Disclaimer: Nopee Dopee, don't own 'em, except for Ruri and Shiro, haha.
"Well then, you can proceed to your dorms." The headmaster smiled. He was about in his 60's. Ruri and Ed nodded and started outward, but Ed wanted to ask one more thing.
"Um, Sir?"
"Yes Edward?"
"When can I go visit Alph... The guard that came with us?" He caught himself before calling his brother by the proper name.
The old man smiled again. "Anytime you want that you should not be in class. But take heed that you will be punished if you do not do your work. Same goes for you," he said, gesturing at Ruri.
They nodded and left, instruction being complete for the time being.
Out by the dorms...
"Well," Ruri said quietly, "At least we are in the same building. Even if we're four floors apart."
Ed said, "I'm in room 308 B. Remember that if you need me."
"You already told me that. About a thousand times."
"Make it a thousand and one, then." He smirked. "And you still haven't told me where you are!"
"708 A." She looked down at the instruction booklet she had gotten. Ed had gotten an identical one.
"That's easy to remember." The elevator let out a small beep as it reached the third floor. "See ya!"
Ruri smiled. "Bye!" The doors slid shut and continued onto the seventh floor. Numbers flashed by on the screen and her eyes flitted to a small bulletin board on the wall. She read it quickly, interest growing.
Attention Potential State Alchemists!
There will be a competition held on January sixth for all who wish to participate! Three rounds, a maximum of two hundred participants, and only one winner. All who wish to apply must fill out the form below.
Opponents must meet in the lounge of the Student Center one day before the tournament after classes let out. They will be given instructions then.
Please consider!
-UJA Student Council
Ruri snatched two off the board and hurried out before the doors closed.
Walking about trying to find her room was harder than she predicted. The dorm building was really big. Luckily, she ran into someone along the way.
"Hi, I'm Ruri. Sorry, but could you show me where 708 is? Heh..." Her confusion was plainly shown on her face.
The black haired girl smiled, but Ruri though she saw sympathy on her lips. "Sure. I'm headed to 710, right next to you. But I feel sorry for you... You're going to room with Courtney." Her sympathy even showed in her voice.
"Courtney?"
She leaned in. "Only the biggest snob here. Come to me if you want to get away from her." Laughing, she led Ruri to her room. The door was black with silver numbers. "Knock three times if you need me."
"Alright! Thank you so much!" Ruri turned and drew out her card, sliding it in. She expected to take it out again, but the lock actually sucked it in! The door was unlocked, though, so she walked in. Her room card was sticking out the other side of the door. She smiled. Nifty.
Grabbing her key, she looked around at the new room she would be living in for the next couple months. There was a good sized living room, with a small sized tiled room which held a sink and counter.
There were two doors leading out of the living room behind the couch. One said A and one B. Ruri walked over and inserted the second card she got right above the handle of door A. One more light turned green, and she walked in.
"Yeah, can you believe-- HEY, WOULD YOU MIND KNOCKING! JEEZ! TALKING HERE!" The black haired girl on one of the small beds resumed talking on the phone. Ruri was actually a little taken aback by how rude she was. Dropping her pack on the bed across from her new roommate, she saw her suitcases by the foot of the bed.
She was about to walk out again, trying to keep her temper to a simmer. "I'm going out, okay?"
The preppy girl hung up from her chat. "Pfft. Like I care."
Back to Eddie boy...
"Finally! Gawd these rooms take forever to find..." Ed slid his card in, and slipped into the new room with his bag.
"OH! What 'tchya gonna do then, freak!"
"Crap... Oh yeah! I got a bonus! Beat that!"
Ed stared at the boys in front of him. It looked like they were playing something on a game console Ed had never seen. "Uh... Am I going to interrupt something by asking who you guys are..?"
"Hey, look! We got ourselves a newbie! HAH!" One boy turned, whipping slightly long brown hair and dark brown eyes. His finger flew to the pause button as he stood up. "The name's Ben. I'm in B. What's up?"
The guy next to Ben stood as well. He had short black hair and small glasses. "I'm Zack, and I reside in A."
The last of the three jumped up and laughed, jutting a thumb at his own chest. "I'm with Zack. Name's Kent." His strawberry blonde hair was spiked, and he had a tattoo of a black and red dragon up his left arm .Ed inclined his head to each in turn, saying, "I'm Edward. You can call me Ed."
"So," Ben said, "I take it you're in B?" Ed nodded quickly. "Then Welcome to your new home! First things first, no chicks in my-- oh, sorry-- our... bedroom unless their hot." Ed laughed. Inwardly he thought, Well, I guess I can bring Ruri up here! But he quickly brushed the thought from his mind, wondering what brought it their in the first place.
