A/N: Well, here's the next instalment of the story. Not much to say about it except I had fun writing it and I'm sorry if Akira seems a little off in some parts. Oh, I do have to give some credit for help with the story.

First off to the lovely people at the LJ community love deeper for putting together that oh so wonderful character map that is like a god send for any fan of SDK! Thank you so much! Without that I would have been so lost on Yuan's family!

Next would have to be sylvacoer/ The Narrator. I kind of stole an idea from the picture that you drew for the minitokyo sdk group because I had no idea how Akira was going to really be able to do some things in the classroom. So kudos to you for the whole computer thing! …Oh and he is blind in this story, it's just in the last chapter I hadn't really decided if I was going to do that to the poor boy so I was kind of vague about it. (rubs hands together) Akira/Yuya fluff eh? I was thinking about it, but we'll just have to see where the story takes us! And yes…boys are stupid aren't they?

And to all the reviewers, wow, I can't believe you're actually reading this and liking it. (scratches head) Oh well, thank you anyways! It's always nice to know what people think of this and I do like the input! I am also open to suggestions, but just keep in mind that I may not actually use it. So yeah, other than that, I don't think there really is anything. On with the story!

Disclaimer: Would really, really, REALLY like to own it, but she doesn't…which is probably a good thing since she can't draw worth a damn.

To anyone who looked inside the classroom, it would look like only silence rang through the room. Almost all of the students were bent over the papers in front of them, diligently working to finish their test before the bell rang. Any person who thought this would be wrong though.

The soft sound of pens moving over paper filled what looked like a silent room. Occasionally, the harsh scraping of a shoe against the tiled floor or the gentle whisper of hair shifting across someone's forehead would penetrate the haze of pen scratching. A new sound over took the other as the short raps of the teacher's ridiculously healed shoe tapped against the side of her desk, signalling that her students were not the only ones who wished the day to be over with.

Leaning back in his chair, a small smirk crossed the face of the only student in the room who was no longer working on or mutilating the test in front of him. He found it amusing that for every test that they wrote each person in the class behaved in the exact same way, no matter which class they were in nor what it was on.

Near the front of the classroom, Yuya was staring down at her test paper, tapping her pen against her lips as she tried to figure out what the next answer was. Two rows behind her, his cousin Tokito was drawing abstract beside each of the numbers, most likely the symbols off of her beloved tarot cards. The twins, Saisei and Saishi, were sitting beside each other in the row behind Tokito, both of them still bent over their papers, but Saisei was going over her answers, while Saishi was still working on the final questions. In the same row, but on the other side of the classroom, Kotaru sat poking holes in the edges of his paper with the tip of his pen. In the back row, the final two members of the Deeper Drove in this class were sitting, Akira listening to all that was going on in the supposedly silent classroom and Hotaru drawing little stick figures on the back of his test paper.

Tipping his head to the side slightly, Akira tried to focus on the soft scratching of Hotaru's pen to figure out what exactly his absent minded friend was drawing. His brows drew together in frustration as he could not find any sort of coherence to what the other was doing, but he shook it off. Hotaru rarely did things that made sense to anyone.

Akira heard the weight shift on the chair next to him and knew that Hotaru was now looking at him.

"Why are you listening to me?" the blonde boy muttered softly under his breath.

A brow lifted at that and Akira murmured back, "What makes you think that I was listening to you in particular?"

"I could feel it."

Akira tried not to laugh at that. "Feel it? How did you accomplish that?"

"Just because you don't watch with your eyes, Akira, doesn't mean that other people can't feel it when you're watching them."

Silently stunned at the comment from his normally dense friend, Akira was about to comment on it when he heard the teacher's attention shift from whatever she had been focused on to them. Both Hotaru and he immediately fell silent as her eyes narrowed on them.

"Damn," Akira muttered as he heard the wheels on the teacher's chair slide against the floor as she pushed away from her desk.

"Just shut up," Hotaru mumbled, turning back to his drawings.

Akira mentally rolled his eyes, wanting to tell his friend to heed his own advice, and kept his focus on the teacher as she approached the back of the classroom. He silently sent a prayer upwards to whoever was listening asking them to keep Hotaru from saying something that was going to land the both of them in another detention.

