Chapter 3

The Girls

Pirika helped herself to another serving of tomato soup from the lunch lady. Just like her older brother, she loved food. And just like Horo-horo, she did not like Tao Ren (or at least, she pretended not to like him). And he just so happened to be standing behind her in the lunch line.

"Planning on getting fatter? Or are you trying to cut down from the usual five bowls a day?" The scornful Chinese boy asked in his annoying voice.

If she wasn't in school, Pirika just might have punched him.

"I'm hungry, Tao Ren. Isn't it all right for people to eat in this country?" she answered in a voice just as scornful as his.

"I guess, if you're a pig." He chuckled, grabbing a turkey sandwich. Pirika glanced at the boy's plate. On it, were the turkey sandwich, soup, and two cartons of milk.

The girl pointed to the milk and asked, "And I'm overdoing it? What about you? You know, there aren't a lot of cows out there. You could be causing them to go into extinction."

Ren stuck his nose in the air defiantly, "I need milk to make me stronger. Unlike you, I don't get fatter when I have more than one serving of milk."

An awkward silence fell over the two. Once realizing that what he said was an insult, Pirika stomped away from the lunch line. She could put up with his mocking no longer. It was no wonder that Horo and Ren always got into fights with each other.

But as she sat in her usual spot at her lunch table, she sighed. Pirika hated it when Ren acted like that. So, that meant she hated him all the time. There was only one thing keeping her from knocking his block off every time they passed each other in the halls.

Love…

Where did that come from? Pirika asked herself. There was no possible way that she could ever love Tao Ren. He was annoying, mean, cold, and…He has a nice body

She mentally kicked herself. Where had that come from? If there's one thing that she'd never admit to, saying Tao Ren's body was nice was it. And she'd never admit that she wanted to run her hands through his tongari to see if it was as soft as it looked, either. Or that she often thought about him. Or that she dreamt about him, too. In fact, she'd never admit to anybody how much she liked Tao Ren.

Not only would Ren tease her more, or avoid her, but Horo-horo would be mad. He'd go ballistic if he found out. He'd make sure that Pirika could never see Ren ever again. He'd kill Tao Ren.

"I hate my life." Pirika groaned as she banged her head on the lunch table.

What was it? This feeling of total sadness and hurt? But there was also happiness in this feeling. Happiness and…was it harmony? It was a bunch of positive and negative emotions blended into one big kettle. She didn't know and she acted as though she didn't care.

But, somewhere deep inside her, she must have at least a clue as to what she was feeling. And every time she thought she had grasped what it was, it slipped through her fingers like water.

I wish it were ice. Ice has a tendency to not slip through one's fingers, she told herself as she had brushed her hair that morning. After she had placed the brush on her dresser, she looked hesitantly out the window. He was there, waiting for her. And all at once, the feeling hit her so strongly that she felt she would be sick. It made her want to stay home, to not have to see him, so she took an extra long time getting ready for school. She had hoped he would have left, but he didn't and when she saw him on the steps, a sudden feeling of anger mixed with joy overwhelmed her.

Anna hated that she only felt the feeling when he was there. That confused her even more than the mysterious feeling.

And she hated that only near him was when she'd let her composure slip. But just a little.

Later that day, she saw him again in the hall at lunch. He was talking to that stupid Ainu friend of his. She always felt that his friends were major idiots with capital 'I' s. But from what she saw, his friends meant a lot to him. Sometimes it made her angry to see them chatting so calmly to him and laughing and joking and just having fun with him. But on rare occasions, she felt sad, as if her chest was going to burst open. Why couldn't she chat and laugh and joke and have fun with him? Why couldn't she be his friend?

Because she was the Ice Queen. She didn't show emotions nor have fun. She ignored people, she beat people, she insulted people. Never had she ever said anything nice to anyone, or laughed or even smiled for that matter. She was completely ice. Nothing would break her cool. Nothing would break down the walls around her cold, ice heart.

