Uh…I'm still alive? Well…fangirls aren't that tough then (or maybe I should reconsider). But anyways, I'll try to update about every 1-2 weeks, and I hope to end this thing by at least New Years. Also to answer some very puzzling questions, like Kiyuu's some recent comments (#14 for future date, and another one I got). I tried to base the story as much as I could to the Manga, so yes, spoiler, the Hanagumi does die, but several things are fictional and added for…flavor, like Meene's death.Really, I think anyone could enpicture Macchi killing Meene, some more than other…Ok enough of me (sheesh I was always give these long intros), so onto…
Chapter 6…
OH! And Kiyuu-chan, hands her a ramen cup , for the last one you puked on when you read chapter 5 . Ok, NOW onto…
Chapter 6
Lyserg woke up and forced himself into the dining room. His eyes were still half-shut and his arms felt like dead weight. In the room everyone was still tired, wanting to continue to sleep, expect Tamao wasn't there and Macchi seemed quite hyper. Lyserg slummed down and sat down to Macchi. Macchi continued to look at her watch, like she was waiting for a store to open. Lyserg looked around the room. No one was in the kitchen, it was Tamao's day to cook. Horo was dragging across the floor.
"Food…I need…food…" Horo moaned. Ren slapped him upside the head and Horo rolled over on his side.
"Shut up. So Tamao wanted to sleep in. I don't blame her…" Ren said, 'But I wish that ditzy girl hurry up!' Ren thought to himself. Yoh looked at the clock above the kitchen door, the clock read seven twenty five A.M. Yoh looked back to the kitchen.
"There was also no caramel last night! I…need…sugar." Horo continued to moan. Pilica slapped Horo on the other side.
"Horo, you know what sugar does to you. Who ever took it, I'm going to thank them." Pilica scolded her brother. Ren smiled to himself seeing Pilica slapping his rival.
"Um…guys…is this strange?" Yoh asked. Everyone looked toward Yoh's direction. "I mean, Tamao is usually the first to get up. It's unlike her to sleep in." Yoh continued to explain. Faust walked in with his usual attire and a cup of coffee. When he looked down at the table and saw it bare he was quite shocked.
"Um…are we skipping breakfast?" Faust asked. If anyone said, 'Yes', he would make sure they got the lecture of their life on nutrients and that medicine stuff and what it did to your body. Yoh looked up to the German giant.
"That's what we were thinking as well." Yoh said. Macchi suddenly got up and that got everyone's attention.
"Why don't we check her room people?! Sheesh, if she was sleeping she be in there." Macchi said. Everyone gave themselves a mental slap in the head thinking, 'Why didn't I think of that.'
Everyone followed behind Yoh to Tamao's room. Hao was the closest to him in case something had happened to Tamao. They slowly approached her door and Yoh lightly knocked on the door. Not a sound came out. Yoh looked back at everyone in fear of what to do next. Macchi began barged through everyone. Her hyperactivity was overtaking everyone this morning.
"Come on open the door already!" Macchi shouted to the front. Yoh slowly slid the door and gaped at what he saw. He slowly moved back and Hao inside. He gasped as well and when everyone else looked, everyone either screamed or gasped, expect for Macchi. Tamao was duct tape to the floor with her arms across her chest like a mummy. Her mouth was also duct-taped as well, but that was only the beginning. The room was cover with strings that created a labyrinth of wires and strings. And to top it all off, there were spiders and beetles crawling all over Tamao. Her eyes were wide open in fear as she was trying to scream through the tape. Hao rushed through everyone to get as close to Tamao as he could.
"Tamao! Is everything ok?!" Hao asked her. Tamao tried to shake her head, but it was hard to move her body. Hao began to forward Tamao, but he tripped one wire. At first Hao thought it was nothing, but a large bucket was overhead Tamao. It began to pour out a light brown liquid that was thick like molasses.