"Is there some reason the two of you were ignoring the rules for test periods?" the woman asked softly as she reached the row they were sitting in.

Both Akira and Hotaru looked up at her, but remained silent.

Akira heard the muscles in her face shift as she lifted a brow at them. "Well? I would like an answer."

The blind young man heard as the class seemed to shift as one to stare at the scene going on at the back of the class and he bit down on an irritated sigh as he was once again reminded of the fact that no one seemed to be able to mind their own business in this school. He could feel the amusement of some people as they settled in to watch Hotaru and himself get in trouble, but he just let it roll off of him as his focus moved to completely fall on his supposed partner in crime. He wanted to know the exact moment when the blonde decided that it was time for him to actually say something so he, Akira, could cut him off to keep them from getting in more trouble.

"Talking in class is not acceptable," the teacher said sharply when neither of them responded to her, "especially when a test is taking place."

A small snicker from somewhere in the room, most likely his cousin Tokito, distracted Akira for the mere millisecond that it took for Hotaru to respond.

"Then why are you talking?"

The question was so simple and so typical of Hotaru and since it was a typical statement for him it got the expected response from the teacher.

"Don't get smart with me, Saikyo," the teacher snapped.

"I was just asking a question."

"Speaking of questions, you still haven't answered mine! Why were you two talking during the test? Were you sharing answers?"

"We were not," Akira said firmly, annoyed with the idea that the teacher thought that he would cheat. "I merely wanted to know what Hotaru was drawing."

"I'm sure," she sneered. "Both of you are going to have detention after school. Now give me your tests. If I find that your answers are worded the same or are remotely similar, both of you will receive no marks for this exam."

Akira's hands clenched and he heard Hotaru bristle beside him as his paper was snatched away from him. Slowly forcing his hands to uncurl, the blind young man pulled the small memory stick from his laptop that he had saved his test on and held it out to the teacher. His ire rose as she snatched that away as well, but his face betrayed nothing as he waited for her to get away from him.

"That wasn't fair," Hotaru growled under his breath. "I wasn't done drawing yet."

A small huff of laughter left Akira at his friend's misplaced anger, but he did not comment on it. Leaning back in his chair again, he let his focus drift away from the scratching pens and shifting feet and started concentrating on the thing that was piquing his curiousity. This project that the Crimson King had announced sounded interesting, but he was more curious to see what the drove finally agreed upon or if they could even find anything that they would find satisfactory. If the drove was good for one thing, it was never agreeing on one particular thing.

His musings were cut short as the teacher's voice rang through the classroom. "Time's up! Put down your pens!"

Trying not to count all of the pens that were dropped to the desk, Akira tipped his head towards Hotaru and murmured, "How long do you think the wicked witch is going to keep us here this time?"

Hotaru's shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug. "It was an hour last time."

Akira fell silent as the teacher walked past the pair of them, his muscles tensing as he felt her glare at them. The bell rang as she began walking towards the front of the classroom and the entire class save Akira and Hotaru jumped up from their seats. They stayed where they were, waiting for the teacher to tell them what menial chore they were supposed to do this time.

A small muscle above Akira's right eye began twitching in time with the irritating tapping of the teacher's fingers against the top of her desk. He could hear Hotaru shifting in his seat, both of them impatiently waiting for the teacher to finally speak.

"I think," she said slowly, "that you two should clean the classroom thoroughly today. I want every board washed, the floors scrubbed, desks realigned, books returned to where they should be and new supplies where they are needed."

Akira's foot connected with Hotaru's shin when he heard the blond inhale to make a comment on it and a small smirk crossed Akira's face as the other's breath left him in a hiss.

"I'll go find a janitor to get you the stuff. You two stay here and wait for me to come back."

The two boys still did not make a sound as the teacher left the room. Akira could feel Hotaru's eyes on him as he listened to the clacks from the heels fade down the hallway and he nodded slightly when the teacher rounded a corner in the hall.

"Well this is nice," Akira said sarcastically.

"Did you have to be somewhere else?"

"I'd rather be anywhere else besides this class. That witch is probably going to watch us work again."

"…So you noticed that she did that, too?" Hotaru said softly.

"How could I not?" Akira growled. "It's not like she actually tries to hide it."

"Does it creep you out as much as it does me?"

