You smiled. You smiled at me and tore me apart.
A/N: Yesh… I'm still alive. Here's chapter two for you. Hope the longnesity (--) of it makes up the long wait…
Just as a side note, btw, forgive the grammar mistakes and my weird usage of random words in sentences. English is my second language and my grammar is crappyola as. Bleh. Using contradicting words in one sentence intrigues me tho, so yesh that would explain the crazyness of my existence. That didn't even make any sense… But, it's half past 2 in the morning, I think I deserve to be forgiven puppy-dog eyes
And thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. Very VERY much appreciated. They kept me going huggles
Disclaimer: Hana Yori Dango and Meteor Garden does not belong to me. Tragically enough, neither does Inuyasha… TT-TT What is the point in living any longer?? P
Coral
by dEeYaN
Chapter 2 -- The Next Best Thing after God
'Dreary', according to Sango is an odd word. It isn't often when the word could be used in a modern day context without sounding exaggerated and stupid. This particular day in which our heroine is currently facing, however, seem to insist on being defined as the said word.
Sango wasn't one to sleep in, preferring to have an early start and getting the most out of every day. This morning, however, was a different story, as it didn't only take her little brother to get her out of bed but her father too, as opposed to her normal early mind alarm. Once she was awake enough to get some caffeine into her system, Sango realized just how late she was and had to race to her lecture in the lazy drizzle of the so-called rain. Her lectures turned out to be even more boring than ever that Sango wished she hadn't consumed all the caffeine she did so she could sleep through them instead.
By the time her last lecture ended, the caffeine had worn off and she was looking forward to get a quick nap before work that night. She had slung her backpack on one shoulder and was trudging out of the room when her sluggish brain recognized her name being called.
"Makino! Miss Makino!"
"What?!" Sango snapped, only to be answered by raised eyebrows, "I mean, yes, Ms. Kaede?"
"I was just wondering if you would be able to help me take some things upstairs before you go," her lecturer asked pleasantly, her former rudeness seemingly forgotten.
"Well, I-,"
"It's just these few books here. I need them moved up to the attic before tomorrow and I really need to rush home as my grandson is coming over. I haven't been able to find anyone else but I'm sure you don't mind, do you?" it took Sango awhile to process all the information and Kaede took Sango's silence as an affirmative and a signal to take off, "you're my savior, Miss Makino! Thank you so very much!"
Sighing, Sango dropped her backpack and started to lift the books. Kaede's 'few' books will have to be taken up in at least two trips tiring trips up the stairs. Out of all the lecturers, Sango liked Kaede best as she seemed to be the only one who was actually fair and unbiased. Still, it didn't really matter in Shikon Centre of Advance Education. Even the most righteous and stern of just people would fall eventually under the spell of money and materialistic goods. Sango knew that Kaede never meant to pick on her, it was just the fact that Sango was the only one who didn't have enough money, and therefore power, to refuse her little duties. Most Sango didn't mind helping out in the beginning, but Kaede grew to rely on Sango to do even things she could've done herself.
It ended up taking her four trips up and down from the second floor to the fifth floor of Shikon Centre of Advanced Education's main building before she got all the books to the attic. All puffed up and sweaty Sango slammed the last lot down, all the while cursing Kaede inwardly. There were, in fact, people who are actually paid to do the work Sango just did, but Kaede just had to pick on Sango, doesn't she? Sango half slammed the door shut and was about to fix up her ponytail that had gone messy after all the exercise, when she felt a sudden drift of fresh air. Suddenly curious, Sango searched for its source as there seemed to be no windows or any other means of outside ventilation from where she was standing.
After a bit of probing and guessing, Sango found a narrow staircase hidden behind one of one of the random wardrobes outside the attic door. As she followed the stairs up, she realized that the stairs must be leading up to the roof of the building. She had always assumed that the attic was the top of the building and she felt her heart beating faster when she arrived at the half opened door.
