Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights! I'm also trying to remember how to say "wet" in Spanish... By the time I finally get this posted, I should've remembered. :sweatdrop:

Warnings: ...Minor swearing? Rolling of plot.

A/N: This took a long time. :dizzy: But, on the plus side, it's also really long. XD Hope that makes up for it.

:n:

The glass door opened, bells tied to the handle ringing brightly. Their noise caught Thats' attention, and he looked up from the menu he had been studying without much interest. A female student about his age was walking into the bar, shaking her light brown hair out of her face and yanking off her jacket.

"Finally," Thats remarked as she strolled over to where he was seated, "it took you damn long enough."

Kitchel rolled her eyes, dropping down onto the slim chair next to the table, her voice laden with sarcasm.

"What a polite way to greet your date. Don't bother introducing yourself, just swear at me. You know, that'll really win you bonus points."

Thats deadpanned.

"Come on. We both know we're only here to get our overly-involved friends to shut up."

Kitchel sent him a brief hardened stare and looked up at the ceiling, eyes tracing the pattern of interlocking beams.

"Fine."

She glanced around the interior of the building, seeking for someone she knew in this familiar setting and not certain at all if she truly wanted to find them or not. While it would provide welcome relief from what promised to be a painfully dull few hours, it would also be, if she was not able to explain herself quickly enough, the catalyst needed for a series of unpleasantly embarrassing assumptions.

This circular chain of thought in mind, she was startled by the obnoxious jangle of her cell, and jumped as the faux-tropical melody tugged for her attention.

Yanking it from the pocket of her shorts, Kitchel glanced at the florescent screen and rolled her eyes.

"They don't believe I'm actually here," she muttered and tossed the phone across the small table. "Could you answer that for me?" She smiled cheerfully. "Thanks."

Startled, Thats flipped it open, cradling it to his face.

"Hello?"

There was a pause before a burst of female giggles rang down the line, causing him to arch an eyebrow in bemusement.

"Yes. No, she's over there," he continued as they calmed down and began to speak. "What?" Thats snickered, barely managing to muffle the noise behind his fist.

"No, I'm not 'some random guy off the street'. ...Slave?" He blinked across the table as Kitchel tried her best to appear innocent. "Wait, wha--" He was cut off by the sudden ringing of his own phone. "...Jeeze. Call her back later."

Hanging up quickly, he shoved both her cell and his at her across the wooden table.

"Your turn."

Smoothly picking his up, Kitchel spoke bubbily into the mouthpiece. "You're late, you know. Cesia and Tintlett already called."

There was a startled silence, then a muffled apology and the level buzz of a now-vacated line.

She laughed at their response, handing his phone to him, then leaned back in her chair, tipping its front legs off the ground.

"So how long do we gotta stay here?"

He shrugged, sliding a little lower in his seat.

"However long a date takes. Cripes. I'm bored."

"Same," she sighed. "Right. This bites. You think we could just leave and make like we didn't?"

Thats shook his head, slouching further down dejectedly in his chair. "No. They're going to tail us. We both know that. Stupid..."

The rest of his line was cut short as she jumped up, eager to pursue this prospect of entertainment. "That's right! Oh, this will be fun! How do you think they're going to get here? Catch a ride, right? Rune has a car, doesn't he? He must; he gave me a lift back to the dorm once." She laughed maniacly, clasping her hands together and catching sight of the completely dazed expression on his face.

"We wait for them to get here," she started patiently, although he was irked by the way she was careful to fully enunciate each syllable of her speech as though he was a small child. "Then we leave on our 'date'."

"And take care to lose them," he grinned broadly, straightening up. "That would be fun."

"There's a carnival hosted by that park uptown," Kitchel commented, "it would be easy to slip away in those crowds."

"Completely innocent, too," he continued. "It's a perfectly normal place for a date."

"It's decided then," she dropped lightly back down into her chair. "Now we just gotta wait 'til they show up."

"Won't be long," he said, equally cheerful at this amusing prospect. "This place is close to the dorms."

:n:

"Hurry, hurry!"

"Wait," Cesia gasped, struggling to kick on her second shoe while groping under her bed for her phone. "It's here somewhere... I knocked it under by mistake-- Here!" She scrambled upright, smoothing down her long black skirt and leapt over the stack of discarded textbooks, promptly wrinkling it once more.

"They here already?" She asked, stepping through the front door as Tintlett locked it behind her.

"Yes," Tintlett hastily explained, "down in the parking lot. Let's hurry. I want to see this!" She paused in the hallway, letting her friend slide past her and laughed, blue eyes parading her schoolgirl enthusiasm.

