A/N: Whoo! Well, I never actually expected people to read this, but…whoo! (cough) Alrighty, I'll just shush after saying a quick thank you to all of you who took the time to review! SHMANK YOU SO MUCH! Alright! On with the story!
Disclaimer:…Tal has run out of witty things to put here, so while she would thoroughly enjoy owning SDK (especially Hotaru) she sadly does not.
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Growling under his breath as he prowled the halls, Shinrei could not help the glare that settled on his face as he searched for his brother. They had both been called to the office, but only Shinrei had shown up to receive the message from their father and, while it was not really important, it had irritated him that his brother had not shown up at all. Now he had spent most of his lunch break searching for the moron he called his younger sibling.
Pausing slightly as he passed a window that looked out on the sunny day, the pale haired teenager swore softly as he realised that he had just wasted the past twenty minutes looking inside the school when he should have known that his brother was outside.
Heading for the nearest exit, Shinrei pushed it open and lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the sun's glare. His eyes skipped over the students having lunch on the grass around the school, searching for the blond head of his younger brother. A small smile of triumph flashed across his face as he finally located him, but it was quickly lost as his anger returned.
Quickly crossing the grounds to the picnic table his brother was stretched out on, Shinrei balled his fist and, after considering driving it into the side of his brother's head, punched his side. He felt a small flare of victory when the other grunted, but it was lost as confused eyes turned to look at him.
"What was that for?" Keikoku demanded, rubbing his assaulted side.
"Why didn't you go to the office?"
Keikoku's shoulders lifted in a shrug as his eyes lifted to the clouds circling over head. "It's a nice day out so I didn't want to."
Shinrei felt his body tense as he got ready to yell at him, but Keikoku continued before he could say anything.
"Besides, I knew you'd go and that you'd find me if I didn't."
The angry tirade Shinrei had planned left him in a small angry huff. "You still should have gone, Keikoku."
"Don't call me that and why? Whenever they call us both it's usually just dad saying that he won't be home for dinner or something like that."
"It's your name and I'm going to call you by it if I want to. You're right though," he added as an after thought.
"I am?"
"About them calling us both to the office," Shinrei explained, feeling his irritation rise again at his brother's dense nature.
"Oh. So dad's not going to be there for dinner?"
Shinrei shook his head as he leaned back against the table, his own eyes looking up at the sky above. "Mmm, he said that he's probably not going to be home until like midnight."
"…Nothing new," Keikoku said dismissively.
Shinrei did not answer as he watched the clouds that had caught his brother's attention, attempting to find what the other found so interesting up there.
"Do you think I could get a cat?"
Blinking at the sudden and random question, Shinrei looked down at Keikoku. "Where did that come from?"
Keikoku shrugged again. "I don't know. I want a cat."
"Why do you want a cat?"
"Because I do."
"That's not a reason, Keikoku!"
"You got a dog when you wanted one just because so why can't I get a cat?"
Shinrei blinked again at the soft anger in his brother's voice and he tried to remember the event Keikoku was talking about. "Keikoku," he finally said with a groan, "that was ten years ago!"
"So? You still got what you wanted just because so why can't I?" Hotaru persisted.
"Did you ask Father?"
Keikoku made an irritated sound and rolled off the table. "Like he'd listen to anything I said," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away.
"Maybe if you listened to what he said he'd listen to you."
Golden eyes were snapping with fire as they glared at Shinrei over his shoulder. "Why would I listen to someone who hates me?" he growled before turning away.
Shinrei watched Keikoku leave, his anger at the other returning before it was lost on an irritated sigh. Lifting his hands to rub at his temples, he tried to stop the headache that always came after talking to Keikoku. How did he remember something that happened ten years ago and then forget something like turning off the stove after he's done with it? Gah! I don't understand him at all!
Shaking his head, Shinrei pushed himself away from the table, brushing off his pants as he did so. He glanced over all the students outside again, feeling the small muscle above his left eye twitch in irritation as several girls smiled and waved at him. Not wanting to, but doing it anyways, he glanced in the direction Keikoku had gone and felt his shoulders sag as he saw that his brother had joined up with most of the Deeper Drove. His mind wondered, as it had every time this had happened, if his younger brother somehow had the ability to predict what Shinrei wanted to do before he himself even knew as he started walking towards the group.
