Clandestine Affair
Written by: ChaosMagicianGirl
Date: 4 December, 2005
Chapter one: The Beginning…
A/N:
Okay, so here's the next instalment of Clandestine Affair. This chapter might be somewhat confusing, so to take away some of the confusion. This is where the actual story starts, right from the beginning. Hope that clears up some things. Anyway, enough said, enjoy!
"…." Spoken lines
'…' thoughts
xxx time jump
----
Listlessly nibbling on her chocolate chip cookie, Shizuka's eyes roamed over the pages of her book, taking in absolutely nothing, and failing in desperately ignoring the girls behind her. A task she had set for herself, but one that proved to be impossible.
Of all the whispering taking place behind her back, one voice was the most intelligible, and presumably the loudest. She wasn't aiming for discretion, she wanted to be heard.
"I swear, even fashion designers wouldn't be desperate enough to give her a make-over. Have you seen the clothes she wears outside school? She's beyond help! I bet her mother still shops for her! She's such a loser!"
As if by an ironical twist of fate, their gazes clashed, and Kumiko Satsuke, one of the most popular girls at Shizuka's school, fixed her with a purposeful, scorning gaze, knowing Shizuka had heard her.
Knitting her eye-brows into a frown, Shizuka scooped up the rest of her lunch, slung her bag over her shoulder, and strolled off.
She had had enough…
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
How she hated that bitch. But she hated her own timidity even more. She should have said something to shut her up, but no, Shizuka Kawai was far to adapt at slipping into the role of submissive, meek, little shy girl. A role she was all too familiar with. Disgustingly weak, that's what she was.
Suddenly feeling sick to her stomach, a ball of vile bile wanted to worm its way up.
Almost arriving at her locker, she noticed a group of girls blocking her way much too late….
A thud, and a painful crash later alerted her to the situation at hand.
'Oh, no…Did I just?'
"Oof!" came the muffled groan of a girl, who was now lying with her back flat on the cool, tiled floor of the hallway.
Her eyes widening considerably, as realisation started to dawn on her, Shizuka instantly stiffened, her frame becoming rigid and stiff.
She wanted to apologise when…
"Get off of me, you ahondara(1)," the girl snapped at her, pain laced into her tone of voice.
The rest of the group of girls was sending disapproving glances in Shizuka's direction.
Looking down, Shizuka's face flushed. She was positioned right on top of the girl. Getting up with difficulty, as she untangled herself from the mess she had gotten into, Shizuka removed herself from this awkward position.
"Gomen(2)," Shizuka quietly mumbled as a means to apologise, "I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, so.."
"You don't say?" the girl enquired in a mocking manner, stating a rhetorical question with quite an obvious answer.
Bowing her head in an apologising gesture, she feebly offered, "I really am sorry…"
"You better be…" one of the other girls chimed in, adding her opinion to the mix.
Seeing the state Shizuka was in, and her anger ebbing away, the girl decided to give her a break. "It's alright. Just watch where you're going next time.."
Pasting a small smile onto her face, although it was killing her right now, Shizuka nodded affirmatively. "I will.."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
With a thoroughly resigned demeanour Shizuka barged into her home, tossing her bag into a remote corner somewhere. To hell with her mother's neat, nitpicky nature. She could care less right now.
Trudging up the stairs, she quickly fled to her room, her only sanctuary in this house and the world it seemed.
Though weak she might be, she flat-out refused to cry in front of other people, and she always strictly followed that rule. She wouldn't give certain people at her school the satisfaction of witnessing the impact their words had on her.
One crystalline drop leaked down from her left eye, and blinking, she tried to rid herself of it, while at the same time kicking off her shoes.
However, no matter how hard she willed the oncoming onslaught of tears to leave her alone, they would not, and so she just gave up and let them fall.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Humming along with a melody playing on her Discman, Shizuka put the last finishing touches to her latest sketch. Roughly, and busily shading it, she was too engrossed with what she was doing to hear her mother come in.
