A/N: I want to give credit in advance to Trevor(Oscar), Chris Lau(Lau-Lau)

and Jas(Psycho). These are three students in my Spanish class who have

supplied many of the lines for Rath, Thats, and Cesia/Kitchel that I am

planning on using a bit further on in this story. When the quotes do come

up I'll mark them again, so as to give them credit for their brilliant lines.

Actually, I don't see what it matters since they don't use ff.net and...

Well... I don't think they know I overheard them.nervous laughter

Please don't kill me, Jas...

Kat: Yes, please don't... A while ago you asked me about Bierrez... Here

he be!

Ginsing: OO Eep! Radiation is scary!!! I am deathly afraid of radiation.

I blame my sixth grade teacher for making me read "Z for Zacharia". Evil

book that is. The only book I have ever wanted to burn. It gave me

nightmares for a month, and paranoid for a full year(I kept track.).

NEVER READ IT!!!

Ten chapters, you guessed? Hm...does quick count on fingers Yeah, I

think you may be more or less right. For the one I'm thinking about,

anyway. There should be some kinkiness before that. Possibly not with

our favorite knights, but it should be there.

Look! Updated! No need to remind me in other people's reviews as well!

;

Fairy Tale Faerie: jumps up Oh no! What did I misspell?!runs around

franticly

Charna: glomps YOU REVIEWED ON MY BIRTHDAY (5/10)!!!

Ok, now that that is out of my system... DC? Cool, never been there, or

the East Coast, actually. West, yes, east, no. Thank you,bows for the

comments and ego stroking. Yes, don't worry, there's a slow song in

the list of songs in my head for them to play, and I'll try find some other

genres as well.looks down at self Wow, I didn't realize it was a bubble.

Cool.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. I also don't own the song Real

World by Matchbox 20.

Warning: Swearing. Minor violence. Teenagers. Same as always.

Rune sat on an upturned cardboard box, fingering a long wooden

drumstick in his hand. He looked across the room to where Rath was

pacing back and forth, his guitar neatly laid on the ground a few feet

away. Rune's jacket lay on the floor alongside it, and he impatiently

glanced at his watch for the fifth time that minute.

"It's been eighty minutes since we left!" Rath complained, standing still

and turning to talk to his friend, "What's taking him so long?!"

An exhausted and annoyed voice spoke.

"Funny that you ask."

They both turned to the door to the basement. Framed in the light

flooding down from the rest of the house was the figure of their missing

band member, leaning on the door frame and obviously still catching his

breath. Thats gave his head a hard shake, clearing all weariness from his

vision, then sauntered down the stairs, sitting down on the last one, legs

stretched out in front of him on the cool cement floor.

"Did you know that it takes approximately twenty minutes to run from

school to here?" He half questioned, half stated in an offhand way,

quirking an eyebrow and waiting to see if the others would catch on.

"Twenty minutes?" Rune asked, "How would you know... Oh," He said,

taking a glance at the other's flushed face.

"Why didn't you catch a ride with someone?" Rath asked.

"I was supposed to. But then it took off without me," Thats said, still

sounding casual.

"What do you mean, it took off--" Once again, realization hit Rune in the

face. A look of extreme apology washed over his features.

"My God, Thats. I'm so sorry," He apologized, "I forgot I was giving you a

ride today!"

Thats sighed, "It's ok."

"No, really, I'm very sorry," He said again, "Do you want a drink of water

or something?"

Thats waved his hand in dismissal, "Already got something. It's all good.

It's ok," He repeated, reassuring the other boy.

When he saw that Rune was still feeling guilty about forgetting to wait for

him, he continued, talking in a lighthearted manner.

"Hey, 's all good. The worst bit was waiting around in the cramped

classroom for an hour," He made a face in disgust, "I hate being stuck in

there! It bites!"

"You shouldn't get in trouble so often," Rath commented, pointing out the

obvious to the newly arrived boy.

"Whatever," Thats rolled his eyes, then spoke again.

"But why were you in there? You never get in trouble. Almost as goody-

goody as Rune," He skillfully avoided the clenched fist coming down on his

head and grinned at his glaring blonde friend, showing that it was meant

in jest.

Rath's face darkened.

"I don't want to talk about it. It wasn't my fault."