When he had gotten within earshot of the group, he seriously considered turning around as he listened to all the ridiculous ideas the Kajiya kids were throwing at Yuya, who held a pen and notebook in her hands. His actions were cut short when her eyes landed on him and lit up. Biting down on the groan that rose in his throat, he watched her bounce up from her seat and rush over to him.
"God, I'm so glad you're here!" she whispered, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the rest of the group. "I love them to death, but they've had too much sugar or something," she said, jerking her head at the laughing Kajiya clan.
"When do they not?" Shinrei asked dryly, tugging his arm away from Yuya, not wanting anyone to think that he actually enjoyed being around these people.
She smiled at him and went back to her seat. "Well," she said slowly, looking at the group around her, "it looks like almost everyone's here, except Kyo and Yukimura, but that's to be expected."
"Wait," Mahiro cut in, her face shocked. "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to force anyone into this?"
"We did and I didn't. He agreed on his own."
The entire group stared at her in collective shock before starting to look around for their elusive member.
"He wasn't in second block," Shinrei muttered, his eyes focusing on Yuya as she frowned down at her book.
"So no one's seen him since first break?" Yuya said, her frown deepening.
"Well, we saw him briefly," Kyoshiro said slowly, glancing at Sakuya who nodded, "but all he did was steal my money and then disappear again."
"We can go look for him!" one of the female Kajiya twins said with a grin.
Shinrei bit down on another groan as the entire clan seemed to agree with the idea except for the eldest two, who were giving the younger ones funny looks.
"Yeah, like Kyo really wants the entire drove searching the school for him, Lilian," Anthony said dryly.
"But we need to have his input too!" the other twin cried.
"Kyo's input would consist of only putting down every idea we came up with," Shinrei pointed out, not at all liking the idea of searching the school for someone he did not want to really find.
"You don't have to look for him," Akira said quietly, his soft voice cutting through the babble going on around him.
"And why is that?"
Pointing across the group, he said without looking, "He's coming."
Every pair of eyes snapped onto the elusive member of the drove, causing him to frown slightly. "What?" he growled when he reached them.
"Nothing!" Yuya said quickly, a smile on her face. "So now that we're all here-"
"There's only ten minutes left of lunch, Yuya," Saishi pointed out.
"-I just wanted us to figure out where we should meet after school since we don't have enough time to discuss anything right now," she finished with a small look at Saishi.
Several of the older students stared at her in shock while the younger ones began to avidly discuss the topic.
"You wanted us all here just for that!" Kyo demanded, his irritation evident in his voice as it rose above the excited babble of the Kajiya kids.
"As much as I hate to do this," Shinrei said with a glare at Kyo, "I have to agree with Kyo."
"And why would you hate to agree with me when I'm always right?" Kyo asked, his crimson eyes locking with amber. "Like being wrong all the time, water lily?"
Shinrei's teeth clenched at the nickname and he hissed, "Don't call me that!
"Aw, but you are," Kyo continued. "Such a fragile little water flower!"
The two seniors glared at each other, both of their fists clenched in preparation for the fight that was imminent.
"Stop it, you two!" Yuya cried, getting to her feet to rush over to them. "We don't need you two fighting!"
"Back off, ugly," Kyo growled, shoving away her hands as she tried to pull them away from each other.
"Let go, Yuya," Shinrei snapped, shaking off her hands.
"Don't snap at Yuya!" Tora cried, getting to his feet and pulling Shinrei around to glare at him.
"Back off, kitty," the pale haired teen snarled. "I don't want anything to do with you!"
"Don't call me kitty!"
"What are you going to do about it?" Shinrei sneered.
"I'll show you!" Tora snapped, taking a swing at the other.
Shinrei dodged the blow and so did Kyo as Tora continued through with it, knocking Yuya to the ground as he pushed her out of the way. As soon as the young blond hit the dirt, most of the drove exploded into the fight as well, wanting to both get Yuya out of the way of the older boys' fight and to see if they could actually get a blow in on one of the guys.