"Does she make your skin crawl?"

"Yes."

"Does she make it feel like she's watching you for something you'd really rather not think about?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, she creeps me out as much as does you."

"Do you think we should do something about it?"

"Like what? Hotaru, as much as I hate to admit this, but she hasn't really done anything that's out of order so nothing would get done about it. Besides, we can't even say she's giving us too many detentions because every time she's got a fairly valid reason. All that they'd say is that we're imagining it."

Hotaru tipped his head to the side as he studied his friend. "Why does that sound like you've already tried?"

An angry flush covered pale cheeks. "Because I did," he muttered. "After the first three detentions with her, I went to talk to one of the councillors and they told me that I was probably just upset because I never get detentions."

"Well you don't."

"But you're feeling uncomfortable too," Akira said quietly, not even really hearing Hotaru. "Maybe they'll listen to me now."

"Uh…Akira?"

"They won't be able to deny it with Hotaru saying the same thing. They'll have to listen to us."

"Okay, you're talking to yourself."

"I mean, this sort of thing could be considered harassment! I don't care if it is hard to get people to come here to teach! This sort of thing is unacceptable!"

"…Did I ever tell you that I think you dress funny?"

"Where did they say that she came from?" Akira muttered. "Oh! Miami! I should check into it and see if there were any other complaints about her."

"You smell kind of off, too."

"If I can get enough information on her that proves my point, they won't be able to not do anything about it!"

"You're never going to finish school."

"Maybe I should just go talk to the Crimson King instead. That might be a better idea than going back to those idiotic councillors."

"You fight like a girl," Hotaru said hopefully.

"Mmm, maybe it isn't a good idea. Auntie Hikito might get involved and then they might think that I went to her to get sympathy."

"…I heard Yuya finally agreed to go out with Tora."

Akira's whole body gave a lurch as Hotaru's statement washed over him, cutting through his personal tirade. "Eh! Where did you hear that?" he demanded of the other.

"Mmm? Oh, were you finally listening to me?"

"…You were talking?"

"Mmhmm."

"…About what?"

Hotaru shrugged.

"…Were you just spitting out random things again?"

"At least I wasn't having a serious discussion with myself."

The flush returned to Akira's cheeks, but he did not get a chance to respond as the teacher once again returned to the room. The two boys fell into complete silence as she walked to her desk and sat down. A second person came into the room, carrying all of the equipment that they were going to need to clean the room.

Akira stowed his computer inside his bag and slowly got out of his seat. He stopped when he heard that Hotaru had not moved and did not seem like he planned on it. "Hotaru, get up before she gives us more to do," he said from between clenched teeth.

"I don't want to do this," the other growled. "I don't like being watched."

"Neither do I, but after we're done here we'll go talk to someone about her. Now come on."

"I thought you said you were going to check into her before you did that."

Akira jerked again. "You were actually paying attention to what I said?"

"It was kind of hard not to. You were getting kind of loud."

"Well, whatever. Get up, Hotaru. Let's get this over with as quickly as we can so we can get the hell out of here."

Hotaru grunted softly before pushing himself off of the chair. "Doesn't really matter," he said as he moved past Akira. "It's not like anyone's going to miss me at home."

"Ah, come on. You know Shinrei's going to get all pissy because he's going to have to do all of your chores again."

Akira heard Hotaru's lips twitch as he smiled slightly before his friend murmured, "I guess so."

Both of the young men felt their bodies tense as the teacher settled down in her desk to mark the tests she had just gathered in and their hopes of her going away were effectively dashed. Taking the cloth Hotaru held out to him, Akira tried not to laugh at the disgusted sound that left the other as he stared down into the bucket of soapy water.

"It's just water, Hotaru," Akira murmured, keeping his voice low so the teacher would not hear him. "It's not going to bite you."

"Says you," Hotaru growled, splashing his cloth in the water before quickly pulling his hand away from the liquid.

Akira shook his head as he dipped his own rag into the steaming water. Ringing it out carefully, he followed Hotaru to the white boards and began washing away all of the dried ink marks on the board.

"Isn't this kind of mean to you?" Hotaru asked softly at one of the times they were near each other.

"Why?"

"I know that you have a good idea of what's going on around you, but how do you know if you miss a spot?"

