Once more standing in line to get food, Daniel glanced back to see that Lily was still talking with Stephanie, while Kyle was simply shaking his head. He wasn't sure he liked the ideas they were throwing back and forth, considering they involved him half the time, which made them more terrifying in his opinion. Well, that and how much Lily seemed to flip out should anyone dare to think of tweaking his ears without her permission. Was every girl in the school a fan of that InuYasha comic!
"It's probably got nothing to do with the manga," Kyle remarked as they finally got to the counter and bought their lunch. He could tell what Daniel had been pondering in regards to the fascination with his ears that the female population of the school seemed to have. "First rule about girls that I've learned; if it's cute, they will flock to it." He glanced back at Stephanie and Lily. "Second rule; girls are crazy."
"We heard that!"
He grinned and shrugged when the pair glared at him. "Third rule; they will have us guys on a short leash whenever possible, and wrap us around their fingers."
"That's better."
So, Lily was trying to hook him on a leash of her own? Not even a whole day of catching up on nine years apart, and already she was claiming him as hers. Daniel found his hand rubbing his neck almost on reflex, then sighed and grabbed his food from the lunch counter. It was probably bad memories from his childhood.
He tilted his head up as he thought he smelled something. It was odd, something off from normal. He could smell the food back in the cafeteria, he could smell everyone else, he could smell Lily...wow, okay, remember not to focus on that scent again when at school. He just about lost it there.
But there was something else. It smelled vaguely familiar, like he'd known it long ago and hadn't gotten a whiff of it in a long time, something that smelled like...
"Oh no," Daniel whispered as he finally realized what it was. "No, no, no, not him!"
Lily glanced over to the boy. "What is it?"
His ears were just about bristling with anxiety and he looked around for the source of that scent. "Please tell me that Devin and his jerk brother Greg don't go to school here."
Puzzlement, then realization as Lily remembered who he was talking about. "Damnit," she hissed before grabbing Daniel and pulling him along. "Keep those ears down!"
"Where are you two going?" Kyle asked as he blinked in surprised, though he had that devious grin on his face. "The janitor's office is the other-"
"Now is not the time, Kyle!" Lily snapped as she turned back for a moment. "Greg's on his way over here, and take a wild guess why!"
No, this wasn't good at all. Kyle and Stephanie knew about the Harris boys and their tendency to be the head of the school bullies, and Lily had told them all about how those two were the reason Daniel left public schools. If they'd heard about a certain white haired, dog-eared boy who just started today and was getting the attention of all the girls at school...
And there were the men of disaster right now, strutting through the crowds like they were the kings of the world. Arrogant little jerks to the core, and Kyle had no doubt they'd always been that way. They probably came from a long line of people just like them, if all the indications he'd gotten off those two were right. "Stay with Danny and Lily," he said to Stephanie. "This might get ugly if Greg and his brother go after him."
She nodded and headed off to follow the two teenagers in question while Kyle simply unwrapped his burger and started eating. His eyes trailed the Harris brothers, however, making sure they didn't go after Daniel. It seemed like they might just keep in their trail towards the lunch room and completely...nope, they were changing course to angle after Daniel. Well there went that measure of hope. "This is not good," he muttered while now moving to follow the Harris brothers. If any of their gang got involved as well, all bets were off, and there was no doubt that Greg would pick a fight with Daniel. From what Lily had told them, Daniel was hardly one to be able to hold his own in a fight. Then again, that had been nine years ago...
"I didn't know we had a dog pound here!"
Oh yeah, Greg had just caught up with Daniel. This was going to get ugly.
Daniel tried to ignore the older boy, but someone stood in his way and grinned at him and Lily. He judged that it was one of Greg's infamous gang. "Could you get out of our way?" he intoned calmly. The boy didn't respond, but simply took a step toward him. Ears went up, and he started bristling. "Let me rephrase that; get out of my way, that better?"
"He doesn't listen to mutts that aren't on a leash," came that insulting voice again. It was nine years older, deeper and more rough, but it was still one he could not forget. He'd come to hate the memory of that voice and its owner for a long time now. Even worse, that smell was really getting on his nerves, and it was still getting closer. "So when did you get let out of the kennel, Doggy Daniel? They decide to set you free after neutering you?"