"MY CARAMEL!" Horo shrieked. Macchi ran to back trying to hold her laughter in. The whole bucket poured all over Tamao's face and into her hair. Hao ripped through the wires and quickly pulled off the duct tape off Tamao. She gasped for air after Hao removed the tape on her mouth and cried in his arms. Lyserg realized that he missed his chance to play the shinning knight, but something else happened. An another large bucket of bugs came swooping down and dumped its cargo all on Tamao. She shrieked and tried to wipe the bugs off, but the bugs stuck to the caramel and made it impossible to get them out. Hao tried to help her but his efforts were in vain as well. Horo chucked a bit, but a sharp elbow from Pilica shut him up. Everyone backed away knowing the two would need some time together. Lyserg found Macchi in the kitchen laughing as quietly as she could.
"Um…why are you laughing?" Lyserg asked.
"What do you think?! Did you see Tamao's face! It was priceless!" Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg shook his head in disgust.
"Macchi, please tell me that was it." Lyserg said. Macchi shook her head still laughing. Lyserg's eyes widened in fear to think what would happen next. A few minutes later Tamao entered the room. She had just taken a fast shower to mainly get that caramel out of her hair. Everyone just started at her as she walked in. Hao was even there and almost burst out laughing. Lyserg looked at Tamao as well and gasped. Everyone to giggle softly and confused Tamao.
"Ok…what is it this time?" Tamao asked.
"YOUR HAIR!" Horo blurted out laughing. Tamao grabbed a strand of her hair and looked at it. It wasn't pink anymore. It was green. Tamao quickly ran out of the room, probably to the closest mirror. Everyone began to blurt off laughing and a loud scream emerged.
"Oh my god! No way!" Tamao's voice could be heard. Macchi hit Lyserg in the side.
"Go stupid." Macchi commanded. Lyserg nodded and left through the kitchen exit. Macchi continued to laugh with everyone else. Hao's laughter began to die down as he began to think. He then stopped completely. 'No…Macchi, she's…' Hao thought. He didn't dare think what happened next. He turned around and saw Macchi at the kitchen door, still laughing. Hao got up and went through the barricade of laughter. He reached Macchi and pulled her into the kitchen.
"Macchi! Did you?!" Hao asked her rhetorically. His voice was stern, the harshest voice he had ever used to Macchi.
"I dunno. Maybe I did." Macchi answered without doubt. Macchi knew she wouldn't get out of this mess that easily. Hao was a thousands years old, he had an extra nine hundred years over her already.
"What's up this time?" Hao asked her. He felt like he needed to use more force, but he couldn't pull himself together.
"Oh…nothing expect…"
Lyserg searched the entire mansion for Tamao. The laughter had died down by the time he left the mansion to search outside. Lyserg heard the faint sound of crying and walked to the sound. It led directly to Tamao who had her feet swishing in the pond. She continued to cry a few tears went down her face into the water. Lyserg sat down right next to her trying to thing of what to say or just what to do. Tamao noticed Lyserg was there after several minutes of crying.
"Oh…hey Lyserg." Tamao continued to mope. Lyserg was still trying to figure out his game plan when she talked. He figured he better wing it.
"Hey…is everything ok?" Lyserg asked. Lyserg was shocked the sentence came out with such fluency. Tamao sniffed trying to hold back her tears.
"I'm ok…it just…I feel so…" Tamao shuttered, her sentences where broken with short sniffs in-between. "Hated. Like everyone wanted that to happen to me." Tamao finished. Lyserg tried to say something, but nothing came out or he didn't know what to say. "Admit it, you wanted that to happen to me. Make me the punching bag and laugh at me. Not like no one else but Hao cares about me." Tamao scolded herself. Lyserg tried something desperate. He threw his arms around her and brought her into his shoulder. Tamao didn't think twice about what he did. She began to cry in his arms, like if he was Hao. She needed to get that emotion out, and Lyserg held her in.
