"

"English lit, I think. See you then,"

With that, Ryu was gone, leaving Hayate shaking his head after his friend.

Argh… so Frankenstein ran around for ages trying to find the monster thing… why didn't he just make him the other one so they could go around being ugly together? Would have saved everyone a lot of hassle… she bit her pencil, wondering what she could write. A literature essay on the themes discussed in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Personally, she didn't give a damn. And Tina wasn't in this class, which made it even worse. She was sitting next to Hayate, who refused to even look at her, and Ryu, who couldn't look at her, she noticed. Every time she glanced up to look at him, if he was looking at her, he would immediately break eye contact with her. It amused her.

Burdens, she wrote down on her piece of paper, under the geek's watchful eye. Love and ugly monsters popping up from someone's arse and messing the love up.

She glanced at Hayate's paper. His writing was neat, but that didn't stop her from shaking her head as she read over his arm.

'The urge to create a higher being that the world has never seen before is covered in the story Frankenstein. Victor's desire to create a being that will satisfy his scientific curiosity and…'

Okay, he's pulling that out of his arse. There's no other possible explanation for it. She frowned, glancing the other way to Hayabusa's paper. His writing was a lot simpler, easier to read then Hayate's. Not that Hayate's was hard to read, however. But… the last time I saw his writing it was cursive… weird.

'Underneath everything that Victor is trying to prove, Frankenstein explores the essence of love, although veiled by the scientific elements. It explores Victor's love of science, his love of fair Elizabeth, and his desire for them to spend the remainder of their lives together. However, it was the desire to create a new being which-'

These guys are English nerds, huh? She sighed, chewing on her pencil some more, before putting up her hand.

"Yes, Miss Ayane?" the geek asked.

"Can I go to the loo?"

The geek frowned at her choice of words, but nodded. With that, she picked up her books and left the room, with no intention of going back.