He was so not in the mood for this right now. Greg was going to run his whole day, probably try ruining his life again. "Nine years," Daniel began as he turned around, his ears standing up stiffly. "You still can't grow up, can you, Greg?"
"He remembers," the boy replied while giving a sadistic grin. "That's a good boy...oh, and once again, it's little Lily who's going to hold your leash." He narrowed his eyes at the girl and took another step closer to her. "You know, bestiality is not only illegal, but a major sin as well. I hear some countries will cut your tits off and burn out your-"
There was a deep growl from in Daniel's throat as he gritted his teeth and started flexing his hands almost on instinct. While he lacked the claws he would probably have grown back in a few days, his teeth resembled canine fangs, which made a bit up for the lack of his claws. "Watch your filthy mouth, Greg," came the snarl.
Greg snorted as he turned his attention back to Daniel. "And what are you going to do," he spat in disgust. "Bark at me? Start foaming at the mouth because you've got rabies?" He smiled again, malice in his eyes. "That would be just the excuse Animal Control needs to put you down. In fact..." Greg started cracking his knuckles and pulled back his sleeves. "I think I'll do that right now."
Daniel didn't even dodge when Greg threw that punch, but his left arm came up and deftly swat the blow away. Another punch flew, but it was the same, Daniel's hand pushing away the attack. "I've had nine years, you jerk," he growled while he took a step back and deflected another swing. "While you wasted your time picking on everyone else, I was learning the real way to fight, which doesn't involve trying to beat the snot out of the other guy."
With a snort as he swung again, Greg stumbled as his attack was once more pushed away. "So you're even more of a pussy now than you were then!" he yelled. "At least back then, you took it like a man! Now you just do all this pansy-ass shit of dodging and pushing it away!"
There wasn't even a response from Daniel to dignify the remarks. He just brought his leg up when Greg started kicking, then caught a following punch in the palm of his hand and tilted his head as Greg stared in surprise. "You forget," he whispered. "When the teachers ask the witnesses what happened, they'll inform them that you did all the fighting, and I didn't throw even a single punch." He smiled when that realization dawned on Greg. "All I have done is block and defend, not attack. As such, I'm in the clear. You on the other hand, are not."
His eyes burned with anger at how this freak has outsmarted him, and without a thought as to the consequences, Greg brought his other arm around, barely missing when Daniel's head pulled back and he let go of Greg's fist. And right when he was about to tackle the dog-eared boy, Greg heard a shout that wasn't one of the students. "Ah, shit..."
"What the hell is going on here!" came the angry yell as a campus supervisor pushed his way through the crowd. He took one look at Greg, noticed his balled up fists, then at Daniel, who caught him as more unusual than Greg not having someone on the ground as a result of his fights. Considering neither boy had a mark on him, however, he decided to wait on that. "I should have known it was you, Harris," the man spat. He glared around at the crowd, his indication for them to disperse. It was then that he turned his attention to Daniel. "But you, I don't know. And what is with those fake ears you're wearing?"
The ears twitched as Daniel brushed his hair from over his eyes. "Sorry sir, but they're unfortunately real," he replied while the man stared at him. "And I just started today, though I hope you don't have to know me as well as you probably know him."
Another growl from Greg. "Would you stop being such a smartass, you freak!" he roared just as he tried to take another swing at Daniel. School staff or not, he wanted to lay it into the boy, but when it came to a toss up between his target catching the attack or the supervisor, it was Daniel who made the defense first to brush him away, and the supervisor who came between them.
"I wann'a know who did what!" he stated, looking around to the hordes of obvious witnesses. "Speak up, now!"
Well, there went the squeals of the girls in the audience, who were blathering on how he'd been so wronged and unjustly attacked and was only defending himself. While they overdid it quite a bit, it got the point across once they were forced to stop rambling all a once; he hadn't thrown a single punch. That probably wouldn't help if he trusted the feeling he got from this man. Daniel got the impression that he was going to be dragged off to the office regardless of the fact he'd done nothing wrong, just because he was a mutation.
"Both of you, follow me."
Yep, he was going to get the blame of all this laid on him. May as well not make a stink, since he could explain what happened, and hopefully, his friends would come to he office in his defense. Greg on the other hand...