"That isn't true…" Lyserg said. 'Well…I really don't know.' Lyserg thought to himself. "I…um…" Lyserg tried to come back, but he felt short. "Tamao, everyone wants to see you happy. Trust me." Lyserg tried. He just hoped his attempt helped. He knew that not everyone wanted to see her happy, especially Macchi. Tamao's crying stopped and she continued to splash the water with her feet.
"Thanks, you're such a good friend. I need to tell you something. It's…" Tamao said in a normal tone but she stopped. "My skin feels like it's burning." Tamao said. Lyserg eyes widened in fear. He remembered Macchi mentioning something about burning last night. Tamao's expression quickly went turned painful. "It's really burning!" Tamao panicked. She jumped into the pond, which freaked Lyserg. She had a white shirt on and Lyserg knew what happened to white shirts, he had done through the process several times. Tamao quickly came back up for air. "It won't stop!" Tamao shrieked.
"Tamao hold on. I'll be back." Lyserg said. He got and ran back to the kitchen.
"So do we have an agreement?" Macchi asked Hao. Hao grabbed the waffles as they came out of the toaster.
"Um…was that it? Did you really have to prank her that much?" Hao asked. Macchi giggled to herself.
"Oh it's far from over." Macchi said to herself. She heard loud footsteps coming toward the kitchen. She pulled out the baking powder from the pantry and held it outside the door. Lyserg's hand grabbed the box and quickly fled back.
"So all I have to do is take you out to some lake Saturday?" Hao asked. Macchi nodded.
"Yep, that's it." Macchi replied. Macchi walked back to where Lyserg should be, by the pond.
"Tamao where does it burn?!" Lyserg yelled to her. Tamao's eyes were sealed.
"My face!" Tamao answered back. Lyserg opened the box of baking powder.
"Ok, keep your eyes and mouth closed." Lyserg instructed her. He threw the powder over Tamao's face. Tamao's eyes slowly opened, the pain was gone.
"Um…what happened?" Tamao asked. Lyserg closed the box and put it down on a nearby rock.
"A base such as baking powder will neutralize an acid such as…whatever that was." Lyserg explained. Tamao nodded in agreement not understanding a word he said. She dunked her head under and reemerged, then Lyserg almost screamed. Tamao got out of the water and started to squeeze the water out of her shirt, which had a faint blue stain.
"Man…I'm going to have to take another shower and I hate wet jeans." Tamao said. She looked at Lyserg's horrified expression. "Is something wrong?" Tamao asked him.
"T-t-t-tamao. Your skin is b-bl-blue." Lyserg shuttered. Tamao though he joking at first so she looked back at the water. Once she looked at her reflection she screamed.
"Lyserg! No…no! This is the worse day ever!" Tamao began to cry again.
"No…I didn't! Really! Tamao, I didn't do anything, you know that!" Lyserg pleaded. Tamao tried to pull herself together again.
"Ok…Lyserg…thanks for helping me. I trust you. I'll just stay…low now." Tamao said. She gave Lyserg a fast hug and sneaked into the mansion. A sudden burst of laughter came from around back.
"Oh my…that was soooo good!" Macchi roared with laughter. Lyserg looked at her disgusted.
"Did you really have to go that far?" Lyserg asked. A sudden scream came from where Tamao went. Macchi turned her head to the scream.
"Oh…looks like she ran through spiders." Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg was fed up with these pranks. He was expecting something simple like switching nail polish, but nothing like this. This was ridiculous.
"Ok, stop it Macchi." Lyserg said. Macchi continued to laugh. She had no regard with Lyserg's request.
"I can't. The hex hasn't been lifted yet." Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg was confused.
"A hex? You mean like…a curse?" Lyserg asked. Macchi nodded. Lyserg got up and stared at Macchi. "Then lift it." Lyserg ordered. Macchi stopped laughing and grabbed her gut. It was bursting with pain from the laughing.
"I told you, I can't! The only way to lift the curse is…ah…I forgot." Macchi said. Lyserg walked toward her and stopped inches away.
