Title: I Thought I Knew You

Author: Ari

Warnings: Little tiny itty-bitty bits of yuri. (NelxClaire), OOCness (I think), um…over emotional Fayt, woman bashing, Once again, not much happens in this chapter except some friendly bonding…I'm getting there! Yaoi fangirls hold your horses!

Disclaimer: Zzzzzz…(snore)…Star Ocean…Zzzzzzzz…(dream)

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Chapter 6:

Women are so…

Being a Tuesday with classes cancelled, the grounds around the school were packed with students. It was warm out and boys and girls could be seen sitting under trees, lounging on the old walls around the perimeter, kicking hacky-sacks, eating lunch, sleeping, and a few very exceptional students were studying.

Albel lead the two of them and made his way quickly out of the dorm building, taking the walkway heading left that passed the school. He only stopped once to talk to Ororon and two other people. Two guys, one with messy brown hair, jeans, and a green tank top, and the other in black jeans and a black zip up shirt that had been left open. A long braid of brown hair was flipped over the guy in black's shoulder, and Fayt wondered why any male would grow their hair that long. He stopped that thought the moment he remembered how long Albel's hair used to be.

Fayt made sure to stay few feet back from the small group, he didn't want to intrude on whatever they were saying to each other. But he did catch a few words like clubbing and Dios, but not enough to make a full sentence.

As Albel was turning to leave, a third guy dropped down from the tree above them. His longish black hair was held up in a huge bandana that had handwriting all over it. He looked distinctly Korean to Fayt, but he may have been Chinese. Albel glared at the guy and said a couple things to him before he made his way back over to Fayt.

"Albel, who were they?" Fayt moved up to walk next to The Wicked One, his curiosity overriding self-preservation. Albel simply shrugged.

"The braided one's Duo and the one in green was Heero, his boyfriend. I mentioned them before…" Fayt nodded his agreement to that statement. "The guy that dropped in on us, literally, was Ryang Jegal and his girlfriend Fanta."

"Girl? I didn't see a girl."

"You didn't see her? She was up the tree too." Albel watched Fayt shrug and turn away, trying to hide his mild embarrassment.

"Yeah, well, I didn't see the guy before he came down either, so…"

"So?"

"So…I don't know! Just 'so'!" Fayt's hands flew up in a large and over exaggerated shrug of irritation and the childish antic made Albel smile; secretly of course, Albel The Wicked didn't ever smile in public.

"FAAYT!"

Albel turned in just enough time to see Fayt face plant right into the ground, his sister sitting in shock on his back.

"Oh God! I'm sorry, Fayt." She laughed a little, yet still failed to move from her position. "Fayt, are you alright? I called you a dozen times and you didn't hear me. I was wonder-" her sentence was cut off as Albel's hand gripped her shoulder tightly and yanked her off of her brother, causing her to flail to the side.

"Thanks…" Fayt mumbled and Albel gave a curt nod because he was still trying to figure out exactly why he was upset at Maria.

"Are you okay?" Albel simply asked. The blue-haired teen nodded and pushed himself off the ground and began brushing off his pants.

"Fayt, why are you hanging out with…Albel?" she said his name like it was a foreign disease.

"We're going out." Fayt said simply, staring down at his sister. Maria's mouth dropped open and the color drained from her cheeks. Albel grinned and slung an arm around Fayt's shoulders, jerking the younger man closer to him.

"Yep! We're in loove!" a fake look of confusion plastered itself on his face at Maria's blank look of shock. "What? You're not happy for us?" Maria stayed slack jawed on the ground, and the conversation began to actually register in Fayt's brain.

"Wha…? Uh…No!" he shouted while shrugging off Albel's arm. "We're not together, we're just going out together! But not together! And we're not going out, we're only going out! I'm just taking Albel to lunch, but it's NOT a date! He said he'd pay next time, even though there won't be a next time! And-"

Albel watched in delight as Fayt hurriedly rambled on and on about how they were going out, but not 'going out.' Finally, after he had been fully amused, Albel clamped a hand over Fayt's mouth to silence him.

"I think your sister gets it, Fayt. Chill ou- Ugh! You licked me!" Albel snatched his hand back to wipe it on his pants and glared at Fayt. The blue haired boy had a wicked smirk on his face, and the tip of his pink tongue was still sticking out.

"Don't cover my mouth." He said, the grin only growing wider.

"Fayt! That was incredibly nasty! How could you?"

"I hate when people cover my mouth! It's your fault!"

"My fault! How is it my-"

Maria watched in rapt fascination as her brother and Albel The Wicked playfully bickered back and forth. To her, Fayt looked like an embarrassed and falsely accused puppy and Albel looked like a rumpled cat.

She was completely forgotten by the two, so instead of interrupting, she simply turned and made her way back to her dorm. If they wanted to fight like old house wives, she didn't want anything to do with it.

