Hey, welcome! Here's chapter 3, let's get into it!
Chapter 3
Kori slammed the door of her room when she entered. She heard someone knocking on the door making the orange haired girl growl in anger.
"Go away mom! Nothing's going on!" the knocking persisted annoying Kori more.
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who that boy is to you" the taunting voice of her mother made Kori's mood sour more. So she started banging back, which had the effect of making her mother stop.
"I told you! He's just a classmate!" she shouted through her banging "and I haven't even spoken to him much since today, and that was majority shouting and cursing!"
Silence greeted her on the other end of the door, which made Kori sigh in relief. Why did her mother suddenly become so insistent on Kasai?
'I need some music to calm my nerves' the girl reached for her school bag but grabbed air. She blinked in confusion and looked down to see that there was indeed nothing slung over her arm.
'Where the hell is my school bag?' Kori's eyes widened in shock looking all around her but didn't see the dark blue bag anywhere.
That's when she remembered when the bag left the care of her shoulder. It was when she jumped Kasai, believing him to be a stalker.
'Oh crap, that means it's probably still outside!' the girl spun around and grabbed the handle of her door and threw the erect wood open. Kori half expected her mother to still be standing there trying to pry into her life, but thankfully she wasn't there.
'I gotta go before someone steals it…if it isn't already stolen' the girl ran towards the stairs and started running down them. To save time she jumped the last three, but forgot that she was still in her socks.
BAM
Kori's feet had slipped the minute they landed and made the girl land on her rump.
"Kori!" she heard her father and mother call her name at the same time. The parents came out from the kitchen, her father in an apron, ladle in hand and her mother with a knife in her hand.
"What happened?" they got closer to the girl, worried looks on their faces, but Kori didn't have time for this. She had to get her bag, now!
"Nothing, I just slipped is all" she said quickly getting up and running towards the front door. The parents looked at each other and then they looked at their daughter, who was putting her school shoes on as fast as she could.
"Where are you going?" asked Ryuuji following his wife, who walked closer to Kori.
"I just dropped something on the way here and I'm gonna go fetch it" the girl grabbed a handle from the umbrella stand by the door way. From the container she pulled out a wooden sword that had a few dents in it, but looked good and still seemed like it could serve its function.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Taiga asked, as she was about to put her shoes on, but her daughter was already running out the door with the sword on her shoulder.
"It's ok, I'll be fine!" she called over her shoulder as she ran out the gate that was connected to the wall that surrounded their house.
"…and she's gone" Ryuuji sighed for the second time today "let's get the food ready" he turned around to continue cooking.
Taiga looked at the open door way for a few more second before getting up from sitting on the floor. She closed the door and picked up the knife she put down on the table that was located in the hallway.
"You're oddly calm for a father that just watched his daughter run out of the house with nothing but a wooden sword for protection" the orange haired woman walked into the kitchen well looking at her husband, waiting for a response from him.
"If she's anything like her mother then she'll be fine" was Ryuuji's answer, stirring the pot he had left in the kitchen when he and Taiga heard the sound of their daughter falling.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" the orange haired woman poked him in the side with a smirk.
"That I should be more worried about whoever tries to mess with her" the man chuckled when he saw Taiga grinning with a proud look on her face.
"Damn right!" the orange haired woman proceeded to chop the potatoes she had left on the chopping board "I taught her everything I knew about swordsman ship"
"You mean there's more besides just beating someone with in an inch of their life?" Ryuuji gave the woman a smirk.
"Is there any better way to deal with someone messing with you?" said Taiga, Ryuuji could only laugh with Taiga joining in on the laugh.
"Please still be there" Kori mumbled to herself as she ran down the street towards where she remembered she and Kasai had their altercation.
When she got there the bag was there, thankfully, but someone was crouched next to the bags and reaching for one of them. By now the sun had gone down and it was difficult to make out anything about the person from the faint glow of the street light.
So she tightened her grip on the handle of her wooden sword and ran at the person, ready to deal some damage to the thief.
When Kori got closer she brought the weapon down towards the person's head hoping to land a decent blow on the person who wanted to take her bag. She was, however, shocked when the person brought something up to block the sword strike.
CLANG
That was the sound that echoed down the barely lit and empty pathway. Kori looked down to see what she hit and saw a lid of a trashcan being held by the person, who was crouched and facing the bags.
"You're becoming really annoying, you know" the person mumbled, the voice that she heard made Kori pull her sword back and frown at the guy.
"Oh…it's you" the girl grumbled back as the guy got up.
Kasai threw his bag over his shoulder well holding the straps with his hand. He watched Kori walk past him and reach down to retrieve her own bag. The black haired boy paid special attention to the sword in the girl's hand as he tossed the lid to the side.
"Nice sword" he said making Kori look up at him. She placed her bag on her shoulder well putting the wooden sword on her other shoulder "yours?"
"My mother's" Kasai involuntary twitched at the mention of Kori's mom. The two started walking down the path the orange haired girl had taken to get to where they were.
The two walked in silence neither looking at each other with the sounds of crickets accompanying them.
