Do not own SC characters. I'm pretty neutral about this one but read for yourself and let me know what you think as always.
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Chapter 5: Ironic Expressions
Taki sat with Sophitia at the kotatsu as she waited for the younger girl to finish looking over her schoolwork. The Asian leaned her cheek on her fist with her arm propped on the table-top and fiddled with her pencil in between her fingers, trying to keep herself occupied during her hour of boredom. They had finished their day at the arcade and now the city was being covered by the slight-darkness of the coming night. She remembered Sakura having some of her money left and smirked as she recalled how her sister said that she was going to spend it all on the boxes of Pocky that Taki had once stolen from her at one time during one of her days of greediness-she had finished all her own and had a craving at the time.
Taki glanced up as she heard Sophitia grumble to herself as she flipped another page. The ebony-haired woman quirked an eyebrow; Sophitia's grumbling was becoming more and more frequent the more the blonde seemed to observe her schoolwork. "Something wrong?" She asked in a rather lazy tone as she removed her fist from her chin and waited for Sophitia to reply.
The blonde seemed to chuckle slightly but didn't look up as she kept flipping through the pages. "How in the world do you get passed all your classes with work like this? Do you perhaps bribe your teachers?" She asked with questionably furrowed eyebrows as she kept scanning each page with her eyes.
"You're funny." Taki replied sarcastically as she lifted the upper right corner of her lip for a split-second in a half-sneer before she looked away. "I can't be that bad, I mean just tell me what you think I really need to improve in and I'll try to do it with you since you're the one tutoring me. Just whatever you do, don't say "All"." She added as she looked at Sophitia with a quirked eyebrow showing that she had no desire to be tutored in all of her subjects.
Sophitia just looked up and blinked at her. "Okay." She answered simply before she calmly closed the binder and set it upon the stack of others that Sophitia still wondered how Taki could carry within her backpack. The younger girl laced her fingers together as she leaned upon the tabletop, not saying a word and merely smiled in a rather knowing way as she held back the word she was going to say, as promised.
The reason for Sophitia's silence eventually hit Taki and soon let her head lean forward slightly with her eyes giving her a look saying 'you've got to be kidding me'. "Everything?" Her voice rose slightly due to her sheer disbelief. "You can't possibly tell me that you're going to tutor me in every subject!" Taki's eyes darted at the thought. 'I'm sure she'd be capable in tutoring me in History, Science, Mathematics and English, I mean hell, she goes to NYU! The best college in the city if not the state! But what is she going to do? Tutor me on a different subject every night?' Taki's eyes widened at the idea. 'Oh Kami, that would kill me!' She thought as she felt a bit of panic at the idea alone. She looked up curiously as Sophitia seemed to laugh at her last statement.
"I think I'll just help you on the subject you appear to be struggling with most at this point; which appears to be general mathematics." Sophitia pointed out as she looked down to the wide, navy-colored binder with a sketchy title of "MATH" made by pen on the front cover. "I think I should be pretty good at teaching you that since my father scrupulously made sure that I would be the best in my class at that subject since he has such pride in our family's Greek heritage." The blonde stated in a fact-like tone although Taki noticed her roll her eyes slightly as she mentioned her father's habits, as if she had a 'no comment' feeling about it. "Maybe have sessions between here and the library twice a week and if you have any questions about possible homework then you can just come to me whenever." She suggested then quirked an eyebrow. "Or would that be too much for you?" She asked coyly.
Taki looked at her with a quirked eyebrow before she spoke. "No, no. That's fine." She assured, although Sophitia could tell that the older woman didn't want her to go any further than two days a week, which made her smirk as she looked down onto the table-top. Taki slowly rubbed her nape as she looked down; feeling the tension silence brought between them. She was just about to open her mouth to say something until she felt something furry brush against her bare toes underneath the table. She smiled as she gently nudged the being (who she knew quite well was the cat since she was rather used to the feel of the cat's fur as well as its lovable habits) back with her toes, petting it softly. When she felt a rough, semi-wet tongue, she giggled as it tickled her toes and reflexively brought her leg back only to have her knee cap bang against the bottom of the table. She yelped and narrowed her eyes at her action.
"Don't hurt yourself now." Sophitia tried to hold back her laughter as she spoke in a playfully criticizing tone although she looked up until she received a glare from Taki.
"It wasn't me, it was your cat!" The older woman returned as she looked underneath the table to find Ember locking her big bright blue eyes upon her own with a look saying 'what'd I do?' as her eyes stood erect and alert. Taki decided to lie on her side and let the cat stare at her until the feline finally decided to look away. "You said that a lot of the guys you brought here had troubles with this cat, right?" the 23-year-old suddenly asked as the thought hit her while the cat seemed to bob her head at her as if to answer her question.
"Um-hm." Sophitia answered from the opposite side of the table. Taki noticed the other girl's Indian-style crossed legs shift slightly as she spoke. "It's strange but sweet at the same time I suppose. She seems to want to protect me or something like that, like she has her own personal check-list of what a guy should be like and wants from me, should I ever fall for him." She hypothesized out loud as if she was just taking her thoughts into consideration.