"Second," added Kent, "you need to have at least a little skill in video games. If you don't, we'll beat it into you." Ed laughed again.
"No problem."
"Third," continued Zack, "clean up after yourself." But Ed thought he was saying it more to the boys beside him than himself. They smiled sheepishly. "I already have to clean up after these two despite our agreement, so don't expect me to do it for you. No offence."
"None taken. Thanks, I wouldn't want to hold up your game any longer, so I'm going to go unpack."
All three teens smirked and plopped back to their original positions.
In 308 B - - -
Ed walked into the room, glad that he had nice roommates. At least it's not going to be a living hell, he thought. Unpacking, he placed everything in a comfortable position, hanging clothes, being sure to avoid intruding on Ben's space. After that was done, he laid on the bed, sighing. He still couldn't get the memory of Shiro out of his mind, his sneer, the way he looked at Ed when he came near Ruri.
Ruri...
There was a quick and quiet knock on the door. Ed only heard it from the door to the separate bedroom being open, so he could also hear the boys laughing and shoving each other. Hmm...
"I got it!" Ben flew off the couch. Running up to the black door, he twisted the silver handle and flung the door open. "Did someone order pi--Whoah!" His eyes widened. "Who are you? Hah! Never mind that, come on in!" He ushered the stranger inside. Ed was still lying on the bed, unwilling to move. But he could make out every word.
Including the voice that said, "Uh, did I get the wrong room?" Ruri!
"Who are you looking for?" Ben asked gently, hand on Ruri's shoulder. She shifted uncomfortably.
"She's looking for me!" Ed swung into view, making the teenage girl sigh with relief.
"Ed! Okay, Jeez, I though I got lost... Heh..." She rubbed the back of her head, slipping out of Ben's grip and walking to blonde haired boy, her military partner. And her friend.
"WHOAH, ED! YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THIS CHICK!" Zack's eyes bugged along with Kent's.
Ben's mouth was slightly open in surprised. Ed stood glaring. After recovering, Ben said slyly, "Whe-he-hell, she's definitely allowed in our room!"
Ed blushed slightly as he looked over to Ruri, knowing what he meant. "Come on," he muttered. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in.
Inside 308 B... again...
"Why did you come?"
"Oh, so now you don't want me here?"
"NO! That's not what I meant! Jeez..."
"Well, I have a preppy bitch for a roommate, I finished unpacking, I was bored, and..." She hesitated.
"And what?"
"I wanted to see you. Is that a problem?"
"No. But I know that's not the only reason you came. When you walked in you looked really excited."
"Oh!" She shook her head. "I almost forgot. Here." Ruri pulled out a small slip of folded paper from her jacket pocket. "I thought you might be interested." Ed read quickly through the sheet, considering whether he might want to join the competition or not. "Hey! I never noticed this before!" she said as she moved closer, pointing at a line at the bottom of the sheet. "It says you can have a partner."
"So?" The small distance between the two made Ed uneasy. "What's the point?"
"Ed! Gosh, you are so slow. We could team up, and more importantly, we could win!" She adopted a lower voice, almost a whisper. "We are state alchemists, Ed."
"You got a point there."
Raising her voice to its normal level, she said, "So will you compete with me?"
He considered a bit longer, slumping on the bed, behind where she was sitting. She twisted around to look at him. "Sure, why not."
"YES!" She punched the air in front of her with glee. "We are so gonna kick their butts!"
A shadow of a smile crossed Ed's lips.
A little while later, about 8:00, following Ruri to her dorm...
Too bad the grounds are closed at 8:00, Ruri thought silently. I was having fun while they showed us around. She looked back on Ed's roommates showing the two undercover workers around the grounds. Heh.
After sliding into her room, she got some grapes out of the fridge. Popping one after the other into her mouth, she walked into her separate room, where she would be sleeping.
"'Bout time. My God, you shouldn't leave your crap on my side. And I'm not going to move it." Courtney was lying on the bed again, drawing with charcoal in her sketch book.
Ruri ignored the comment, picking up the one stray shoe on 'her side'. In a questioning tone, she said, "You draw, too? What do you like to draw?""
Courtney looked up, almost shocked. "...You care?"
"Well yeah, I'm going to be living with you for the next couple months. I can at least get to know you, right?"
Quickly regaining her ice cold stare, Courtney brushed back a sleek long lock of midnight hair. "Pfft. Right."
I know this didn't have much action in it, but I am like really, REALLY tired, and I'm going in for surgery in a couple days. Hopefully I will be able to update during recovery. Ha