Sleeping should be an easy thing, right?
When bluntly explained, sleeping is simply clearing your mind, closing your eyes, and being close to something soft, preferably on top of it.
However, somehow, sleeping at Leiko's house was proving itself to be almost impossible. And the discovery of the fake gold eye made it that much harder to keep her mind from rambling. Toki felt like she had just shut her eyes and successfully relaxed for the first time when a terrible noise came from above.
She winced, her body curl, she groaned distastefully, but the sound wouldn't stop. In fact, it seemed to get LOUDER when she did this. It was like her very brain went numb. Was this a sign of the apocalypse? Was hell raining down from above her? She opened her eyes.
No, it was just Rai clutching a horn not unlike one fans use at a basketball game to cheer on their favorite team. But at a basketball court, there was wide space and hundreds of screaming voices to sound over. The result was quite different in a bedroom with three people, all about equally distressed.
No, she was wrong again. Rai seemed quite pleased with everything. In fact, he looked downright smug. He blew the cursed horn another time, and somehow it seemed louder and longer then she had remembered it the first time.
"WAYGUPWAYGUPWAYGUP!" He chirped, flicking on and off light switches and turning on Leiko's radio full blast to a channel in a language she couldn't understand, "YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTTS OUT FROM UNDER THOSE SHEETS!"
"But its so nice and warm under here..." Leiko whined, snuggling down deeper into her comforter.
"Let me remedy that for you then." Rai said sharply, gripping both corners of the fabric and yanking it off her bed.
Though, as fate would have it, the comforter didn't flick off as nicely as it does in cartoon shows. Instead, Rai ended up dragging a yelping Leiko, who still had the comforter in her grip, off her own bed and on top of Toki. Rai looked puzzled at first, but shrugged and blew the horn again. Hey, whatever works.
Both girls screamed. One from behind landed-upon, the other from her ears feeling like they were bleeding. Rai chucked at this and said, "Food is ready downstairs, Leiko-sempai."
"God, Rai, do you always have to be such a--?" Leiko hissed, rubbing her sore side, "Fine. We'll be down in a minute."
Rai pretended to look thoughtful, "A minute? So let's see, my 'Imp' is a little rusty, but I think that translates to roughly fifteen minutes. Tut tut, but your food will be cold by then. And we can't have the little princess eating cold food, can we? In fact, I've already taken it upon myself to tell the maid to take the food away after three minutes, because then it wouldn't be worth eating anyway."
Leiko looked positively violated, Toki was still too smashed to have an opinion on the matter. Rai smiled evilly, knowing full well what he'd done as he almost pranced out of the room and down the hall. Leiko sprang into life immediately, screaming out, "RAI YOU STUPID--! YOU EVIL BUTTFACE!"
She dug into her closet (Toki finding the inside of the closet even less clean looking then the outside...) pulling out different items of clothes frantically and having them all pile onto the floor in a heap of black. After she seemed to have gotten everything she needed, Leiko slammed the closet shut and took a good quick look at the pile, "ah!"ing and pulling a pair of very old, very dirty, very ripped and slightly faded jeans along with a belt, boots, and a shirt that had somehow gotten a few buckles attached to it. Toki held the clothes awkwardly, and Leiko glared at her for a minute before snapping:
"Don't just stand there! We've probably only got a minute and a half left now!" And pulling out black pants and a blood red T-shirt for herself.
Toki usually considered herself a modest person, but Leiko showed absolutely no modesty in shedding her PJs to change into her clothes right in front of her. Toki paled a little, but followed the example timidly, albeit feeling strange dressing like THAT for school. Leiko had little time to look her over, just glanced and said something muffled like, "lets go!" or "to the food!" one or the other, Toki couldn't decide which. Either way, they were sprinting down the hallways like idiots. And sure enough, as they reached the table, the maid (Gretta, Toki learned later) was just removing the bowls from the place settings.
"WAIT!" Leiko yelled, panting (you'd be panting too if you wore ten pound boots) "WE DON'T CARE IF ITS COLD!"
Gretta smiled a little, "Why, good morning Narita-sama. And good morning to you, Nakagawa-san."