Sliding into the elevator, Cesia let the doors close behind them before she continued. "I hope this works. The hard part is done! Now we just need to…"

"Have them see the logic to our plan," Tintlett finished for her with a decisive grin. "I know. It's perfect."

The elevator opened onto the wide entrance hall of the dormitory and Cesia and Tintlett stepped out of it, quickly sighting Rune standing right outside the large glass doors.

Tintlett waved cheerfully as they hurried over, calling, "great! Let's hurry."

"Don't you think they'll see us?" Rath, a few paces behind Rune, asked as he pulled Cesia to him, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"It's a chance we'll have to take," Cesia informed him, sliding closer to his side in the quickly cooling late afternoon air. "We need to see this."

Tintlett nodded. "They probably know we're coming. This way they won't just pretend to meet."

Looking around the small group of conspirators, Rune felt a sudden twinge of nerves. "Well," he slid his hand into the pocket of his jeans, feeling the cold metal of his keys. "Let's do this."

Rath dipped his head, a half-exasperated half-amused sigh escaping his lips.

"Right."

:n:

"Look out the window. I think that was Rune's car."

Thats glanced up nonchalantly, taking a casual sip from the complementary glass of water in front of him.

"…Yeah. That's them."

Kitchel nodded, resisting the urge to turn around and look out the glass paneled wall behind her herself. "Okay. Ready?"

"No," he shook his head, "wait a moment. They're feeding the meter. It looks like they were planning on waiting at that café across the street. We'll leave after they finish paying for the space. Let them lose some spare change."

Kitchel crossed her arms on the table, tapping her foot impatiently. "…Now?"

"Jeeze." He glanced briefly at her, "chill."

Stealing a look up again, Thats continued. "Yeah. In about ten seconds. They know we're here, too. I just caught Rath looking at us. I don't think he knew I was watching, though," he added before she could berate him for the slip.

Standing a moment after he finished talking, Thats began to make his way casually towards the door. "C'mon. Let's go."

"Hey," Kitchel called after him, a note of irritation to her voice, "aren't you going to get my chair?"

He turned to face her, the words taking a moment to register.

"What? No. Look," he rolled green eyes, "just because I'm here doesn't mean I want to be. This is about the last thing I'd like to be doing tonight."

Scowling at him, she pushed her chair back herself, brushing past him with an air of annoyance. "I meant that it would be helpful to throw them off. It's the sort of thing you're supposed to do, you know."

"I'm sorry," he said flatly, letting her walk out in front of him into the still-strong sunlight outside. "I'm surprised you were willing to go outside without me getting the door for you as well."

Frustrated at being continually misinterpreted, Kitchel was about to snap a retort, when a shiver of movement at the edge of her peripheral vision alerted her to the fact that the others were still watching intently.

Instead she took a deep breath and let her lips slide into a suddenly buoyant smile, so surprising the other student that it took him a moment to realize what she was saying.

"Try to remember that this wasn't my idea either. In fact, if I'd had my way, you would still be just 'that roommate I hear occasional idiotic stories about', not my wannabe romantic interest. If we can pull this off properly, we can lose them in less than an hour and, hopefully, get them to stop this stupid charade before it goes any further."

Thats bristled, following her out of sight into the parking lot around the corner of the restaurant. "'Try to remember?' Listen, I don't know who shoved the wide end of the stick up your ass, but don't act so goddamned full of yourself! I've heard some less than angelic things about you, too. At least I didn't have to flirt my way into my classes."

Pulling the key to her car out of her pocket, Kitchel jammed it into its lock and yanked it to the side, a bright crimson spreading over her face at his accusation. "Like hell I did! Which one of them told you that? I went to talk to the professor, not hit on him!"

"From what I hear, your mouth was too busy with other things to be doing much talking."

Kitchel was silent for a moment before turning around with a dangerous glint to her eyes, yanking the door open violently.

"Shut up," she hissed. "At least I didn't spend my last night out drunk and sobbing to anything vaguely bipedal that would sit still long enough to listen."

Thats flushed red as well at her statement, hackles rising with the comment.

"And you actually believed them?" He stepped into the car, continuing as she dropped moodily onto the driver's seat. "I was bitching, not crying. Rath exaggerates things."

"Funny," Kitchel started up the engine, "as it was Rune who told me."

"Well, he lied," Thats faltered, quickly regaining his ground. "Like he's one to talk, anyway. He's so whipped, I've seen him leave the building at three in the morning to go buy his girlfriend pads."

Kitchel snickered at this in spite of herself, hastily pulling her affronted air back about her and skidding out of the parking lot.