Taki's almond eyes drifted over to Ember's blue ones as she suddenly noticed that the feline's pink nose was very close to her own and was sniffing curiously. She raised a hand and ran her fingers along the fur on her head and neck. She smiled as she listened to the dull purr the cat let out as the feline leaned her head against Taki's gentle fingers. "Are you checking me off on your list?" Taki asked the cat in a hardly audible whisper and a quirked eyebrow.
Of course, the cat didn't seem to give any sign of an answer, and Taki didn't believe it to be true anyway: firstly, why would Sophitia need someone when she seems to be doing fine on her own? Secondly, Taki was a woman, how would she be a match for Sophitia? And thirdly, for a cat to be that comprehendible would be quite weird. 'Didn't she say that there was one guy that Ember actually accepted?' Taki asked herself as she pulled herself back up into her sitting position to have Sophitia catch eyes with her own. "What about that guy from where you came from in Greece? Rothion? What ever happened to him?" She asked as curiosity began to take over.
Sophitia blinked, looked down and shifted in her hesitation. "Um." She started to fiddle with her thumbs as she looked for the proper words. Taki could tell that she was a little uncomfortable with talking about it but her eyes looked at least somewhat willing. "He… He was an old boyfriend of mine. The only old boyfriend of mine." Sophitia corrected herself with a quirked eyebrow as if the correction brought a twinge of depression in her but quickly brushed it off, thinking that she wouldn't have had time for more anyway and didn't care to have any now.
"And?" Taki edged as she propped her elbow on the table-top and leaned her chin upon her palm. 'I'm becoming about as curious as this cat.' Taki noted as she happened to feel Ember settle in a ball within her lap.
Sophitia lifted an eyebrow at her pressing curiosity the looked down as she shifted again. "He didn't like the idea of me going abroad over here. He wanted me to stay in Greece, thinking that it was where I belonged and so that I would stay with him. But I wanted to come here anyway; I wanted to see something new I suppose." She paused. "He came here once just to visit and to see how I was. He stayed for a week then went back. I haven't heard from him in a while though." The younger girl finally locked eyes with Taki then cocked her head to one side. "There, I said it. Anything else you'd like to know in the last few minutes that I feel courteous?" She asked in a high, sweet tone although Taki could tell that it wasn't meant to be sweet, just sarcastic.
Taki looked up for a split-second, trying to think of something to ask. 'While I still have the time.' She noted with a smirk before she locked eyes with Sophitia's. "When are you going to show me NYU? You said that you'd take me there one of these days and I hope that it's soon." She leaned over the edge of the kotatsu as she spoke as if to put emphasis into her words.
Sophitia just looked at her and sighed silently as she tried to pick out a time. "Perhaps tomorrow after school? I have to stay after for Professor Mau anyway." She thought out loud as she looked to the sliding glass doorways that led out to the balcony, the lights from the other buildings' rooms hitting the corner of her eye.
"Were you late to school again?" Taki smirked as Sophitia glared at her from the corner of her eye. Taki backed herself off of the table and raised her hands in a way of defense. "Hey, you were late last time so I was just wondering if you finally received your punishment for your tardiness." She explained with a playful grin that she had trouble hiding.
Sophitia narrowed her eyes at her for a few seconds before turning to face Taki completely. "No, I wasn't late this time and just to let you know, I've had plans to come over to help Ms. Mau two weeks ago." She explained as she leaned herself backwards and stretched her back slightly. "Mina's supposed to be coming by tomorrow when we're done helping her. All I promised I'd do was organize her books since her students always seem to be misplacing them." Sophitia continued as she stood up and went to her desktop computer and logged herself on. "You don't have to do much in the meantime, you can either walk around the building or you can help me by holding the ladder; Ms. Mau's office has a really tall bookshelf." The blonde noted as she rolled her shoulders, waiting for the main screen to show up.
Taki couldn't help but smirk as she had an image of Sophitia on a ladder then added the image of her nearly falling down the subway steps the day that Taki moved in. "I think I'll give you a hand, I don't want you hurting yourself." She tried to hold her grin back as she stood up to go to her room, much to Ember's displeasure as she was forced to leave her warm seat. Taki could feel Sophitia's piercing glare at her back as she walked away.
"Grrr…" Sophitia grumbled deep within her throat. "That woman is going to be the death of me." Sophitia's eyes widened in her twinge of excitement as the screen finally came up and opened up her buddies list in her messenger. She sat herself straight up and clicked on the messenger. 'Surely DragonMistress can settle my nerves. It's been a long while since I've spoken to her. Hope she's not worried.' She was thrilled to find that DragonMistress43 was online. She cracked her neck slightly in preparation and placed her fingers on the keyboard…
8
Taki took a deep breath and flopped herself on the bed with her hands behind her head. She made sure that she shut her door as she came in so that she wouldn't have to worry about Sophitia sneaking a cautious look at her, should she ever pass by her door. The ebony-haired girl closed her eyes only to hear a low 'b-ring!' from her laptop that sat upon her desk. Growling in slight annoyance, she lifted herself up but her annoyed eyes brightened as she saw her messenger blinking on the screen. Quickly grabbing her laptop, shepulled it back until she sat on the bed and rested the machine onto her lap. She propped herself upon a pillow, raising it to rest herself against the headboard and read her message.
