So, the next chapter is done :) huzzah. Reviews!
AllisonWalker- I'm sure you are; Kumiko, however, is not –grins- Jonouchi was a big big meanie.
Samurai Angel- Everyone shall find out what Jonouchi did to poor little Kumiko, don't worry. It just may… take me a little while to tell you all, heh heh –evil laugh- well, I'll say that I'm keeping it from you all just to stall because I don't know where I'm gonna fit it in just yet XP. I'm continuing on in your story; sorry it's taking me so long!! You're not the only one who's asked me to read over their stories, so bare with me; I'll finish it…eventually.
ShibiChicken- Eep. Ok, I won't use your name anymore, and I'll spell it right from now on when we talk : p. And actually I think Jonouchi as a bully fits very well; what I was taking into account was his personality before Yugi met him and Honda—they were bad boys (in the manga they're even part of street gangs). So, the fact that he bullied Kumiko isn't that far off. I certainly hope this next chapter entertains your majesty –bows-.
SladesDaughter- I finally got your email. And I'm taking my sweet time replying to it. Har. I'm glad that you like Jonouchi's part in this, but shame on you for not having Seto at the very top of your list! Finger of shame! –points- Shaaaaaaaaame!
Kikoken- Development, eh? Well, I tried :) thanks for the comment!
Hikari, Lady of Light- No, you shall never know what happened! MWAHA! Eh heh, well yeah you're gonna find out, I just didn't put it in there so that people could woooooonder –waggles fingers- I hope you like this chapter as well, even though you still won't know what happened! Am I evil? Maybe.
Jade Wyvern- wow, you sure did whip through my chapters, and pushed the reviews up a bit :) arigato! And don't worry, I won't wait until the very end to explain what happened between those two… it just may be a little later on… or it might be the next chapter… who knows where my twisted mind will go? Oh, the possibilities…. –snaps out of it- oh, and I finally read a chapter in your story; only two more before I'm caught up! Like I said to Samurai Angel, yours isn't the only story I've been asked to read. I have requests coming in from my other stories, too -.-.
So! Here is chapter 7! I hope you all enjoy it, as well as the picture that comes with it; look for the link to Harmful Crush, Chapter 7 in my profile if you want to see it! Now, off to random meandering…somewhere… hey! How's about in my head? Yeah…
Chapter 7: I Feel Pretty
The next day was a bit uneventful. I went to class, watched Seto… but my mind was more on Katsuya. It was so weird to see him again, especially since he looks the same, just taller. I don't think I changed much, either, since we last met. I certainly know my chest hasn't changed, since that used to be one of his favorite things to make fun of me for. He used to make fun of me even though he hadn't hit puberty yet! I could have shot so much stuff back to him had I the courage, but nooooo. All I can do now is think about how sweet it'd have been if I had said something.
During lunch I saw Shinobu sitting with his usual click of friends, and he was introducing Katsuya to them. When Shinobu saw me come out, he muttered something to his friends and patted Katsuya on the back before ambling over to me.
"You doing alright?" he asked, smiling at me.
"Yeah, I'm better. I'm a little tired because I cooked so much, though," I said, slapping his stomach.
"Well, it was good eatin'. I was just trying to get Jono some friends today." He turned back to peer at his crowd of friends, who had started talking vibrantly amongst themselves, Katsuya with his hands in his pockets, occasionally saying a small sentence or two, but other than that he was just standing there.
"He doesn't look too comfortable," I said, feeling a slight pang of guilt because the sight of it made me grin inside.
"Yeah, well, no one's too open when they first meet people. I told my buds to talk about all the good places to eat, since he loves food." Shinobu shrugged and turned back to me. "You look pretty today," he said suddenly.
I smiled sheepishly. "Y-you think so?" I wasn't about to tell him, but that morning I had taken extra care in getting ready for school—I had gotten halfway through putting on some lipstick before I stopped and took it off, deciding that'd make it too obvious. I had a little blush on, and my teeth looked whiter since I had brushed them twice, for maybe about 2 minutes each time. That's how long dentists recommend, isn't it?
I swear I had never seen his mouth smile that wide. "You're so cute! Kaiba's gonna go nuts over you!"
I flinched, waving my hand to shush him. "I never said anything about Seto!"
"Oh come on, Kumi-chan," he laughed. "I have never known you to spend extra time on something unless you want to make a good impression. This is your first day being in Kaiba's group in math. Is it really that hard to put two and two together?"
I sighed. "I hate your logic."
He put a hand on my back. "I know. You know what you could do to make yourself look even nicer for Mr. Obsession?"
"I told you it wasn't for Seto!" I knew it was hopeless to deny it further, but I felt like it anyway.
"Alright, well to make yourself look nicer in general," he said, switching the words. Without waiting for a response, he moved his hand up to my head and tugged out my hair tie.
"Yagch!" I scooped up my hair in my hands, smoothing it out. "Shinobu, I spent a long time brushing it this morning! Give that back!" I bunched my hair into one hand and used the other to practically scramble up his arm, as he was holding it above my head.
"No. Just let your hair down, Kumi-chan, trust me." He gently made me release my grip and I felt my hair cascade onto my shoulders—boy did that feel weird. I ran my hands a few times through it, starting to worry about the little bump the hair tie had made in it. I was sure it looked weird. "There, you're a knockout," he said, smiling at me and patting the top of my head.
"Give iiiit!" I whined, trying to jump, but he smoothly stretched it and snapped it away; it soared across the courtyard and landed a few feet away from his friends. I turned back to him and glared. "I hate how I look with my hair down; you know that."
