3chapter
"URAMESHI!"
Yusuke sighed heavily and ignored the call, continuing on his was up the school steps.
"URAMESHI! DAMMIT, WAIT UP!" Yusuke finally stopped and turned around. Kuwabara ran up to him, his face red from yelling. "What's your problem! You deaf or something?" Kuwabara gave Yusuke no time to answer. "Look, have you seen Keiko anywhere? I really need help and we have that science exam today..."
"Keiko's gone." Was the simple reply.
"Wha...Do ya mean...I mean..." Kuwabara stuttered, nearly dropping the papers he had pulled out of his bag.
"She's not dead dumbass," Yusuke snickered, giving him an amused look. "She's at some scholarship deal and is gunna be gone this whole week."
Kuwabara opened his mouth to reply, but the loud tardy bell rang out, cutting him off.
"Geeze, now look what you've done! I'm late!" Yusuke grumbled, hurriedly making his was into the building.
"Man...Keiko sure has changed that punk," Kuwabara muttered, watching Yusuke jogging down the hallway. "But I can't tell if it's for the better."
Yusuke leaned back further into his seat and glared at the clock for the millionth time. Almost nine-thirty. Why the hell is that damn teacher so late? Well at least he didn't see me come it late... The door to the classroom suddenly banged open and a short bald man stumbled in.
"So sorry for being late class," he huffed. "Problems down in the office...but anyway. I have an announcement to make! We have a new student!" As if on cue, a girl stepped into the classroom. Her yellow eyes were concentrated on her feet and her face was bright red. The teacher smiled at her and continued, "Please welcome Miss Nazuna Irakague." The girl bowed to her new classmates, her long black hair falling in front of her face.
The girl Nazuna quietly made her way to the far side of the room by the window. Yusuke stared at her, as did all the other guys in the room. She lifted her head on the way to her seat and caught Yusuke's eyes. Her face turned another shade of red before her eyes locked back onto the ground.
Wow Yusuke thought, still admiring Nazuna from the opposite side of the room, she's pretty cute... Without warning, Yusuke slammed his head into his desk several times, causing the entire class to stare at him. REMEMBER KEIKO! REMEMBER KEIKO! REMEMBER KEIKO!
The teacher cleared his throat and the class turned its attention back on him. "Many of you will be glad to hear the exam has been moved to next Monday." He paused as the class cheered, then raised his voice as he continued, "Instead, there will be a science project due at the end of the week." Instantly the cheers were replaced with groans. "However, this will be done in partners–" Cheers cut him off. "–which I have already assigned–" Again, groans. "–and I will now tell you."
Whispers filled the room as he began reading off names. Yusuke drummed his fingers on his desk and waited for his name. Glancing around the room, he thought about his possible partners and how much he'd have to pay them to do all the work.
"Urameshi and Yukimura," the teacher glanced up from his clipboard. "Oh yes, that's right, Miss Yukimura is gone with the scholarship program..." his eyes scanned the room and went back to the clipboard. "Ah ha! Urameshi will be partners with Irakague." Yusuke sighed and looked over at his partner, whose face seemed to have gotten redder. Pushing himself up from his seat, Yusuke made his way across the room, the other guys' jealous eyes following him the entire way.
The bell rang out, signaling the end of another period. Yusuke sighed and grabbed his bag. "Just come over to my house later, 'k?" Nazuna, her face resembling a tomato, merely nodded. Yusuke sighed again and ran his free hand through his hair. "Whatever. Just meet me after school in the gym. Didn't you say that was your last period class?"
"Y-yeah...o-okay," Nazuna managed to whisper. Without another word, she sped out of the classroom.
For the final time that day, the bell rang, and the halls were instantly filled with students rushing to get out of their daily prison. Yusuke slammed his locker shut and trudged his way out the school building.
"Urameshi!" Yusuke turned to the all-too-familiar voice of Kuwabara. "Hey, a bunch of us are going to the arcade...wanna come?"
"Naw," Yusuke replied, placing his hands behind his head. "I gotta work on that damn science project."
"Who'd ya get partnered up with?"
"Uh, that new girl Nazuna."
"Oh, her. I saw her...she's pretty cute."
"Yeah..." Yusuke said with a smirk. Instantly, Kuwabara's heavy school bag came down on Yusuke's head. "OWW! Dammit Kuwabara! What the hell was that for!"
"Don't forget about Keiko dumbass!"
"I was just saying–"
"Save it," Kuwabara told him coldly. Then his tone softened. "I saw Nazuna headed for the gym. You better head that way."
Yusuke angrily rubbed the lump already forming on his head. "Yeah, yeah. That was where I was going. She said gym class was last period for her."
"Hey, while you're there, can you grab my bag in the guys' locker room? I kinda left it in there, and since you're heading that way..."
Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. I'll run it by your house on my way home."
Yusuke glanced at his wristwatch and sped up his pace. Dammit! Nazuna's probably been waiting for a while...the last thing I need is someone to gripe me out right now. Turning to his left, Yusuke entered the gym just as two girls were leaving.
"Hey!" They turned to look at him. "Uh, is Nazuna here?"