"SacredEmblem12: How've you been? It's been a long time hasn't it?"
A smile played on Taki's lips. "DragonMistress43: Indeed it has. Did you get your results for who was going to live with you? (Obviously wasn't me, but just curious) ;)" Taki steepled her fingers together as she waited.
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: Yes, and I'm lamenting the fact that I didn't get you. The person I have is kind of annoying, has a smart mouth and is more than a bit lazy."
Taki narrowed her eyes at this person's description. "DragonMistress43: What a bum! The person I'm with is a bit of a push-over at times but I can deal with that. She's more of a worker than a fun person, but I guess I can't blame her seeing as to how she goes to NYU." Taki thoroughly explained as the thoughts came to her.
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: She sounds like she's the type who needs to slow down. My roommate has some strong points of her own as well. The only ones I've seen is that she has a good sense of humor, loves her siblings (which is hardly something you see everyday), and she never gives up."
Taki quirked an eyebrow at this information. "DragonMistress43: Well, I guess those are a few pluses, but I still think that I would've been a much better roommate for you." Taki grinned as she pressed the 'Enter' key and waited eagerly; she hoped she made SacredEmblem smile brightly with her remark.
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: (giggles madly) I know that and I wish it could be true that we'd be in at least the same complex, but I guess that's wishful thinking. But maybe we could take the chance of meeting sometime."
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: (Gasps at an idea) Maybe we could sneak out somehow and meet at night, they wouldn't need to know and we'd relieve each other's stress by being together."
Taki grinned the widest she had ever grinned before as she read this. "DragonMistress43: What a good idea! The only problem is that my roommate likes to watch me every second. Of course I'm not saying that she keeps a peep hole through the wall to watch over me, I guess she's just careful for some reason." As Taki finished, the memory of Sophitia giving her a long, watchful and cautious look before she went to bed the night that Cassandra stayed over made her chuckle.
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: That seems kind of sneaky to watch over you like that though. You seem like someone full of integrity, the girl you're living with doesn't seem as trusting as you seem to be."
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: I know that if you were with me, I would've fit you with every privilege you deserve. Between raiding the refrigerator at night, to maybe even sleeping in my bed with me just so that I could see your face while you sleep (of course not going any further than that, but…). I trust you that much :)"
Taki felt as though this girl's fingers had just gracefully yet casually touched her lips. She had to slowly close her eyes and take a deep breath to this sensation so that her rapid heartbeat didn't overwhelm her. In the darkness of her closed eyes, Taki's conscience took over and had an image of this girl's complete profile in shadow-form standing before her with her gentle fingers on her lips. Taki, still within her daydream, executed the urge and felt herself mentally kiss the girl's fingertips in return before she took the shadow's hand within her own and held the girl's palm to her lips.
'B-ring!' "SacredEmblem12: DragonMistress? Are you alright?"
The chime of a new message abruptly brought Taki out of her thoughts as she realized that she had murmured "wow" before she was painlessly interrupted. Taki stammered as she brought herself fully back into reality and tried to think up a good reply.
8
Sophitia steepled her fingers together as she leaned her elbows onto her desktop, waiting for her friend's reply. She hoped that she hadn't said too much, she was a bit surprised by what she wrote as well, not knowing who this girl was. But it was what she felt so it was true and she wanted DragonMistress to know that. She became more nervous as the seconds passed and was relieved to hear a light 'b-ring!' that was hardly audible.
"DragonMistress43: I feel the same. I wish I was closer to you. But I guess I should feel content knowing you the way I do now, I don't want to jinx it."
Sophitia let a smile play upon her lips as she typed her reply. "SacredEmblem12: I don't want that either. We're close, just in a different way than we would've hoped. Mental but not physical thing." The 19-year-old wished she could say more but then the phone suddenly rang, making her growl in annoyance. "SacredEmblem12: I wish I could ask what you and your new roommate have done so far but I have to go as something just came up that I wished didn't. I'll get back to you soon. Bye :)" She logged off and went into the kitchen to pick up the phone on its last ring before the answering machine could get it. "Hello?"
"Hey Sophie."
Sophitia sighed silently as she recognized Mina's voice. "Hi Mina." She replied in a simple-sounding voice with some annoyance residing in it but tried to hide it as she spoke. "Need something?"
"W-well… ugh…" Mina seemed to let out an annoyed sigh before she continued. "Remember how I said that I would meet you after you help out in Professor Mau's office?" She asked, now making Sophitia believe that she's already making it more complicated for herself to explain.
"Yeah?" Sophitia replied with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk, waiting for what Mina had to say.
"Well something just kind of came up. I'll be there to meet you after school but I have to baby-sit the twerp, so I have to bring him along with me." Mina explained with a twinge of aggravation in her voice.
Sophitia pulled back and let her quirked eyebrow rise even higher in her confusion. "The 'twerp'?" She nearly chuckled out loud as she asked but held it in, afraid of making Mina even more aggravated.
"My little cousin, Yunsung. Annoying little-hey! Get back to your video games shrimp!"
