Disclaimer: … I won't even bother to point out the obvious, MORON!
WARNING: this chapter has a minimum amount of humor. Even less than previous chapters. Oh dear GOD.
A Cool Kind Of Punishment
- Chapter Ten :; Weary Acquaintances
Pristine and Theresa walked leisurely down the footpath that led to their apartment complex, bags over their shoulders, ties loose and tongues waggling.
"Ms. Kentlyn said that Sesshoumaru had been by" Theresa gossiped lowly.
"But she didn't mention anything about anything happening" Pristine pointed out.
"So? I mean, she and Rinz are pretty close, I reckon she wouldn't wanna embarrass Rin too badly, or betray her trust and privacy"
"You have a point, Miss-One-Time-Wise-Words"
"I think Rin is rubbing off on you"
"Hasn't she always? You know how she is! She just… she just… gets noticed you know what I mean?"
"Well yea, duh, Pristine, we've only just been her best friends for nine bloody years!"
"I suppose, but then you'd know exactly what I'm talking about! She's always giving and never getting, even though her methods aren't always err… socially acceptable, and despite all her protests of her greatest reward being 'those sweet smiling faces' she really does deserve something in return," Pristine's voice grew high-pitched as she mimicked Rin.
"Or someone…" Theresa remarked with an evil smirk on her lips.
Rin's two best friends walked home, for once feeling that perhaps Rin would finally be able to have something tangible (and living?) all to herself.
Dear Diary,
What was that? You wanted to read more about my social life at school? Well, since you insist, my dear dairy - I mean, diary.
Our school is segregated into different groups and cliques and the what nots. There's those people that are somewhere in the middle: kinda like me, Pris and Theresa. Then there's the gossipy girls, good girls, smart kids, gothics, punks and so on so on.
On one end of the scale there's the 'cool' and popular people ie. Sesshoumaru (his tagger-ons not included) and his brother Inuyasha with his girlfriend, Kagome, whom I had the ah… shock of seeing some few days ago. Oh yea, and Sango and Miroku.
But then… there's also the other end of the chain where err… well umm… the err… naughtier people lie? I guess? And naughty as in 'I bash you up, steal your money then give you forty cents to call the police' kind of naughty. I guess there's the Thunder Brothers, because apparently they either struck by lighting (which is probably why one of them only has two strands of hair!) or they strike when lightning… strikes? Is it just me or did my English just get worse? There's also the Seven Man Group, or the Shichinintai as they are also known. Really, I could name many, many people. For a school with such an upstanding reputation, we really do pick 'em. Or do they pick us? In the end, I don't really mind any of them. Except for maybe…
Maybe… a former student. Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression but ah… let me just tell you that err…
hekilledhiscrushtogetridofhisobsession. Hehe, I guess you'd want me to repeat that? He killed his crush to get rid of his obsession. Yup, you read right. Not that it was actually proved, but it WAS taken to trial and it was only on the basis that those stupid police officers that arrested him hadn't read out his rights that he was released and it was deemed a mistrial. The worst that could happen to him was getting expelled for posing as a danger to other students. Sometimes you can see him loitering around, wearing his dark, wavy locks just staring into the school. And what's scarier is that sometimes I feel like as if he's staring at me.
Me, of all people.
And I wonder… what could I have done to piss off Naraku so much?
My eyes opened blearily and I rolled over to get into a more comfortable position.
And could you believe it, but I fell on the floor!
Silly me, hahaha… because I always thought that breathing in dust mites was oh-so-freaking-fun!
Yanking on my pillows and blanket like a rope got me up. But let me give you a picture of what I looked like: hunched shoulders, fists clenched and a very vicious scowl on my face.
In less than three seconds I was launching myself onto the bed and throwing my pillows everywhere. Of course, my dad has learnt that buying me duck-feathered pillows are a complete waste of money, so he bought those dura-lux ones. 'All comfort, all resistant' was their slogan. And as a result, no much-desired flying feathers were spewing forth, which of course, made me even more moodier, at which point I kept jumping on the bed yelling "I don't want to! I don't want to!"
