Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Title: Waiting in the Wings
Chapter Title: Waiting in the Principal's Office (Uh-oh!)
Rating: T
Categories: Romance/Drama
Summary: Mariam and Kai both want to be independent, not relying on someone else. Not relying on 'love'. When they meet, their opinions only grow stronger. But could there be love waiting in the fiery wings of Dranzer?
Feedback: Reviews! YUM! Flames? Why would you bother?
Status: Chapters. But only if you review!
Notes: This is very, very dramatic.

WAITING IN THE WINGS

Kai/Mariam
Mariam and Kai both want to be independent, not relying on someone else. Not relying on 'love'. When they meet, their opinions only grown stronger. But could there be love waiting in the fiery wings of Dranzer?

Flowerperson
© 2005

Part VI
Waiting in the Principal's Office (Uh-oh!)

"A wart?" the man with blue triangles on his face volunteered.

"No!" his friend protested. "You'll understand one day, Kai."

"Sure I will," Kai remarked sarcastically.

Sure I will…

Mariam had never gone to school or anything similar to Japan's education system. Sure, she had been taught necessary skills such as mathematics, literature, science and languages at the Saint-Shield village but nothing like this. Principals… so many teachers… huge crowds of rowdy teenagers… hall monitors… She shuddered. How did Joseph cope?

Suddenly she didn't blame him for the little incident the other day – his break-down.

But it seemed that Joseph had finally snapped since he was the reason she was here. His principal had phoned her work and practically demanded that she came and had an emergency meeting with him regarding her little brother. Said little brother had been expelled indefinitely and they needed to discuss some monetary issues.

This meant more money lost.

This meant more overtime.

This meant 'DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!'

She had only met this principal once – and that hadn't exactly gone well. Mariam had managed to spill coffee down her new, white shirt on her way and the heel of her left shoe had broken (that was why she had resorted to flat shoes from then on), making her limp to the meeting and away. And not only that! Oh no! The janitor had bumped into her and she had thought that he was groping her so had punched him.

… She was so lucky he didn't file a lawsuit.

"Miss Shield?" the greying secretary asked as she peeked over her horn-rimmed spectacles. She was purely stereo-typical and the bright raspberry pink lipstick and striking blue eye-shadow finished the look off. No wonder Joseph got in trouble – there were too many people to laugh at! The brother and sister had always enjoyed a good joke and tended to be pretty blunt with certain people.

Hey, look at what they (okay, mostly Mariam) did to Dunga! 'Ape'… 'Gorilla'… the insults went on and on – sticking to the primate theme. Ah, good times, good times…

And why was her last name 'Shield'? Well, she had been a Saint-Shield and in her village, there had not been many people so last names were not required. Mariam had not even run into any people in Japan with the name 'Mariam' so she didn't understand why she needed one but apparently, Max had said that she did. It was for formal purposes, supposedly.

The blue haired woman stood up, "Yes?" Just send her in so she could collect her little brother and go! Oh wait… there was the financial stuff… damn. What did he do? Break a window or something? That couldn't have been a lot of money, right?

"You may go in now." She looked her up and down (noting the spaghetti stain on Mariam's collar and she could probably smell the evidence of dog faeces on her shoe – she had never been able to get rid of that smell properly) and her lips pursed disapproving. Whatever, old woman, Mariam thought; you have wrinkles and grey hair and I don't so HA!

Not yet, at least. The stress would get to her soon… she knew it.

The elderly lady gestured to the door (gold plating quoted 'Principal A. Sanjo) and Mariam hesitantly pushed it open. What was this fear that was suddenly installed into her?

Mariam first noticed the smell – it was old lady's perfume and what the landlord's mother constantly smelt like – she visited to check up on her son's tenants. She also had the tendency to give you a big bear hug whenever she saw you (and because she was a bit chubby, you became scared of being lost in the many rolls of fat).

That was probably what happened to the previous tenants – they were still in her bosom, being suffocated. Maybe she looked after them like pets. She shuddered; nasty!

The office was decorated plainly with simple mahogany furniture (one desk, one black leather chair and three wooden chairs). The carpet was a fading cranberry and the walls were painted a boring cream. The principal's many qualifications and awards filled up many of the walls – she was beginning to hate her already.