The girl with short brown hair nodded. "Yeah, she's finishing up changing in the locker room." Yusuke nodded his thanks and made his way to the other side of the gym. Without hesitation, Yusuke put his hand on the door on the right–but stopped himself just in time; the sign on the door read 'GIRLS'. Yusuke stared for a moment. Had the girls' locker room always been on the right? He shook his head; he'd skipped too many gym classes to be sure. Yusuke smirked and imagined if he had opened the door to see Nazuna changing. Shaking his head violently, he screamed at himself. REMEMBER KEIKO! REMEMBER KEIKO! REMEMBER KEIKO! Yusuke stepped back and turned to the left door that read 'BOYS' and pushed it open.
Everything Yusuke had been holding dropped to the floor with a bang. A loud scream echoed throughout the gym as the door swung shut, smacking Yusuke in the face. His heart pounding, Yusuke shakily bent down to pick up his scattered belongings. What the hell was Nazuna doing in the boys' locker room! Yusuke jerked his head up and glared at the door. To his shock, the sign on the left door read 'GIRLS' and the sign on the right door read 'BOYS'. Yusuke stumbled to his feet. What the hell– Yusuke's thoughts were cut off as the door swung open, and a now fully dressed and cherry-faced Nazuna silently slipped out of the room.
"I-uh...you...the sign...I ... I'm sorry!" Yusuke finally managed to stuttered out, feeling his own face get hot. The image of Nazuna in nothing but her underwear was seared into his mind.
"I-it's...uh...um...okay..." Nazuna mumbled, bending down to help Yusuke pick up his stuff. After everything was picked up, Yusuke stumbled into the boys' locker room and grabbed Kuwabara's bag. Then the two red-faced partners silently made their way out of the gym and headed to Yusuke's house.
As if the day couldn't seem to get any worse, on the way to Yusuke's house, it started to pour down hard, freezing rain. In the rush to get to shelter, Nazuna slipped and fell face-first into a puddle of mud. Yusuke hurriedly picked her up and continued to sprint, his home finally coming into view.
Banging open the door and kicking off his shoes, Yusuke noticed a note from his mom taped to the door. The ink was smeared from the rain, but Yusuke knew his mom had gone off to drink the night away with some friends. Turning back to Nazuna, he found her a muddy mess.
"Oh...if ya want, you can use the shower," Yusuke said. Noticing her face getting redder (if that's even possible), he hastily added, "I promise I won't peep!" Suddenly Nazuna burst into laughter. Yusuke's eyes widened; he had never seen her speak more than a few words at a time, and seeing her laugh took him by surprise.
"I know you wouldn't do that Yusuke," Once again, Yusuke was shocked. Not only did Nazuna say a complete sentence, she said it without her face turning beet red and didn't stutter once.
"Oh, uh...yeah. Well the bathroom's down the hall...and my bedroom is across from it. Just go in there when you're done, so I know when to go in the bathroom and turn the shower off."
"Uh...why couldn't I just–"
Yusuke cut her off, "The shower handle is kinda screwy and it's really hard to turn on and off. And you can just dig though my drawers and find some clean clothes." Nazuna nodded and they made their way to the bathroom. After turning the shower on, Yusuke went out to the living room and plopped down in front of the television and flipped through the channels.
About half an hour later, the sound of a door slamming made Yusuke jump. Sighing, Yusuke clicked off the tv and pushed himself up. Stopping in front of the bathroom door, Yusuke glanced out the window and noticed the rain had finally stopped. Yusuke blinked. Why was the window opened? Without a second thought, he reached over and closed it, grumbling and cursing at the puddle that now sat on the window sill.
Glancing over his shoulder, he made sure it was his door that had slammed shut. Sure enough, his once open door was now firmly closed. With a sigh of relief and another embarrassing memory of earlier that day, Yusuke opened the bathroom door. The mirror was fogged up completely and he took noticed that one of the towels was missing. Good. Now there's no doubt she's out he thought, pulling back the shower curtain.
Yusuke's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Nazuna stood naked in the shower, out of the way of the falling water as she had begun to wrap a towel around her wet hair. The silence between the two stretched on before an ear-shattered scream broke finally broke it.
Nazuna frantically yanked the shower curtain back as Yusuke stumbled back, his hands flying up to cover his eyes. On his way back, however, Yusuke tripped over a stool and fell backward. He reached out to grab something to break his fall...but only ended up grabbing the shower curtain and tearing it off, giving him yet another view of his naked science partner. Nazuna screamed again and this time took off out of the bathroom. At the same time, Yusuke, still in a daze, sat up. In the process, he tripped the fleeing Nazuna.
Yusuke whirled around and managed to grab Nazuna before she hit the ground. Yusuke blinked. Whatever he had just grabbed, it was rather soft. Looking over at Nazuna, it hit Yusuke what he had his hand on. Nazuna's hand flew up and slapped Yusuke so hard, he could see stars blinking before his eyes.
When he finally came to his senses, he heard the door to his bedroom slam shut. Yusuke stayed where he sat and went over what had just happened in his mind. His bedroom door was open when Nazuna went to take her shower–the signal for her being finished was it slamming shut.
If she was still in the shower, how... Then it dawned on him. The window next to the bathroom was open, and the wind had ended up shutting the door. Standing up, Yusuke felt another sting come from his cheek. He gently touched it and cringed. I'm gunna have an imprint of her hand for a week! Sighing heavily, Yusuke turned off the shower and went back into the living room, flipping the tv back on.
This is going to be a hell of a long project.