"Don't call me a shrimp! You're more annoying than I am! Hey, let me talk to your friend!"
"No way! Now get back into your games so that I can have my smidgen of peace and talk to Sophitia!"
Sophitia sniggered uncontrollably as she listened to Mina argue with her cousin. She had only met Yunsung once and he was never that way to her the way he was to Mina. He actually seemed quite cute and adorable for a fourteen-year-old, then again he must have only seemed that way around Sophitia because Mina always seemed ready to torture him. Sophitia looked to the hallway to the left of the kitchen to find Taki striding through it while scratching the back of her head lightly so not to ruin her ponytail. She seemed a bit bewildered but Sophitia just brushed it away as Mina finally came back.
"Sorry about him, wish I could gag him up and tie his wrists together myself but, nope! I'm trying to be a mature as I can… grumble… little twerp… can't believe… grumble." Mina's childishness made Sophitia snigger even more.
"Who are you talking to?" Taki asked out of curiosity since Sophitia seemed so amused at whatever the person was saying.
"Mina." The blonde answered quickly as if not to disturb her friend's irritable state as she watched Taki take a seat in one of the wooden stools by the kitchen counter.
"The brunette?" Taki tried to place an image on the girl who she believed to have escorted Sophitia to the library the first time they met after they had received their letters.
"SEPIA!" Mina suddenly shouted her correction to Taki making both girls suddenly jump. Sophitia placed a hand over the mouthpiece before she spoke in a slight whisper.
"She likes it when people call her something close to a red head because she believes that there are so few of them and likes to feel unique in her own fond way." Sophitia explained softly as if it was a simple reason although knew it was something that anyone would quirk and eyebrow at. She slowly brought the phone up to her ear and was about to speak but Mina got to her before she could.
"Oh, wait, that was Taki's voice right? How've you two been holding up since I left you two to get to know each other, or at least better than before?" Mina asked with intrigue and at least didn't sound as aggravated as before.
All the images of their being together – finding Cassandra and Taki in the same bed together, nearly falling down the subway steps and ending up having Taki save her, waking up late one morning and having Taki be the one to tell her, Taki making her play a video game end the Asian ending up to be a sore loser – came into her mind and ultimately made her sigh.
"Oh never better." The Greek spoke in a dulled voice to make herself sound sarcastic. Taki lifted an eyebrow, having an idea of what Sophitia was talking about even though she couldn't hear the conversation but Sophitia's sarcastic voice gave her a hint.
"And the ride back? You took the subway right?" Mina asked as the questions filled her head.
The image of Sophitia falling both forwards and backwards into Taki's warm body made the Greek feel both aggravated for that action yet at the same time could feel her cheeks fluster at the feel of her strong body. "It could've gone better. And plus it's none of your concern." She added as she leaned on the edge of the kitchen counter with her palm and a quirked eyebrow at Mina's edging.
"Oh?" Mina sounded intrigued. Sophitia could just imagine a smirk playing on Mina's lips. "It must've been juicy then." She added, now Sophitia could definitely see a grin on her face.
The Greek narrowed her green eyes. "Nothing happened!" She tried to explain while trying to avoid Taki's confused gaze. She tried to turn away from the Asian and leaned her backside on the counter while pressing the phone's earpiece into her ear with both hands.
"Um-hm." Mina didn't sound convinced but Sophitia heard her take a quick breath before she continued. "Well anyway, perhaps I can find out later when me and… him pick you up. Is Taki coming with you?" The Korean asked out of curiosity.
"Yes." Sophitia sighed, afraid of where this might lead to but hid it as she spoke in a fact-like tone.
"Oh good, then maybe I can wheedle out of her when I see her." Mina suggested as if she had no doubts of her capability to persuade.
Sophitia chuckled as if she had doubts of her own. "I'm sure you will, I'll see you there then. Bye." With that, and hearing Mina utter her goodbye, hung up the phone and turned to the bewildered Taki.
"What was that about?" The older woman asked with a raised eyebrow in her curiosity.
Sophitia's eyes darted before she could look at her fully as she cleared her throat slightly as if slightly nervous. "Um, I don't think you really want to know." She answered as she walked out of the kitchen and headed into the living room in front of them to occupy herself for the rest of the night with Taki's notebooks still scattered around the kotatsu. She could feel Taki's confused chocolate eyes upon her back.
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Taki's eyes widened at the size of the main building of NYU; it seemed big enough to hold the entire school alone. The corridor walls had a few whimsical murals on them that were most likely painted by the students in the school's Art Club. The doors were wide glass and automatic, so which Taki found out as she walked through them as she followed Sophitia to Ms. Mau's office.
"Professor Mau's office should be at a far side of the school, so at least you get a good look at everything else the university has to offer." Sophitia stated simply as she led the way with Taki still in her own world of awe.
The older woman noticed that there were several other tan brick-walled buildings around the area which students were just coming out of. She had a real curiosity of how the students found their way around. And by the looks of all the flyers on the message board in the front hall, there were several clubs that anyone could join. Although she wondered who in their right mind would join them all.