Not even that idiot Yoh Asakura.

Anna had decided this while she was eating her chips at lunch. Usually at lunch, Yoh would stop by for a split second and try and start a conversation. The Ice Queen would always ignore him, but secretly in her mind, she'd answer every question he asked and respond to anything he said, hoping he'd somehow hear it telepathically.

But today, Yoh did not show at his usual time, which was always ten minutes before the bell rang. Anna had finished eating by the time there was five minutes left until the next class period. Yoh still was not there. Five minutes later, when the bell rang and Anna left the cafeteria for her next class, the boy still hadn't shown.

I guess, Anna thought sadly (though she didn't know why), He finally gave up on me.

But he had not given up on her.

In sixth period Social Studies, Anna was given a note. It was at the beginning of the class, as she entered. Yoh stood at the door, waiting for somebody. Obviously, he was waiting for Anna. Before she could brush by him like always, he slipped a piece of folded paper into her pocket. He received a harsh glare that read, 'How dare you be so bold.'

And because the teacher was droning on and on, Anna just couldn't resist the urge to read the note. When she was positive that the teacher wasn't watching her, she took the note out of her pocket and there, in Yoh's messy handwriting, it said:

Anna-

I was wondering if you were doing something after school. Because if you aren't doing anything, I wanted to know if you would like to come with my friends and me to this new restaurant that opened a couple of days ago. If you want to go, meet us at the front gates after school. Please come with us Anna.

-Yoh

She wanted to tear up the note into several pieces. She didn't know why, it was just one of those rare feelings she got when he talked about his friends. Anger just built up inside her when she saw them or heard them. Especially when they were with him, which was almost every second.

After scribbling down her answer on a piece of notebook paper she tore from her binder, Anna glanced over her shoulder. Yoh sat two seats and a row over from her. He was watching her closely. That was good. She stooped over and placed the note on the ground when the teacher wasn't looking but when the teacher was turning her way, Anna slid the note across the floor to Yoh.

Yoh, being as stupid as he was, picked the note up and unfolded it just as the teacher glanced at his row. The teacher, seeing him read the note with a very confused look on his face, walked to Yoh's desk and grabbed the paper out of his clutches.

"Mister Asakura, we do not read notes in this class unless they are related to history." The teacher scolded. Yoh looked terrified as the teacher unfolded the note and read it aloud. " 'Yoh Asakura, you are such a jerk. How could you call our perfect history teacher, Mr. Obanna-sama, a fat, pig-faced weasel? You're so cruel!' "

The entire class gasped, all thinking the same thing: That kid's going to get a detention for sure. The teacher glared down at Yoh with such rage in his eyes that everyone thought he would explode. And poor Yoh Asakura wanted to sink in his seat at that moment, wishing for the world that he had waited until the end of class to ask Anna to the new restaurant Ren told him about. Several seats and a row over, Anna Kyouyama tried to conceal the smug smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"She what?" Tamao asked her good friend and crush Yoh Asakura. The boy had detention that day and the next week because of what Anna did. He had just got done finishing explaining it to all his friends, who all pretty much were very mad at Anna that moment.

But no one was as mad as Tamao. Why did Anna do that? All Yoh did was give her a friendly invitation to Jun's new restaurant. He didn't tell her to go fall off a cliff or something like that. And Yoh still liked her! Where did she get the nerve to get Yoh into trouble and still get to keep his heart?

"I said she fooled the teacher into believing I called him a fat, pig-faced weasel." Yoh sighed once again.

It puzzled Tamao. How could Yoh still go on liking Anna if she was so cruel to him day after day? How could he put up with it? Getting in trouble day after day because of her and still being able to dream about that cruel person at night? It confused everybody willing enough to even accept the fact that Yoh liked—no loved—the Ice Queen. And despite that he told everyone he didn't love her, it was as transparent as glass that he did.