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Fayt shoved his way through the over crowded hallways, trying to reach Nel on the other side. She was leaning on a locker, talking to another girl with silver gray hair held back by purple ribbons.

"Nel! Hey, Nel!" Fayt finally escaped the moving river of bodies to stand beside the two girls.

"Good morning, Fayt. Have you met Claire?" the red head gestured to the woman next to her. Claire smiled and gave a small bow.

"Hello. Nelly has told me so much about you, Fayt. I'm Claire Lasabard."

'Nelly?' he wondered, glancing suspiciously at them. Fayt shifted his weight to the other foot. "Lasabard? Are you related to Mr. Lasabard?"

"Yes," Claire said with a smile. "He's my father." Fayt and her laughed over a couple jokes cracked about they're crazy teacher for a while.

"Fayt?" Nell broke in after a moment. "Where were you yesterday? Cliff and I couldn't find you."

An embarrassed blush spread across his face. How could he have forgotten Nel and Cliff? The three of them always ate together! He hesitated for a moment; a quick glance at Claire and the sight of her curious face damned him to tell the story.

"I…uh…was with Albel." He mumbled. Both girls stared at him, wide eyed and Nel even dropped her bag.

"What! How could you ditch us for that…that…that cretin!"

Fayt sighed. "Aw, Nel. He's not that bad. And I was with him because of our Symbology project."

"Symbology?" Claire piped up, a look of interest on her face. "You take Symbology? Isn't it a fascinating subject?"

"Dear," Nel cut her off. "That's beside the point. I want to know what Fayt was doing with…with…Albel." Fayt began to wonder why woman seemed to always hiss his name in disgust and loathing.

"We have to give a report on our partners, and find out how they're connected to Symbology." Fayt smiled at Claire's gaze of obsessive curiosity.

"Did you find out how Albel's connected?"

"Yeah. He has a moving tattoo, created by Connection and Manipulation to form the moving design." (1.) Claire mused on this for a while, before nodding and confirming that it would have worked. Finally, she raised and eyebrow, a not so good smirk on her face once again.

"How are you connected to Symbology, Fayt?" she asked. "According to the teacher, everyone is connected in some way. Some people just more than others…"

"I don't think I need to tell you that." The bell rang overhead, and Nel gave a small tug on Claire's hand.

"We should get going."

Claire nodded and the two of them said goodbye. Fayt watched them walk down the hall towards they're classroom, his eyes settling on they're intertwined fingers. He wasn't sure what to make of it; so instead, he just decided to forget about it, he needed to find Sophia anyway.

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It didn't take long for Fayt to find his girlfriend. Or should we say: it didn't take long for Sophia to find him?

The poor boy was walking into the cafeteria, wondering if he wanted anything to eat before he went back to his dorm, when Sophia's high-pitched scream of 'FAYT!' sounded through out the room. He winced unconsciously at the loud noise that seemed to want nothing more than to damage his eardrums. Before he could even turn around, the girl threw herself on his back, causing him to almost fall once again.

"Fayt! I was looking all over for you!" she said, laying a quick kiss on his cheek. "I didn't get to see you yesterday! You better not have been out with some other girl!"

Fayt grinned and shook his head, shifting a little so he could hold her up more easily. "No, I wasn't with a girl, Sophia. Don't worry. I was working on a project." For some reason, Fayt got the feeling Sophia really wouldn't be happy that he'd hung out with Albel all of Tuesday.

"Good! Because if you cheated on me, I'd be so angry! I'd have to cry and wine to all my friends, and they I'd have to get them to hurt you back for me! The days would be so lonely without you! I wouldn't have anyone to take me to the water park this summer and-"

Fayt listened to her ramble on and on about how much his breaking up with her would hurt her. She was still on his back, but he really didn't care too much. Well, her hips were boney and digging into his sides, but he could deal with that.

Fayt listened to her tangent about the two of them getting a nice house after collage, and Fayt began to wonder why all the girls he knew were crazy.

"Sophia, graduation is four years away. Don't you think it's a little…early, to be planning our lives together?" he winced at how mean that sounded, and hoped she wouldn't notice. Luck was once again, not with him.

"What? Don't you love me?" she asked him, leaning close to his ear. "We've been going out for a few weeks now, don't you think you should know? Haven't we had fun together?" her eyes narrowed at the boy's head below her. "You don't like me anymore? Or is it that you found another girl? I bet that's it!" she wiggled her way down from Fayt's back and glared at him.

"Aw, come on Sophia. You know-"

"I can't believe you! You probably have a crush on one of the flighty girls I see you with! I know you don't care all that much about me, the fact that you wont plan our lives after collage proves you don't intend to try and take this very far!"

"Sophia! You're over reacting! Four years is a long time! Anything could happen-"

"Never mind, Fayt. I have to go." She mumbled. "You're still coming to my party right?" Fayt nodded; of course he would still go.

