Duel Masters – Heart on my Sleeve
Yaaaaay!!! Another chapter! I wanted to write some more of chapter three before I posted, so it will probably be a week and half maybe two weeks before another chappie goes up waves
Rays number gurl – Thank you for your kind words nn I will indeed read your story when it is posted XD
Deathliger - giggles Ooooh, I can't tell you how things are going to turn out! There will be shonen-ai in this, but nothing to upset you too much – Kyou's trying to save his reputation, remember?
Taitofan: Wait and see is my eternal mantra. But I think you will be happy in some ways…and annoyed in others XD
BlueMarina: -bows- Thank you very much!
-gives out cookies to everyone, blushing-
And, uh, by the way, the girl Mary in this chapter was inspired completely by the BeyBlades section. Redhaired-green-eyed girls seem to pop up everywhere as love interests…or other things XD
Chapter Two: Hot girl in a comic shop
Kokujo turned up at least half an hour early. It wasn't the look of the thing that bothered him, no matter where he went he looked the most badass. It was the fact he had to see what he was getting in to. Oh, that and the fact some stupid little prick had asked his father along to keep an eye out for Kokujo's domineering presence.
He was going to have to endure a Talk this evening.
Gut in knots, he sat and waited in the heat, clad in a pair of loose jeans and a dark shirt, knowing that as each second ticked away his hair was getting frizzier by the minute. He already got in trouble for using as much conditioner as he had to every time he showered; this was only going to make it worse!
Sitting back he stared listlessly at the blue dome of the sky and felt his ears twitch as the 'gang' appeared, and didn't move until they were all standing in front of them. He feigned sleep, wanting to make them all loose their cool, but when Mimi decided to kick him in the shins he lost all hope of impressing.
"OW!"
"Hi Kokujo!"
"Hi yourself you crazy woman." He scowled. "Well? I've kept my end of the bargain. Will you stop annoying me now?"
"Hey Kokujo, there wouldn't be a story if we just left you like this." Shobu grinned.
Toru then pushed in front. "Well, seeing as we have tons of witnesses, here's the challenge…get a girl to like you in…uhh, how many weeks Mimi?"
"Try making it three. At the end of the third week, you have to get a kiss from her, and we have to see it!"
"Three weeks? What is this, preschool?"
Saiyuki put her hands on her hips. "I'm totally against this myself, but they're right. Three weeks should be enough. Like or not Kokujo, you're hot. Everyone knows it."
Leering evilly the bishonen leant forward. "Then let's snog right here and now, Miss PrissyPants. I have nothing to prove and you lot are really getting on my nerves."
"You're so gross."
"I work at it."
"Nooooo." Toru replied. "It's not going to be that easy…we need it to be a complete stranger. Otherwise where would the fun be? Oh, man, this is going to be soooo good…"
Unheard in the back, Rakuda piped up; "Mary-Sue what?"
"The place we need to go is NetherRealm."
Everyone stared at Toru except for Rakuda. He was too short and too informed.
"What?"
"Is that some kind of bar?"
"Hey, do we have to duel to get in?"
"It sounds dirty!"
"No, no, no…" Waving his hands to get their attention, Rakuda straightened his massive glasses. "It's a comic shop. You know, Spiderman, Superman, the Incredible Hulk-"
"Oh, a place for losers and try-hards?" Saiyuki asked.
"Yeah. I mean no! Look, it seemed like the most likely place to find someone that might actually click with tall dark and evil over there." Rakuda burbled.
Kokujo gave Rakuda the one finger salute. "Screw you peewee."
Toru rubbed his hands together. "Well, shall we get started? It's two blocks over from here, we'll go in, select our target and leave you two to get to know each other."
"Oh." Grumped Kokujo, sincerely wishing he'd never gotten out of bed. "Just my luck."
oOo
NetherRealm was probably one of the last comic shops in the town to not be part of a larger corporation. Small but well stocked it was nestled in a side street and was currently populated by a couple of wannabe Goths checking out the latest issue of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, a girl dressed in a sailor uniform arguing the benefits of the power of the moon against a well aimed Kamayaya blast, and a couple of pimply faced fanboys staring in awe at the latest Shirow art book.
"Wooowwww…" Shobu breathed. "Look at all the freaks."
It might be best to add that everyone took at least one step away from him.