Leiko slumped into the chair with very little ladylike manners, almost in spite of the astonishingly formal atmosphere that was the dining room. She scooped up a huge amount of food and struggled to fit it all in her mouth, staring at Toki with expectant eyes and jerking her head at the chair next to her. Toki sat down in her usual polite, timid manner and awkwardly started eating from the food in front of her.
"Cowld..." Leiko was able to muffle through the stuffed mouth, allowing crumbs and loose pieces to spill from her mouth, "S'upid...'hys he always go' tebe right..."
Toki blinked and stared at her food more closely. Sure, it wasn't steaming, but it was sure a lot warmer then her breakfast usually was. And way tastier too, but maybe that was just because for once she didn't have to make it herself or eat her dad's leftovers from two hours ago.
Leiko was done way before she was, finishing her meal with a melodramatic swig of orange juice and loud gasp when she chugged the whole thing in one breath. Toki offered many times to go, saying she wasn't so hungry and she didn't want to make them late, but Leiko insisted she finish first. Somehow, she found amusement in watching Toki eat, like she was a researcher or behavior specialist.
"You don't have to be shy about it..." She had commented once, "Just eat it. There's no one judging you on your grace."
And when Toki had finally finished, Leiko chuckled and mumbled something under her breath. Toki considered asking what she said, but figured it was something she didn't need (or want) to hear. Rai offered them a ride to school that morning, but Leiko only glared in response and told him that they would walk.
Toki would have said the same, he seemed far too tickled by the ordeal to want to drive with him.
The school really wasn't that far from her house, the weather was decent, so it was actually quite enjoyable for a while. One of the few days Toki was actually on time...They were silent for a while, until Leiko looked Toki over again and grinned.
"You look so adorable in that!" She said, pleased with her own handiwork, "You should dress like that more often."
Toki blushed a little. She would never get away with wearing something like this at home, unless she changed into "normal clothes" by the time her parents got home. The buckles on the shirt drew attention to spots that Toki would rather they not, but for some reason, she got the feelingKonpaku felt right at home in this kind of wardrobe. It made her idly wonder what his old host used to wear...
"My parents would kill me." Toki responded, "And I even I don't know if I like standing out so much..."
Leiko scoffed loudly, "Oh come on, Toki. Don't you ever get tired of being perfect? Being that little mouse in the background that people always tend to forget about? You need to strive to stand out a little more. I mean, it'd be one thing if you were ugly, but that isn't the case, trust me."
Toki laughed nervously, "I guess...I could try a hat...?"
"Now you're getting it." Leiko exclaimed suddenly, spinning around and walking backwards so she could look at her friend properly, "By the way, I've decided to make you my little project."
"Excuse me?" Toki paled, "What exactly do you mean by... 'project'?"
"Simple. I'm going to help you shed your skin and find yourself. No more will you be "hey you!" or "that girl with the weird eyes" but TOKI NAKAGAWA!" She spread her arms out for effect, "The confident, charming young woman who proved to the entire school—no, the entire WORLD that miracles CAN happen."
She laughed almost maniacally.
This was very discontenting to Toki. She stopped walking and stood speechless for a while as Leiko's grin grew broader and broader, "So, where should I start. Your look, perhaps? Your school life? Romance?" She smirked, "Oh, so much fun..."
Suddenly, Toki saw the resemblance in Rai and Leiko...
"Listen, Leiko-kun," Toki said hurriedly, "You really don't have to--"
"Nonsense. It will be a symbol of our friendship!" She flipped back around to walk properly as they crossed the street, "The golden, Egyptian-looking eye jewelry club!" She grimaced, "Ok, that sounded WAY better in my head..."
"B-B-But I like who I am!" Toki exclaimed desperately.
"And exactly who are you, Toki my dear?"
Toki opened her mouth, determined to prove the arrogant Leiko wrong, but simply couldn't come up with the words to say it. She just...was. Toki had never been one for teenage angst, those big questions of 'who am I really' 'why is life like it is' just never crossed her mind. It wasn't that she didn't have deep thoughts, she just didn't have time to drive herself into a deep depression over things that weren't going to change any time soon. Leiko just smiled, and they faded back into a long silence for the last few minutes before they reached the front of the school.
