From Then, To Now, Til Later
Arc 2: The years before Crystal Tokyo
Chapter 2: New friends? New colleagues? Or simply new renewed thousand year old acquaintances?
By: AutumnHime
Lunch had finally arrived. The day was beautiful, a great day for sitting outside and eating. The sun shone gently upon the welcoming countenances of the students of Jubaan Junior High. The trees whispered secrets to one another and the flowers bordering the paths around the school compound nodded in agreement.
"Isn't this a wonderful day?" Serena asked the world in general. She and her friends had decided to eat outside today, enjoying the nice weather.
"Certainly, Serena." Molly replied. "Why else would we be eating out here?"
"Yea, Serena." Melvin agreed. "Sometimes you can be a real ditz, y'know?" He pushed up his glasses and peered at the blonde. "You look happy today."
"Because it's a beautiful day!"
A commotion in the corner of the garden attracted her attention.
"Heh! Why don't ya hit me, ya freak?" I heard you've been kicked out by three other schools. Can't get your act together?" One of the popular jocks had decided to exercise his power by picking on a girl about Serena's age, with brown hair and two pieces of bangs dangling into her face.
"Serena gasped. "That jerk!"
"Leave me alone." The command that issued from the girl's mouth was cool, calm.
"Look, guys! I think she is a scaredy cat. I bet that rumors of her skills are way over-rated. She probably made them up herself to cover up bad grades."
His friends laughed uproariously, as if that was the funniest and wittiest thing ever said.
The girl ignored them.
Serena's fists began to ball up, and her eyes developed hard glints of sapphire.
Another fight or at least more taunting had brewed almost adjacent to the first one.
Three more school bullies had decided to pick on Amy Mitchell, the smartest girl in school. A tall, blonde pompous oaf by the name of Rob Eedee shoved her down into the dirt.
"Not so smart without your books, huh? I said do my homework and what I say, goes."
Amy's glasses had been knocked off in the fall. She did not need them, but they came in handy as a way to ignore the horrible teasing that came her way. Her hands searched the dust as if she could not see without them.
"Look, the little bookworm's helpless without her glasses." A crunching sound ensued and then something hard and metallic slapped Amy in the chest. "Oops, I think I broke them."
His cronies laughed, causing Rob to puff up like a strutting rooster.
Serena had had enough. She began to stand, the wild light in her eyes increasing.
"Serena, no." Molly cried, "You'll only cause more trouble for yourself."
"Molly's right, Serena. There is a 99% chance that you'll be drawn into the bullying as well." Melvin declared, pushing his glazed glasses up his nose again.
"Besides, the brunette is said to be dangerous and Amy is standoffish. Why should you stick your neck out for her?"
Serena shook her head. "I have no idea, maybe because it feels right." She walked over to where Amy still sat, and, ignoring the three jerks, offered her a hand up. Amy took it, albeit hesitantly. Serena offered her a smile. "Serena Tsukino, at your service."
"Hey, babe, why are you helping the dweeb instead of fawning over a cool person like me?" Rob asked.
"Because the only cool person that I see is the dweeb. At least she knows what the word jailbait means."
Amy spoke up. "Thanks for your help, Serena. But I didn't need it, and you probably made things worse." She walked away.
Serena eyes darkened for a moment at the blue-haired girl's rejection then shrugged and went on to the next victim of the widely supported bullying system in the school. She again ignored the jocks and went straight to the brunette teen sitting calmly on a bench. "Name's Serena Tsukino. Want to eat with my friends?"
"Look, whatever you've heard about me, it's probably true. I'm a loner, I like to fight, and I do not need anyone who simply wants the gawk value of being seen with me. Go away." Emerald eyes blazed into Serena's, followed by a sense of recognition and immediate forgetfulness. The azure orbs in the blonde's face flashed with hurt for the second time that day, before Serena turned around and simply walked away.
Crap. Lita silently rebuked herself. She could have come around to be nice. Did I have to be rude to the first person that tried to introduce herself?
She stood up, glared at the jocks gazing dumbfounded—although they wouldn't know what that word meant, Lita thought—and stalked off back to her class.
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"BAKA!" Wufei screamed across the hall, trying desperately to get the brunette's attention. Triton--a long-time friend whose parents had been friends of his parents--stood beside him.
Finally, the screaming Chinese man managed to attract the attention of the brash American. Duo moseyed over, enjoying the growing irritation on the ebony-haired teen's face.