Stuck-up, over-qualified cow.

Said 'snobby, over-qualified cow' was sitting in the leather chair with her hands placed on the desk. She had glasses on top of her forehead and she wore hardly any make-up apart from some purple lipstick that somehow went with her lavender-grey hair that had obviously been permed recently to an adequate standard.

Her violet-painted lips were set in a scowl, emphasising her many wrinkles that signified her age (and wisdom?). Was all the staff in this school really, really old? One probably 'kicked the bucket' every week!

"Ms Shield," she nodded, greeting her then gestured to the two spare chairs. Mariam's green-haired young sibling was seated in the third chair, looking pretty aggravated and indignant. His arms were crossed and his mouth was frowning – bad sign. Joseph seemed even more depressed than the other day with his mood swing!

Well, at least he wasn't crying… yet.

"Principal Sanjo," Mariam greeted politely and extended her hand. At first she hesitated then shook her hand briefly. She was quick to withdraw her wrinkly hand.

Great – she thought the blue haired woman carried diseases like rabies and such.

Well I hope I do, just so you can catch them, snob! She thought silently and then imagined a chibi version of herself jumping up and down on her permed hair. An evil grin spread across her face but Mariam quickly hid it as she realised that she had been doing it physically. If this old woman had assumed Joseph's guardian was insane, she had just been proven right.

"Thank you for coming, Ms Shield."

"Please, call me Mariam," she smiled falsely – had to rectify a good impression, not an insane one. "And it's fine. I'd do anything for my little brother. So… may I know the reason of Joseph's… uh… expulsion?"

At this, Principal Sanjo pursed her plum lips then glared at Joseph. "Where do I start, Mr Shield? Why don't you explain to your sister why all the hard work she's done so you could get into this school has been put to waste."

He simply shrugged and looked out of the window. Obviously, Joseph was in a silent mood. She had thought he was over the teenage mood-swings! Well, he hadn't actually had any until. So maybe he was just a late mood-swinger. Damn puberty! It was hard enough going through her own and now she had to put up with Joseph's! She growled, cursing whoever invented puberty and mood-swings. God? Allah? Buddha? Jesus?

"This has gone on for a while now, Ms Shield… Mariam. First of all, he was falling asleep in class and then waking up, cursing violently. We sent notes home but it seems that they have been thwarted on the way." Another sharp glare to Joseph, "Then he became very upset and would shed tears hysterically for seemingly no reason. Next he became ill, sweating profusely and shivering. We sent him to the nurse but for some reason he just refused to go." She looked to Mariam with an even deeper scowl on her face.

Mariam was very puzzled – what could be going on with Joseph? This was more than simple teenage mood-swings. This was far, far more serious. This was concerning.

"And today, Miss Shield, we found Joseph holding a knife threateningly towards another student at the lockers." Mariam gasped as she looked to Joseph who was merely looking out the window, apparently not even bothered. Her brother? Never! He was so noble and kind-hearted. It couldn't be true! It was impossible! And yet, it was possible. It had happened. Joseph had threatened someone with a knife.

Oh no, Joseph. What have you done? Why did you do this? What if they pressed charges? They couldn't pay for a lawyer and Mariam couldn't live with her baby brother in prison!

"At Mr Shield's current unstable state, I dread to think what had happened if another student had not informed a teacher. Luckily for Joseph, the victim does not wish to press charges and it is not exactly good publicity that I do. So, instead of calling the police, I am expelling Joseph indefinitely from this day onwards. He will not be allowed to return at any point."

The blue haired woman stood up, "I am very apologetic for the student. Tell him that Joseph apologises, as does his sister. I honestly don't know where he got the knife…"

"Will you question Mr Shield on his varying behaviour, Ms Shield?" Ew, made it sound like they were married… EW! INCEST! INCEST! INCEST! She told her to call her Mariam!

"Oh yes," she nodded, "Definitely. Rest assured, Principal Sanjo, this will not happen again."

"For the safety of those around Mr Shield, I hope so."