"Ha," Leiko muttered, "And early too, take that Rai." She pointed, "My locker is this way, where's yours?"
"Opposite direction...near the music room."
"That's around where my first class is, I'll just drop my stuff off and meet you somewhere over there, kay? It'll only take a second."
Toki nodded as they parted, and took her first tentative steps into the hallway to face her peers. If her eyes weren't closed, she might have noticed everyone's head jolt to the blur of black, expecting to see the infamous Leiko Narita dressed in something rebellious as usual. But instead, most felt their jaws drop to find Toki Nakagawa, the sweet, quiet little girl everyone knew but no one really knew.
Toki felt eyes burning into her back as she tried to walk through drawing the least amount of attention as possible to herself. It proved to be quite difficult. She kept her hands tightly bound behind her back, and almost tripped over her own silly boots (that were two sizes to big at least) almost three times. With a wave of relief she caught sight of two familiar dark haired boys talking at the end of the hallway. She raised her hand to catch their attention, and they both gaped openly. Keiji kept glancing at Tutomu for his expression, not knowing Toki enough to know if doing a complete 360 and dressing in buckled clothing was normal for her...Judging by Tutomu's face, it was not.
"Toki..." He said, eyebrows raised, "What the hell are you wearing? What happened to your school uniform? ...Youdo realize the principal is going to kill you for this, right?"
Toki blushed and shook her head, "I'll just tell them I spent the night at Leiko-chan's house the other night, and these were the only clothes she had. She said that her father donates a ton of money to the school so they let her wear whatever she wants...so--"
"No wonder. I was looking for you yesterday." Tutomu interrupted, "The house was empty...it was so weird not being able to get a hold of you." He laughed, "That has to be a first in however many years its been."
She giggled a bit, "Yeah, it's strange, I've never been over anyone else's house before. Except yours of course, Tutomu. I never expected Narita-san to be--"
Suddenly Keiji's head jerked up and he stared at her with wide eyes and smiling lips, "Narita-san? Did you...her name is Narita-san?"
Toki nodded, not understanding the thought process he was going through, "Yes, Narita Leiko-san. She's the one who--"
Without warning Keiji dropped his school books, grabbed Toki by the shoulders, and planted a big kiss smack dab on her lips. Toki's eyes must have looked like tennis balls to anyone watching, and with her terrified squeaking people might have assumed Keiji was trying to choke her. Either that or rape her...After three long seconds, the Keiji pulled away dramatically, and Toki was left in complete shock.
"Thank you, Toki-chan, you've saved me a lot of wasted time." Keiji said with a toothy grin, "Now, where is she?"
Toki couldn't move. She was frozen with her arms plastered tightly to her side and her eyes still staring in complete horror. Her mouth was open, her skin was pale, but Keiji didn't seem to notice any of this. He only looked around the hallways excitedly. Tutomu remained silent, but his left eye twitched ever so slightly. And then suddenly, when it seemed like no one was going to speak ever again...
"TOKI-CHAN!"
It was quite comical actually, Keiji's reaction to this. Of course, it wasn't humorous to him at the time, but anyone who understood the situation would have found it funny. Keiji turned around, knowing immediately that whoever was calling was Toki's friend Narita-san. But as he actually caught sight of the girl pushing her way through the hallways, his face went from eager, to shocked, to confused, to disappointed. VERY disappointed.
"Oh god no..." He muttered, "Please, Toki-chan, this isn't...this can't be--"
"Lucky...you got the good lockers. The ones that haven't gotten around to rusting shut yet." Leiko noted, taking no guilt in shoving the gaping Keiji out of her way to stand in front of the still shocked Toki.
Toki took a few cleansing breaths and swallowed quickly before saying softly, "Leiko-san, nice to see you found me." She shook her head, "Oh yes, and this is my friend Hisako Tutomu-kun, and his friend Keiji Yanaka-san. Both of them are--"
Leiko nodded in their direction, barely acknowledging their existence and turning immediately back to Toki. "Right, I'm sure they are." She mumbled quickly, "Anyway, I just wanted to--"
"Uh, Tutomu? Can I speak to you for a moment?" Keiji interrupted loudly, starting off without so much as a reply.
