By Blood and Iron
. helium lost .
Author's Notes: Bleh, I decided to change the title back to my original title. Anywho, thanks for the reviews, people—I'm glad to see that my idea's pretty plausible and not being rejected outright :D
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Hiko woke with a start. Sunlight streamed in through the window; birds chirped, settled peacefully on the branches of the cherry trees outside. Hiko sat up slowly, prying the sheets of paper off his face; a small puddle of droll had dried to an off-white color, sticking the papers to his cheek. He yawned, idly scratching the remnants of drool off his cheek. He blinked his amber-colored eyes and rubbed at the corners of them, trying to rid himself of the early-morning grit.
It took him a moment to remember what he was doing. Piled up in front of him were various books, words gilded on their spine: A History of Weaponry, Weapons of the Fire Nation, Warfare and its Machines… He glanced at the paper, which had crumpled because of his drool, the ink bleeding. Hiko groaned; he'd have to rewrite his report—what a pain; he had spent so much time writing it, too… He sighed and pulled another book toward him, riffling the pages and glancing at the text and line drawings. He'd seen all of these already. Frowning, he ran a hand through his hair. These books held nothing new, and his report was coming along slowly at best.
The heavy wooden door opened. He glanced over at it and saw Kyosuke, who stood with an apologetic look on his face.
"Sorry if I'm disturbing you, Hiko, but I just wanted to let you know that breakfast's ready, if you're hungry."
"Mmm… Yeah, thanks," he murmured, taking another book from the stack.
"Are you busy today? Some of the other guys wanted to go down to the rhino races," Kyosuke said, a hand still on the door handle.
"Busy…" Hiko muttered. "Mmm, yeah, I have to get this report finished as soon as possible." He propped his head up on his left hand and played with the edges of the pages with his other. Kyosuke sighed.
"You've been working on that report for the past three days straight. Don't you think you need a break?"
Hiko furrowed his brow. A break did sound good, come to think of it… But he looked down at the page again, seeing its crumpled-ness and blank spaces. Fire Lord Kyouza's angry face flashed in his mind, and Hiko frowned. He shook his head.
"I can't—I really have to get this finished." As if to finish the discussion, he picked up the book and buried his nose into it, shutting himself off from Kyosuke, who sighed again.
"All that work can't be good for you… Well, suit yourself. See you tomorrow, I guess," he said, and left the room, shutting the door behind him with a dull thud. Hiko pretended not to notice, trying to read the book, but the words swam before his eyes, turning into a muddled mess of redundant facts. He set the book down again, trying to concentrate on the words, but finding his eyes unfocused and wandering.
He stood up suddenly, pushing his chair back. It scraped against the wooden floor. Palms on the surface of the table, he gazed blankly at the paper before him.
Rhino races definitely sounded more interesting than staying cooped up inside for the fourth day straight, working on some unoriginal report.
He made his decision, then strode over to the door in large, sweeping steps, throwing it open.
"Kyosuke!" he called out, his voice echoing down the hallway. Kyosuke turned, a knowing smile on his face as Hiko said, "Wait for me!"
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Author's Notes: I should've probably lengthened this chapter, but oh well :P Any and all feedback, especially constructive criticism, is greatly appreciated, as well as any comments on my OCs. Thanks!