Stepping out, her initial reaction was to shiver from the sudden gust of strong wind. Glad that the rain had at least stopped, she looked around to find the peak of Shikon Center of Advanced Education to be a plain and even near ugly place.
It has always been boasted how the school was designed by the combined work of the best architects from all over the world. The main building being the one where every bit of creativity and brain power the experts possessed was squeezed out to the very limit. And indeed it was not for vain, because even Sango could tell that even the mere set of the corridors and furniture in the building seemed to have a meaning, a purpose of its own. It would not be arrogance to call the building a work of art.
Yet here, pipes littered the floor freely one over another, while what remained of the bleary gray paint peeled away with age, which is odd enough as the whole Shikon Centre of Advanced Education always boasted a new coat of paint every second year. It was as if all the beauty of the building came at the cost of the ugliness of this forgotten place where people would be unlikely to come. Even the dusty attic looked a lot better than this place.
Shikon Centre of Advanced Education held high pride in their buildings, but not as much as the huge dome crowning the main building. Looking around, Sango realized that this place in which she had ended up in, was in fact some sort of a small lane circling the said dome. Who would've had thought the dome, which inside appearance tried to rival the Sistine Chapel Dome was so unkempt on the outside?
Careful not to step on the pipes, Sango walked over to the edge of the lane and found that there was nothing but air beyond the wall she was leaning against. It would indeed be a long fall is someone ever fell off the edge. She supposed it was somewhat a good thing that no one knew about the place as people could easily commit suicide here, or even be pushed over. Even Sango started to get a bit dizzy and looked around for any signs of a dark shadow ready to shove her over the side. Shaking her head to get rid of her momentary giddiness, Sango looked up beyond the distance to the ground, only to feel her breath catch in her throat.
She was high enough to see the whole expand of the city and even beyond, she thought she saw what might be the sea. It was an incredible feeling, more so because it was so unexpected. Sango felt like she understood Rose's exclamation when she was aboard the Titanic. The gray overcast of the sky only sharpened the solemn mood as she looked down and felt like she was at the top of the world.
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It was his favorite place. His special place. His own little sanctuary.
No one ever came to the roof. Not only because no one knew about it, but also because anyone who'd ever had the luck of finding it had always been chased away. Only two other people other than himself could come up there without being mortally threatened.
He loved the wind, the view, the solitude. It was the only place where he can get away from the world, where he can hear himself think. The only place he could find peace. The place where her memory was most tangible…
He was so caught in his thoughts that even his sharp hearing only realized another's presence until it was too late. His subconscious had at first assumed that it was only his friend, coming up to check on him, but then he realized that the footsteps were in fact a lot lighter than his friend's. Cursing inwardly, he got up from where he was sitting behind the dome, ready to make whoever it was that found the place regret their existence. He'd been in a bad mood lately and the person had just interrupted his thoughts, no mercy will be shown. Hell, he was feeling better already!
When he caught sight of the person, however, he felt whatever thoughts of torture he'd prepared leave his brain almost at once. He could only see the back of the person, but he could tell it was a girl. A girl with long dark hair that danced around wildly guided by the wind, as if trying to escape the hairtie binding it together. He heard her breath catch in her throat as she scanned the scene in front of her. Was it really her?
Could it really be her?
He'd waited for her patiently, so patiently. He missed her so much every day, every hour. He knew she would come back one day. Was she back at last? Or was he just seeing another apparition of her as he often did?
He only half noticed that he was holding his breath as he rubbed his eyes to rid the illusion away. She stayed, solid and alive, standing there with her hair dancing around just like those times when he'd caught her up here, lost in thought while the world spread itself underneath to please her. Any time now she will turn around and smile at him, she will smile and tell him not to sneak up on her as always. That she had missed him as much as he missed her. That she won't leave him again. Maybe she'd even tell him that she will stay forever with him…
"Yo, Inuyasha!" a familiar voice called out of nowhere, surprising both himself and the girl.
It wasn't her.
Of course it wasn't her. Who was he kidding?