"Sure, fine, no one's making you stay." Leiko muttered, waving a hand in his general direction in a dismissive fashion. Toki looked to the ground, obviously embarrassed for her friend's actions but not willing to say anything about it at the moment. Tutomu cleared his throat awkwardly and left to where Keiji was standing. As soon as they were out of earshot, Keiji turned to Tutomu and began his attack.
"What now?" He growled.
Tutomu blinked, "Excuse me, what?"
"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Keiji repeated, venom and frustration all but dripping in his tone, "What was my father THINKING! Setting me up with that girl, I mean COME ON! Narita-san is a FREAK!"
"And that would make you...?"
"--Of all the people, in all the business circles, why did she have to end up in mine?"
"Now you're just being dramatic." Tutomu mumbled, "And that sounds way too much like a cheesy line from detective movie..."
"Well at least one good thing came of the situation." Keiji said, staring off at the locker in the deepest form of concentration that a person of his intellectual ability could muster, "No, TWO things. Yes, two good things came from this."
"Which would be?"
"One." Keiji stated, holding up a finger as if Tutomu couldn't count on his own, "I don't have to search for her anymore. Two. I won't have any trouble completely repulsing her."
He smirked, and Tutomu rolled his eyes, "How wonderful for you."
Keiji began to pace back and forth about three lockers length as Tutomu watched in less-than-mild interest.
"Now I just have to figure out a way to get us alone together, so I can prove to her what a completely disgusting weasel I am."
"That won't be hard..." Tutomu commented, smiling to himself and leaning up against the metal.
"Tutomu." Keiji exclaimed suddenly, "I could do without your sarcastic comments!"
"...that wasn't sarca--"
"I need to approach her innocently." Keiji said loudly over Tutomu's words, "If I come off to strong or too blunt then she'll immediately say no, just because she'll get the hint that I'm doing this to get rid of her. I need to be blunt, but not so blunt that I--"
"Hey!" Tutomu shouted suddenly, "Narita-san!"
Keiji jumped four feet in the air and looked at Tutomu like he had gone insane. Tutomu however, kept his eyes off the shocked teen and waited for Toki and Leiko to lift their heads in response. Once he had their attention he waved and yelled, "You want to go our with Keiji?"
Leiko gave Toki a 'does-this-happen-often?' look, and Toki shook her head in confusion, saying something that he couldn't hear from that distance. Leiko shrugged, said something back, and then nodded.
"Sure, what the hell." She shouted back.
Keiji flinched at the smug expression plastered on Tutomu's face when he turned to stare at him. Tutomu then chuckled, and walked away casually, figuring it best to allow Keiji time to think about it on his own rather then allow time for him to hear a lecture on how to 'never do that again'.
Tucker "Makoto" O'Brien wasn't Japanese.
He had never claimed to be.
Even when his father and Jane suggested that he go through an exchange program so that maybe he could "blend in with the locals" in hopes that their son could become more excited over the fact they needed him away that year to sort out a few things. He didn't think he'd blend in, he expected he'd stick out. His father and 'soon to be stepmother' Jane kept trying to convince him that it would just take a little getting used to, that it was the experience of a lifetime.
However, they weren't the ones who had to walk into an airport of exotic (to him anyway) looking people who stopped what they were saying to stare openly at the boy as he trudged through.
He stuck out even more then he had expected. There seemed to be almost no tourists in sight, as he had hoped there might be. In America, he was just another kid. But here, he was a rare and bizarre sight. And frankly, Tucker wasn't sure if he liked it or not yet. His blazing red hair and flashing cucumber green eyes marked him in everyone's sight. He was sixteen (soon to be seventeen, thankyouvery much) but still rather short for his age, long limbed in spite of his height, with freckles decorating his pale skin and hair tousled.
In short, Tucker was purely adorable. Creating this sort of "wee friendly leprechaun" look to match his pixie-like face. He hated it. He noticed several girls giggling and whispering from a little ways away, but paid them no mind. None of them would want to date him, after all, so what was the point? He'd tried that before. He'd tried being confident and using his looks to find a date for the homecoming dance, but it just came out awkward and he ended up getting many, "Aw, maybe next year little guy."s and "Aren't you sweet, but I already have plans that night."
It was really quite annoying.