"Hey!" Thats said, standing up and wandering over to where the black

case carrying the guitar he was using was, "That's what I always say!"

He knelt on the ground, casually opening the case and removing the

instrument inside.

"Not that they believe me, of course."

The dark haired boy walked over to his own guitar, "I don't mean it like

that!" He snapped, "It actually wasn't my fault, some stupid girl got me in

trouble! I didn't do anything!"

"Ah," Thats nodded again, "Girls. So," He turned to face his friend, a

teasing smirk on his face, "Do you like her?"

The effect of his words was immediate.

Deus slipped from Rath's grasp as he froze in shock, only to be snatched

up once again a moment before it hit the hard floor. His muscles tensed,

and he spun around on the heel of his boot to send the other boy an icy

look as a muscle in his eye twitched madly. He opened and closed his

mouth several times, apparently searching for a name foul enough to use

on his so-called-friend.

Rune, seeking to avert a massacre, intervened at this moment.

"Thats," He said, stepping between the two boys, "I need help setting up

the speakers. Could you help me?" He sent his friend still kneeling on the

floor a pointed look when it seemed that he was about to complain.

"Oh, fine," Thats sighed, standing up, "What do you want me to do?" He

asked, mentally whining for stopping his fun.

As he was given instructions on how to properly set up the rather

delicate equipment("Why can't we just plug this in here..." "Ack! THATS!

This stuff was expensive!"), Rath gave up on brutally murdering the other

boy for the time being, instead setting about explaining to his friends why

he was stuck in detention.

"It's her fault. I was going to English, when I accidentally ran into her. I

fell down and she got pissed at me and got me in trouble! Bitch," He

added in as an afterthought.

Rune looked up from where he was seated on the ground, carefully

hooking up two sets of wires.

"Why was she mad? Did you hurt her or something?"

Rath scoffed, "Hardly. If anything, she hurt me when she dragged me to

the principal's office by my wrist. Damn bitch has sharp nails."

Thats raised an eyebrow at him, "Language, language."

"Like you should be the one to talk, Thats," Rune stated casually.

The other boy shrugged

"Probably not, huh?" He grinned, standing up since he wasn't being

allowed to actually touch the equipment anyway, and walking over to

where the third Junior was scowling.

"Ok, Romeo, so then what happened?"

Rath glared at him, "Oh, shut up. I don't like her, ok?"

Thats shrugged and motioned for him to go on.

"Then I got detention for two hours. What else is there to tell?"

"What did the almighty dictator of pms charge you on?" Thats asked,

using the name for Alfeegi that annoyed said principal to the point of an

explosion loud enough to be heard from any point in the state.

He crossed his arms over his chest, "Don't laugh," He warned, reddening

slightly.

"Laugh?" Thats looked confused, "Why'd I laugh? You forget, I am the

one who's left campus because I thought school was out, didn't do my

Science homework for three weeks straight in my Freshman year, lost my

schedule nine times in a row, and got in trouble for playing inappropriate

music in the library. Trust me, I've done much stupider things than you

have. There's no way I'm gonna laugh at you," He said reassuringly.

Rune watched, curiosity written over his elegant features as Rath

struggled and finally gave in to the other boy.

"All right," He sighed, tensing slightly, "She accused me of sexual

harassment."

There was a long, pregnant pause in the small room before one of the

three boys abruptly burst into hysterics.

Rath glared.

"Thats!"

The brown haired boy was leaning a nearby box for support, unable to

stand from laughing so hard.

"She WHAT?!" He managed to gasp out before falling down to his knees

at the sight of the embarrassed/angry look on his friend's face.

"Accused me of sexual harassment, ok?" Rath growled. He was highly

embarrassed and this sensitivity was making him extremely annoyed.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I know, I know," Thats said, starting to calm down, "But... It's just so...

Damn funny..." He sniggered, biting his lip in an attempt to stop from

laughing.

"It could be worse, Rath," Rune said, standing up to comfort his friend.

Rath glared at the taller boy. He had seen the amusement sparkling in his

ice-water eyes.

"Oh, shut up," He said halfheartedly, turning back to the other boy now in

hysterics again, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his face in his hands

as he tried to stifle the sound.

"You too, Thats."

