A/N: Teehee.. I've been reading only FAKE and Gravitation for the past week and I'm feeling so weird.. Hee.. Talking about shonen-ai obsession... cough So, where was I.. Right! Chapter 6! It's here! Woo... I just had a major inspiration for the upcoming parts. Lots of angst. I'm so good at angst. Whee. So, the next part will probably be a major happy-happy-joy-joy thing but after that... DOOM! I just love flashbacks, don't you too? (Uuschaschascha.. Ohii!) Review greatly appreciated! And, I just found out a major spoiler about Akito, and that kinda screws up with my fic, so I'll just ignore that. So no spoiler reviews! None of them.
Yappari - I knew it.
Sensei - teacher
Ja ne - See you))((
"I didn't get any sleep last night", Jirohino complained rubbing her eyes. Her sisters and Tohru smiled to her. They were at Souma's where they had started to spend more and more time. Marande patted Jirohino on her back:
"There there, I'm sure the nightmares will go over soon-"
"Ya cheap bitch! That was so cheating!"
"Shut up, orange-top. You're just being a bad loser", Arameda stated calmly, taking the cards from the middle and putting them aside. Kyou was furious for starting to lose to a new girl.
"Yeah, yeah. And when exactly did you get so good in Dai Hin Min?"
"None of your bussiness. Your turn."
Marande sighed:
"You two, cool up or I'll personally confiscate those cards." The two red-heads glared at each other and then, very reluctantly, shut up. Marande turned her back again to them. They heard a ping, and Tohru bounced up:
"That's the bell! Come, minna-san! Food's ready."
"Aww, you wouldn't have to, Tohru-san", Jelora said but still got up eagerly. Everyone else also got up but Jirohino stayed still. Marande looked surprised at her.
"Hino-chan? Aren't you coming?" Her sister shook her head and smiled.
"No.. I'm not hungry." Marande shrugged her shoulders and went to the kitchen.
))((Nice.. so peaceful.. Jirohino winded her arms around her legs and pulled them closer. A small warm wind was blowing through the porch.
"I was born only to die.." Why do the other Soumas talk about him like that? Like he's evil? He's completely different from what they've told to me.. Though, Akito-san seems like a person who doesn't let others close. Somehow Jirohino felt proud. Somehow she had managed to make Akito open up, maybe just a little bit. But still. She allowed herself to smile.
Then she heard grumbling behind her and turned around. It was Kyou.
"Kyou-kun?" Jirohino asked, "Why aren't you eating?" The boy marched to the porch and sat down.
"Leeks", he said simply, "I hate leeks. That kuso nezumi asked Tohru-kun to make those again, even when he knows I hate them." Jirohino listened him and said then:
"I have wondered why do you fight so much. Of course, it's natural, you being the cat, him being the rat. But still.." She heard Kyou sigh deeply:
"That's not it. Or maybe it is. I don't know. I just want to beat that damn girly-boy. Then I.. I could be a formal member of the Soumas." Jirohino raised her eyes from her knees and smiled.
"Yappari", she said, "So you are the outsider because of the zodiac fable. Because the rat tricked the cat.."
There was a short pause. Then Jirohino spoke:
"Sometimes I wonder... why did the rat do it? I mean, is it really that fun to make others look like fools? To make everybody hate them or laugh at them?"
She lowered her head so her face was hidden by a veil of white hair.
"To isolate them from others?"
))((Kyou looked surprised at Jirohino. I've never heard her speaking like that.. He shook his head slightly.
"What do you mean 'isolate from others'? If you're talking about yourself, you always have your sisters. You're never alone." He watched Jirohino raise her face to reveal a bitter smile:
"Yep. I'm never alone." Kyou stared at her for a moment and then turned his head.
"I.. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you.. meant.."
There was a uncomfortable silence.
"No.. it's okay..", Jirohino whispered, "It's my fault, having her inside me. Being too weak to push her away."
Kyou felt a sudden urge to pat the girl on the shoulder but something told him not to do it. So instead he just kept his face turned away from her. What should I say? Can I do something.. But.. Somehow, I know how she feels.. having a curse of that sort. Then he suddenly thought, I could tell her about my curse.. Kami-sama, I'd really need to share it with someone.. And her..
"Jirohino-san.. I..", he started but Jirohino shooked her head and hushed him silent.
"No, don't apologize. It's not your fault."
"Iie, I didn't me-" But she cut him off again. Jirohino stood up.
"Un. I think I'm going to look at the others", she said and walked away, leaving Kyou alone. He stayed still, just thinking how close he had been.. finally someone to share his secret with..