Mariam pulled on the collar of Joseph's shirt, pulling him to stand up then angrily ushered him out of the Principal's office whilst thinking over which speech to deliver him. How would Joseph react? She didn't really want him going psycho on her. But if he did, she'd just get out Sharkrash and kick his scrawny, moody ass. Damn, why did she have to be the responsible one? Seven years ago, Joseph was the responsible one and Mariam had been the one constantly toeing the line rebelliously.

For the whole walk home, both siblings remained silent. When Joseph tended to lag behind, Mariam would pull on his hand angrily, speeding him up to match her brisk pace. If Kai saw her now…

She held onto Joseph's hand and pulled him at an even fast speed. They had to get home before Kai mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. He always had a knack of showing up at the worst possible moments. Stupid face-painted… man! Honestly, those blue triangles were so six years ago! He needed a new fashion statement. Then again, so many girls swooned at him, even if he put on a red clown nose, they'd still love him and you'd see some guys walking along the road with them on.

Mentally chuckling, Mariam decided that was actually a good idea.

Wait! No! Serious! Be serious! Joseph was in big trouble. Big, big trouble! He had nearly killed someone. Well, threatened to. Either way, Joseph could have been put in prison for that. How odd was it that the student didn't press charges? Maybe he was so relieved that he wasn't being killed that he didn't want to put up with the stress of making a statement.

After a tense fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at the block of flats. As they walked up the stairs, both were still quiet. It was only when Mariam shut the door to their apartment when the outburst began.

"JOSEPH!" she hollered indignantly, "How could you? You threatened to kill someone! Where the hell did you get that knife from? What did that student do for you to attack him… or her?" She had never been told the gender of the student. She hadn't been told any details about the student. He could have been disabled!

"It's not my fault! He wouldn't give it to me!" Ok, so the student was a 'he'. "He said that he run out but I know that he had some! He always has some! He can't run out! I wanted it! I needed it! So I looked into his locker and he had loads! So I took it. All of it. He lied to me – I couldn't trust him. He was a liar, Mariam! He had to be punished! He kept it from me!"

"Kept what, Joseph? What did you take?" She was scared of his mental stability. Oh God, don't let him go to the kitchen area! This wasn't her little brother – this wasn't Joseph.

"You wouldn't understand! No one understands! You're too busy with your stupid job and sleeping with that Kai Hiwatari! You don't have any time for me! You're just a… whore!"

She slapped him. Her eyes widened as she looked at her hand that was still in mid-air. The force of the blow had tilted his head slightly and his cheek was already turning red. She had never hit Joseph before. Never. What was going on in this screwed-up world? Everything was so different… so strange… she wanted her old life back.

Joseph's eyes narrowed as he glared at his sister. At the same time, both of their emerald eyes glanced to the kitchen area – particularly the kitchen draw that contained the dining utensils – and then back to their sibling. Without missing a beat, Joseph and Mariam charged towards the drawer. They reached over the drawer and Mariam attempted to keep it closed whilst Joseph tried to open it. He backhanded his blue haired sister and the force made her topple to the floor, looking up to her brother. No, it wasn't her brother. This was a monster.

In his pale hand, he held the kitchen knife threateningly. A thin trickle of crimson blood passed down her temple and she had managed to bite her tongue but she was more concerned with her brother than her injury.

There was a heavy knock at the door but neither sibling moved to answer it. The person could wait for the moment.

"Joseph," she struggled to get through to her real little brother. "I'm not having a relationship with Kai. We hate each other. You're the only one that matters in my world. You're my baby brother."

"No!" he shouted, "All you care about is yourself!" She noticed the heavy sweat on his brow. In fact, he was trembling. Was it the stress of the situation or him feeling ill again? "We only moved to Tokyo because of you! I was happy back home!"

The person was calling their names and still the two of them ignored him or her.

"Joseph!" Mariam called. "Get a hold of yourself! Look at what you're doing! This isn't you!"

He stared at the knife in his hand and shakily dropped it. "Mariam…" he gasped, "I don't feel too good."

The green-haired teenager fell to the floor and became quaking violently. She touched him gently but was at a loss of what to do. "Joseph!" she called, "Stop playing, come on. Get up. Come on, bro."

At that moment, the door was ploughed through and a male stood in the hallway. Mariam looked up at him and burst into uncontrollable tears.

"Mariam! What's going on?"

Authoress' Notes

… Whoa.

Flowerperson