Thats lifted his head, grinning cheekily at the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Aw, come on. You have to admit, it is funny."

"It is not!" Rath snapped, "She got me in trouble!"

"Rath, she's a girl. Girls always get you in trouble," Thats stated calmly.

"I thought you knew that already. I sure did. I mean, Rune gets me in

trouble all the time. Not to mention that Freshman, what's-her-name,"

"Pyrue?" Rune asked, kicking his friend none-too-lightly for marking him

off as a girl.

"Yeah, that's the one. And then there's Kitchel. Come on, Rath. They

seem to enjoy it, or something." He stated, wincing and rubbing his leg

where a bruise was starting to form.

Rath rolled his eyes, fingers playing absent-mindedly over the taunt

strings of his guitar, "I think you are an exception. No one else I know of

has that problem."

"Sure they do!" Thats insisted, "You agree with me, right, Rune?"

The eldest boy shifted, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Right?" He pressed, "You told me you agreed. What with the incident

with Silk and all."

Rune nodded slowly.

"See?" Thats leaned back, tilting his head to look up at Rath.

"I mean, sure, they can be nice, and they can be good looking, but they

seem to have this thing for getting you in trouble. I swear, Kitchel gets

me busted on something or other at least once a month."

"That's only because you do the same thing to her, Thats," Rune pointed

out, shaking off his discomfort as the attention moved away from him.

"A technicality," He shrugged, then turned back to look at the black haired

17 year old.

"So what did she say you did? Grope her? Eye her? Touch her?"

"Fell on her..." Rath muttered.

"Hmm. That's a new one," Thats commented.

"Did you?"

They both turned to look at their friend.

"What?"

"Did you?" Rune repeated, showing an interest in the scenario once

again.

"Yeah," Rath said, "But I didn't mean to, I didn't even see her there. I just

tripped and...fell. If anything, I should be the one accusing her."

"Really?" Thats sat up, one eyebrow raised, "What did she do?"

Rath took a step back, slightly unnerved by the look on his friend's face,

"Nothing on purpose! She just... Yeah. Look, it's getting late. Shouldn't

we start practicing?" He said in an abrupt change of subject that both the

other boys noticed.

"Sure," Rune nodded, sending a quick glance to Thats, "We should start."

"Ok, gimme a second," The Junior got up off the ground and quickly

gathered his instrument from it's place on the ground.

"Right, ready."

"Do you have anything written, Thats?" Rune asked just as the other was

about to serenade them all with something called 'out-of-tune-electric-

guitar-being-played-on-the-highest-volume-possible'.

"Ah," He looked up, one hand hovering a fraction of an inch over the

strings of his instrument.

He scowled.

"No."

"What?! Thats! You needed to get something written by practice today!"

Rune chastised the other boy.

"I know," Thats let his arm drop to his side, the hand balling into a fist.

"But I ran out of time!"

Rune could feel his patience wearing thin as he spoke.

"How could you run out of time? You're the one with the most time. You

haven't contributed anything to this band so far, and all we asked you to

do was to get a basic idea down on paper by this afternoon!"

Thats cocked an eyebrow back at the older boy, then spoke with an

annoyed tone of voice.

"What do you mean I'm the one with the most time? You know how long

my day is?"

There was a silence as Rune looked torn between apologizing and

striking back.

Then a low laugh echoed off the cool walls of the room.

Both teenagers turned to look at their dark haired friend.

"Rath?" Thats asked tentatively.

He spoke, "How long your day is? If we are going to play this game, then

I'm sure to win. Listen to my life," He said, stopping his laughter.

"I can't concentrate on my school work or tests; I have class with a man I

hate; can't stand most of the people around me; am constantly late to

class because of things I have no control over; and then today," A touch

of bitterness invaded his voice, "Some idiot bitch decides to have some

fun and drag me into a heap of trouble. Detention! What the hell?! Two

fucking hours of detention! For what, falling down on my sorry ass!"

Rune and Thats exchanged a glance that as the other boy ranted.

"Rath," The blonde said calmly, "Don't you think you may be overreacting

just a little?"

"Overreacting?!" Rath fumed at him, "Like hell I'm overreacting! I'd like to

see you live as me for just one day!"