"That's just being considerate, although I don't suppose you know anything about…" her words were cut off by a whoop of laughter as they sped past the café, their friends abandoning all pretense of secrecy as they did so, abandoning their seats as if lit on fire.

Her laughter was sudden and catching in its hysteria, and Thats let loose a grin and snicker as well.

"Did you see that?" She asked, all irritation fading in the rush of wind through the open windows. "That was great! Did you see their expressions?"

"Yeah," he responded, craning around on the leather seat to watch them scramble to give chase. "Rune knocked over his water. It's spilled all over his shirt." He laughed louder, letting the noise chip away some of the tension, though he offered no apology.

None was forthcoming from her side, either, as she kept to the quickly morphing topic.

"Awesome," she giggled, then added, "Okay, they're in the car again. See them? Four cars behind us and," she let out a low hiss of approval as they slid through the tail end of a yellow light, "now stuck at the red! We've got a good head start. Just gotta be careful not to loose them."

"They'll call us if they get too lost," Thats reasoned, leaning back once more. "This won't be so bad. It shouldn't take us more than forty-five minutes at the carnival before ditching them."

"We can be back a little after six." Kitchel smiled at this though. "Payback for all the times they made us wander around while they were cozy at the dorm."

Thats stretched out his legs, sliding the seat further back. "Yeah," he brushed his foot over the thin layer of sand on the floor, grinning out the window to catch naught a fleeting image of their pursuers in the rearview mirror. "Revenge at last."

:n:

"I think they took a right up ahead," Tintlett pointed from her front passenger seat. "I thought I saw the blinker go on."

"So did I," Cesia nodded, leaning forward to slip her head between Rune and Tintlett's, her hand still tightly clasping Rath's. "Hey, isn't there supposed to be a carnival down that way this weekend?"

"That's right!" Tintlett exclaimed, balling her hands and holding them before her white jacket. "It makes sense they would go there, then."

"On their first 'date'?" Rath asked, skeptical. "I'm not sure. I thought they would have just stayed at the restaurant for about an hour and then left early."

Cesia shrugged, sitting back properly once more. "So did I, to tell you the truth. This startled me."

"It's definitely where they went, though," Rune nodded to the large park grounds directly ahead, spinning rides and writhing stands covering most of the land. "There's only one way in, so if they'd turned around, we would have seen them. All the same," he turned smoothly into the parking lot, "we should find where they parked their car and check that they aren't just waiting inside for us to start looking for them and then leave."

There was a general nod of agreement, and four sets of eyes trained themselves in various directions, scouring the rows of cars for a single familiar gray one.

"There," Tintlett said, tugging softly at Rune's sleeve. He pulled into an empty space near it, glancing briefly inside through the now-closed windows to confirm its lack of occupants.

"Should one of us stay here?" Rath asked as they all piled out of the vehicle.

"Maybe," Rune responded, "but it would be faster for us to split up once we get inside, and I don't think we should look for them individually.

As maybe, just maybe, we'll stumble across something we really don't want to bear witness to, he added silently, knowing full well that Rath had been suggesting his own remaining behind and that this would end with Rune as the odd man out while the two girls partnered together.

Somethings, including the mere possibility of accidentally spotting your roommate in an act intended for Mature Audiences Only, deserved to be seen with someone else for protection. You'd be less likely to spasm as your eyes burned out.

Not that he actually thought that would happen. Still… It was worth being prepared for.

:n:

"Do you see them?"

"In this crowd?" Thats snorted, "you kidding me? I'm almost positive they've followed us here, but I'd feel safer if we could see them -all of them- before we leave."

"Oh!" Kitchel's eyes lit up, a smile jumping to her face. "Here, I've got five bucks. Let's just get on the Farris Wheel. We should be able to spot them from up there."

"Wait, what—" Thats was jerked through the seething throngs to slide into line for the towering ride.

"Hurry up," Kitchel complained, both to her companion and to the line itself, snatching the sudden opportunity to push them both to the very front as the crowd grew even thicker for a moment and the line was scrambled.

"Sorry kid," Thats grinned with a shrug as the two of them were ushered on to the waiting bench, cutting off the younger boy behind them.

"Just in time," Kitchel whispered as the ride shuddered and jerked them from the ground in a long low circle. "Look who just showed up."

Thats twisted in the barred seat to see Tintlett and Cesia emerge from the swirling masses.

"I recognized Tintlett's jacket," Kitchel pointed, leaning over him to do so and causing him to flatten back against the seat. "See? It's white, with that little blue design on the sleeve. And Cesia's hair stands out, too."