"Yep. I'm never alone."
))((
"Kuso! I'm going to be late!" Marande dashed down the corridors. She had been talking to a few other students and hadn't realized the time. She - was - late. I hope Hidogawa-sensei isn't angry... She turned around a corner, and cursed.
))((Yuki was studying some of the papers he had been given in the student council meeting. He was late from class, but the teacher wouldn't be angry after Yuki told him about the meeting. So.. I have to fill in these for tomorrow.. and these.. He heard footsteps before him, and then heavy breathing. He raised his eyes from the papers.
Kuso! Marande was running towards him, unable to stop herself because she had been running so fast. If I bump her, I'm going to be in really bad trouble! What am I-? Slam! Yuki frowned a bit. Apparently Marande had managed to stop herself in time, slamming herself in the wall. She pushed herself away from the wall, grimacing a little.
"Oh, Marande-san. Daijoubu ka?" Yuki asked worriedly. The girl smiled slightly:
"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay." She looked at her wrist watch.
"Kuso! I'm sooo late! Bye, Yuki-kun!" She said waving him as she ran away. Yuki smiled back.
"Goodbye, Marande-san."
))((In the shadows of the corner of the corridor there were three pairs of glimmering eyes.
"How dare she..?"
"She almost hugged him.."
"And he smiled to her.."
"Why, why WHY?"
"She's not going to get away with this."
"HAI!"
))(("Oh, Marande-chan, are you really okay with that?" Jirohino worried pointing at a small lump on her sister's head. Marande smiled and nodded:
"Yeah, it's not that bad." Next to them Jelora frowned:
"It's been a while since I've seen Hidogawa-san that angry. I mean, you were only about five minutes late."
"I heard someone made fun of his size again", Arameda said. All four sighed. Their chemistry teacher was incurably the shortest teacher in their school. Every sister was at least head taller than him.
They arrived at their bookcases. Jelora cheered:
"Optional studies! I have music, what do you have?" Arameda glanced at her timetable:
"Physics." Jirohino nodded: "Me too." They turned at Marande:
"And you?"
"English", Marande answered. Jelora sighed and grinned:
"I still can't understand why you chose that subject!"
"No, it's actually quite fun! And it's not even hard!"
Arameda shook her head amused.
"Well, anyways, we need to take off. Ja ne!"
"Ja ne!"
"See ya!" Marande said, in English. All her sister froze still and stared at her nonplussed. Marande sweatdropped.
"It's same as 'Ja ne'.." All her sister's had a 'Ooh.."-look and then they waved to each other and dispersed.
))(("By the way, Arameda-chan", Jirohino said while they were on their way to their class. The read-head nodded, indicating she had heard Jirohino.
"Did you.. tell everyone about my last.. dream..?"
Arameda considred this quickly, then grimaced.
"Kuso! Marande! I didn't tell her!" With that she dashed to the direction they were coming from. Behind her back, Jirohino sweatdropped. She glanced at her wrist watch.
"Hmh. She's going to be late from class.."
))((Let's see.. irregular verbs..uhm.. drink, drank, drunk... err.. drive, drove, driven... be, was/were, been.. Marande was chanting in her head, so intenselym she didn't notice three persons creeping behind her. ... bend, bent, bent ...
"Are you Marande-san?"
Marande startled a bit for the sudden voice. She turned around and saw three, surprisingly angry-looking, girls. She nodded:
"Hai, I am. And you are?"
All the three girls took a deep breath.
"Say Y! Say U! Say K! Say I! YUKI! WE love YUKI!" They were chanting, doing some kind of a dance at the same time. Marande stood there in shock. When the girls finally shut up, she massaged her temples.
"Gah, you're giving me a headache.. So, you love Yuki-san, what does that have to do with me?" All the girls' eyes were glinting.
"Earlier this day.."
"..you almost bumped into Yuki-sama.."
"....and you smiled to him.."
"....and he smiled back to you.."
"We, as Price Yuki Fan Club, cannot allow that kind of behaviour!"
Marande sweatdropped. Geez, what's wrong with these people..
"Yeah, well, I wasn't going to ask him for a date or something. You keep him all to yourselves", she said, but the PYFC was still flared up.
"You better not! Yuki-sama is ours, and only ours! We do not allow other girls get closer to him than we do, that's strickly against the rules! And-!"
"What's you major malfunction, maggots?"(1) A calm, but seemingly annoyed voice came behind them. The PYFC turned around.