And ten minutes later, he sat in the principal's office, sure he was going to get the brunt of any punishments just because of his mutation. Was it any wonder he'd prefer to be a normal human like everyone else? Daniel ran the possibilities through his mind of what was going to happen. Suspension, most likely, though he had a feeling it was probably gonn'a be worse than that just for the sake of it.
"I'm told that you seem to have a problem with Mister Harris," the principal stated as she tapped at the arm of her chair. "Mind letting me know what happened?"
Oh, good. He had a chance to defend himself here. "I actually didn't do anything, ma'am," he replied calmly. "And as I'm pretty sure one or more of the other students can tell you, I didn't attack him at all." Daniel paused then, thinking perhaps he should give some explanation of why Greg had attacked him. "Greg just doesn't like me, not since nine or so years ago."
She glanced at him with an odd expression. "You two have had problems like this since grade school?"
"Actually, I was pulled out and home schooled since I was five. But yes, it was like this back then, except I couldn't do anything about it." Again, Daniel paused. "I'm pretty sure if you looked up what little school records I have from then, you'll find that I've never instigated problems."
The woman frowned. The incident report noted that witnesses said Daniel hadn't done a thing to provoke the attack, nor had he retaliated, only dodged and defended. But since he didn't have much of a school history, it was hard to judge if he was really always this calm and non-aggressive. And then there were those ears of his, and those odd eyes. But he did seem rather polite and respectful. "All statements indicate that you did indeed do nothing to break any school rules," she began while again tapping the armrest of her chair. "I have a feeling however that, short of expelling Mister Harris for this and other such incidents, we'll be dealing with this quite a bit." A sigh as she thought it over. "I'm going to let you go for now, but if and when this continues, you had best continue responding the way you did today, is that understood?"
He nodded quickly. "Yes, ma'am," Daniel said as he got up out of his seat. He picked up his backpack and helmet, which had his lunch stowed inside of it, and left the office while breathing a sigh of relief. Instinct told him that Greg Harris was not going to be happy with the fact that he was probably going to get suspended, while Daniel walked away clean.
And, as he thought, Lily, Kyle, and Stephanie were waiting right outside the office. "What happened?" they said in unison while he proceeded to pull his lunch out of his helmet and finally get to eating it.
"Greg about to be pissed and probably suspended," he replied while munching away at his chicken sandwich. "More so pissed off that nothing happened to me save a warning to just do what I did today if and when this happens again." He grinned, for once very pleased that his tactics had worked. "This is why I don't fight."
Kyle grinned and slapped him on the back in congratulations. "Always good to find someone else who looks for other ways than fighting," he said before looking up at the clock. "Damnit, we've only got five minutes before lunch is over. Where's your next class?"
He pulled out his schedule and checked his fifth period. "Um, Mister Bernard's Biology."
"Cappuccino Man."
"Huh?"
With a grin, Kyle patted Daniel on the shoulder and nudged him along. "You'll see when we get there. I'm Mister Bernard's TA, so I'll help you get caught up." He glanced to the girls. "Best get going, I'll make sure her find you after school, Yuuri."
Three classes with Lily, one so far with Kyle, and he had a suspicion that Stephanie was probably in his sixth period class. "The universe is playing a weird joke on me," he muttered while he let Kyle lead him along into the halls. "Why am I stuck with you people!"
"Consider it the universe trying to tell you something," came Kyle's response as they headed up the stairs. "By the way, speaking of trying to tell you something, either you're trying to ignore it, or you're just as dense as the Dog Boy himself."
What was he talking about? Dense about what? "I don't know if I follow," came the boy's reply. What was Kyle getting at now? "Did I miss something there?"
Kyle groaned as he realized Daniel hadn't gotten what he was driving at. "Lily, you doof!" he exclaimed while slapping Daniel over the head. "She is all over you, and you don't get the clue!" He shook his head in disappointment while Daniel rubbed the spot he'd slapped him on. "Geeze, you're just as dense as InuYasha!"
