I honestly didn't expect to get many reviews in the previous chapter. Like usual, I'll reply to all of them in the next official chapter. For now, enjoy a special!
I own nothing.
-IIXII-
Slap!
Raven winced when the sound assaulted her ears. Before she was able to do anything else other than standing around outside the door with her hand being held out towards the knob, the very same door which she was staring at suddenly came bursting open, much to her utter surprise. She was nearly knocked to the ground when Summer came rushing right past her, but before she could call out to the other woman to inquire what was wrong, the sight which then greeted her eyes killed all the words in her throat.
Summer was…crying?
Raven watched as the woman disappeared from view later on, and by that time she had already understand the gist of everything.
"Terumi," she snarled.
Raven marched her way inside the house and approached the living room, pulling out her weapon while she was doing so. Just as she figured, Terumi was there.
The pathetic man had his face turned aside, with a hand held up to his right cheek. And it was so red that not even a tomato could defeat it in terms of color.
"You," Raven called out, her voice laced with venom. "What did you do this time?"
Luckily none of the kids were around from what she could see, because she knew that what she was about to do to him would need to be censored due to extreme violence.
"I…" Terumi balled up his other hand into a fist. "I just-"
The blunt side of Raven's weapon slammed into his other unharmed cheek, thus knocking him to the side before he could properly finish his sentence. He slammed into the wall afterwards, but instead of getting back up with anger showing in his eyes, Raven was surprised to find him just sitting there with his head faced downwards.
The sight was rather pitiful, in a way. So pitiful that even Raven herself felt that what she was about to do to him would prove to be too much for him to handle. And so, she kept away her sharp blade and opted to just simply glare at him with her menacing red orbs, her face revealing how disgusted she was.
"I knew you couldn't be trusted. From day one," Raven spat. "I'm not even going to let you apologise to Summer, you hear me?"
Terumi chose to remain silent, and that somehow managed to irritate her further. So irritating, and yet so pitiful.
With a huff, Raven turned her back to him and made her way out of the house with the intention of finding Summer. She could be anywhere at this point.
If anything, Raven could only hope that Summer wasn't in danger. With how she looked just moments ago, even she could tell that she wasn't in the right state of mind to protect herself from unsuspecting trouble.
"Come on Summer, where are you hiding?"
-IIXII-
As it turned out, locating Summer wasn't actually a difficult task after all.
Why Summer had decided to stop by at the park which was just minutes away from her own house was beyond Raven, though she was thankful that the woman wasn't anywhere else. It would've been a pain on her part.
"Summer," Raven called out, noting the way she flinched soon afterwards. She then made her way over to the bench Summer was resting on and sat down beside her, placing an arm over her shoulders. "Would you mind telling me what happened?" she said. When silence greeted her, Raven sighed. "Come on, Summer. I know you want to tell me. I can tell from the look in your eyes."
Summer sniffled. "I-It's…nothing worth talking about."
"Summer," Raven started. "if you don't tell me right now, then I'll probably have to kill a certain someone to make you talk to me."
Summer went rigid at her words. Damn she was too easy to read.
"Joking." Raven smiled as she pulled Summer in closer to her side. "Now tell me. What did he do to you?"
"It's…" Summer paused, eyes downcast. "…not what he did, but what he said to me."
Raven cocked an eyebrow. "So? What did he say?"
Summer hesitated at first, but eventually she started spilling.
"I'll…just start from the beginning then. That way you'll be able to understand the full picture." After earning a quick nod from her, Summer cleared her throat. "S-So earlier today I went to eat at a diner, along with some friends."
Raven nodded once more. "Mhm."
"I ended up eating a whole lot compared to my friends, because at the time I knew that I was starving from all the things that I had to do at work," Summer continued.
Raven found herself nodding again. "Yeah?"
"S-So after we were done eating and all, my friends and I decided to call it a day. I knew Terumi was in my house, since I was the one who requested him to watch over it while I was gone…"
Raven's face immediately turned sour at the mention of the man's name.
"Then, I-I went home." Summer's voice suddenly started to break, much to Raven's concern. "I went up to him and we greeted each other like usual, a-and then…and then…he…h-he said…"
Raven growled. "That's it! I'll kill him! I'll kill that-"
-IIXII-
"Is it just me, or did you gain some weight while you were away?"
Ragna gasped. "No."
Terumi touched his cheek, the one which had been slapped by a furious Summer, and he ended up wincing in pain later on. Hell, it stung more than what Raven did to his other one even. "That's what I said," he muttered. "Honestly didn't expect to receive a hard slap of all things…"
"Terumi, you should know by now that saying that to a woman could get you killed!" Ragna exclaimed, before sighing out a relieved sigh. "Though at the same time I am relieved to hear that. When you called me out here saying that there was an emergency, I expected something big. But this? Well…"
Terumi sat down on the porch of Summer's house and decided to release his own sigh, which sounded a lot more heavier than Ragna's. "I know. Women are hard to understand, so I figured that you were my best bet at explaining how they worked and what I did wrong."
"Then shouldn't you have called in Kagura instead of me?"
"He's a prick."
"Figured as much."
"I knew you would." Terumi clicked his tongue when a certain question came popping up in his head. "How should I fix this…?"
Ragna, figuring that Terumi needed actual help on this, slowly opened his mouth to answer.
"You don't have to."
But was later interrupted by Raven before he had a chance to.
Terumi, surprised, turned to where Raven's voice originated from, and the sight which later greeted his eyes made him even more surprised.
Was it just him, or did Summer look like she had just experienced all sorts of hell?
He honestly didn't remember her crying this much compared to the time when she had slapped him, which was just nearly an hour ago.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Terumi," Raven spat. "I believe that Summer owes you an apology."
Silence.
"Eh?"
Ragna blinked. "Well, wasn't expecting that of all things."
Summer nervously fidgeted in place as she kept her mouth shut, only to jump a few inches off the ground when Raven yelled at her.
"What are you waiting for!? Apologise to him, damn it!"
Screaming in absolute fear, Summer ran to Terumi and quickly hid herself behind him, much to his surprise. She then poked her head out from behind his right shoulder, shooting a terrified look in Raven's direction.
"Terumi, help! Raven's bullying me!"
"What was that!?" Raven called out. "Say that again, Summer! Say it!"
"Eep!"
Terumi looked to Summer, then to Raven, then finally to Ragna, who appeared to be shooting him a blank stare from what he could see.
"I guess this settles everything, huh," Ragna said.
In return, Terumi let out a large sigh while running a hand through his hair, sweating ever so slightly upon noticing that Raven was currently stomping her way towards him. Though he knew that Summer was her target, instead of himself for once.
"I guess you could say that…"
-IIXII-
Poor Terumi. But hey, good thing Ragna is there.
This is CPL, signing out.