"I've just got a call from-," Miroku Nishikado appeared at the door like the devil at the gates of Heaven, "well, well, what have we here?"
"Ah… um… hi?" the girl said uncertainly, obviously as surprised as he was to find him just a few paces behind her. She probably didn't even know that there was anyone else up here.
"Inuyasha! Shame on you! Taking a poor innocent girl up to a place like this! Why, I never thought I'd see the day!" Miroku shook his head dramatically.
"Feh! Just because that would be something you would do, doesn't mean everyone else does it!" Inuyasha grumbled; his mood even darker after all the excitement and disappointment.
"Said the boy with his hand in the cookie jar," Miroku smirked.
"It's not what it looked like!"
"Oh, and what did it look like?" Miroku quirked an eyebrow, clearly enjoying himself as he watched Inuyasha struggle for words.
Just when Sango thought they would be too busy arguing to notice if she left, Miroku decided to turn his attention to her.
"Anyway, who may this lovely lady be?" Sango liked to think that the only reason she was caught off guard was because of her surprise in reaction to his question. But one can never forget the fact that Miroku was qualified to write his own version of Captivating and Disarming Smiles to Disarm the Female Population of the World.
"Agh! PERVERT!!!" Sango slapped him as hard as she could out of panicked reflex when she realized which part of her body Miroku's hand decided to be familiar with.
"Keh! Serves you right!" Inuyasha sulked.
Inuyasha's comment somehow only added to her anger and disgust. She took extra care to stomp on Miroku's foot on her way out, the mere idea of breathing the same air as Miroku already making her sick.
"Just hang on a second there, girl!" Inuyasha barked before she got far, "As much as I like your attitude towards Miroku, you're still not allowed up here. It's private property. And if you dare even dare to be a girl and even drop a hint of the existence of this place. Well, all you can do is pray and wish that you've never existed. You get that?"
Sango was used to this. She was used to be told to back off and go back to where she belonged with the 'common people'. She was used to the whole 'I have more money than you, therefore I'm better than you' attitude. Even just a week spent in Shikon Centre of Advanced Education made even the shallowest of slow people understand that anyone with more money than them is the next in line to God. Sango had been there for almost a year now, of course she understood that she was worthless to the eyes of these rich people. Or at least she thought she did…
"You guys," Sango lifted her chin defiantly and looked at each of them boldly, "you think you're so cool, don't you? You think you're the best, the world's greatest, the upper-class, and all those other cheesy things you think you are, don't you? You think you own this place-,"
She had obviously surprised them as both Miroku and Inuyasha had the most priceless look of astonishment on their face. She would've laughed if only the context of the situation was different. Miroku, always the one to enjoy a good fight of words, was of course first to think up a retort and was ready to voice it when Sango continued.
"Ok, so maybe you do own this stupid place. So what? Doesn't mean you own the world! Doesn't mean you can just bully people and tell them what to do and kick them out on whim! We all pay the same money to get into this place, so why should you be different? We're always told that this place was built to 'give the younger generation the best education they can have in order to help built a brighter future for the country'," Sango made quote marks with her hands to emphasize Shikon Centre of Advanced Education's goal, "and I suppose it could've been and maybe was in the beginning. Except people like you come along and think that you can get away with anything just because you have money. One day, when you're old and don't have your parents to do everything for you anymore, you'd realize that you can't do anything on your own. Then you'd wish you had done something more useful when you were young and I swear I'll be there laughing at you while you get cheated away from your money!"
And with a last angry glare, Sango stormed off and away.
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Inuyasha wasn't surprised, he wasn't shocked, he wasn't angry. Not yet at least. His brain was simply… blank. His mind felt like a huge chunk of blankness. That made no sense, of course, but it was the only way to describe how his mind felt after the huge overload his brain received.