"Honey, didn't you hear me call?" her mother spoke up while placing a hand on her shoulder and successfully startling Shizuka out of her wits.
Whipping her head around, Shizuka met her mother's expectant gaze. Calming down when she noticed it was only her mother who scared the crap out of her, Shizuka shook her head as an answer to her mother's question.
Moving to stand behind her, her mother's long, slender fingers started to run through her hair, automatically obeying an old habit by starting to braid it.
"You know, instead of doodling around on a piece of paper, you should be doing your homework," her mother remarked, as she eyed the sketch Shizuka was working on, and the lonely forgotten pencil resting beside it.
"I know, it's just…"
"Nu-uh..," her mother interrupted her, before she could finish her sentence. "No buts or excuses young lady," And as if to emphasise her statement her mother gave a gentle, reprimanding tug on the now finished braid.
Releasing an inaudible sigh, Shizuka silently cursed her mother's doting, protective nature.
How old was she again?
Oh, yes, fifteen going on sixteen..
Whenever her mother was concerned, she always had to remind herself of that fact.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"It's bad enough the school uniforms have such short skirts, and you're obligated to wear them on school grounds! But at home I don't want my daughter prancing around like a slut!"
Her mother was on another one of her famous ranting escapades and she showed no signs of stopping anytime soon, so Shizuka, who was, by now, sick and tired of them, decided to silence her.
"Mom, please!" Shizuka was an inch from almost strangling her mother, and said person wasn't exactly helping things.
As if she hadn't heard a word of what Shizuka said, she merrily continued on.
"It's preposterous! Who in god's name designed these uniforms? Perverted old men, who wanted young female Japanese students to flash a little leg?"
The only way to get her mother to shut up was to go change clothes. …
So she participated in that course of action, leaving her mother behind, ranting and raving in the kitchen.
In her room she traded her skirt for simple jeans, and relieved herself of her school jacket. She rolled her eyes in an annoyed fashion, when she heard her mother was still at it downstairs….
"Dear Kami(3)! Will someone please shoot me already?" Shizuka spat out in a hushed manner.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mindlessly pouring herself a bowl full of cereal, and adding milk as a rather vague
afterthought, Shizuka joined her mother at the table, who was already enjoying her daily dose of black coffee in the morning.
Seating herself, Shizuka began the process of spoon feeding herself with her own created breakfast.
Her throat felt strangely parched dry, and Shizuka discovered the endeavour of crunching on equally dry, albeit crunchy cornflakes weren't exactly a ride on a pleasure cruise.
Mentally rolling her eyes at that peculiar observation, she stifled a yawn.
She had trouble sleeping last night. Three guesses as to why.
Her mother's gaze unglued itself from the news paper pages and settled on her, her eyes scrutinising the rather obvious dishevelled appearance that happened to represent Shizuka.
"Goodness, you look like something the cat dragged in," she commented, raising one of her eye-brows.
"I'm so glad you noticed," Shizuka muttered darkly, her mood changing from bad to worse.
Damn her mother's observation skills sometimes. But when she really needed to be observant, her "efforts" always came up short..
Ignoring what she had said, or not hearing her at all, her mother continued, "Anyway, what I wanted to tell you, before I forget, this package was delivered for you just yesterday.."
"What package?" enquired Shizuka curiously.
Her mother only pointed toward the kitchen counter, before averting her eyes back to the pages of the newspaper she held in her hands.
Shrugging her shoulders at her mother's lack of a response, she got up and walked over toward the kitchen counter, and indeed spotting a package, she made a greedy, grabbing motion for it, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Turning it over in her hands, she scanned it for an address to find out who could have possibly
sent it to her in the first place. She really couldn't remember ordering something. ….
Spotting the address of the one who sent it, her eyes widened momentarily, before narrowing. She risked a glance at her mother.
'Hmmph…no wonder she didn't show any enthusiasm..'