"Lift it!" Lyserg scolded her. Macchi took a step back.
"Ok, ok,. I'll try to find the counter-curse. Besides, you need a major tic-tac!" Macchi said. Macchi went back into the mansion, pass the spider webs, the spilled paint buckets, and the ink spills. Lyserg followed her pressing her to hurry up. They went through the corridors, pass the broken door, the fallen ceiling boards, and the busted floorboard to Macchi's room. Macchi quickly pulled out a black covered book and turned the pages. Lyserg leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Macchi fingered scrolled down the complex spells. Her finger stopped at a diagram of a circle.
"Ok, found it." Macchi said. Lyserg walked over to her and looked down at the diagram. "All we have to do is have someone kiss her." Macchi said. Lyserg looked at Macchi disgusted.
"You can't be serious." Lyserg said doubtfully. Macchi nodded her head. He still couldn't believe a counter-curse be truly that easy to do.
"Yep, someone has to kiss her. Now, just how we get Hao to kiss Tamao or…" Macchi said. Her eyes shifted to over to Lyserg.
"No way I'm kissing her." Lyserg complained. "If Hao found…"
"IF he found out." Macchi interrupted. Lyserg blushed that bright red again. "Just think it's me or something." Macchi said. Lyserg face was redder that a cherry.
"O-o-oo-k-k-kk, I c-can do t-t-this." Lyserg shuttered. He got up and talked to Tamao's room.
"Ok, now for my part." Macchi said. She ran the opposite way looking for Hao. Macchi then stopped suddenly and rethought about what she said. 'Think it's me…'. It stopped here right in tracks. The memories of that one kissed returned. She could feel her heartbeat get faster and fainter. She shook her head furiously and ran to find Hao.
Lyserg knocked on Tamao's door. He knocked pretty lightly and even if it was heard it probably be ignored.
"Tamao you in here…" Lyserg said as he opened the door. He stopped when he saw what he saw. Tamao and Hao were kissing, mouth to mouth, and they weren't standing still, but they did have clothes on. Lyserg slide the door closed and turned around. "Ok…that was…interesting." Lyserg said trying to erase that image of the two kissing. He could hear Tamao talking. He knew it would be rude to eavesdrop on her, but he couldn't resist. Something told him he should, or the curious just took him in.
"Hao…" Tamao cried. Lyserg figured they must have stopped kissing. "Hao, I don't what I do without you." Tamao cried. Lyserg could imagine that Tamao would be crying on Hao's shoulder. His own was still a tad wet. "I still remember…when we first met like this." Tamao whispered. Lyserg pressed his ear to the door. "You remember it, right?" Tamao asked Hao.
"Of course I do. It was…it was a few weeks after Macchi died." Hao said, his voice quickly went to sorrow.
"Do you still having feelings for her? I won't be jealous." Tamao said.
"Well…yeah I do…"
"Ah…you still do?" Macchi's voice blurted out.
"Macchi! What are you doing here?!" Hao yelled at her.
"What?! Not like Lyserg right behind the door!" Macchi yelled back. Lyserg froze, paralyzed in his own fear. Hao opened the door and looked outside. Lyserg was still frozen in fear.
"Oh…hey, hey can I talk you with you later? Don't worry, I'm not mad at you." Hao whispered. Hao turned around to Macchi.
"See. Told ya!" Macchi said. She stuck out her tongue and dropped down from the window. "Don't forget our promise!" Macchi yelled back through the window. Lyserg slowly sneaked into the room with Hao.
"So…yeah…" Hao started to say. Tamao got up and walked to the door.
"I'll just leave you two here while I get this blue stuff off." Tamao said. Lyserg looked back at Hao and gulped. He was afraid Hao would give Lyserg the beating of his life for talking to Tamao.