All his life every whim and will and wish he'd ever had had pretty much send everyone else scampering to comply and satisfy him. There would always be the occasional slip, the talks behind his back, the stubborn pride, but those were always easily settled. A punch here, a threat there, maybe some money slipped discreetly along the way. But never, even in his wildest dreams, did Inuyasha expect anyone (poorer than him, of course) to ever challenge him so openly and directly. A girl moreover!
And now he just felt… speechless. Near confused even. It was as if his brain refused to process what had just happened.
"Wow…" Miroku broke the silence, rubbing his reddening cheek, "that was… wow! I'm speechless! I SO did not see that coming! Wow…" Miroku shook his head then swore. Not much made Miroku swear as he liked to act the gentleman to 'satisfy the ladies'. Even Inuyasha who has been the closest to him since childhood considered Miroku's act of swearing, as it were, an occasion almost as rare as his agreements with his half brother. Though Inuyasha did agree that that moment was a moment that deserved that little honor.
If only his brain would start working…
"So," Miroku cleared his throat after he was done, "what're we- What are you going to do, Inuyasha?"
"Eh? Me? What?"
"What're you going to do? Same thing with Takeshi?" Miroku chuckled remembering the fun they had scaring the boy.
"Keh! He chickened out the moment I looked at him!"
"True, true. This girl… Sango, I think… We've seen her before…" Miroku frowned, "aha! Cake shop place thing! With the Kikyou girl- Kagome! And here I was thinking my memory was failing me!" Miroku had always prided himself in being able to remember every single girl he'd ever met. Even the non-decent looking ones. Although, of course only the decent to pretty looking ones deserved to have their names remembered…
"Feh!" Inuyasha replied, suddenly reminded of who he'd thought the girl was originally.
"Judging from the cake shop incident, I'd say the chances of our Sango giving up like Takeshi would be… 0 to 1 at the most," Miroku nodded confidently, "hey, what was she doing working in a shabby place like that anyway? Hmm… interesting… Wonder if that Kagome girl goes here too?"
"Can you shut up???" Inuyasha snarled out of building irritation, things had been happening so oddly the past few days. He needed to clear his head and Miroku's yapping was only giving him another headache.
"Whoa, calm down there, big boy. I was merely expressing my thoughts as I believe I am entitled to as the law states clearly of free of speech," Miroku was about to go on when he saw Inuyasha's expression, "ok, sorry. I'll shut up now."
"Thank the gods!" Inuyasha plunked down to the ground. It is always at times like these when he wondered most what he had done in his previous life to deserve having to endure Miroku.
"How did you two end up here together anyway?" Miroku piped up after awhile.
"And here I was thinking that you'd stay quiet for two seconds!"
"Geez, I was just wondering, Mr. Sensitive! Or isn't that allowed?"
"No, it's not, actually. Dunno, it was weird… She must've came in here when I was zoning off, 'cuz when I heard her, I just assumed it was you. When I realized it wasn't, she was already over there. And I thought she was… I thought she was someone else…" Inuyasha trailed and then caught Miroku giving him a curious look, "and then you came in."
"Oh," Miroku replied, deciding against saying anything when he caught Inuyasha's warning look. Inuyasha knew Miroku knew who he was referring to. Who else would Inuyasha think it was? Who else does Inuyasha think off? But if Inuyasha didn't want to talk about it, then he won't push it either.
As they fell back into silence and their own individual thoughts, Miroku couldn't help but feel sorry for his best friend. Inuyasha had always acted tough and bullied others around to show off his dominance when really, he was as lonely and insecure, if not more, as everyone else. Miroku smiled ironically at his own thoughts.
"Hey, Inuyasha…" he said aloud, tired of the silence already.
"Yeah?" this place had always calmed Inuyasha down even in the worst times of his life.
"Whatever comes out of this, I'm pretty sure our lives will be pretty interesting for awhile, at least."
Inuyasha looked at Miroku suspiciously, not entirely sure what Miroku meant by that. Miroku caught his glance and gave him a shrug.