The school had a courtyard in the center of the square-foot area and the courtyard could be seen for the wide glass windows at one side of the hallways. The wide courtyard had metal benches, hilly grass grounds with trees and sidewalks weaving around it to every exit/entranceway which few students were still passing through for extra-study at the end of school. It almost looked like a much smaller version of Central Park. Taki was a bit surprised that Sophitia never went there in stead of the library, but then again the library you could stay in for almost the entire night.
'Wow, this place is like a maze.' Taki noted to herself as she seemed to be weaving around corridors, rooms and people along with noticing elevators here and there through the school. "How many classes do you have?" Taki asked just for the purpose of making a conversation as they came closer to Professor Mau's office which seemed to reside up the staircase to the third level.
"Eight, and only three or four are important and worth the time of staying in this school." Sophitia stated simply as reached the last step that led to the third level and walked passed all the dark-wooden doors with bronze handles until she found the right one in the center of the hallway.
"Keeps you occupied?" Taki asked with a smirk as she spoke in a criticizing voice.
Sophitia turned to the slightly taller woman with a glare before she actually opened the door. "For the time being." She replied simply although in a tone as if to throw Taki off. She smiled as she walked through the door into the rather large room as she saw that she was a bit successful as she looked at Taki from the corner of her eye. "Professor Mau?" She called as she looked about the room for her black-brown wavy-haired, late-20's to early-30's teacher and found her in the corner by her desk and seemed to be gathering her notepads, pens and a binder in haste.
"Oh Sophitia, I'm glad you came when you did, I have an important, however short meeting to go to. I should be back before you get done. Thank you for doing this for me by the way." The professor spoke in her rush but stopped as she noticed that Taki was behind her blonde student. "My, my. I remember you two being roommate because of that exchange thing. What'd Sophitia do? Bribe you into helping her?" She asked with a smirk as she toyed with her Greek student, who shot her a glare from behind.
Taki chuckled. "No, I just wanted to see a bit of the school since I hope to come here someday. I hope to come here more often than just this once. And the only reason why I'm helping her is because I'm afraid that she'll do something clumsy, since it has to do with…" Taki looked to a bookshelf that Sophitia might've been referring to and let her eyes widen slightly at its height; it nearly touched the ceiling. "That tall bookshelf." She finished as she kept her eyes on the dark-wood bookshelf.
The professor seemed to chuckle as she headed towards to door to make her leave. "Well, for being with Sophitia and wanting to go to this university, you're in luck because she's the valedictorian of the school." With that, Ms. Mau left the room to them and Taki in utter speechlessness as she slowly turned to Sophitia wide-eyed.
"You never told me that you were a valedictorian!" Taki nearly yelled in her utter surprise and disbelief.
Sophitia threw a smirk at her as she turned to the back of the thinly-carpeted room. "You never asked." She stated simply as she tried to clean up the professors wide, wooden desk after the much older mentor made a small mess of it while in her haste.
Taki watched with a quirked eyebrow as she gathered the professor's materials together then head over to the corner of the room to find a step ladder then placed it where the bookshelf stood. While she was up there, she straightened out black and bronze Egyptian figurines and models that stood on each shelf as she stepped upon the ladder. "Do you always like going the extra mile when doing something? I mean your only job now is to arrange the books, right?" Taki asked in her bewilderment of Sophitia's volunteering to fix things.
Sophitia looked down at the Asian for a split second before going back to what she was doing. "Oh, I don't know, I just like to straighten things out as I see them, if I don't it begins to bother me and I do it anyway." She explained simply as she tried to decide a way of ordering the books in the most logical fashion.
"Mm." Was all Taki could mutter as she took a look around the room. She quirked an eyebrow as she noticed that there were a lot of cat figurines. Most of which appeared to be golden as if they were heirlooms as they were scattered to lay upon her desk, round table for meetings which was right in front of the wide desk, and much smaller shelves that held other teaching profession books and few awards from her past years. The several cats made Taki feel uneasy about her teacher's hobbies, almost to a worry state for her mentor's sanity. But the older woman, feeling a little ashamed for questioning her own teacher's sanity, quickly brushed it off as she turned to Sophitia, who was finally beginning to lay the temporarily discarded books to one side on a metal floor-cabinet that laid to her right.
Eventually, it seemed like hours were passing them by in almost utter silence. Taki glanced to the clock above the door at one point from where she stood between the shelf that Sophitia was at and the wide desk and noticed that over thirty minutes of keeping an eye on Sophitia's balance had passed. The Asian promised to keep her palms on the ladder to make sure that it remained sturdy for Sophitia to stand on, although it was pretty awkward to feel Sophitia's legs bump against her arms and head once an a while. Taki took in a breath before she looked up to find out that Sophitia's restacking and reorganizing was almost complete, much to her relief and delight.
"Can I ask you something? The Greek girl finally spoke and asked as if the thought suddenly hit her and filled her with intrigue. "Why do you try so hard to get into this school? Why should a jock like you care about getting into a tough school like this?" Sophitia mentioned the word 'jock' as if it was nothing important but still made the Asian form a glaring sneer at her but didn't catch it as the ebony-haired woman was right behind her. "Are you trying to be a role model for your siblings?" The younger girl added with a raised eyebrow as she glanced at Taki, who looked as though she wasn't even paying attention until Taki glanced up in return with her arms folded over her chest like she wasn't willing to talk about it. "Hey, I told you about Rothion, so maybe you can give a little information about yourself." Sophitia suggested, making sure to keep her eyebrow raised as if to better prove her point.