"Who are you calling maggots, carrot-head?" they shouted. Marande didn't know shouldn't she gulp or laugh. It's was Arameda. Standing right before the PYFC. She couldn't hold back a snicker. Arameda stooped down a bit and looked the first girl in the row straight in the eyes.
"If you didn't notice", she said, voice full of despise, "my hair is red. Not orange. Besides, that's not the point. The point is, that you idiots are deeply troubling me and my sister, when we have more important matters to handle than shooing away your kind of people."
The PYFC, most to their own bad luck, didn't realize how much they had gone over Arameda's rage. So they shot back:
"So your her sister? Maybe we should warn you, too! If any of you freaks dare to go close to Yuki-sama, we-" That was as far as she could go. Arameda had grabbed, most to Marande's surprise, the speaking girl from the collar and pulled her close. The girl was now balancing on her toes. Arameda was literally bursting fire.
"Who are you calling freaks?" she asked, voice shaking from anger. The two other girls stepped back. They seemed finally realize what they were doing. The girl Arameda was holding had paled to as white as chalk. She stammered:
"Uhm.. no one.. ehe he.. could you let.. go? Our class is.. starting.."
Arameda let go so fast the girl dropped to the floor. She quickly got up and they all ran away. Arameda turned to Marande, who was staring in shock at her sister. It had been a while since she had seen her so angry.
"Err.. Arameda-san?" she asked, hoping her sister wasn't still angry. Arameda gave her a calm smile.
"Hai, Marande-san?" Phew, so she's not angry anymore..
"Erm.. what are you doing here? I thought your class started already?"
"Yeah, well, I remembered I needed to talk to you. Come here", Arameda said beckoning Marande to come closer. When she was next to her sister, Arameda whispered:
"Jirohino said she had another 'dream'. With her. And.. she said, Jirohino I mean, that we need to be careful with the Soumas. She may be having her eye on them. And that means.."
"I get it", Marande whispered back. Arameda looked at her feet.
"You realize.. we cannot let her do it again.." Marande also stared at her feet.
"No, we can't. I understand, Arameda-san. I'll be careful."
))(("Ohayoo, minna-san!" Tohru cheered. All the sisters smiled to her.
"Ohayoo, Tohru-san. How are you?" Arameda asked. Tohru had a huge smile on her face.
"I'm fine! I have something for you! As you know, the sakura season is coming up, and so..", she handed four cherry decorated envelopes to the sisters, each one having one's name on it,
"I'm having a party!"
There was a silence, small sounds of envelopes opening and the girls reading the invitations. Arameda smiled:
"That's very nice from you, Tohru-san. We'd love to come."
"Next Saturday? Right, I'll be there."
"Me too, Tohru-kun."
"So, who all are coming?" Marande asked, putting the invitation in her rucksack. Tohru counted with her fingers as she enumerated the guests:
"Well, you four, then Hana-chan and Uo-chan, Souma-kun and Kyou-kun...oh, then I need to ask Hatsuharu-san and Momiji-chan, too.."
"So that makes 10 persons. Or 11? 12? Does Shigure-san count in, too?" Jelora asked. Tohru's smile widened.
"Oh! I had forgotten all about him! And and.. oh, Hatori-san could come too.. and Aya-chan.. and Kisa-chan.."
The sisters frowned a bit.
"And.. who are these persons again?" Arameda asked. Tohru clapped her hands together happily.
"Oh! They're the Souma family! I think I.. I could actually invite them all! They're such a nice people!"
The sisters all stared at Tohru. Marande cleared her throat:
"Say.. how big was their family again?"
))(("Jelora-chan, I know the invitation says 'You are welcome to stay over', but we live close to them so couldn't we.."
"Hino-chan! Don't spoil the fun! That's the point of parties; to stay over! That's where all the fun comes from!"
"I thought it was the games.."
"Don't let her get on you, Jirohino-san."
"Now when you mentioned it. Games. Tohru-san asked us all to bring a clothes peg, didn't she? What's the point of that?"
"I dunno. Let's just take them. Oh, Jelora-san! Here's yours, catch!"
"Bwaah! Careful now, oneesan!"
"You two, get serious. And finish your packing, we'll be late!"
))))))))))))))))()(((((((((((((((((1) Who recognized the line? It's from Fairie's Landing, the part from vol.2 when Jehui-sensei is asking Ryang to stand up and read. And then hits him on the head and starts scribbling on him. And she says it just like that: "What's your major malfunction, maggot?" Malfunctional is a nice word. Dysfunctional means the same thing, and it's a nice word, too!
Wait for the next part! It's the party!