"She doesn't seem to be an easy one to crack. I'd say we'll see more of her soon enough, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Inuyasha answered at last, "at least we won't be bored for awhile…"
-
Sango wouldn't have liked the smiles the two exchanged...
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It wasn't until when she was on the bus when Sango realized that she'd left her study books in her locker. Even in her fury, she'd still remembered to grab her backpack from Kaede's room, but she'd forgotten that she hadn't been to her locker yet.
With that simple, annoying realization however, came another greater realization. Not only had she slapped one of the richest boy in Shikon Centre of Advanced Education, she had also went on and challenged the two richest boys, who also happen to be the ones who could get her kicked out with the snap of their fingers. It seemed the only logical thing to do in the moment of her combined tiredness and anger, but now when the adrenaline had left her senses, she could see just how illogical it was.
The thing to do would've been to stay quiet and admit her mistake of disturbing Their Highness' life and walk away with her head held low and her tail between her legs. Then both parties could've continued their lives in peace and harmony. The rich are, after all, the nect best thing to God.
Though, even if Sango was given a chance to do it all over again, she would've still slapped that Miroku Nishikado. That sent her blood boiling again. Never, in her life, she had felt so angry and astonished at the same time. She knew all guys were pervert, but to meet someone who was so openly so… It was disgusting. No way anyone could get away with touching her as they please, no matter how rich or good looking they were.
Speaking of rich people doing whatever they please… Sango wondered what is to happen to her now. How could she face her father and brother if she was ever kicked out? Especially her father. He had worked hard day and night to be able to send her to Shikon Centre of Advanced Education. How could she ever tell him that she had just wasted all his efforts down the gutter? Sango thought she would rather die than see the disappointment in her father's eyes.
She was sure he would understand. Her father was a proud man. He made sure to emphasize the value of honor and pride in their upbringing.
'Someone could take everything you ever had from you, but not your honor, unless you chose to give it to them. And even if you've lost everything, as long as you keep your pride and dignity, then you still have everything,' he had told Kohaku and her every night before bed when they were younger. When they didn't have to struggle so much to live. When her mother was still alive…
She was proud of her father, of course she was, but for the first time in her life, Sango wished that he hadn't taught her to be so proud. She had always gotten away with it in high school and before that, but she was no longer a child, she didn't live in a world where popularity was the only thing against her. She was strong enough to bear all the peer pressure the teenage life threw at her, but now she had stepped into a world where it didn't matter how strong you were or how good your personality was. She knew that Shikon Centre of Advanced Education was only a miniature of the real world, but already only the ones with money and power mattered. Politics was, in the end, the core of humanity.
Sango hated crying. It made her feel weak and defenseless. She had always gotten by better without crying. People judged her weak and incapable when she cried. A mere girl, as Inuyasha would've put it, judging from their previous encounter. Yet Sango felt so lost that crying seemed to be the one logical option left to her.
It wouldn't matter if she still had her pride. To the rest of the world, she would still have nothing.
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A/N: Damned and its anti-space ness. I hate those lines thingy... ah well...
'Losing My Religion' by REM seem to be an appropriate song for this chapter. Maybe I've been listening to it too much… It's a good song. So is 'Sing for Absolution' by Muse, while I'm on it… eh-heh. Yes… crawls back into corner
Well, there you go, chapter two. Longer than previous chapter plus A/N wipes brow Longest chapter I've ever written yet. Hope it was good enough ack…
I'm on holidays at the moment, back at home in my sweet, sweet, dear room spits on bding house Anyway, hopefully I'd get the next chapter done quicker. Though I'm not promising anything, because on top of my endless procrastinational habit, I'd be gone for awhile to visit my grandma who's extremely sick (and I'm not exaggerating here, for once). Yus… enough excuses and self pity slaps wrist Bad! Bad girl! ;;
So… just tell me what you think and REVIEW!! You don't have to, BUT it will make me happy. Do some good in the world and tell me what you think hint hint.
I should go retrieve some sleep now… (yes, retrieve! Got a problem with that? P)