"I've been wondering" Kasai glancing at the girl next to him was the only indication that he heard her.
"You do that a lot?" Kasai asked with sarcastic tone.
"Where DO you live?" the blond boy looked ahead of them with an unreadable expression on his face.
When the boy didn't answer Kori turned her head to him with a raised brow, but it was evident that the guy wasn't gonna answer her so she dropped it.
Let sleeping dogs lie, and all that jazz.
"See ya" Kori said as the two stood in front of her house for the second time that night.
"Yeah, yeah…" Kasai grumbled as he turned left and walked away from the Takasu household well the orange haired girl walked towards the front door of said house.
Kori stopped just before entering to see where Kasai had walked off too. So she turned her head in the direction he had vanished off too.
Kori's bag clattered to the floor as said girl's hands dropped to her sides. The blond/black haired boy was standing in front of the house that was right next to Kori's.
"Y-You…" she spoke loud enough so Kasai could hear her. The boy turned his head to her with an apathetic look on his face.
"You live next door to me?!" Kori shouted turning her body towards Kasai, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"Now you see why I said that I take the same way as you to get home" the boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and put the key that was in his hand into the lock of the front door "night"
"Wait-" Kori tried to get more out of the boy but the door closed with a loud BANG. If that wasn't Kasai's way of saying the conversation was over then Kori didn't know what was.
The next morning Kori was up early. The reason she did that was because she had been up majority of the night trying to figure out why she'd never seen Kasai every time she went home, or went to school for that matter. She had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep because her brain woke her up early that morning to continue their discussion.
The orange haired girl sat up and stretched. Her bare feet touched the cold floor making her shiver. Winter was coming. The girl proceeded to the entrance of her room but paused at the door way.
The reason Kori paused was a mould stain that was partially peaking out from behind her clothing basket. The look of abject horror that appeared on Kori's face was followed by one of determination.
"Oh hell no…" she growled out narrowing her eyes "mould in this house? I don't think so!" Kori threw open the door of her room and ran downstairs.
When she made it downstairs the orange haired girl reached into the cabinet under the sink and got Mould Remover and a rag. Not even closing the cabinet again Kori ran back upstairs and headed straight for her room.
"Kori" a tired Taiga called out as she neared the door of her daughter's room.
"Time to get up…" she said with a yawn. When she didn't get an answer the woman grabbed the handle, the minute she did Taiga found out that the door was opened a crack so she peaked in. The minute she peaked in the older Takasu female had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
Crouched next to the door was Kori scrubbing at the wall with a look of determination and anger on her face.
"You will not get the better of me..." the girl mumbled and started letting out a menacing chuckle.
Living with Ryuuji had prepared Taiga for this type of situations. So she left her daughter to her cleaning with a chuckle.
"Like father like daughter apparently" was her parting words as she walked away for Kori's room.
"Kasai!" a lump covered by blankets twitched before someone sat up.
A dishevelled looking Kasai barely opened his eyes as his alarm blared from outside the house.
'I'm gonna kill who ever made that annoying alarm clock 'he thought' how the hell they knew what my name was…wait…' he paused in thought and opened his eyes completely.
"Kasai! Get your ass out here!" the noise outside got louder, or closer the teen didn't know which it was.
Throwing his feet over the side Kasai shivered at the cold ground his bare feet touched. He walked over to the window that showed the front of his house and pulled the blinds back.
The thing that was calling out to him was in fact a school dressed Kori, who had an impatient look on her face. Kasai opened the window so he could give the girl a piece of his mind.
"What the hell woman?!" shouted the sleep deprived looking boy "Why the hell are you calling me so early in the morning?!"
"It's only 6:30" the girl said back, rolling her eyes "now hurry up and get dressed so we can go"
"Huh?" Kasai gave her a look of confusion "What are you talking about? Go with you where?" Kori just crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side well giving the boy a 'are you stupid?' look.
"To school, idiot" a tick mark appeared on Kasai's forehead.
"Okay…now tell me why I gotta go with you" he hissed out the last word putting as much venom as he could into the 'you'.
"Just get down here" with that Kori turned her back on the boy.
It was obvious to Kasai that the girl wasn't going to answer anymore of his questions so he shut his window and turned around. When he faced his messy room the boy growled in annoyance and sat down on the floor. He leaned on the wall underneath the window.
Kasai looked up at a picture frame that hung on the wall. The sun hadn't reached that side of the room so the only thing that could be seen in the picture was a younger smiling Kasai.
"I just wanna sleep…" the boy said to himself quietly.
"Took you long enough" was the first thing that Kori said after she heard the sound of a door closing. She turned around so see an angry looking Kasai dressed in his uniform, alterations and all, with a piece of toast in his mouth.
"Mhufh hip (Shut it)" the boy mumbled around the piece of toast. He locked the door and walked past the dark orange haired girl. Kori jogged a bit towards the tall boy, and then, when she reached her destination, she walked alongside him.
"Why'd you come and bug me this early in the morning anyway?" Kasai asked/grumbled after he took a bite out of his toast "you've been walking with Miss Kushieda's Genki kid since you came to this school" he finished off his toast before finishing his question "Why're you suddenly walking with me?"