"I'm nothing like that jerk," came the angry retort. Daniel's ears twitched slightly as well. "I just...well..." He sighed, knowing that Kyle was right about that. Okay, he hadn't missed it, he just didn't know what to do about it. He'd never had to deal with this kind of reaction from a girl before, being that most of the girls he did know were fellow students at Wolf's Den, and didn't really show that kind of interest in him. "I'm just an idiot..."
A brow went up, almost right on time with the bell that ended lunch. Kyle found himself honestly surprised by how Daniel had been acting. He made a note not to use InuYasha as a reference for how Daniel might react to things. "You're not an idiot," he finally said as he led him into the classroom. "You're just...I suppose inexperienced and a bit naive would be about right, but you're no idiot." He nudged Daniel in the arm. "Don't worry about it, it's only been the first day since you two met again. Just ask her out sometime this week."
Yeah, maybe...wait, ask her out! "As in, on a date?" Daniel asked nervously, his ears shivering slightly. "I...uh, but I..."
Oi, it figured the kid was also shy as hell. There was a lot of work he had to do here. "That's it. I'm giving you guys a ride home, dropping Lily off, and then you are coming to my place so that we turn you into a primo babe-magnet." Kyle paused for a moment as he remembered how much of a magnet for girls that Daniel already was. That part didn't need help, it was overpowered enough as it was. "On second thought, you got the magnet part down, but you need to be a hell of a lot more confident in yourself, especially around Lily."
Again, Daniel gulped in fear. "Actually, I have my motorcycle here, and I really need to study so I can catch up in Japanese." He paused. "I think Lily was planning to help me with that..."
"Even better!" Kyle quickly replied. "You let your parents know that you're going to Lil's place to study, I'll give you the crash course in Japanese and how to impress her, and you can go over there and ask her on a date without tripping over every other word that comes outt'a your mouth."
That...might work out, but Daniel wasn't so sure he wanted to be getting tips on how to pick up girls from Kyle. He obviously was going out with Stephanie, but, as they had been going through the halls, he could swear he saw the older boy eyeingly flirt with every pretty girl that passed by them. Did Stephanie know about this? Wait, Kyle would give him a crash course in Japanese? "You took Japanese?" he asked, not bothering to point out Kyle's rather questionable habit of flirting.
A shake of his head confirmed otherwise. "My grandparents are from Japan, and my family goes out there every now and then to visit the relatives, so dad made sure I could speak it fluently." He gave a cheesy grin then. "I'm probably a bit rusty, since it's been a couple years since I had to use it in actual conversation, but I should be able to get you up to speed. Besides, it'll give you a chance to bone up on InuYasha, since you are going to be cosplaying as him for SakuraCon."
He was going to be costuming as InuYasha? And, when was he asked about this? "Thanks for asking my opinion on it," Daniel muttered while glaring at Kyle. "I don't mind the fact you guys wann'a get me involved, but still..." Oh, what was the point of arguing? He should have known he was getting pulled into this when Kyle had mentioned costuming to Lily. "Then there's the issue of my parents letting me go, especially if this is out of state."
"You're good to go, SakuraCon is here in Seattle," Kyle assured him quickly while he waved to the teacher as he came in with a large turquoise coffee mug. "Mister Bernard, got you a fresh sacrifice for the dissection today."
A what for the what! "Huh!"
"Ignore him," the teacher replied while setting his cup and plate on his desk. "Kyle always says that when we have someone new." He smiled and walked over while the rest of the students started coming in. "You're Daniel Stevens then?"
He nodded, then made his ears move so that he headed off any questions as to if he could remove them. "They're real," he added just to clarify. It was then that he noticed the amount of coffee that was in Mister Bernard's mug. No wonder Stephanie had called him 'Cappuccino Man'.
"Oh, good, I was afraid I'd had too much caffeine for a moment there." Mister Bernard chuckled as he turned his attention to Kyle. "If you would help him get caught up as much as possible..."
"On it," he replied while pulling Daniel over to the small desk where he set his own backpack. He reached into the cupboard and puled out a textbook, then set i on the desk and opened it up. "Let's get you started so we can get through this fast," Kyle muttered while Mister Bernard took attendance. "Who do you have next period?"
Out came the class schedule again. "Uh, Phys Ed."
"Good, I'll be there with the girls to get your butt moving after school, because we've got a lot to do."
Joy.