He had heard someone calling out his name with an uncertain sort of formality, and jerked around to see a man about his father's age by the baggage claim. He had a cell-phone plastered to his ear, but somehow seemed completely alert as he scanned the area for anyone who seemed to fit the name. Tucker had sighed, pulling his carry on close behind him as he met with this man, who turned out not to be his exchange father after all.
He was just the...what did he call it? Oh right, 'The Driver'. Not completely sure what to make of this, Tucker just did what the guy told him and got into the fancy looking car waiting for them outside. His mind was yelling at him for being so stupid, just allowing himself to get into a car with some strange man who seemed to have a lot of money.
...the Japanese Mafia perhaps? No, of course not, what would they want with some American nobody? Its not like his family had any money worth scheming for, and if they were going to ransom him up for some real cash, they were probably going to be sorely disappointed.
No. He was probably fine. Stop being paranoid.
The driver took him all the way to some High School, threw him a uniform that was stuffed inside the glove department, and told him to be waiting outside by 2:00 to be picked up. Then they drove off with an air of 'not my problem' and left him standing there.
And with that, Tucker was left completely and utterly alone.
"Great." He had muttered bitterly, "Now what, O'Brien?"
So here he sat, in the middle of a crowded classroom two hours later, wearing a uniform that didn't fit him correctly and surrounded by people he didn't know speaking very quickly in a language he had once thought he could speak fluently.
If they would just speak SLOWER...
Tucker shifted anxiously as another group stared and looked away hastily. He sighed, and let his head fall lucidly onto his folded arms neatly laid on the desk.
He suddenly failed to remember why he agreed to this 'opportunity' to begin with.
"Class." A stern voice jolted Tucker from his shell; the teacher had arrived at last, "We have a special guest today, I'm sure you all have noticed. A O'Brien Makoto-san."
He nodded in Tucker's direction, and Tuck cleared his throat while clumsily raising to his feet. They all stared blankly.
Eh, so what else was new?
"Could you please tell the class a little about yourself and your program, Makoto-san?"
It took him a second for his Japanese name to register. Then he bit his lip, "Um, well, sure I guess." And realizing he was speaking in English, switched back abruptly and recited, "My Dad signed me up for an exchange student program. I'm from America...uh, over there they call me Tucker...or Tuck. I have a real farm boy's name." He laughed. No one else seemed to find the humor in this.
A girl raised her hand.
Makoto flushed a little, "Uh, y-yes?"
"I was just wondering, if your name is Tucker as you said, why do they call you Makoto?"
He shrugged, "It was my...step-mom's idea. She wanted me to pick a new name, something about new fresh starts and challenges. And I thought it'd be easier for everyone to remember...So I picked one at random from some book I bought. I've been using it online a lot too, so I'm kind of used to it."
"You couldn't picked something less...girly?" One boy said loudly, leaning back in his chair as if it was a perfectly reasonable question.
Tucker "Makoto" inwardly grumbled as the class laughed. Oh sure, they get THAT joke...It wasn't even that funny. Whoever that kid was, he probably held the position of 'class moron who somehow gets good grades and everyone loves'.
Please excuse the fact he didn't jump up and down waving flags and wearing a funny hat. Blame it on the jet-lag.
Makoto sat down with little elegance, lacking the enthusiasm to care at the moment and truly, TRULY wishing he was home. Oh what he wouldn't do to sit on the couch bored watching old British sitcoms and finding himself smiling only because of the funny way they said things.
It had now occurred to him that he had become one of those people who said things funny.
Makoto paid little attention in class that day.
Lunch was something of an adventure. He'd never found anything more complicated in his life then trying to figure out where the food was, how to get it, what to do when you had no money for it, where to sit, and when to leave with assurance you wouldn't get scolded for being late or ridiculed for being so early.
In the end, he just decided to skip lunch, and hang around near his classroom pretending to read a book until the bulk of the students arrived. Then he'd get up casually and slip in with the crowd, claiming a seat in the back and ignoring the looks when the more popular girl arrived to find her seat taken. Oh well,Trixie would just have to doodle colorful notes to her friends somewhere else today. Makoto wasn't in the mood to care.