Taki sighed then nodded reluctantly. "Alright, but you should show me a picture later." She added with a pointed finger as Sophitia looked at her, blinked then sighed as she nodded reluctantly and continued to slip the books into their proper places on the shelves. "It was basically my sister. She wanted me to do really well in school as well as making myself as physically fit as possible." She explained in her normal, not-at-all-important tone as she looked away from the blonde in front of her, who nodded in her belief.
"You don't have to do what your little sister tells you y'know. I never do. Well, only if it gets her off my back at times." Sophitia added simply as if Taki's predicament with her sister was nothing to worry about.
Taki smirked slightly as she shook her head as if slightly amused by what Sophitia thought. "Not my younger sister; my older sister: Tsakoto (A/N: Sa-koe-toe, to help you pronounce it). She graduated from Tokyo University and expects me to eventually end up here somehow. I want to be part of this school anyway, to show her how much I've achieved and how much my younger siblings can achieve if they really work to get it and don't give up." Taki stated in a very positive tone, which made Sophitia turn to her while she wasn't looking with raised eyebrows and a small, lightly-open-mouthed smile almost as if to encourage what Taki was doing now.
Then when she looked down, she noticed that the ladder was becoming dangerously wobbly. "Uh-Taki? N-not to break you from your m-moment and possibly coming speech about that, but…" Sophitia stammered in her hesitation while trying to strengthen her balance just a little bit. "A-are you still holding the ladder?" Sophitia asked as the stress was beginning to take over her muscles when she noticed that Taki wasn't at her feet and holding the ladder sturdy. Taki didn't seem to be paying attention as she seemed to be lost within her own thoughts as she tried to remember the things that her elder sister tried to teach her while she was young. "Taki?" Sophitia called in her attempts of getting Taki to notice her predicament. Unfortunately the older woman seemed to be mumbling to herself in her thoughts, she seemed to be reflecting. Even though Sophitia would've been willing to let Taki continue… she wasn't now as she felt a leg of the step ladder begin to wobble even more. "Taki!"
"What!" Taki yelled back in annoyance as she turned to find Sophitia 'leaning' in a very dangerous angle. When Taki found out that the direction was towards herself, her eyes widened then relaxed into an almost pleading way as her shoulders dropped slightly. "Oh Kami…" She spoke in a simple yet almost depressed tone as if she knew what this moment would ultimately bring. "Why me-gack!" The Asian winced as she felt Sophitia fall upon her face-first, making them both fall onto the desk meanwhile making cups of extra pencils and pens, the professor's name upon the desk which read "Setsuna Mau", and a paperweight in the shape and design of an obelisk upon the desk fall to the floor along with a few papers it held down.
Taki groaned followed by Sophitia as the Asian moved beneath the younger girl. 'At least she's light in weight; otherwise this would be really difficult.' Taki thought as she felt the blonde lift herself slightly from her body and look at her with eyes that showed concern and somewhat aggravation. The older woman could guess why she was aggravated then looked to the side as if to avoid the Greek's gaze.
"Um… are you alright?" Taki asked, trying to have Sophitia focus on other things besides her mistake of not watching her while she was on the ladder. Sophitia seemed to let out a sigh as if to sooth her own annoyance against Taki and shifted slightly as she leaned on her arms while still on top of Taki. She was afraid that if she moved too quickly then more of the desk's contents would fall off, plus she didn't find herself in a rush even when in her position at the point.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sophitia looked at her and seemed to smile faintly at the girl lying on the desk below her. "Thank you for catching me." She added, still holding her smile as the ebony-haired girl smiled faintly in return.
Taki grunted slightly and shifted as she felt something still on the desk pressing into her back although she had no idea what it was although wasn't willing to move from where she laid. "No problem." She replied with her smile despite the twinge of pain in her back and even with Sophitia laying some of her weight upon herself. "You are clumsy, aren't you? This is the third time that I've saved you." Taki mentioned as her smile grew wider.
Sophitia tried to ignore Taki's deep dun-brown eyes that seemed to hold a hidden glitter as she grinned beneath her. "Saved me? When did you save me?" She asked in utter disbelief as if she thought that Taki was making it up.
"One: Falling down the steps of the subway. Two: Falling into the people or onto the floor of the subway train. And three: now." Taki listed, still smiling all the while as though she was rather proud of herself for doing the things during the times she listed.
Sophitia huffed as though slightly outraged as she backed away from Taki but only a few centimeters, not getting off of Taki's body. "I wouldn't be so full of yourself if I were you." The younger girl sounded as though she was scolding the woman below her. "I'll give you that you saved me on the staircase, but the 'incident' in the subway was not my fault!" She explained with much emphasis in her voice.