Not at the top of my lungs of course, Ms. Kentlyn doesn't need to be reminded of when I was nine and I didn't wanna sell Mr. Rabbit to some snotty-nose kid… but you didn't wanna know that, did you? But really, that's not the point. The point IS that after flinging myself back onto my bed I twisted and turned, therefore twisting and turning the blankets over my body like ribbon like as if I had a seizure. Not that I've wrapped myself in ribbon. Because I haven't. I swear. Really.
"Rin?" My dad came up in a panic, probably scared I had ripped one of my stitches open. Upon seeing the room in disarray and my mouth in a sulky like, he sighed and walked over wearily (and warily) to my bed. "Rin, what is it this time?"
"I don't wanna go to school" I had a strange sense of déjà vu from the third grade but I quickly shook the feeling as my dad sighed again.
"Oh no, not one of those days again" my dad sighed again, and I feared that he may die of oxygen overdose. "Rin, you have to"
"Don't wanna!"
"Rin…" he said in a very dangerously low tone.
"What?"
"Rin, get up and get changed, now!"
"You're not the boss of me!" I challenged, and even I must admit that I sounded childish. But only somewhat so. I mean, he really WASN'T the boss of me. My dad put his hand and massaged his temple with his fingers, the other arm crossed over his chest.
"Alright then, Rin" he said, before hefting me over his shoulder and taking a now familiar path towards my bathroom. Seeing that, I immediately began pounding on his back and squealing.
"Nooo! NOOO! You can't! You can't!" I sobbed before he turned on the cold water and reminding me painfully about the bruise on my sluggish backside - in other words, slamming me into the bath. "ARGH! My buttocks! My precious buttocks!" I cried, rubbing it.
"Rin! Are you alright?" my dad asked in a panic. If I had not been so busy rubbing blood back into my posterior I would have rolled my eyes so instead I glared at him reproachfully.
"Well maybe you should have thought of that before you reminded me of Monday night -" I stopped suddenly. Even though the shock had worn off and I had gotten past it, I had not yet told my dad what had physically happened that night - nor was I planning to. There was an odd silence stretching between us and everything stilled, even my hands.
"Why don't you want to go school?" my dad asked quietly.
"It's nothing…" I mumbled. "Just lazy is all…"
"You'd tell me if something was wrong right?" he spoke, eyes downcast.
"Dad! Of course I'd tell you! It's just that I've gotten used to staying at home these past two days and I'm a little tired and moody…" my dad looked a little suspicious but he answered me.
"Well the doctor did say for you to rest and what do you do? Run around eating junk food and cookies at Ms. Kentlyn's. Poor lady must have had her life cut short when she met you"
"She knows she loves me"
"My life's been cut down too"
"You know you love me too"
"Of course I love you" he replied before hugging me. We stayed that way for a few minutes before I opened my mouth to speak.
"Dad? Is it OK if we turn the cold water off now?"
Giving myself the once-over in the mirror I was finally satisfied with the bandages covering my torso and exited the bathroom. I plucked the coat hanger from the doorknob; freshly pressed uniform draped over, and flung it onto my bed. I pulled one section from the front hemisphere from my head into one ponytail, and repeated on the other side. I wrenched on the grey stockings, seeing as the seasons were changing and humans had unwittingly introduced Global Warming, before jerking on the rest of uniform. I pulled my hair out of my blue jumper and grabbed my bag, checking all my books were inside before grabbing my keys and locking my door, my shoes tapping on the cold cement.
I was, as expected, late to school. I would have been later, of course, had my dad not thought to give me a cold shower. But on the other hand, I would have been on time if my dad hadn't rejected my request of a lift to school (which he had rejected after taking one look at my wet clothes, un-pressed uniform and glinty eyes).
So here I was, sighing as I filled in my late pass, smiling ruefully as the office lady said, "Back again, are we?"
I walked calmly to class, hefting the single strap over my bruised shoulder before I calmly stood in front of the door. The entire school seemed so quiet and calm, I finally realized how much the morning tired me. I knocked on the door lightly and was surprised to see it open expectantly.