Shinrei fought down a laugh when he saw Kyo back hand Tora for trying to hit him, but it was cut off as a fist connected with his stomach. His eyes moved over to find his brother's face near his and Keikoku's fist in his gut.
"Stop it!" Yuya cried after Akira had pulled her from the fray and helped her to her feet. "You guys grow up!"
Fights between the boys of the Deeper Drove were almost always identical to the first one they had ever had. They mainly consisted of a single member being rubbed the wrong way, throwing a punch or a tackle at someone, missing, striking someone else and causing the relative intelligence of the group to dwindle to nothing as it became a brawl to see who could beat all of the others into submission. The other key component of these fights was that no amount of yelling from the girls ever got them to stop. This fight was no different from all the others.
The males of the Deeper Drove ignored Yuya's cries and continued to fight amongst themselves. Shinrei recovered enough of his breath to pull back and smoke Keikoku in the cheek. The elder brother watched as the younger stumbled back slightly before a new threat came at the pale haired youth in the form of a red eyed demon. Ducking the punch Kyo threw at his own head, Shinrei was just about to strike out at the other's unblocked midsection when a sudden burst of water fell over all of them.
"What the…Yukimura!" Kyo growled as his eyes swung to the grinning senior who was holding a rather large and rather empty bottle.
"Now, now, boys!" Yukimura said in a cheery voice that belied him sadly shaking his head. "That's not any way to behave!"
A low growl came from behind Shinrei and he glanced over his shoulder to see Keikoku shaking out his wet hair, a murderous look in his eyes. Without thinking about it, Shinrei grabbed his brother's arm, preventing him from trying to strike Yukimura. When gold eyes swung to lock with his, he faced the other's anger straight on and shook his head. "He isn't worth it, Keikoku," he muttered, shaking the arm he held.
"You'd fight him," Keikoku accused under his breath.
"Since when have you ever wanted to do something that I did?"
Keikoku jerked violently at that and Shinrei released him in surprise, shock rushing through him at the flash of emotion he had just seen in the other's eyes. Shaking his head as Keikoku moved away, Shinrei just accounted the emotion to be a trick his own eyes played on him, them being watery from the unexpected attack from his brother.
"Are you alright, Shinrei?"
Looking down at the soft voice, Shinrei brushed aside Saisei's concern with a soft grunt and moved to lean back against a tree. He watched as the drove found their seats again, some of them grumbling about the water and ringing it out of their hair. His brows drew together slightly when he heard Kyo suddenly chuckle and the sharp smack of a hand connecting with skin had the entire drove looking around for the next fight.
"Tora, you pervert!"
"I'm not the one who tossed the water, Yuya!" Tora protested, cradling the cheek that had just received an intimate introduction to Yuya's palm and trying to keep his eyes off of her.
"You're the one who's looking!"
"It's not the idiot's fault that you forgot to put on a bra this morning, ugly, although you probably wouldn't need it."
Yuya's cheeks flared and she rounded on Kyo with her arms crossed over the front of her soaked shirt. "Who asked for your opinion!"
"Ah, ah, Yuya," Yukimura interrupted. "You called us all together to discuss when we should get together to talk about the project yes?"
Flipping the wet end of her hair over her shoulder with a toss of her head, Yuya jerked her head in an irritated nod. "Yes. Thank you, Akira," she said with a smile as the boy held out his jacket to her.
"Do not mention it, Yuya. It's the least any respectable person would do."
"What's that supposed to mean, brat!" Tora cried.
Lifting curled fingers up to his chin, Akira glanced in Tora's direction and smirked. "Am I to assume that you can't even understand a simple statement?"
"Can we get this over with?" Shinrei demanded, his irritation rising at the idiotic fighting that was making him spend more time in the presence of these people than he really wanted to.
"Fine," Yuya said, giving her wet notebook a shake before shaking her head. "Where are we going to meet?"
Silence fell over the group as they each considered which one of their parents would be best suited to handle all of them.
"What about the park?" Mahiro said suddenly. "It's big enough for all of us to have our own space and then we don't have to bug our families."
