Disclaimer: Anything appearing here that has previously appeared in any other form does not belong to me. No copyright infringement intended.
AN: Thanks to reviewers. Hope you like this installment and please review!
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Kiss Me Twice, Girl3: She couldn't run from it, she couldn't hide from it, she couldn't even ignore it. Even when she closed her eyes, she could see a red glare through the thin epithelium of her eyelids. A red bag, a red shirt, red hair, a red notebook. Even the pink shirt she had decided to wear that morning was taking on a reddish tint.
This was her own fault, she knew. How could she have possibly been so stupid to have said the things she said yesterday. She could already imagine the red note, sitting there in all its silent threat, just waiting for her.
"And she said we wrecked lives! And destroyed the dreams of students! Killed the spirit of good people whose only mistake in life was to cross our path! Those were her exact words!"
She didn't even know why she had bothered to come to school today, if to simply collect her books and return home again, in disgrace. Her mother was going to be furious. Her dad was going to murder her. Maybe they would kick her out of home and she would end up on the streets as a beggar. Once a proud member of the Tamiko family, then a street imposer, rejected and laughed at by society.
"Then she said everyone regarded us as the sea dragons of Eitoku. To quote, proud and snobbish, notorious for the temper. One wrong move, annoy the dragons and they were eaten, swallowed without being chewed, to join the other mass of students in the depths of their belly."
She could see her locker now, just one wooden block for a door in the midst of many. Now that she thought about it, she really was in an unlucky area. Three students had disappeared from that particular line of lockers; all unfortunate victims of F4.
Where had everyone gone?
That was a bad sign.
A very very very bad sign.
"What nerve! We don't wreck anyone's lives, or destroy or kill or eat anything. We…we simply…"
"Simply show them in our own little ways that where they are…""Is unsuitable for their personal standards and our personal standards."
"Exactly."
She stared at the knob of the locker door. What waited for her inside was inevitable…but by rule, her own fault. She had known the consequences of aggravating F4 and yet, that day, she had allowed her feelings to escape that traitor mouth of hers.
"I think we ought to show her just how nice we can be."
She had to open it. Gazing in terror at it the whole day wouldn't help in the least. The sooner, the better. Her trembling hand reached for the knob.
"Akira can do it."
A streak of red crossed her vision. A red note with gold print fluttered to the floor, brushing past the front of her shoes as it settled at her feet, the brilliant gold ink glinting innocently at her.
"Kei! Hey, Kei, you idiot, wait up!"
A voice was calling after her, but she could barely hear it. She continued walking down the corridor, her footsteps light on the concrete floor, her heart and mind heavy within her body.
It was over. It was all over. She was a disgrace to her entire family. She could only imagine what her parents would say, the torture her sister would have to endure in her junior year at the college, the rumours that would spread upon entry into a new school.
The red note. She hadn't even the strength to collect her books after that. She had simply turned and started walking away. She had heard a thud, and knew it was her heart hitting the ground. The sound replayed itself in her head. And again. And again.
Until she realized it wasn't her heart, but the sound of running feet behind her.
"Kei, wait up, alright! What's the matter with you? Which part of wait up did you not get?" Akira said, slowing to a walk beside her.
She turned her head to look at him. He wasn't even out of breath, she thought, disgusted. His hair wasn't even tousled. His clothes weren't even mussed. His eyes weren't even regretful. He didn't even care that he had one quart part in the destruction of her life. From that moment, she could feel the fury of hate bubbling up through her blood.
But once again, she was helpless.
Why do anything to make it worse? F4 didn't only dominate the school, they manipulated powers outside in society too. Why make it worse for herself or her family? The anger inside of her ebbed away leaving the thick bitterness of loathing. She turned away from him, staring straight ahead; her only aim to reach her car.
"Um, is something wrong?" he asked, tentatively. She felt like screaming at him. The nerve of asking whether something was wrong when he had just passed her a red note! But instead:
"No, Mimasaka."
"Well, are you upset?" he tried again.
"No, Mimasaka."
"Cause if it's about that red note, it was just a joke."
Kei jerked to a stop and he too, stopped expectantly. She turned her eyes onto his and he gave her stare for stare, his eyes playfully innocent.
"A joke?" she repeated uncertainly.
"Yep," he replied, resting a well-muscled arm across her shoulder. She allowed herself to be turned around and walked back from whence she came. "I was waiting round to tell you, and yeah, well, to catch your reaction, but you just took off faster than Soujiro after a pretty young thing."
"But after what I –" she stopped abruptly. Perhaps it would be better not to remind him.