"I have to go guys. Mr. Obanna-sama wants me to write a five page apology letter to him by the end of tomorrow." Yoh sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Tamao wanted to know what he was thinking. Was he still thinking about inviting Anna to the restaurant? Or was he thinking about just forgetting about her? The pink-headed girl wished he was thinking about the latter.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Yoh. Tamao and I can get to the restaurant by ourselves. Pirika and Ren already went ahead." The bluenette Ainu reassured him, patting Tamao's head. The girl blushed at the contact, but she assured herself that it was just a friendly, brother-like pat. Nothing more.

The two left Yoh, heading towards the front gates, where a sight they had least expected to see surprised them. The Ice Queen herself was waiting patiently on a bench in the hall, near the classroom. She had her legs crossed and she wrote an answer on a piece of paper she was working on for homework.

The two stood a meter away from the bench, flabbergasted. What was the Ice Queen doing there? Surely she had a home to go to after school. Both of them knew that she lived right next door to Yoh, as Yoh himself had pointed out several times since she moved to the city a year before.

As they walked by, Anna gave them death glares and returned to her homework. They tried not to stare in curiosity but failed to do so. To see the Ice Queen waiting in the hall, outside the very classroom Yoh was sitting in, was such a marvel. It had to be the most odd thing of the century.

As they passed the front gates after witnessing Anna waiting (most likely for Yoh), Tamao cleared her throat. She regretted it once Horo-horo looked over at her questioningly and felt herself blush at his gaze.

"How am I going to help you make Yui like you?" Tamao asked in a soft whisper. A sudden feeling bubbled at the pit of her stomach. The same thing happened when Horo-horo first asked her to help him. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't like it.

That was one of the feelings today she experienced but didn't like. There was another one she felt when she thought Horo-horo had said he liked her. After he said the words 'I like you' and she thought it was directed to her, she felt giddy and excited, as light as a feather. She had gotten confused and thought that maybe he lost track of what he was saying or got her mixed up with Yui. They looked similar, so it could be possible.

"I just need you to find out what she likes and dislikes and what she feels about me. The usual things." Horo-horo shrugged. For someone who liked Yui, he sure didn't look or act like he cared for her.

Tamao nodded and kept her eyes on the ground. Then she noticed that Horo-horo was no longer walking beside her. She looked up and to her sides, worry taking its toll. Just as she was about to have a heart attack thinking Horo-san was kidnapped, she looked behind her and saw him standing in the middle of the road, a bundle of fur in his hands. Tamao sighed with relief as he came running back to her.

"Look, Tamao!" Horo-horo smiled brightly as he caught up to where she was standing. He held out the bundle in his hands, and Tamao saw that there were two bundles of fur, not one. They were two small kittens, meowing lightly.

Tamao cooed and traveled her hands over their soft fur in a light pet. The meowed more. "Horo-san! They're so cute!"

Horo-horo's smile broadened, if that were possible, causing Tamao to blush and look at the ground. "They could have been run over by a car if they stayed on the road any longer. You saved them, Horo-san."

Horo scratched his head and laughed sheepishly. "I'm no hero. I just saw them and thought you'd like them."

Tamao's head was as red as a tomato. "You…saved them for me, Horo-san?"

Horo-horo looked even more sheepish. "Yeah. Unless you don't want them. I can always have Pirika take them to an animal shelter or something…"

The pink-haired girl picked up one of the kittens and kissed its furry head. She smiled shyly and told him, "That's all right, Horo-san. I like them."

She was startled a little by the pink haze on his cheeks and the sudden embarrassment that came over him, but she didn't let it show. He cleared his throat and, with the other kitten in his hand, grabbed her hand and led her forward. "Pirika and Ren are probably wondering where we are. We shouldn't keep them waiting. And I want to see what kind of food is at this new restaurant."

well, there is chapter 3! took me forever because i had a serious case of writer's block...but suddenly i was cured and finished this! yay! except now i have writer's block again and don't know where to go from here...all i know is that in the next chapter, they all go to the restaurant! bwahaha...what horrors awai them there...?