Taki seemed to roll her eyes in her amusement at Sophitia's statement even though she knew that the blonde may have been right. "If you say so." She replied with a smirk which made Sophitia just narrow her aventurine eyes at her and didn't bother to respond to Taki's assertion. "At least I compliment you on what you did do my perverted brother Haitani, he had it coming for a long while." She added with a grin that appeared as she brought the memory back to her thoughts. Sophitia looked down at her with raised eyebrows as if quite surprised by Taki's statement; she had felt a little guilty for doing what she did to him, but Taki's bright grin filled her with redemption and renewed confidence. It didn't take long for the two to notice while in their growing silence that the position they were in was… well… 'comment-able'.
Sophitia's hands were holding Taki's arms down and could feel that she was strattling one of the Asian's thighs. She also noticed that she has holding it rather tightly due to the tension that she had felt when arguing with Taki. And the final touch was her lying on Taki's body. All this in knowledge made her blush slightly but she tried to compose herself as it would be even more embarrassing if Taki saw her. Though what she didn't notice that Taki had noticed their position as well and had a hint of a blush on her cheeks as well. The silence was so overtaking that they could hear each other's deep breathing.
After looking away, Sophitia looked back down to Taki's umber eyes and found her features to look relaxed yet serious, almost to a vulnerable state. However, the Greek highly doubted that a masculine woman like Taki would ever look vulnerable by any means. She heard and felt Taki sigh almost silently beneath her and soon felt herself do the same as they did all they could do, which was just look at each other in speechlessness, not knowing what to do in such an awkward moment and position.
"Schreend!" "Hey Sophie, sorry were late, but my punk cousin...?"
Both women upon the desk were startled as the door suddenly swung open with a loud squeak and Mina's voice which slowly seemed to dim the more that her hazelnut eyes observed within the room. The Asian and Greek stared at the Korean in surprise while the Korean stared back in surprise, disbelief, and eventually amusement until she felt a head poke inside around her arm.
She looked down to see the auburn hair of her one foot shorter, fourteen-year-old cousin at her side, looking with curiousness which quickly became surprise and excitement as he uttered "oh… my god…" with his mouth gaping open and eyes wide as he tried to take in every bit of the position displayed in front of him. Mina noticed this and quickly clamped her hand over his eyes and pulled him into her arms to try and reduce his struggling as he tried to free himself. "H-hey! That ain't fair! Lemme go!" He whined and complained as he thrashed against her arms. "Just because you're older and taller, it doesn't mean you can hold me down!" He proclaimed as he tried harder to get her to release him to no avail.
Mina grumbled at his persistence as she continued to contain him then turned to the two within the room who seemed to be hastily separating and getting off of each other then straightening out their clothes while trying to regain their composer and dignity. Mina tried her best not to grin at what she just saw and what she was seeing now. "Um… You know Sophie, I'm glad you're finally letting go. I mean… your own roommate, who is a girl and older than yourself… and… even on top of the professor's desk! You just can't help yourself can you? I mean, that's pretty dirt-."
"We weren't doing anything!" Sophitia tried to explain as she could definitely feel a fluster starting to burn her cheeks. Taki nodded eagerly to add emphasis to Sophitia's words.
"Oh really?" Mina raised an eyebrow in intrigue. "Well I think this professor can say differently." She stated with a devious grin as she heard none other than Ms. Mau herself step into the room with a smirk on her face and a hidden, suggestive spark in her bright amethyst eyes.
Both girls deeper within the room froze in their positions with the exceptions of wide eyes and gaping mouths. They just looked at their mentor in speechlessness as they wondered how much she had seen through the door's small window. Taki was the first to find her voice as she raised her finger to the mentor's direction. "How… Why-How?... How long were you…?" The Asian had trouble finding the right words.
Ms. Mau laughed at their reaction to just finding out that she had been watching them. "Don't worry, I just wanted to see the chemistry between you two and I must say it was quite interesting." She commented with her smile of slight amusement as she came towards them. "I told you my meeting was short, I came here when you just fell on top of her. I was about to hurry in to see if you were alright but then I noticed that you seemed to be quite comfortable in the position you were in. You stayed that way for quite a bit of time didn't you?" She added with a grin that she tried to hide as the two in front of her faltered as their gazes shifted to other places around the room as if to avoid her own knowing eyes.
"You don't do that on a daily basis do you? I mean window-watching is kind of a crime isn't it?" Taki asked just to be smart along with a quirked eyebrow and Sophitia's sniggers as her back up to her mentor even though it was a mistake to do so since her teacher gave her a kind of 'watch-yourself' leer. Taki cleared her throat then lowered her head and darted her eyes from her to the ground then back as if all would gesture her apology to the professor who cross her arms over her stomach.
The professor's eyes glided over her shelf as if to scan for anything amiss in her room since the two had been there. She let out a positive "Hm." when she saw that all her books were in order then let out a comment-able "Hmm." as she noticed the condition of her desk. The two girls in front of her noticed her look then quickly turned around and tried to place the pencils, pens etc. back on the desk in a neat order then turned back to their mentor with lowered heads as if slightly embarrassed as they cleared their throats. Ms. Mau chuckled. "Go on, get out of here, you've done enough of a job in my office, thank you ladies." She spoke with an amused smirk that stayed upon her lips as she watched them both nod slightly and speechlessly make their way towards Mina.