Taking a look at the clock, she figured the package had to wait till after school…
Or else she would be late…
Gulping, a feeling of dread settled in her gut. She really, really didn't feel like going to school..
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As soon as the bell rang, signalling the end of yet another tedious and tiring school day, Shizuka had to suppress the urge to sprint home.
Feeling giddy, and an unusual bounce in her step, Shizuka transported herself to the estate she called "home", leaving her classmates and other people behind to wonder about her off-key behaviour.
However, she wasn't about to clue them in to her plight. ..
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Practically ripping open the package to reveal its contents, Shizuka was surprised to find a video tape and a sealed envelope with her name on it.
Not hesitating for even one second, she popped the video into the VCR.
Static filled the screen for mere moments, and Shizuka bobbed up and down on the couch, impatiently waiting for anything or anyone to appear on screen.
She was rewarded for her effort of waiting as the background of a messy bed room filled the entire screen.
Oh boy, if her mother were to see this, Shizuka could envision clearly in her mind, her mother storming over there, and making the whole bedroom go through her special clean routine. Okay, that was ridiculous, but to say her mother was a neat freak was an understatement.
She should have herself genetically engineered to make a broom sprout out of her ass, so that anytime, anywhere she could sweep the floor.
Despite herself, Shizuka laughed at that particular thought. However, her attention was returned to the screen, as a particular voice vouched for her fancy.
Her brother's face appeared as the camera lens he had used zoomed in on his face.
Seeing her brother again, even if it was on television made feelings stir inside of her, painful and happy ones bubbling forth, breaking the surface.
She hadn't seen him in so long….
She was once again alerted to the fact of how much she truly missed him.
"Hey sis..," As soon as he uttered those words, Shizuka let out an involuntary gasp, and hoarsely called out: "Oni-chan…"
"Guess what?" he continued, totally oblivious to the greeting she gave in return. Her brother's presence on the screen delivered a painful stab to her heart, as much as she hated to admit it. "I've gotten the money for your eye-operation…"
The grin on his face, and the words he spoke had trouble making sense to her, but when they did….
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Shizuka's mother came home from work, she found her daughter in the living room, a torn package on the ground in front of her, and a static filled screen of the television.
Shizuka, who was thoughtfully staring out of the window, looked up when she heard her mother's footsteps.
"Hey..," Shizuka greeted her mother simply, a genuine smile plastered on her face.
"What are you grinning like an idiot about?" her mother demanded to know. "Did you receive a good grade?" she made a wild guess.
Shizuka shook her head in the negative.
"Then what?"
She received her answer in the form of a cheque waving in front of her face.
"Nani (4)?" replied her mother, confused as to what Shizuka was implying. When she noticed a cheque was being waved in front of her face, her mother's eyes widened.
She met her daughters gaze, demanding an immediate answer. Shizuka only grinned even more.
"Where did you..?"
"Katsuya has gotten the money for my eye-operation..," Shizuka cut her mother to the chase.
"He what?" her tone was infused with utter disbelief.
---
A/N:
ahondara - fool/oaf/airhead
gomen - sorry
Kami -god
nani - what
I hope you enjoyed, and kindly leave a review on your way out. Constructive criticism is appreciated, flames will be laughed at or ignored. Take your pick…
The next instalment won't take meas long, since I've got a good part of the story somewhat figured out. That's a definite change. Usually, I just make it up as I go along, but now I'm actually planning the outcome of this fic in advance.
CMG, signing out!
Disclaimer: No © infringement intended. The characters I use in this story belong to their respective owners. This story is written solely for entertainment purposes.
"Clandestine Affair" © ChaosMagicianGirl
No part of this story may be reproduced, unless granted permission by me. Everything I use in this story, except for the reference to Yu-Gi-Oh, is mine. Reproduction of the story content is therefore considered illegal. Laws against © infringement will be enforced if you decide to break the rules.