Kori looked at the boy from the corner of her eye then looked forward again.
"Because I have a couple questions for you" said Kori as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder "First of all-"
"Oi, I never gave you permission to ask any questions" Kasai interjected but Kori ignored him.
"How long have you been living next to me?" Kasai's eyebrow twitched at the fact the girl ignored him.
"Grrrr" the boy growled softly before sighing, even though he only spoke to the girl a couple times Kasai had a feeling that the girl would keep hounding him until she got what she wanted.
"Well?" the girl looked at the boy walking alongside her with a look that showed she wasn't gonna stop until she got an answer.
"…" Kasai looked ahead and wondered if he could outrun the petite girl next to him. That thought was banished when he remembered the Phys-Ed classes they had last year.
The Takasu girl was actually at the top of the class for fitness. She was the second fastest girl in the class, right behind Rin and he was the fastest guy in the class but overall he was third, just under Kori and Rin.
"Don't make me ask a third time" the threatening tone that Kori used was laced with so much frost that Kasai wondered why icicles didn't shot out when she spoke…
"*Sigh* I've been living in that house way before your princess ass ever moved in" Kasai grumbled.
Kori had a tick mark on her head and would have beaten the boy over the head with her bag but she forced herself to calm down. Violence wouldn't solve anything, or get her anymore answers.
"Good, next question" Kasai just sighed in annoyance, but said nothing in protest "Why is it that I've never seen you walking to school or for that fact back from school?"
"One question at a time" Kasai grumbled before taking a bite from his toast.
"Just answer the question" Kori rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"Which one?" asked the black/blonde haired boy with a bitter smirk. The glare that Kori sent him made the smirk disappear "Fine, the reason you never see me in the morning is because I always come in late and the Genki one used to come get you around this time" Kasai gave a dark chuckle "it always messed with my sleep. Well, it did until you got smart and went to her….so, thanks I guess"
Kori's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She took a deep breath and let it out again.
"You're insults at me and my best friend aside. You didn't answer the third question"
"I was getting to that…" Kasai finished off his toast before continuing "the reason you've never seen me after school is because I'm busy after school"
"Busy with what?" asked Kori with a raised brow.
"Sorry, but you've run out of answer tickets. Try again at a later date" the orange haired girl blinked in surprise.
"Wha…"
"Try. Again. Later" said Kasai as he placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the clouds above.
Kori obviously wanted some more answers but Kasai didn't seem like he wanted to expand on his last answer. It almost seemed like he wanted to avoid it at all costs.
A bored looking Miyo was rocking on the balls of her feet as she waited for her best friend to come and meet her. She wanted to go and fetch her but after the last time Miyo almost broke down Kori's door. The Takasu girl had berated her the whole way to school.
So it's suffice to say that Miyo wasn't gonna go through that again…unless Kori doesn't show up in the next 30 seconds.
"You're really stubborn, you know that?" Miyo's head perked up at the sound of her best friend's voice and turned towards said voice, but it was coming from around the corner.
"Takes one to know one" the second voice made Miyo pause and stop from calling out to the girl.
"Really? What, are we in grade school all of a sudden?" Miyo could almost hear Kori's eyes rolling.
Miyo first saw Kori round the corner then she saw the person who the girl was talking too walking alongside said girl. The Kushieda girl dropped her bag in shock, her mouth dropping along with it.
"N-No way!" she shouted pointing at Kasai and Kori. The duo noticed the girl pointing at them. It was at this moment Kori knew…she fucked up.
"Wait Miyo-" but Miyo was already going off into one of her rants.
"Oh my God Kori's walking to school with a guy" the red head placed her hands on either side of her head and looked like she was having a panic attack "this can only mean one of many things…they could have done this and that, no Kori's smarter than that…"
"Wow, calm do-" Kasai tried to calm the girl down but he wasn't having any luck either.
"I gotta get someone else's opinion!" Miyo ran down the street screaming about how the reality she knew was warping…or some shit like that.
"Miyo!" but the girl was too far gone. Kori sighed in annoyance and massaged her temples.
"This can only cause a bunch of misunderstandings" said Kasai picking up Miyo's forgotten bag "I'm too tired to chase after her" the blond boy threw the bag over his other shoulder.
"What if people start making assumptions and rumours start spreading?" Kori wasn't a stranger to being the centre of gossip.
"Let em have their stupid rumours" Kasai shrugged his shoulders "that's all they are after all, rumours" the boy looked up at the sky "the minute you let words get the better of you is the moment when you've lost hope in both humanity and yourself" Kasai looked over his shoulder at the girl "and you don't look like the type of girl to give up, are ya Kori?"
With his piece said the boy walked on ahead leaving behind a surprised Kori, who kept staring at the boy's back. That was kinda deep and it hit just as deep for the girl with sanpaku eyes.
I know it's kinda short but I'm gonna say now that every chapter are most likely going to vary in lengths of words.
I hope you guys and gals understand.
Leave a review and tell me what you think.
See ya next time!