Thats nodded vaguely, waiting patiently for her to straighten back up so he could sit more comfortably. He might not be the most chivalrous, but even he knew better than to accidentally brush against her chest. Especially after the sort of "date" they'd already been having.

He rolled his eyes as she settled back down.

Finally.

"Do you see Rune or Rath anywhere?"

"No," Kitchel drew her brows together in close concentration as she scanned the grounds on either side of them. "I thought they'd all be together. Damnit," she swore, "it's getting dark, too."

"At least the lights are coming on."

"Yeah." She laughed suddenly, the sound equally bemused and anxious. "Oh my god." Grinning nervously, she shook her head, one hand resting over her eyes.

"…What?"

"It'll be so easy for them to find us up here. Once they do that, they'll have an easy time trailing us. We'll never be able to leave!"

Thats deadpanned. "And you're thinking of this now? Nice going!"

He noticed he didn't have her full concentration as he was speaking, this fact irking him further than her lack of forward planning. About to snap a further complaint, Thats was startled by her sudden change of outlook.

"Wait, this is good!" Kitchel sat up straighter. "If they do see us, then they'll know that we're here. They'll spend more time looking for us later! Great," she laughed, the sound this time buoyant. "Now just to find Rath and Rune."

Thats shook his head, staring at her dumbfounded.

Jeeze. What a trip.

He turned his attention back to the ground, but was unable to pick out any familiar faces in the mass of people now a good thirty feet below. Kitchel, fortunately, did not seem to have the same problem, as it wasn't long before Thats felt a tug at the sleeve of his shirt accompanied by an excited cry.

"There! There, see them? Down there?"

Staring into the quickly moving shadowed throng, Thats decided to take her word for it.

"…Um… Yeah. I see them."

:n:

"I didn't."

Cesia shook her head with a tired sigh, glancing at the two young men before her. "Did either of you?"

"No," Rune crossed his arms as Rath stepped closer to Cesia with a brief jerk of the head.

"Tintlett thought she spotted them up on the Farris Wheel," Cesia continued, "but by the time we got there, they were gone."

"Ah," Rune moaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why don't we just...!"

"What is it?" Tintlett asked, looking up at him with a confused smile.

"…Nothing." Rune shook his head, attempting to clear his eyes from weariness, still staring into the thick crowds. "Nevermind."

:n:

"That was close," Kitchel giggled breathily onto the night air, hastily pulling her keys out of her pocket, "they almost saw us. Good thinking about hiding behind that ticket guy."

Thats grinned as well. "Give him some of the credit. It wouldn't have worked if he wasn't so big."

She laughed again, letting him into the car.

"Good point. But we got away," she crowed, "and they're still here."

"Yeah." He let the word slip out in tranquil bliss, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes as he tipped the passenger seat back to further relax. "Hey," he continued as they left the parking lot behind, "sorry you got pulled into this."

"No problem," Kitchel winked, "it was sorta a compliment, ya know? At least they think I'm pretty enough to tempt you back from the darkside of no love life."

Thats opened his eyes, a wry look tugging at his features. "Oh, really? And what sort of love life do you have, then?"

"You seem to have heard plenty about it."

Her voice was moody and he blinked his eyes open fully in confusion, not immediately recalling any reason behind her chill response.

"Wait—"

"We're here." Kitchel turned to face him, her trademark teasing grin drawing on her lips once more. "Your stop."

"Oh, yeah," Thats opened his door slowly, getting out onto the murky street beside his dorm. "Hey…"

"What?"

Her expression was innocent, a hint of a smile still gracing her mouth.

Thats shook his head, knocking off any guilt he might have felt.

Not that there was any, he added. He had just been confused.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah," she laughed suddenly, pulling away into the dark. "You too."

:n:

The thing that really annoyed me about this? I totally lost the middle third of it. -o-; It didn't save properly and then the spare got deleted… e-e;

:n:

Hououza: I'm not sure. Was this hitting it off? XD;

Peridot-chan: Hah, the long awaited Date. :evil laughter: I'm not sure it was what you had in mind, but it was what you said you wanted… Kinda. And Band Campheart.

Ojosnegro: …Your name now tends to remind me of a little black kitten. XD;

Bananaluvie-rc: Ah, s'all good. I got what you meant. n-n

Mirdemon: Thanks. O

Hotarunokoishi: It'll be mostly just these six. Others may make cameo appearances (like Miyabi and Sabel did), but they won't have any real part to play in here. But, hey! I thought I was the only one who asked questions like that! XD;

:n:

Good things come to those who review.