Akira smirked at his friend. "That's what you're for. You're supposed to tell me when I do something like that."

"I am?"

"Of course, Hotaru, I mean, I can't really see what I'm doing now can I?"

Hotaru snorted and shook his head. "That's bullshit," he muttered as he started working his way to the other side of the board.

Akira grinned to himself. While he did not like the fact that he was getting these detentions for ridiculously idiotic reasons, he did not mind the fact that Hotaru was usually there with him. While the two of them had grown up together and did seem to have personalities on opposite ends of the spectrum, they were actually fairly close.

As they were finishing with the boards, Akira heard the door open rather quickly and both boys jumped as it slammed into the wall.

"What is the meaning of this?" the teacher demanded.

"It's your car! Someone lit several of the cars in the parking lot on fire! The Crimson King told me to come get you because yours is one of the ones on fire!"

"What!"

"Quick! He wants you in the parking lot now!"

"Right! Oh, when I find out who did this!" she growled as she rushed from the room.

Akira and Hotaru looked at each other before turning to the girl who had just rushed in. "Tokito, is there really a fire?" he asked sceptically.

"Yes, Akira, there really is a fire."

Akira grunted as Hotaru pushed him back into the boards to get past to the window. "Hey, there really is a fire! There are six cars on fire!"

"Tokito," Akira said slowly, ignoring the excitement in Hotaru's voice, "did you have anything to do with the fire?"

Tokito scoffed as she moved into the classroom and sat down at the teacher's desk. "Hotaru's the pyromaniac, Akira," she said as she pulled out her tarot cards. "I didn't have anything to do with it."

"Who did it then?"

"Mmm, I'm not telling you."

"Which tells me that you did have a part in it," Akira said under his breath. Turning to Hotaru, he said, "Will you get away from there? We have to finish cleaning so we can go home!"

"But the fire…."

"Don't worry, Hotaru," Tokito said consolingly, spreading out her cards. "I'm sure there will be another one soon."

Akira wished he could hit his younger cousin without getting in trouble, but he did nothing as Hotaru left the window with a sigh.

"So what's next?" Hotaru asked as he threw his cloth in the bucket of water, causing some of it to splash onto the floor.

"…Tokito, can you-"

"I'm not doing your detention, Akira."

"I wasn't going to ask you to," he returned shortly. "I just wanted you to tell me how many books are missing from the ones on the shelf."

"Oh." There was a pause as Tokito did what he asked. "Seven on the top and four on the bottom."

"Thank you," he said, turning his focus to the room to find the books.

"Uh, what am I supposed to do?" Hotaru asked as Akira started moving through the desks, picking up the books lying on top of them.

"Look and see what supplies need to be replaced," Akira instructed as his fingers traced over the patterns on the cover of the book, identifying it as one of the ones that needed to go on the top shelf.

He heard Tokito sigh and push her chair back. "Hotaru, you're hopeless. Look the pens are over here."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"Don't you pay attention when she…Oh, never mind. I know you don't."

Akira smiled to himself and scooped up the book off the desk. He wound his way through another set of desks to the shelves and began putting the books away.

"Hotaru! That's where the blue ones go, not the red! Wait, you don't even have any blue pens!"

"I don't like blue. It reminds me of water."

"…That doesn't mean that you can ignore it! Don't put that in your pocket! Hotaru! Don't steal stuff from the witch! You already get in enough trouble as it is!"

"Hey! Give that back!"

"It's not yours!"

"So!"

Akira bit down on his lower lip as Tokito let out an aggravated snarl. "Oh, come on, Toki-chan," he called to his cousin. "Let Hotaru take the pen if he wants it."

"Don't call me Toki!"

Slipping the last book he had been carrying onto the shelf, Akira turned to face his glaring cousin. "Why, Toki-chan! That look doesn't suit you at all!"

"Akira, stop it!" Tokito growled.

"Aww, Toki-chan, you're too sensitive. Hey!" Akira cried, dodging the pen that Tokito threw at his head. "What was that for!"

"What do you think, idiot?"

"Ah, you need to loosen up, Toki-ch-Gah!" Dodging another pen, Akira shook his head. "Fine, you little wench, I'll stop for now."

"You better!"