"Pfff," was his response, blowing out from his cheeks like one did to a candle. "Don't worry about it. My ego's not as big as you make it out to be, not so big that it deflates with a single insult. Or multiple insults."
"Oh," she said weakly. She was slowly regaining awareness to herself and her surroundings, now vaguely aware of the blurry blobs of human life forms gazing in the vicinity of her direction. "I…I want to apologise –" but he waved it away dismissively.
"What do you have first?"
"Uh, Literature," she replied, now aware that his arm was still laid casually across her shoulders.
"Then I'm going your way." She swallowed slightly as he turned a pair of twinkling eyes at her. Look away, look away, she told herself frantically. Look away before –
But then it was too late. As his dimples appeared, dancing in and out of his cheeks, she found herself nodding.
"Okay," she replied, her free will assailed and she allowed him to lead the way.
She laid down her tray onto her regular lunch table and slid softly into her seat. "Hey guys," she greeted her friends, beginning to unwrap the tuna sandwich she had chosen.
"Oh. My. God," was her friend, Julie's, reaction. The others, upon hearing her voice, snapped around eagerly, all peering excitedly at her face. "Kei, you sly flirt!"
"Huh?"
"Is it denial? Oh Lord forbid!" Julie exclaimed dramatically, causing neighboring tables to glance across curiously. Kei could feel her cheeks firing as she wondered about the other's spectacle.
"Julie, shut up, would you? What the hell are you going on about?" she hissed with a mouth full of tuna.
"I saw you with him!" her friend accused. She beckoned knowingly towards the other girls seated around the table. "We saw you with him!"
"Who?"
"Akira!" the table (with the exception of her) cried.
"What?! You guys know I'm working with him for the history assignment! Stop carping about nothing would you?"
"Oh really?" Julie challenged, moving closer. "Does a history assignment really require him to talk to you like this?" Julie was so close Kei could feel her friend's cool, minted breathing in her ear. "Or for him to look over your shoulder like this?" Julie rested an arm on both sides of Kei, encaging her, pretending to study at the salad on her tray. "Or for him to call you gorgeous… little lady… baby…?" She raised an eyebrow at her friend. "So, are you guys working together or working together, huh?"
Kei stared at Julie, exasperated. "We're working together, Julie. Christ, you know as well as I do what Akira is like…"
"I don't know…maybe you found out more hey?" her friend put in nonchalantly.
Kei gave a frustrated sigh.
"This is an F4 alright? Flirt with an F4? Ha! I'll sooner swim with sharks, the risks that are involved! I'm not some dumb chick who falls for Akira's lame liners and long hair and cute smiles and then gets my own heart broken because I was stupid enough to believe him when he said I'm the greatest girl in the world."
"But you got to like him a teensy, weensy bit right? I'm mean, him being gorgeous and all?" Julie asked, eyes focused on a random point behind Kei's shoulders. She should've realized then but she didn't. Instead:
"No!" she replied in a low growl. "Look, this is just an assignment together. Once it's over, it's over and I'll thank God if I never have to see his face again!"
"And I was beginning to think I was winning you over," a familiar drawl said, causing an icy covering to freeze over Kei's heart. She knew all too well who had spoken, and mentally dying, she turned to face him.
Akira stood behind her, in a characteristic slouch, thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, his hair swinging low across his face and a small smile on his face. He watched and her friends looked on as she stammered a sort of reply; then she fell silent, cursing herself for seriously blowing it this time round, and he spoke.
"You really hate us, don't you?" he remarked, almost nonchalantly though she could detect a faint trace of disappointment in his voice.
Wait a minute, she stopped herself. Disappointment? Since when did an F4 care what people thought of them?
Automatically she had begun to protest: of course she didn't hate them, it had just been a figure of speech, and again, she apologized for insulting him…but when he lifted a hand to sweep back one side of long tresses, she digressed.
"I guess I'm just going to have to try harder then."
Her head jerked up in a sudden motion, her eyes meeting his to find not a tease; he was serious. Ignoring the squeals from her friends behind, she tried a valiant attempt to gather her thoughts and reinstate them but for an odd reason, her head was decidedly muddled. The Akira she had thought was, was indeed and yet wasn't. If that made any sense at all.
"Here you go," he said, and she took the item he offered. It was a small cup of Peters vanilla ice cream. "I thought you might want some. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Kei." And then he headed back to his table on the other side of the cafeteria, leaving her staring down at his sweet gift, the sound of her friends' sickly crooning in her ears.
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AN: Review please. Thanks to lelepanne, ToinKs, Cooking Pot, Yumez, cyanthis, Meteorsunrise, Fuyu, martian doll.