"Hey…thanks for your help." Hao said. His voice had a bit of uncertainty in what he was thanking Lyserg for. Lyserg was a bit shock, but he then thought about how illogical his reasoning was. "She's always feared no one cared her, much less notice her. You…whatever you did made her feel better." Hao continued to praise Lyserg. Lyserg began to recall his memories. Very few times had Tamao even been noticed, much less he feared he might had never noticed her in the first place when they first meet. "Really, I know we've had our…disputes. Let's just put that behind now." Hao said. He held out his hand to shake Lyserg. Lyserg stared at his hand for a moment. Lyserg slowly reached out. When his finger touched his hand, he quickly withdrew. The burning soared through Lyserg's fingers. The memories of his parents and their horrible death haunted his mind. Could he really forgive Hao for all that he did to him, like he did with Macchi? "Hey, you ok?" Hao asked. Lyserg regained his senses and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm just kind of shocked and happy at the same time." Lyserg said. Both Hao and Lyserg shook hands, ending their horrible conflict between each other, or at least holding a trust. "Yeah…that felt good. You know about my…thing with Tamao Saturday right?" Lyserg asked Hao. He still afraid Hao would beat him up.
"Yeah, she told. I'm cool with it and that's when Macchi arranged our little date of death as well." Hao said.
"Oh ok. Do you have something against Macchi? Do you know she's been trying to get your attention?" Lyserg asked Hao. Hao was shocked and shook his head.
"No. I never did. So that's why…" Hao said and stopped. They both knew what they were thinking. "So that's what she's been planning this whole time." Hao said.
"So do you ever think about her? I know Macchi thinks of you all the time, maybe too much." Lyserg tried to joke. Hao's fist tightened then relaxed. The cracking of his knuckles frightened Lyserg.
"Trust me, I do. If only you knew what we've been through." Hao said. Lyserg began to head to the exit.
"Well, I think I'll ask Macchi. It may bring some of her memories back." Lyserg said. Hao looked at Lyserg shocked.
"She…she forgot about her past?" Hao asked.
"Well, Macchi hasn't forgotten everything. She remembers you and the Hanagumi, but that's it. Look, don't worry about it. Well see ya." Lyserg said. Lyserg left the room and headed back to his room, can't believing he just shook hands with his worst enemy. Hao continued to stare at the ground in shame.
'It's my fault Macchi is like this. If only I could have…saved her.' Hao thought. He put that thought aside. All this thinking about Macchi was only making his more depressed. He sat down on floor and waited for Tamao to return. In the meantime he picked up a book by his light stand. A fine novel entitled 'The Scarlet Letter'. Hao found it interesting how much the world had changed since he lived and how others treated others back then. He pulled out his bookmark and began to read.
Lyserg when back to the main dining hall. Lunch was the typical 'fend for yourself'. No one was there but Macchi. Macchi swirled her chopsticks in her curry flavor Ramen. Lyserg when in the kitchen and pulled out some roast beef and two slices of bread. He prepared the sandwich and went back to the hall and sat by Macchi. She tried to pick up the ramen with her chopsticks, confused on how Anna and Yoh did.
"God! Why don't people just use forks!?" Macchi yelled at the chopsticks. Lyserg quickly went back in and got a fork and brought it back to Macchi. Macchi quickly grabbed the fork and began to spin it in the soup, tangling the noodles together between the points.
"Hey Macchi, I got a question." Lyserg said. Macchi stopped for a moment and looked at Lyserg. "Did you and Hao have anything…special before now?" Lyserg asked her. Macchi set the fork down in the soup and began to think. Her memory was small and finding a memory would be hard.
"Well…I think there's one…maybe two. I remember Hao once took me out for dinner. I don't why he did that, but we talked about his plans for the future and stuff." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded.
"And did he mention about his future with you?" Lyserg then asked. Macchi was trying to figure out where he was going with this.