"And I think you look ten times prettier with your hair down; you know that. But," he shrugged apologetically. "The fact is, it's over there now. You still want it back?"
I was about to rebut that he should go get it, but I stopped when I saw Katsuya look at the ground beside him, hunching to pick up my hair tie. Oh. God. I looked at Shinobu, but he was peering at the same thing I was, and I pretended to suddenly find interest in the bricks in the wall behind him as he waved at Katsuya and pointed at me.
"Stop it!" I whispered fervently.
"Don't worry, Kumi-chan, he won't come over here; he remembers how you acted yesterday. Hey," he said, bending over slightly to be at my level. "Do you need to talk about what happened between you two? It seems like it's pretty bad, going off of how horribly he affected you yesterday."
"I'll tell you sometime," I said, attempting to smile. I was beginning to think that I did overreact a little bit; it was probably because everything seemed to happen at once and I wasn't ready for it. Now that I had accepted that Katsuya was back in my life, I didn't feel like I needed to run away to save myself; it had quieted down a bit to just wanting to avoid him at all costs.
The bell rang, and everyone immediately started into the school building. As Shinobu and I meandered forward, I saw Katsuya still standing where he had been. He was looking at my hair tie, slowly rubbing it between his fingers. One of Shinobu's friends called him, and he jumped a little, turning his head to look towards the speaker, nodding. When he began to leave, I saw his hand slide into his pocket, and my hair tie was gone.
It wasn't long before math came, as I kept thinking about why Katsuya would want to keep my hair tie. Maybe he just wanted to have something to tease me with? I thought it unlikely, but my train of thought would always stop there. So, I thought the same question over and over again, which didn't help much.
When everyone went to their study groups to look over homework, I nervously smoothed my hair out again and looked down at my paper, knowing very well that Seto and I would have nothing to discuss except… well, nothing. After a second I realized that Seto hadn't moved from his seat. I gazed at his back, feeling my stomach sink as my suspicions from the day before were confirmed—he only signed us up together for show.
Well, whatever. It was stupid to get my hopes up. Who'd want to be in a group with me, anyway? Seto works better by himself and so do I. So it works. We've made a mutual agreement already without even speaking to each other. He turned around in his seat.
"Are you going to come over here or what?"
Me? Come over there? Why? Oh, right. I gathered up my books and stood up, sitting down again in the empty desk next to his. He didn't look up from his paper or anything when I got settled. Why the heck did he want me to come over so that he could just ignore me? I cleared my throat; maybe I could come up with something to talk about.
"Well, I pretty much got everything." What the hell? How is that supposed to start up conversation?
"I'm sure you did," he muttered, not changing his position at all.
I suddenly remembered a question that had popped into my head before. How should I ask it without offending him? Should I try to hint it, or should I just come out of the blue? Will he even answer me? Ok, just… start talking and maybe it'll work out.
"Urm… there's something I've… I've wondered a few times, S-Kaiba-kun." Whew. Almost slipped and called him Seto right there.
He finally lifted his gaze to me, once again halting my brain's functions without even trying. "What."
"Well, it's not… it's not that important, really… just… never mind," I trailed off, starting to write again. Damn. I just messed up a chance to talk to him. I saw a long, slender hand grip the side of my desk and it suddenly was pulled a few inches toward him. I gulped, hopefully not too loudly, and looked at him again.
"We both have nothing to do, so why don't you just ask me?" he said, leaning his hand upon his fist.
"I-I really don't think—"
"I might have a hunch as to what it is, and I know what my answer is already. Just ask, Kumiko." What the hell is he getting at?
"I was just—just wondering… why… why you're in the same math class… as me…" I mumbled, hoping to God that he wouldn't become enraged.
Surprisingly, I saw no hint of offense—on the contrary, he blinked and looked a bit confused for a second. Did I say something wrong? Was my grammar off? What was the matter?
"What?"
I hurriedly took the opportunity to elaborate. "It's, well, I just thought it's a bit weird, since… well granted I'm a little ahead of most people in my grade… but—" Oh God, for the first time I'm going to be complimenting him to his face. "—I'm sure you're-you're much smarter than just about everyone in the whole school, so I was just wondering why-why you're in the same class as me." Did that sound ok? Did I just make myself look like a doofus?
He snickered slightly, sitting back in his chair. "It's only for show, really. I've excelled too much, so the administrators of the school suggested that I receive private tutoring in Business Calculus and Statistics while studying regular Calculus and Algebra 2 in school. I see no point to it."
As he went back to work, I felt weird. Granted, I did get my question answered, but his initial reaction was what was getting to me now. Was my question not what he thought I was going to ask? What predecided answer did he have for me? I wanted so badly to ask, as it nagged me through the whole class period, but I immediately forgot about it when class ended.
When he and I stood up, I unconsciously fixed my hair again before picking up my books, attracting his attention to me again. "Your hair's down today," he said, packing his books away in his briefcase.
"Oh-yeah, that," I said, blushing a bit. "My friend Shinobu stole my hairtie and—"
"It looks better."
I think something along the lines of "Heh?" escaped my lips as he left, but I don't think he heard me. Did Seto Kaiba, the guy of my dreams, just…. compliment me? No. Oh my God. He—how—wait—my hair—he—no—was Shinobu—ARGH!
I couldn't think of anything; my mind was in total chaos. I only knew one thing for sure as I quickly walked home that day—
Tomorrow I'm wearing my hair down.