Title: Long Hard Road Out of Hell
Author: Queen Momoko
Fandom: Angel Sanctuary
Pairing: Katou/Original Character (female)
For: thisclosetome
Request: Pre-series, Good-girl type transfer student meets bad-boy junkie

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where the office is?" A girl's voice asked.

Katou cracked an eye open to glare at her. He'd been having a nice nap. The girl in question wore an unmodified version of the school's uniform. He pushed himself up and looked the girl over. Her hair was cut simply, no hints that it been dyed. She also wore no make-up. A predatory look appeared on his face.

"What do I get if I tell you?"

The girl took a step back as Katou stood. Her eyes widened as he advanced on her. He made it a couple more steps toward her before she strengthened her resolve. Where before she had slumped shoulders and bowed appearance, she now had squared shoulders and a straight back. Her dark eyes stared up into his.

"I will politely thank you."

Katou scowled at her change in attitude. He pointed in the direction of the administration building and went back to how he had been before. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the ground under his back. It wouldn't do for him to get in trouble again. At least not so soon after the last incident.

"Thank you," She paused, looking at Katou. After a minute of silence, Katou opened his eyes to look at her. She stood there patiently staring at him.

"Katou," he huffed.

"Thank you, Katou-kun. I hope to see you around," she smiled.

"I don't," He mumbled, as he watched her walk away.

"I'm Yumiko," She called back after a few steps, before continuing on her way.

"Katou-kun!"

The group of boys froze. Katou turned to scowl at the girl, who was running over to them. His two friends smirked at him.

"Katou-kun, how have you been? Its been so long since I last saw you," Yumiko smiled cheerfully at him. "And I've been hearing these horrible rumors about you doing drugs..." The group of girls that she had been with slowly coming up behind her.

"And..?" Katou probed. The girl's happy attitude annoyed him. It had annoyed him when she'd first come upon him and it annoyed him now.

"You shouldn't do that to yourself. Drugs can't solve your problems. You should confront them head-on," Yumiko lectured.

Katou's scowl hardened as he moved to stand directly in front of her. He looked down at her.

"What do you know?" Katou hissed. "You come to me preaching on your high horse like you know it all. Tell me, little girl, have you ever done anything?" After a short pause of silence from her answered him. "I didn't think so. So who are you to tell me what it does or doesn't do. You and your goody-two-shoes friends are all alike. You've had the most perfect fucking lives. So don't think that you can tell me shit until you've done it. Got it, girl?"

And with that he shoved her away from him and towards her friends. Yumiko's friends clustered around her protectively shooting Katou dirty looks. Katou stood firmly rooted to his spot seething as he watched them leave. Enraged as Yumiko looked back sending him a pained look.

Katou had been positive that the last confrontation he'd had with Yumiko would be the last. So it was to his great surprise that a few weeks later she stood before him. He was too exhausted over the days happenings to work up his frustration for her. So instead he just stared at her blankly.

"I- I've come to..." Yumiko sighed. "You were right. I didn't have any room to talk to you about that. And I'm sorry."

She bowed to him in apology. Katou shuffled uncertainly. The idea of someone apologizing to him was a nice one, but having it actually happen was uncomfortable. She rose from the bow, but kept her eyes on his feet.

"And- And I was wondering if-" She took a deep breath. "If you would please allow me the chance to- to give me that experience."

He was looking down at the top of her head as she did another deep bow. He tried to make sense of what she'd just said. Yet even as his drug muddled mind processed the words, they still made no sense.

"What? What are you talking about?" Katou snapped.

"I want to... Please grant me the experience of trying drugs," She rushed out. Glancing up and seeing his dumbfounded expression, she continued, "I had no right to speak to you about something that I had no experience in. But I would like to get the... chance, so that I may share my thoughts with you. So that you'll listen to my informed opinions. Please."

Katou laughed. It had to be something that the drugs had produced. But then again it was too unbelievable to be a hallucination. He'd generally wouldn't share his stuff, but he figured it would be worth it. So he took out a pill and passed it to her.

She eyed the small white tablet with trepidation. This wasn't something that she did. She was a good girl, a goody-two-shoes as he had called her. But he had made a point. She wouldn't listen to advice from someone, if they didn't know what they were talking about. So she took a deep breathe and swallowed the pill. Come what may.

"I- I have to transfer to another school. My parents found out about last night. They don't think that this school is a good influence for me. But, I really did appreciate what you did for me," Yumiko looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I think that I have to stick with my same opinion though. You really should stop."

"Yumiko, we're leaving," Her mother called.

"Bye," Yumiko said, eyes filled with tears.

Katou just watched her walk over to her mother. His whispered goodbye carried away by the wind.