Actually, the only time anyone spoke to Makoto all day (without being requested to, that is) was at the end, when school had finally finished, and Makoto sat on the concrete steps to the auditorium sulking. Needless to say he was...anything but a chipper individual. But then--
"You're the new kid, aren't you?"
He spun around, facing a girl with light brown hair done in two ponytails and a girl with hair straight and black. The girl with darker hair, however, seemed to stick. It was her eyes, he guessed...a dead but piercing sort of gray that you couldn't' distinguish right away. The girl with the lighter hair smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I thought so." She murmured, "I'm Sakura, and this is Amarante, or Ammy-chan. My best friend."
Amarante smiled and bowed her head a bit, but said nothing. Something not quite right about that girl...Makoto cleared his throat in a sort of vain effort to focus his thoughts, and waved his hand (feeling quite stupid afterwards.)
"Makoto, hey." He said slowly.
"Are you...waiting for someone?" Sakura offered, looking around to find the area mostly deserted.
Makoto shrugged, "Someone's supposed to pick me up, but who knows really. I have no clue what's going on with this whole 'exchange student' thing."
"Mind if we sit?"
He didn't. They sat. The concrete was cold, rough, and uncomfortable. Both girls immediately regretted wearing skits, finding them not long enough to keep their bare legs from feeling the imprint of every tiny bump on the step. But they sat there anyway, partly to be polite, partly because they too were waiting.
"So how long have you been here?" Sakura asked, making Amarante laugh under her breath at the inefficient conversation starters.
Makoto smiled a little, being the first time since he'd left America, and glanced at his watch, "Uhm, seven hours and counting."
"Congrats." Sakura said with fake excitement.
"Seven..." Amarante mused, finally deciding to speak, "It's a good number. It's supposed to be a magic number, according to myth and legend and history...lots of magical things came in sevens..."
Makoto opened his mouth to try and make some sort of reply out of it, maybe even a joke off of her spacey comment, but was interrupted when a door in particular need of oil screeched open. Makoto nostalgically remembered a joke one of his friends had made about doors and how they command attention. How no matter what you're doing, or who comes in or out, when you hear a door open you suddenly have an unexplainable urge to see what changed. Everyone does.
It came in to use now, because all three of them stared at the door as four people came out. Two girls, two boys. They were chatting amongst themselves, paired off only to the extent that every once in a while their group would split for a second. None of this seemed out of the ordinary to Makoto, he was only watching because it was far more interesting then watching a weed grow out of a crack in the sidewalk. Amarante and Sakura, however, seemed very curious of the group. Especially the smaller girl, for whatever reason.
Makoto squinted to get a better look. What was so special about her? She looked like any average girl. She was cute, but there wasn't anything striking about her, so it wasn't her looks. Her outfit was a little strange, seeing as she didn't seem to him like she was a goth/punk/whatever-the-heck-that-style-was kind of girl. That other girl, on the other hand, the bony one, that style fit her nicely.
And what was with that big, chunky gold thing around her neck? He'd heard of big necklaces being the "new pink" or whatever the hell fashion crazy zombies were calling the 'in' thing nowadays. But wasn't that going a big far? It didn't even seem to match. Except for the eye. It looked like an Egyptian eye...
Makoto smiled. Egypt was something he understood quite well. He's been studying it in all the books he could find for the past three years ever since...it. Why'd she be wearing something that looked so much like something that belonged in a museum while she's dressed like she couldn't care less about anything? Suddenly Makoto realized he wanted to talk to her. She seemed far more intriguing then most girl back home...
"Who's that girl?" He said, pointing as carefully as he could, in case pointing was rude in Japan.
"Her name's Toki Nakagawa." Sakura said softly, "She's...a friend of ours."
"I was going to go speak with her." Amarante announced, getting up and adjusting her skirt.
"Wait...I, uh, wanted to go with you." Makoto exclaimed uncertainly.
"Next time, maybe." Sakura answered for her friend, who was already walking over without looking back, "There's something kind of important Amarante has to talk to her about."
"Oh."
"Hey, is that your ride there?"
He looked up. Sure enough, there was 'The Driver' waiting for him against the car that looked far too expensive for the school's parking lot. Makoto couldn't help finding amusement in the fact he had his own driver, and smiled before getting up and muttering a, "Yeah, that's him."