"Yeah…he did. Something about he would need a queen and he said that I would be it. I thought it was so cute for him to do that. Oh course, back then Tamao wasn't in the way." Macchi continued to tell the story. Macchi looked at Lyserg trying to figure out his motive. "So why now you're asking me this?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg blushed slightly and yelped.
"Well, I just talked with Hao and he said he still was thinking about you and you guys went way back." Lyserg barely muttered out. Macchi smiled and slurped her ramen. Lyserg in turn took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Yeah…we go back a long way. He found me when I was six." Macchi began to say. Lyserg looked at Macchi, hoping to learn more about her mysterious past. "That's all I remember." Macchi said, which disappointed him. Macchi then got that surprised look in her eyes, she had another idea. "Lyserg, you wanna go on a date?" Macchi asked him. She was quite confident when she said this and Lyserg almost choked on his sandwich. "Not a real one silly, a 'practice' one." Macchi said trying to get Lyserg to shallow his food. Lyserg nodded in agreement. "7 o'clock tonight at…well at the mansion entrance." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded again and tried to shallow his food as fast as he could. Macchi picked up her ramen bowl and left the room. As soon as she turned left she waved that direction.
"Hey, Faust, what's up my man?" Macchi said.
"Ah…nothing…much." Faust tried to answer to the hip new type of talk. Faust entered the room with his white doctor's suit still on. "Well good to see you Lyserg." Faust said.
"Same to you." Lyserg replied back. Faust looked in the fridge.
"So…how's your…'date' coming along?" Faust asked. Lyserg blushed and nearly choked on his sandwich once again. Faust laughed lightly. "Sorry about that, but my ears can't help but over hear what people say." Faust said. Lyserg looked down. Faust knew the trouble. Dating problem, but he figured he let Lyserg ask.
"Um…Faust, can you give me some advice?" Lyserg asked, his voice was shaky.
"Why of course. Better me than Ryu." Faust said. Lyserg looked up a tad confused.
"Ryu…where has he been?" Lyserg asked. Faust was as shocked as Lyserg.
"I dunno. I think he's still in the Americas." Faust answered.
"Oh yeah…" Lyserg whispered. "So, um…what is advice you have on…um…dating." Lyserg asked. Faust came back in with some salad with some Italian dressing. Faust sat down across Lyserg.
"Well first off, who's your date?" Faust asked. Lyserg blushed and looked down toward the ground knowing Faust wouldn't like it.
"Er…Macchi." Lyserg said. Faust felt like hitting Lyserg with a hammer hoping to knock some sense into the boy. Faust didn't hate her, by any means, its just she was so wild and he knew Lyserg was making a mistake.
"Ok…well number one rule is be yourself. I mean, that's the side Macchi wants to see in you, right?" Faust said. Lyserg simply nodded in agreement. "Second rule, do not get any pasta!" Faust instructed him. Lyserg was confused. Why shouldn't he eat pasta?
"Why shouldn't I?" Lyserg asked. Faust sighed in disbelief.
"I lost one too many dates that way. Besides pasta gets so messy." Faust said. Lyserg was even more confused than before.
"So what about Eliza? And why do you have Italian dressing?" Lyserg then asked curious of his motives.
"Well, I never told anyone else about this, but there was a time when I was afraid that Eliza wouldn't make it. I thought about moving on, but that changed pretty quickly. And I love Italian much better than Ranch. Just because they have pasta doesn't mean I hate them." Faust answered.
"So what made you go with Eliza?" Lyserg asked still curious about Faust's love life.
"Well, no one else was like her. She was special in her own way and I never stopped thinking about her. Even when I was on a date I thought about her." Faust answered again. A slight glimmer of hope appeared to Lyserg, maybe it was possible to get Hao back together with Macchi.
"Ok thanks Faust." Lyserg thanked him. Faust nodded and pierced his salad with the fork.
"Of course." Faust replied back. Lyserg went back to his room to get this date prefect. Faust continued to eat his salad by his lonesome. Then it hit him. He never told him rule three. 'Don't over-dress.'