The Korean was grinning widely even though Yunsung was still restively struggling against her and even trying to throw his fists in his cousin to make her let him go but only ended hitting the air and in the direction of 180 degrees from where she stood. "This brings a whole new reputation for you two: doing what you were about to do on top of the teacher's desk-"
"Oh shut up!" Taki and Sophitia yelled back in unison as they walked passed her and out the door, not waiting for her and her cousin to catch up.
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I think I did pretty well in this one and I hope you like this one. Boy, I fit a lot of irony in their little chat on the computer, but I think I wanted it to be that way as part comedy part drama. Yunsung will be a bit more defined in character later. I hope you liked the characterization I gave Ember by Sophitia; I wanted the cat to be cute that way. The transition from Sophitia's apartment to NYU came a little fast, I know, but I didn't want the story to drag due to little things (the incident in Setsuna Mau's office wasn't small, I assure you). Remember the name Setsuna? Yep, it's Bastet's daughter from 'When a Savior is Saved' :) I needed to fit her in ;)
To Witch-Hunter 51: Yeah, I really wanted to do that to Haitani for the comedy of it all even if it was mean even though a perv like him deserves it. I'm sure Cassandra would do about the same with the actions he can show to show his 'affections'; kick him in the safety deposit box ;P I hope you like the events shown in this chapter :) Thank you for your reviews.
To Lokiador: Hey, eager is good, gets your point across, lol. I was quite successful on my midterms, grades are pretty much evening themselves out, thank you for your motivation in it :) The true meaning of kitsune really is 'fox' in Japanese, I got the idea from a comedy/romance manga called 'Love Hina'. I'm glad you like my last chapter, I was hoping that it would go over well :)
To Weaselbeast: Better than the last three chapters? Wow, thanks, I'm proud to know that my writing seems to be getting better for you on each chapter. Cassandra will make more appearances later, I wanted her to be kind of a stereo-typical sister, what any other sister would be like but still have Sophitia love her even if she may deny it at times. For Sophitia coming to grips, I still want them to have arguments here and there but they'll eventually understand each other for many different reasons. I don't want to rush the relationship for the reader. I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far though ;)
To Chibi Fizz: I'm very glad to know that you liked my previous works, I hope you like my future ones as well which happen to be based on mangas ;) I think that my 'When a Savior is Saved' fic could've used some corrections in the storyline but I guess I'm content with it now. I hope I portrayed Setsuna in a way that was close to her original character in my first fic. I also hope that you liked this one as much as the others :)
To cococachu: I'm glad you were so excited about my last update and I'm trying not to beat Mitsurugi up the way that I am, he just always comes in at the wrong times ;P He'll be shown with more dignity later. I wanted Sakura's character to be quite smart-alecky so I'm glad you like the way she is with that in mind and I wanted her to be so like Cassandra and I intend on them being friends eventually so just imagine how smart-alecky they can be once together :) I figured that the arcade thing would be fun to put in since they are arcade characters themselves. I LOVE Nightcrawler as well, he's my fav in the whole x-men series! I'm just sorry I had to have Sophitia keep shooting him with bolts of lightning. I figured fictional characters would add to the story so I'm glad that you like the addition of them. I'm extremely glad that you think that my writing makes up for long waits, I'm really happy for that because I'm always afraid that people will think that I'm giving up on the fic and them because I'm taking so long so I hope this wasn't too long from my last update for ANE. Yunsung will be making more appearances later, don't worry, and I had to make him quite young because I wanted to be as close to the biographies of the original characters as possible even though Yunsung would need to be 12 in order to fit but that was way to young so I had to stretch it. I hope you liked his character thus far. I'm still thinking of where to put Astaroth and I'll think of something eventually. I hope you liked this update :)
To reika45: I'm trying to have the progress be as in-sync (I don't mean the band, I loath them) as possible so I'm glad you like it thus far. Another hidden but fictional character coming in since Taki mentioned her. The little bits that I put in will have more meaning for them as the story progresses so it should be good. With their chats online, I wish I could give some info about that but that would give an important hint away so I won't say anything but it'll be interesting when that 'hint' shows up for the readers. I hope you liked this update :)
To El Loco: Astaroth as Sophitia's landlord would be an interesting twist, I shall think some more about what other things he can be along with you're idea ;) Maybe he could be the town butcher, hey, he's good with axes and if that's not enough for the comedy aspect maybe he could be part-lawyer. Just an idea of my own. Just to let you know, this may be mean for a Astaroth person like you, but at this very moment that I'm writing this response, I'm listening to a song called "Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous" by Rupaul and whenever the lyrics of 'she walks real steady, in her high-heel steppin', she's got lots of style, she's got lots of class' an image of Astaroth walking on a sidewalk stepping to the beat of the song just came to my head and cracked me up every time the chorus comes back. Just thought I'd share that with you. Thank your for your sucking up to my work ;P
To mentalretard: I hope my timing was alright and not to long for you. I hope you like this one :)
To Rain54: I'm waiting for the right moment for the affections to really surface, I'm planning on something to really give it a boost. I hope you liked this update as I think of other ideas for the next updates for this fic and my other fic.