"Did you just let her win because she tossed a couple pens at your head?" Hotaru asked incredulously.

Akira lifted his shoulders in a shrug and helplessly spread his hands. "There's not much you can really do about that, Hotaru. Toki-chan gets very irritable when she doesn't get her way so we try to keep her happy whenever we can. I think it has to do with the fact that she's the baby of the family and oh so delicate that we have to handle her with kid glo-Ha!" Akira said triumphantly as he caught the latest pen Tokito threw at him.

"Stop dodging them and let me hit you!"

"Uh, how about no?"

"Are you two done?" Hotaru asked.

"We're never…what did you do to your face!" Tokito cried. "Oh, god, Hotaru, what the hell did you do that for!"

"I like it," Hotaru said defensively.

Akira bit down on his laughter, knowing exactly what Hotaru had done to his face as he had seen it before he had lost his eyesight. "Aw, come on, Toki-chan, if Hotaru wants to draw on his face what's the big deal?"

"He's sixteen, Akira, and stop calling me that!"

"So what if he's sixteen? If he wants to draw the marks on his face, he should be allowed to draw them on his face."

"You're not helping, damn it!"

Looking straight at his cousin, Akira grinned at her and said, "I wasn't trying, my dear Toki-chan."

Tokito let out a frustrated noise and stomped back to the teacher's desk. "You two are the most annoying people in the world!" she growled as she started lying out her cards again.

"Mmm, I think Shinrei's the most annoying person in the world," Hotaru disagreed.

"Well, I'm sure he thinks the same about you, Hotaru."

Shaking his head, Akira turned to Hotaru. "Did you finish restocking the witch's stuff?"

Akira heard Hotaru's clothes shift as he shrugged. "Sure."

"So, we just need to realign all the desks and wash the floor."

"You can wash the floor," Hotaru said shortly. "I'm not touching that water again."

Sighing at the expected response from his friend, Akira moved up to the front of the classroom.

"Hey, Hotaru," Tokito said curiously as the boy began pushing the desks back to where the little marks on the floor showed where they were supposed to go. "If you don't like water, does that mean you don't have showers?"

"I shower."

"But if you hate water so much wouldn't that mean that you'd avoid it."

"I do hate water, but I hate it even more when Shinrei and him yell at me for not taking a shower so I take one."

"Him? Oh, your father, right," Tokito mumbled as she placed another card down.

Feeling his lips twitch in a smirk as he gripped the mop handle, Akira innocently remarked, "Why, Tokito, I never knew that you were so interested in Hotaru's bathing patterns."

There was a moment of stunned silence before Tokito broke it with an enraged cry.

"Akira, you ass! What the hell was that about?"

Akira tried to keep a straight face when all he wanted to do was laugh. "Come now, Tokito. You really shouldn't be asking those kinds of questions if you don't want to get those kind of remarks."

"Ugh! Are you out of your mind! I wouldn't go out with an idiot like Hotaru!"

"Now, that's just mean!" Akira continued, baiting his cousin along. "You're insulting Hotaru!"

"Eh?" the blonde said blankly, looking up from where he had been staring down at the desk he was moving.

"…Oh, that's great, Hotaru," Akira said scathingly.

"What?"

"Never mind. Just finish up so I can start mopping and we can get out of here. Hey, Tokito, why are you still here?"

"I have to stay here until you two are done."

"…You did have someone start those fires didn't you?" Akira demanded.

"I did not, Akira. Mahiro and I are coming over for dinner, remember?"

"Dinner isn't for another couple of hours."

"No, but Mahiro went home with Yuya so I was just going to go home with you."

"Joy for me," he muttered softly. "Hotaru, are you done yet?"

"Eh?"

"No, he's not. He was too busy staring at the butterfly outside the window."

Akira refrained from saying anything. He merely bent his head so his forehead was resting on the mop handle and sighed as he realised this last task was going to take a while.

A/N: Well, there it is. Once again, sorry if Akira seemed a little off with the whole talking to himself and all, but it's really hard to keep them in character all the time. Oh and if anyone's wondering and hadn't picked up on it, Mumyujinpu High isn't exactly a top end high school. I just thought I should clarify that because it's really going to come into play later on in the story and I don't need confused readers. Well, that's all for me this week so hope you enjoyed!