"Ohayo" I smiled weakly.
"Rin, there you are. Later than usual, but still here. It's English by the way, not Japanese that we speak" Ms. Ruskit said airily before going back to lecture the class. I made my way over to the desk next to Pristine and dropped the bag from my shoulders before slumping in my chair. Struggling I searched through my bag for my pencil case and in a lethargic state, I began to take notes.
As was usual, the class packed up a few minutes before the bell rang to signal second period and I sighed before standing and almost fell had it not been for the Ice Prince who clasped my arm suddenly and setting myself upright before continuing on his way. I distantly heard a whispers and I made a note to dispel whatever weird rumors were going around while I walked slowly to Math. As Theresa had said, Mr. Dillon had been struck with some sickness and we had a filler. Fortunately, the filler was Mr. Cashew, who would drone on about anything and was pretty much a male version of Ms. Kentlyn.
I slept my way through second period, aware that had it not been for my head resting on the table, eyes closed, I would have been interrogated, along with Sesshoumaru by the entire class. I was strangely sympathetic towards Fluffy before I fell into light dreams of falling from a tree.
I woke up, and although I had not yet opened my eyes, already I knew that I was not still in the math classroom. For one, I was lying on my back, and for two, I could hear only silence before I heard a familiar timbre of voice.
"Rin! Rin! Are you up yet?" I was about to open my mouth to say, "no I'm still on my back" when another voice spoke up.
"Shut up, idiot! You heard what the nurse said, she's unconscious!"
"I just saw her eye twitch!" I was faintly amused at the way the conversation was going, and I decided to stay as still as possible before they realized that I had finally woken. I refused to believe I was unconscious, even though it was obvious that I was knocked out enough to have been sent here.
"Everybody's eyes twitch!"
"Na-ah!"
"Yea-ah!" Pristine retorted and I smiled.
Damn. Trust me to blow my cover.
"Rin!" I opened my eyes to see Theresa and Pristine hovering above me. I stared back up at them and the silence stretched between us. However, the moment didn't last long and in moments both Theresa and Pristine were babbling explanations.
I rubbed my temple and I strained my ears to separate each word from the next. I gleaned that I had not in fact, been asleep, but pretty much unresponsive to even the most vicious shakes and vain attempts to wake me up to go recess. Somehow, I made it here.
"How did I get here?" I asked, puzzled.
"Oh!" Theresa gasped and she straightened her shoulders. I could tell she was readying herself for a 'great' story. "Well, you see" she started, before being cut off by Pristine.
"The Ice Prince carried you here!" Although Theresa seemed a little miffed by Pristine's interruption, she re-established her presence.
"Bridal style!"
"Oh he's so noble!"
I resisted the urge to laugh at their love-lorn faces and coughed instead.
"Oh! You're alright!" cried the nurse, shocking all three us. She flurried around the room, signing papers and grabbing a cup of water for me before sitting down beside Pristine. "You were unconscious, darling. Now," she stood up and reached over to grab a small form, "have you engaged in any sexual activity in recent times? Are you still a virgin? Are you feeling nauseous?" Bemused, I answered her questions (and yes, for your information, I am still a virgin), waiting for her to tell me that I had only six months left to live. I jolted out of my regret when she spoke again. "Now, as you've told me, you've been sick for the past few days and have not had rest" she said accusingly, as though I had commit some crime that was about to end the world. "Now, I want you to drink lots of water today" she emphasized, as though I didn't know what water was, "and not do anything too strenuous" she scribbled something on a yellow piece of paper and ushered me back into the cold.
"What was that all about?" Pristine asked as we made our way to the usual patch of grass that we sat on every recess and lunch.
"Didn't you hear her?" I asked mock-seriously, "I can't do anything too strenuous" I said, emphasizing my words much like the nurse had done. Theresa got onto the game.
"And you cannot, just cannot, be involved in any sexual activity!"
"Feeling nauseous, darling?" Pristine added, patting my belly.
We all lapsed into giggles, and despite feeling tired, I felt happy - and normal.