"This place is pretty good!" Mimi chirped happily. "Wow…they even stock some of the really hard to find stuff…!"
"I didn't know you liked manga…"
"It's okay. A better read than superhero stuff because it's more believable." She then paused, looking at the latest Yugi-Oh graphic novel. "Well, almost believable."
"Hnh. A story about a card game. That's original."
"Rakuda! Mimi! Concentrate!" Toru spat. "We're looking for some unlucky person to hook up with Kokujo! Not some stupid comic about a stupid card game…"
The group quietened, or at least tried to quieten, Shobu was too interested in looking at the action figures on display. There weren't that many girls in the comic shop at all, apart from the two at the desk and the one dressed all in black who sauntered away from her companions scowling miserably at nothing in particular.
Watch her now. She was dressed all in black, her dark red hair soft and sleek and oh-so-shiny. Her eyes are green, her complexion pale and somewhat smooth; kind of like milk as one would say, but not going yellow in the sun and smelling bad. You kind of got the feeling she'd never seen the sun. Under that long jacket she wears, even in this heat, is a cute little pleated skirt, a black sleeveless turtleneck and a mesh top over it all. Oooh, and fingerless gloves,, can't forget those. As she moved, she swung her hips just so, and all of them could see the duelling deck in the pouch attached to her studded belt.
She carried the air of angst, pain, and secrets. She was probably a brilliant duellist who hadn't found her feet yet, used a Darkness deck and was on the run from the temple because of her talent or her abuse at the hands of someone. She was probably looking for someone really strong and handsome to be her hero…
Toru smirked.
As he raised his hand however, the girl, Mary S. Parfait, actually tripped on her overly large but very cool boots and landed flat on her face. She went down, Toru grabbed Kokujo and pointed, and the dark duellist could only stare.
"What?"
"Uh…crap."
The girl in question was not pretty. She was quite plain, and had just stood up from the box she was unpacking, concentrating fiercely on the DVDs she was stacking up to price and put on the shelves. Kokujo stared, and then looked back at Toru who was looking around frantically for Mary. S., but shrugging he strolled over and looked closer.
Mistaking his interest and thinking it was the stock, she smiled at him and then patted them. "Be right with you. I just need to get the rest of the stock out."
"Uh…fine?" He expected to be tongue tied or something. Kokujo was instantly suspicious, no insults had been thrown, no dark glowering looks and certainly no nastiness. Certainly not someone who spoke like they came from a posh background and knew how to use grammar, one of those private schools or something. Someone innocent to corrupt.
Score.
Grunting with the effort, the girl lifted up the final lot of casings and stared at it for a moment, muttering under her breath and then making notes on the notepad beside her. Again, noticing his attention to her, she looked up.
"Our supplier was behind in their orders, so I now have to call all these people to tell them their DVDs are in…I dislike this part of the job intently… Oh, hi Mary." The Goth girl was back and rudely pushing Kokujo aside, she slammed down a couple of graphic novels and scowled at the check out chick.
"Hi yourself, square."
Kokujo snorted.
"What's your problem dickhead?"
"Now, now Mary. I hope you remembered your medication today. I don't want to have to ask the gentlemen in the adult section to take you outside again."
Mary did as she was told, rolling her eyes. Then, noticing Kokujo's sudden flaring of cuteness she smiled at him. "Duellist?"
The story teetered for a minute. Hakuoh, deep in some distant and dark place opened an eye and snarled at nothing, the checkout chick's eyes glazed over and time slowed down.
Then common sense prevailed.
Crap. This Mary is coming on to me. I know Toru said anyone but he pointed out this girl instead and if I flake out on this little bet I am screwed. Hakuoh will kill me…it's bad enough we're underage, I don't want my dad yelling at me again.
"Uhh, sometimes."
"We should duel some time. You're hot."
The register dinged, money was exchanged and Mary left, making absolutely sure Kokujo was checking her out. "I'm terribly sorry about that. Mary has a habit of grating on everyone's nerves. I'm sure it's her Bi-Polar disorder…it has gotten her into such trouble in the past…" The girl smiled. "My name is Rakka. How can I help you?"
"Uh…actually…um…" Ohh, juuussst great. Now he looses his ability to speak.
"Look, while you sort your words out, I'm just going to start labelling these. If you can't remember what title you're looking for (and believe me, it happens more often than not) take a look through the shelves to jog your memory. Then come back, okay?"