"Sophia, I care about you, but we really haven't been going out for very long. Hold off the marriage at least for a month…"

"Fine." She huffed as she turned to leave.

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Fayt slammed his tray down at the table, causing Mirage and Cliff to jump slightly. The angry and confused look was on they weren't used to seeing on they're little freshman's face.

"Fayt…what's wrong?" Mirage's hand landed softly on his arm, which he pushed off quickly.

"Nothing." He snapped. Cliff and Mirage shared 'a look' before turning back to Fayt.

"But dear, if you're upset, it will help to talk about it." Fayt glared at Mirage once again.

"I said, leave me alone!"

"But Fayt…" She tried once again.

"No! Damn it, woman! Mind your own business!"

"Now hey!" Cliff stuck in, starting to stand. "She's only trying to help! You need to talk a little-"

"Look! I don't need your 'help,' okay? Why don't you just go screw around with Albel again, Cliff!" Fayt froze as the words flew from his mouth. He hadn't meant to say them, but it had just…just happened! "Look…I'm having a really…irritating day. So just leave me alone." Fayt stalked away from the table and back to his dorm.

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Fayt happily stomped his way back through the halls, quickly making his way back towards his dorm. He took a quick corner and ran smack into a warm body.

"Watch it!" Fayt snapped again. He glared at the person on the floor and noticed it was Ororon and standing behind him was Albel.

"Look dude, you ran into me. I don't think-"

"Look, you ass, I don't care what you think. All I need is to get back to my damn dorm and freaking get some sleep! I really just-"

"Ororon," Albel cut in. "Take off, I'll handle him."

"Handle? Handle! I'm not just an object to be palmed around and handled! I-"

"Fayt!" The Wicked One grabbed the boy and spun him around to meet his eyes. "Chill out, you can bitch to me. I'll make you some tea or something."

Ororon sat on the floor, watching in interest as Albel lead the over heated boy back to his room. He wasn't sure what he thought of the new, developing friendship, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Ororon had no say in what Albel did.

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"So, what the hell's wrong?" Albel demanded as he pushed Fayt into one of the stools.

"Women! Maria jumps on me and scorns you, Sophia's pissed at me 'cause I don't want to plan my entire life with her yet, Nel's being all weird and lesbian like, and Mirage wont stay out of my business!" he paused to take a deep breath. "Albel…why are woman so…"

"Irritating?" Albel suggested. "Annoying? Whiny? Stuck up? Fake? Puny? Stupid? Flouncy? Clingy? Loud? Nosey? Psycho? Weak? All of the above?" Fayt couldn't help but smile as Albel began listing off all the derogatory words he could think of for woman.

Fayt watched as Albel once again, moved around his small kitchen making instant tea while he himself sat at the counter fuming. When it was done, Albel handed him a mug and Fayt glared at it, clutching it tightly. Albel pulled up another stool and sat down to watch his younger…friend? Rival? Acquaintance?

"So…? Lover's spat?" he asked simply. Fayt's grip on the cup tightened even more.

"I guess you could say that." He hissed.

"You want to talk about it?" Fayt's glare turned on Albel.

"No." he spat and Albel shrugged.

"Fine. Whatever."

For some reason, Albel dropping the topic so easily made Fayt feel better. It was nice to know he had a…friend…who wouldn't pry for your every secret.

They sat in silence for a while, before Fayt decided to tell The Wicked One what had happened. He didn't know why, but Albel was just trying to help. He was only trying to be nice. For once.

"She wanted to make plans for us after collage."

"What? Already?" The Wicked One didn't seem to understand either.

"Yeah, and after I said I didn't want to, she went crazy. Asking me if I loved her, saying that I should since we've being going out for a couple weeks. Then she went and accused me of 'finding some other girl.' I told her that was nuts, but she just stormed off." Fayt sighed and gazed at his cup. "I'm blowing this out of proportion, aren't I?"

Albel shrugged. "I don't think so. I know I wouldn't want some…woman planning my life."

Fayt lifted his head to stare at The Wicked One. "Why am I talking to you?" the shock in his voice was obvious, like he'd just realized whom he was having a friendly conversation with.

"Come again? I believe you're conversing with me because of crazy female problems. You went on an angry rampage through school, knocking down innocent bystanders and yelling at them until I saved you, took you to my room, gave you tea and allowed you to unleash you're wrath upon myself. That's why you're talking to me."

"Oh." Fayt paused before adding, "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Albel?"

"Yes, maggot?"

"Women are so…bothersome."

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1. Once again, Kaorustalker30 has helped with her wonderful review and has confirmed that this may have been possible. Thanks!

Notes: Grr…writers block…but look! I'm still getting you chapters! It's just taking longer than I wanted! And now that I have Fayt and Sophia together, I have to get them apart! Whahahahaha!