"It was nice to meet you, Makoto-kun, right?"
He nodded, "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then?"
"Of course. Bye!"
"Later."
And as Makoto got into the car, Sakura glanced back at where Amarante had successfully begun talking to Toki. Two of the people had left, one girl and one boy, so Toki and that kid of whom Sakura assumed was her boyfriend or something, stood looking very confused. Sakura grinned, but decided to watch from a distance for now. She waited until Makoto's car drove away before getting up and walking away.
She'd call Amarante later tonight for details.
"So, what was that about?"
Toki snapped back to reality, she had been staring at the envelope and rubbing her thumb up and down the side for the past five minutes in silence. Tutomu leaned foreword to stare at her face for clues as she smiled and shrugged.
"I'm not sure exactly."
"I didn't know you knew Amarante Ogata..." Tutomu said suspiciously.
"Well...I don't really. She's supposedly Sakura-san's friend." She explained, "I know her. That was the first time I'd met Amarante in person...She seemed nice."
"Yeah, she's really nice." Tutomu said, nodding, "All three of us will have to get together one day."
Toki glanced at him, "Why?"
"Oh, well, you know, to get to know her and stuff. You could always use more friends, right?"
"I have Leiko-san..." Toki said quietly, unconvinced with Tutomu's feeble excuses.
Tutomu rolled his eyes at this, "I still can't believe you made friends with the weirdest kid in school."
"You know, Tutomu, I was the weirdest kid at school last year. Just because a person isn't typical doesn't make them not worth your time." Toki scolded lightly.
Tutomu waved his hands in a sort of peace gesture, "You're right, you're right, I'm sorry. It's just..."
"You like her don't you?" Toki said, her voice strangely cold.
Tutomu sensed it immediately and attempted to lighten the mood by laughing, "Well, sort of I guess. It's not like I'm obsessed with her I jus--"
"It's ok if you like someone, Tutomu." Toki said gently, looking up and smiling to the best of her ability, "I don't mind. We're just friends, after all."
And somehow, hearing that was even more unsettling to him then hearing her get upset. He straightened and grinned to hide his surprise, "Of course we're friends! And it isn't like I haven't had a girlfriend before so things won't be weird between us like in those cheesy movies."
"I hate those." She agreed, "So predictable, friends never stay friends in the end."
She was changing the subject. So he let her. Sometimes it was best to just let something go. But then...
"I swear, Tutomu, I don't mind if you go after Amarante."
Sometimes its not.
"I'll even help you if you want." She said brightly, "Being a girl myself, I'm sure I could be of some use."
Tutomu ruffled her hair affectionately, "That's the spirit! You can be my girl-talk translator! I need one of those ever since that last one quit on me. Mary Suzie or whatever her name was."
"Gotta warn you though, I'm not cheap." Toki piped in, smile starting to emerge from the fake one, "I demand to be paid in brownies."
"One every day of service."
"Three."
"Two."
"Five."
Tutomu pretended to look shocked, "Apparently you aren't familiar to the rules of haggling."
She just giggled at this, and their joking faded away under the sound of the wind through the tree leaves.
"Really though." Tutomu said kindly, "Thanks. I really appreciate you being such a great friend."
Tutomu was too pleased with the way things were working out to notice Toki's face fall as she looked to the ground.
"Right." She mumbled, "Anytime."
"I'm home." Keiji announced, anything but enthusiastically, "There isn't a family meeting about how many kids I'm going to have going on is there? What kind of dog I'll own perhaps?"
"Oh, Keiji dear, don't be so dramatic!" His mother's voice came, wafting from the living room.
Keiji scoffed and muttered under his breath, "Don't be dramatic she says...Yeah, sure, easy for you to say, you aren't the one getting married to some vampire obsessed freak. I'm sure we'll have lots in common though. Let's see...we both have two eyes and one nose. Both have one mouth, though I don't know how the teeth compare...Oh! I know! We both speak the same language!"