"Umm, sure." Kokujo backed off. He turned around, watching the others who had somehow coerced the nerds into duelling with them, and scowling, he turned back. "Rakka is it?"
"Mmm?"
"I need your help."
"Well, of course. That's why I work here."
"No, no, no. I don't mean comic help." Kokujo ran a hand through his long hair. "Look, it's like this. Those people over there have been questioning parts of my behaviour, and I want to prove them wrong, y'know? So I have to meet a chick, get her to like me and stuff and kiss her."
There was a moment of silence on both their parts.
"I'm sorry?"
"I can pay you. Seriously."
Rakka's eyes narrowed. "I beg your pardon?"
"What? Is that so wrong? I don't have my own cash?"
"No, that you just asked if you could pay me to go out with you." Her eyebrow twitched. "Just who the ruddy hell do you think I am?"
Kokujo glared at her. "I believe you're called Rakka, and I, Kyoushiro Kokujo am offering you a chance to stand in the limelight for a few days as my girl-"
"Your bitch you mean. I know your type. Go take a long walk of a short pier you creep."
"What?!" He was on familiar ground here. The arguments, petty as they were, the anger of the other species and so forth…
"Your lot are always swanning around, making passes at girls to have them hang of your arm for a few days and then you dump them and leave them heartbroken and probably in a tiff with their friends."
Well he had one foot in it. He might as well try and fit the other foot in his mouth as well. "You have friends?"
Rakka's light brown eyes flared menacingly and the pencil she was holding snapped clean in two. Opening her mouth to give him a rebuttal, she fell silent when the older girl came over. She was quite tall and for once in his life Kokujo was worried. The tattoo on her wrist helped with the tough girl image, regardless of studded leather bands, the earring of bones and the Happy Tree Friends T-shirt, complete with beheaded rabbit.
"Problem? Does someone need a lifelong ban?"
"No. The…gentleman…and I were discussing the finer points of Love Hina and the reasons as to why the outcome was what it was."
Kokujo only stared numbly at Rakka and decided not to push it. She was actually covering for him which was a big surprise. But he didn't know what a Love Hina was, nor what the outcome had been. So, rallying magnificently to the challenge, he straightened, looked Rakka in the eye and said:
"You're absolutely right. I'm going to go back, review those final eps and see if there was a reason why…"
"Naru?"
"Yes, Naru…did what she did." He paused again, fully aware that eyes were on him. "Uhh…it wasn't the artist's best work anyway."
"Oh, you preferred A.I Love you? Or is Negima more your style?"
"The second one."
"A man who knows what he likes." The woman smiled at him then went back to the other side of the counter to where Mimi was standing looking flustered with a copy of Naruto in her hands.
"…Chitose doesn't like it when people give us trouble." Rakka said very softly. "…I apologise for my behaviour…but you must understand a girl is not just for a few days you know."
The duellist stared at her, fascinated. "You're telling me. She's intense. I…Look, I'm-"
"Please leave. You'd best work on your interpersonal relations before trying to go out with someone…that attitude of yours will only get you a slap."
"Hnh. Speak for yourself." Kokujo went to leave, but then turned back and hated himself for asking. "What the hell is a Love Hina?"
"Buy it and see."
"No. Ever heard of try before you buy?" If that wasn't a double meaning he didn't know what was.
"Not in this shop."
"Hnh." Stalking away Kokujo gave a passing glance over his shoulder at Rakka then left, ignoring the whoops as Shobu amazingly had his arse kicked in Duel Masters by a slender youth with glasses like fish tanks. As the arguments broke out, Kokujo wondered if he would be able to make things happen before Toru started the rumours. He didn't care about what would happen to him, but if Hakuoh's reputation was sullied then there would be trouble…would he have better luck with that Mary girl? She seemed a bit of all right, regardless of the fuzzy thinking.
Then he remembered Rakka's face after the no friends comment.
He was evil.
He was just plain bad.
And Kyoushiro Kokujo, for the first time in his life, felt guilty.
to be continued.
Duh-duh-duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh…dramatic reverb You're such an idiot Kyou .o There's no need to feel GUILTY ya big idiot…
The name of this chapter was actually the name of a very funny song done by a group called Tripod O.o so basically, the entire chapter fed off it…-sniggers- Uh, yeah, I'll update sometime soon...I hope...