Was I just being paranoid?
The hallway was empty as I trudged my way towards my locker.
Although I was in a surprisingly good mood, I was dead tired due to:
fighting off rumors about Sesshoumaru and I (the most popular of which was where I was the victim, so in actual fact, I ended up defending Sesshoumaru's honor which, of course, resulted in having his fangirls swooning and crying that of course he would never do such a horrible and desperate thing, because Sesshoumaru wasn't a desperate man, he was a beautiful man and blah blah blah)
having to reason with the PE teacher to let me off PE, only to have to run around for half an hour before I realized that the yellow slip the nurse had scribbled on me was a note of exemption
and pure stress on my body after The Fever and the Fall (don't you think that makes such a good title? Like for a mystery or romance? Or maybe even a romantic mystery!)
I put all my schoolbooks in my bag, having done all my homework during lunch, as was a habit since the days when I had done others essays. I paused in neatening my locker to mull over Greg's words and I realized with a shock that I had not thought much of it in the days that had ensued as so much had happened. Frowning slightly, I walked out of the school gates still pondering what to do with the situation.
I could always simply abandon the situation and focus on my own problems, after all, it wasn't like I had needed the money. And it wasn't like as if I was doing the world the favor by making it easier on them, and Greg had said it himself - it hadn't helped them anyway.
But my own guilt in not helping them do something with their lives consumed my conscience and I didn't notice someone following me out of the school until they had pinned me against the wall. I twisted my head quickly to yell for help but they placed their hands over my mouth and my eyes widened.
"No point in making it more difficult for yourself my dear sweet girl…" I felt a hot wind down my neck and shivered slightly. Despite present circumstances, I managed to find some space within my mind to wonder the differences of how the intruder and the nurse said dear. Feeling my compliancy, he loosened his hand.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I whispered. To my surprise I heard a rich laugh. What kind of thief or robber would have such an indulgent laugh?
"Answering you would kind of defeat the purpose" I felt a chill go down my spine as I pinpointed whose voice it was.
Naraku.
And I felt some sort of sick pleasure having someone so attractive lean his body against mine, mixing with my fear.
"What do you know of Sesshoumaru?" And I have no idea why I answered how I did, but I did.
"He likes wearing boxers and not briefs" I muttered and a chuckle rose from deep within his throat.
"Silly, I would have thought that one of Port Streets most academically-achieved students would be smart enough to know better than to provoke me" he said lowly, leaning against me harder and I whimpered.
"I don't know anything yet, I swear," I whispered, close to tears. I was tired, cold and I wasn't made to cope with such fears as was embodied in Naraku.
He spun me around to face him, but both his arms were on either side of my head and prevented me from running. He stared at me long and hard and I stared back.
"You seem so much like Kikyo… yet so dissimilar" he whispered, and I was shocked at the longing in his voice. He leaned closer and I found myself not cringing…
A/N: HAHAHAHAHA! I was gonna add more but decided… THIS WAS THE PERFECT CLIFFHANGER! (dodges the online tomatoes) kekekeke… I am so indescribably evil that I make myself … CRINGE! Hehehehe… Anyways, I tried to get this one out ASAP 'cause everyone was complaining about how long it took me to update, so here it is! Anyways, I'm really sorry about the wait for last chapter, but assignments and blocks and everything, very difficult conditions.
KitKat07: Wow, I was so breathless when I realized that such a popular fanfic writer had reviewed my story, and I'm really thankful you enjoy my story when I thought it really sucked.
CometsChaos: Hehehe, I hope your story isn't growing any mould…
AngelofFire: Thanks! I reread the outtake and didn't think it was as sweet as I initially thought, but if you're happy, then that's good!
Extra thank you's and presents to:
Lynn-Minmay
Athana233
Dolphin-Slam
Chel bel
Next Chapter: A kiss? A punch? A dance? Who knows!
No outtakes this time, but I'll make up for it next time, I swear! And the reason is because I have to go beddies, but wanted to have this chapt out ASAP!
Please review, it really does mean much more to me that you'll ever know…