"Any objections?" Yuya asked, looking around the drove.
Shrugs and grunts rang around the group.
Planting her hands on her hips, Yuya shook her head again. "Look," she said shortly, "we all agreed to do this of our own free will so everyone's got their own opinion in this. If you don't want to go to the park say something."
No one said anything.
"Alright, now when?"
"Seven," Sakuya said quietly. "Everyone should be done all their after school activities and had dinner."
"Any objections?"
Silence rang again.
Green eyes narrowed as Yuya looked around the group. "Are you all just agreeing with everything to get me to shut up?" she accused.
"Well, what do you know," Kyo sneered. "There is some hope of intelligence under that dog face of yours."
"Kyo, you-"
"If we're done here, I'm leaving," Shinrei said shortly before Yuya could explode on Kyo. Pushing away from his tree, he turned towards the school and left the drove behind. He could hear them arguing again, but he brushed it off. The only reason he had agreed to work with them was because of the promise of a full scholarship and he figured it would be easier for them to get closer to that goal if the whole drove went for it together instead of splitting up.
Shaking his head slightly to clear it of thoughts of the drove, he pulled open one of the doors of the school and stepped back inside the air conditioned building. Turning down one of the corridors, he frowned when he heard the door open almost as soon as it closed, but brushed it aside, figuring another student had just come in. Walking down the hallway towards his locker, he gradually became aware that someone was following him and not doing a very good job of hiding it. He did not glance over his shoulder nor speed up. He had nothing to fear from whoever it was and if it was one of the drove looking for another fight, he would be more than happy to give it to them.
When he reached his locker, he caught a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye and turned slightly to find himself face to face with his younger brother. His breath left him in an irritated huff and he turned back to his locker, he was not going to prompt Keikoku to talk when he did not want to speak to the other in the first place. As he searched through his locker for his books for his next class, he was completely aware of the gold eyes that watched him avidly, as if waiting for some sort of sign that it was okay to start talking.
After pulling out his books, Shinrei swallowed a growl of annoyance and looked at Keikoku. "What?" he demanded.
"You never really answered my question."
White brows drew together as he tried to remember what the other was talking about. He felt a brief flash of panic at the thought that he might be becoming as slow as his brother, but he brushed it aside and merely attributed his not understanding to the fact that no one could understand Keikoku. "What question was that?" he finally said, closing his locker with a small slam.
"About the cat."
Shinrei felt his face going slack in shock and quickly pulled his composure together before Keikoku saw it. "How should I know? I'm not in charge of the house."
"Dad's never there so even if he didn't want me to have one I should be able to keep it from him."
"How are you going to manage that? Forget that, how are you going to take care of a cat when you can barely take care of yourself?" Shinrei asked, glaring slightly at his brother. "How do I know you're not going to just light it on fire or something?"
Shinrei rocked back on his heels as Keikoku gave him a look that clearly stated who the blond thought was the idiot of the two of them. "You don't set cats on fire," he snapped. "You light hair on fire and you missed a spot," he added before walking away.
A hand immediately went to his hair to see if Keikoku was right and that he had actually missed getting rid of some of the singed hair before he froze as realization washed over him. Keikoku had not actually managed to light his hair on fire this morning. He had just played him.
Despite the fact that he had just been played a fool by his younger, idiotic brother, Shinrei could not help the small smile that crossed his lips as his hand dropped back to his side. Score one for Keikoku, I guess, he thought as the bell echoed through the school. Not that I'll ever tell him I'm keeping score…He probably wouldn't understand anyways. Stupid idiot.
The smile was still on his lips as he headed for his class.
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A/N: …Okay, I know I suck at insults. The whole 'water lily' and 'kitty' thing? That's sad and I wish I could think of something better to put in there, but my mind's just too nice to come up with anything good. Stop laughing, Kag! Mmm, sorry if the chapters don't seem to be going anywhere yet, don't worry! These are more to just get you familiar with the families and for those of you that know Yuan's family…yes, I've completely screwed it over but it's such a large family and I had such a hard time finding all the stuff about them before I started writing this so it's kind of willy nilly. But besides that, I hope you liked and please review!