Duo, after two minutes of his snail's pace, finally reached the duo. "Whatcha want, Wuffers?" A piece of bubblegum cracked in his mouth.
Visibly making an attempt to stay calm, Wufei take a deep breath and then spoke. "We want to do some research on that guy—Hiiro deBello. He seems…" Here the Chinese paused, dark eyes cat slits in concentration. "He seems not only familiar but…"
Triton, the tall European that Wufei was constantly with, finished for his friend. "It's almost déjà vu. Not only that but he feels trustworthy—like family. Kind of how we felt upon first meeting each other."
Duo nodded, indigo eyes turning inward. "I know whatchyer saying. And you want me to help, but I can't. I have a friend I have to pick up from Jubaan." He walked away swiftly—then stopped. "Tell me if you find anything." He soon disappeared down the seemingly endless halls of the now-empty school.
"I wonder what's up with that idiot." Wufei mused.
His friend simply shrugged. "We should start our research."
_ * _ * _ * _ * _ *
Cat waited with his helmet in hand outside of the gates to Jubaan. His cousin Serena should be out at any second, according to Ikuko. Looking around, the platinum haired male noticed another bike down the row.
He got off of his own and started to examine the other vehicle. "This thing is sweet! I can't believe somebody in this school could own this." Cat, eyes full of admiration for the well-tended and glowing piece of machinery, failed to notice the arrival of another bike.
A voice, dark and mischievous, interrupted his thoughts. "You own this bike, man?"
Cat straightened from his stoop, and turned to look at the newcomer standing next to his motorcycle. "That I do." He replied easily.
"Nice, dude." The man lifted his visor and dark indigo eyes clashed with Cat's sunny cerulean ones. The connection formed instantly.
Cat broke into a huge relieved grin. "Selene, but it's good to see you, Duo."
"The same, Quatre. When did you realize?" Duo's piercing purple gaze turned nearly black.
The happy light in Cat's eyes turned serious. "Actually, it's Cat in this lifetime. But that doesn't really matter." He sighed. "I had an accident about a year back. I was in a coma for about two months and when I woke up, the knowledge…at least part of it, was there. That's why I'm here. I found a computer at an arcade that calls itself Central a few weeks back as I was running the 'Net to find out any information that I could. After finding only snippets of legends, I could not believe my luck. It told me that in order to find my answers, I had to come here." Cat stopped as the dark-haired man started laughing. "What?"
"To begin with, I regained my knowledge about ten years ago. I'm not sure what my name was or who my parents are in this time, but like you, I now have some knowledge of the past. I set up Central, in fact. It appears that Luna and Artemis are here as well, and Central is my way of keeping tabs on them without their remembering us." Duo smiled. "I am glad to see you, my friend. We can talk more later. It appears that school is out."
Cat glanced towards the doors of the school and the waves of humanity coming towards them, and nodded. "I will find you later." He waved at his furiously waving, bouncy blonde cousin who had caught sight of him as she walked out of the building. Duo also waved at someone, a short blue-haired female who smiled happily when she saw him. Another girl, this one brunette, appeared next to the motorcycle that Cat had been admiring earlier.
"You have a nice bike, Miss. I don't think that I've seen one that glowed that bright before." He complimented her as Serena walked up to his bike.
The brunette flashed him a grin that brightened her emerald eyes, put on her helmet, and zoomed off. Duo quickly followed her, him and his friend zipping away in the opposite direction, Duo raising a hand in farewell.
"Ooomph!" Cat grunted, as a small fist hit him in the chest. "What was that for, Serena?"
His cousin glared at him. "That was for not greeting me." She punched him again. "And that was for not giving me a hug."
Cat chuckled, a light, rich sound. "Sorry." He hugged her. "Good to see you again, little coz. Hop on, today is free ride service day as provided by Sol unlimited."
"Woohoo!" Serena exclaimed, clambering up the back of the machine. She held on tight as her cousin took off, enjoying the speed, and contemplating the day.
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I know, I know. We all thought that I was dead and that I would never upload another chapter. Oh well, we was wrong. So How's did you's like the second chapter of the second arc of my story? You know the drill.
I'll catch you later
AutumnHime
O_O I've also realized that there are problems with certain things like what in heck would a middle-school girl be doing with a motorcycle (or scooter, take your pick)