He flopped his bag onto the ground and made his way upstairs to his room, still ranting sarcastically, "Yes, I'm sure we can have lots of conversations on that. Hours and hours on the phone. Because, see, I'll say something, and then she'll say something back and WE'LL BOTH KNOW WHAT WE SAID! (a gasp)I think that could go on for seconds, minutes maybe. But I'm sure with my conversational abilities, I can stretch that subject out for the rest of my life. And I'm sure our children will be just darling. With my eyes and her horns, they'll be little supermodels."
"Honey, I forgot to tell you!" His mother's voice came again, this time over the intercom system they had set up in the house, "I have a surprise waiting for you!"
Keiji gasped and clapped his hands, "Oh goodie! I bet it's a priest! To hell with the whole 'actually get to know the person before you marry them' crap. It's highly overrated if you ask me. Besides, that makes my job of stretching the 'I speak the same language as you' subject a little less difficult. I'm sure in my room I'll find--"
He pushed the door open to reveal someone he hadn't seen before. Some kid with red hair, sitting on his bed looking slightly bored, but looking up with some semblance of surprise. Keiji yelped and jumped back, not expecting for there to ACTUALLY be a person in his room, then stared blankly at the scene. Taking it all in.
"God." He whispered suddenly, "They sure don't make priests like they used to."
Makoto scowled at him and muttered something in a language he didn't recognize. Keiji backed away a little farther and shouted downstairs, "MOM! You couldn't at least have had the decency to get a priest who spoke Japanese!"
"I DO speak Japanese!" The kid snapped, "And I'm NOT a priest!"
"Aw, Mom, you got me a little brother?" He said, eyebrows raised in a sort of mocking gesture, "I think I'll name him Timmy."
"Would you please be serious for once!" He ordered tersely, "I'm your American Exchange student! Remember?"
Suddenly, Keiji looked pale, "...No."
"You've got to be joking. You didn't even know I was coming? I'm staying with you for the rest of the school year and you DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS COMING?"
"...to put it bluntly, yes." Keiji breathed, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, shaking his head and rubbing his temples, "I don't believe this. I don't believe my parents. What the heck were they thinking! I DO NOT need this right now!"
"Gee thanks."
"No offense," Keiji hissed with an insane looking grin plastered on his face, "-But shut the hell up. I'm trying to think." Then he smacked his forehead and said, "No, no thinking. Take action. TAKE ACTION."
And with that, he bolted back out of the room. A smile of amusement spread on the lips of the already disgruntled exchange student when he heard loud clunks all the way down the stairs as Keiji ran into the living room to confront his mother. Notfiguring he should follow, Makoto O'Brien spread out on the bed slightly and smiled with spite at the ceiling.
"Oh, you were so right, Jane." Makoto thought aloud, "This really is delightful."
And as the silence of the room was broken with sudden loud shouting from downstairs, he whispered almost inaudibly, "Welcome home."
Yay, I think that's substantially longer then the other. I have mixed feelings about the ending (roughly the last quarter of the story) I'm not sure if I like it or not. I think I like the way Makoto came in, he marks the start of the second wave of characters. There's about four more. I hope I'm not giving you all a character overload. (insert anime sweat drop here)
Well, just to make some room in your minds, sadly we aren't going to be seeing Rai again for quite some time. We won't see Cheza either...but no one really cares about her. She'll pop up every once in a while, but her character doesn't really have too much that you have to remember about her. Except for the fact that she's trying way too hard to fit into the stereotype, but you've probably figured that out by now.
Anyway, the next chapter should be fun to write. More on Amarante, Makoto's first night at Keiji's home as he realizes that not everyone takes too kindly to Americans...and Leiko and Keiji's first date. (dun dun duuuun!)
I'd like to thank all of my reviewers IMMENSELY for their feedback, comments, concerns, and tidbits. So far not one flame to speak of. And I have over 30 reviews for only 8 chapters. I do believe that's cause for celebration, but unfortunately, because I'm not allowed to do "interactive" fics, you'll have to celebrate on your own. But I can send you all virtual brownies to aid in that! Woot!
I've noticed while writing all of this there are a ton of side stories. I can't post them here, because they would conflict with the story plot line and might get confusing put all together. I'm thinking of making a livejournal where I would post random things like that. Side stories, character profiles, pictures and the like. Please tell me if you'd be interested in something like that.
Quite a long author's note this time. I don't know who reads these and who doesn't. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!