"It doesn't seem all that hard," Thats muttered, "Have bad luck, periods

of hyperactivity, and a short temper. That just about covers it."

"No, it doesn't!" He shouted, causing the other boy to take a step back in

surprise, "It's a lot more than--" He let out a soundless noise of anger,

then slumped down on to the ground, knees drawn up to his chest and

his arms crossed across them.

"I wish the real world would just stop hassling me," He muttered to the

sticky silence surrounding him as both his friends stared at him, mild

surprise showing on their faces.

No one spoke for several seconds, then Rune broke the tense still.

"I wish the real world would just stop hassling me," He mused, no longer

looking at Rath, but instead staring thoughtfully into the distance.

"You know, it does have a certain..."

"Quality," Thats stated, catching on to what the other was thinking of.

He nodded, slowly coming back to reality.

"What do you think, Thats?"

"I think we have something here."

Rath looked up, confused, as he heard the other two boys talking, but

not about him.

"Huh?"

His lightly tanned friend grinned at him.

"Come on, Rath," He extended a hand to help him to his feet.

"Let's get to work learning your song."

Rath blinked, startled.

"My... Song?"

...I got home late today(Detention. Again. Plus Caf. duty which sucks to

no end.), so this post is gonna be short in the extreme. I don't have

much time since I actually want to get some of my homework done before

school tomorrow. Not much happened anyway,--

"Kitchel?"

Said girl turned her head, looking over her shoulder at the person

standing behind her.

She was lying on her freshly made bed in the clothes she wore to school

that day, typing on a small silver laptop that was currently resting on her

white pillow.

"Yeah?"

"Don't you have work to be doing?"

She rolled her eyes, "Who are you, my mother?" She said, snickering at

that mental image. Nevertheless, she finished her sentence, pressed

save, and closed the lid of her laptop.

"What are you doing back so early, anyway, Bierrez? I thought you had

work after school today?"

"No. That's tomorrow," He said admonishingly.

"Whatever."

Kitchel cast a casual glance over her older cousin. He stood at about

5'10", with light skin and fine hair the color of dirt swirling through a lit fire

in a messy, jagged cut. He had bright emerald eyes containing an almost

perpetually serious look and a mouth to match. Bierrez rarely smiled.

He was wearing a pair of long black pants and a matching tank top. A

metal armband rested around the upper portion of his left arm. It was

made out of a deep and tarnished bronze, it's interlocking portions

weaving a loose braided pattern around his firm upper arm.

"Jeeze, what's up with you today?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow at

him, "You look like a goth or something. Oh, I forgot," She said, rolling off

her bed and squatting on the ground next to her backpack, "I am talking

to Mr. Darkness is My Friend."

He gave her an unamused look, "I don't bother you about your clothes,

so get off my back about mine."

Kitchel grinned at the older boy, "Just joking," She stood up, a pile of

books and papers in her arms, "You know I love you."

"Unfortunately," He muttered, allowing a small grin to escape.

"Get to work. Dad won't be home 'til late tonight and I have to go pick up

Fiji. I expect you to have a good amount done when I get back," He called

over his shoulder as he strode out of her room, snatching a long coat off

it's hook on the wall in the hallway.

"You leaving now?" Kitchel popped her head out of the room.

When he nodded in reply, she continued.

"Hey, is Gil gonna come by?"

He shrugged, "How should I know? You know his schedule better than I

do, Kitchel."

"Yeah, but I thought he might tell you," She said, "You are his brother."

"Well," Bierrez walked out the front door, "You are his sister."

The wooden door closed behind him and Kitchel listened as his footsteps

hurried down their front stairs and into the garage. It wasn't until she

heard the sound of a car starting that she spoke, a strange half-grin on

her noramlly cheerful face that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"A sister, huh?"

She went back into her room.

"I'm glad."

Is it just me, or do the pairings for stories in the Dragon Knights section

of ff.net go in waves? I seem to remember that there was a time when it

seemed like every single story was a RathxThats or a RathxRune, and

then for a while there was a lot of Dragon Officer romance, and now there

seems to be an overabundance of RathxCesia. Or maybe it's just me...

Review?

Try imagine Bierrez in a frilly pink apron with a duster in one hand and an

oven mitt on the other... XD