Of Clips and Ribbons : The Ribbon Close to her Heart
「Chapter 2 - "The Brother of Two"」
"It's a tradition in Kanagawa that if you haven't seen a person for quite a long time, you kiss them."
"Ann!"
Kirihara Akaya and Tachibana Ann stood surprisingly at Kippei, unsure of what they should do. Ann tried her best to fight the urge to throw Niou-sempai out of the house while Kirihara just couldn't stop staring at his archenemy.
Kippei had a mixed feeling of surprise, curiosity, anger and indigestion. He couldn't totally figure out why his sister would do that. Plus, he didn't exactly know the reason why half of the infamous team who knocked Fudoumine down was staying inside his house, as if it was their own. Now he wondered why he agreed to let his sister go to Rikkai Dai. And he totally forgotten that he needed to use the bathroom.
Great.
"What are you all doing here?" Kippei tried his best to ask calmly, demanding the trickster for an answer.
Niou answered him with a devilish grin and said, "We're just dropping by to see our favorite girl, onii-chan."
"Niou-sempai…" Ann warned the trickster in a whisper, saying not to go too far. Niou gave him an assuring smirk, which was then Ann figured out that she's dead.
There was an eerie silence before a newcomer decided to brake that up.
"Such a commotion in your house, Tachibana Kippei-san," A new voice joined in. All eyes turned to the door and everybody spotted the child of God, Yukimura Seiichi, smiling at them innocently. "All because of my teammates, perhaps?"
"Yukimura Seiichi," Kippei gave a warning glance at Ann before turning to face Yukimura. "Your ace just kissed my sister."
"On the contrary, Ann was the one--" before Niou could even continue what he was about to say, Ann had already sent him a death glare.
"Okay, okay,"
"Mmm…" Yukimura mused for a second, then eyed the two teens, who were both begging him for help. "Don't worry Tachibana-san…It's a tradition in Kanagawa that when you see a person you haven't seen for quite a long time, you kiss them."
"We're doomed." Both Ann and Kirihara said in unison, with no evidence of hope seen on every word. Niou could only slap his forehead.
"Sou ka?" Tachibana Kippei tapped his chin for a second and then sighed. "Well I guess I'll let you off the hook this time."
"Really--?!"
"But please refrain yourself from kissing random boys from random places, Ann. It's happens quite too often," Kippei mused with closed eyes as Ann could only sweat drop. "Look what happened to Echizen Ryoma…"
"Wha--?!!" Niou, Kirihara and Marui all shouted in disbelief, "Echizen Ryoma?!"
Ann gave them a quick wink and whispered, "Hi-mi-tsu!"
"Come on boys, we have to go now," Yukimura reminded the other three. "Genichirou and the others are waiting for us at the station."
"Ah. Yukimura-san, is Yanagi-san there as well?" Ann briefly interrupted, hoping that Yukimura would answer her with a yes. Marui and Kirihara had yet to raise their brows on her.
"Yanagi? What's she got to do with him?" They both thought out of curiosity.
"Yanagi?" Niou mused, then a wide trickster smirk appeared on his face. "Puri…"
Jackal eyed the swindler, a small tinge of horror visible on his expression. "Uh-oh."
Trickster mode.
"Yes he's there as well," Yukimura answered, giving her an assuring smile. For once, Marui actually thought he saw a glint of a trickster's eyes on her blue orbs.
"Can I drop a message then?" As soon as she saw Yukimura nod, she leaned towards the captain and gave her message through a whisper. Yukimura nodded once more and gave her a beam.
"Well, we better go now, Ann-chan," Yukimura said and patted her head, and a tinge of pink shortly appeared on her cheeks.
She smiled to Yukimura as she watched them step out of the house. "Have a safe trip!"
"Aniki…! I'll miss you!" Kirihara shouted randomly, which earned him a smack from Jackal. Kippei could only give him a blank stare.
They all waved goodbye to her, with Jackal dragging Kirihara out of the house and Niou smirking continuously at them and it was as if his eyes were telling them, 'I've got my eyes on you,'. Marui and Ann sweat dropped.
Ann continued to wave goodbye not until Kippei shot the door close, his face painted with exasperation. Ann gulped.
"I let you off the hook because Yukimura-san tried his best to excuse you guys."
"What was best in buchou's excuse?" Marui silently snorted as he put his hands inside his pockets.
"I don't want it to happen again, got it, Ann?" Kippei patiently scolded his sister. Ann could only give the other a pout.
"Hai."
"You okay?" A worried redhead peeked over Tachibana Ann's door, unsure if he should enter the room or not.
"I'm fine." Ann abruptly answered, scribbling some notes on the notebook on her bed.
Marui sighed, then finally decided to enter the room. He walked over to her then sat beside her. Ann laid down on her bed, boredom thoroughly visible on her face. Marui let out another sigh. What was he doing inside her room in the middle of the night anyway? If Kippei caught them, hell knows what he would think of.
"Couldn't sleep?" Her voice stopped his trail of thought, and he immediately faced her.
"Maybe. Yeah."
"Me too."
"He's just concerned about you, that's all," Marui broke the silence before it could even initiate, and told her in a comforting manner. Ann could only release another aggravated sigh and face the other direction.
"Everybody says that," She told him, boredom evident in her voice. "But it's just all about taking away my freedom.
Marui snorted, which made Ann raise an elegant brow on him.
"What's so funny?" She asked him annoyingly.
"Nothing." Marui insisted. "It's just that you're confusing. At first, you didn't want to kiss Akaya, and then you're angry because Tachibana-san prevented you from doing so,"
Marui was cut by his own laughter.
"In short, you just wanted to kiss Akay--"
"Sempai, since when have you started being annoying?"
"Just now."
"Why?"
"I don't know, probably just to make a sulking girl smile." Marui gave her a cheeky grin, which now made the other snort.
"Don't grin, you look like Kirihara-kun, you look idiotic." Ann said, then gave him a smile. "I like it though…"
Then the two broke into laughter as Marui clutched his stomach and Ann giggled softly. Marui paused for a bit, then faced her again.
"So, wanna tell me what happened between you and the Echizen guy?"
Ann giggled again, then rose up from her bed excitedly.
"Well it started out like this," Ann let out another giggle as Marui eagerly listened.
Oyasumi…
Tachibana Ann yawned as she rose from her bed, reminding herself to break a certain alarm clock that destroyed her slumber. She moaned and took a look at the clock again.
She blinked a few times when something…or rather, someone, nudged her back. She slowly turned and revealed a redhead sleeping beside her, snoring softly like a kid. Her eyes slowly widened in surprise when realization dawned upon her. Out of reflexes, she let out a scream, one in which woke the tensai up.
Marui too, blinked a few times and realized that that was the situation they were in. But he wouldn't scream, not in a million years. He was manly. And men never scream. Unless they were in a situation where the super terrifying brother of your crush is about to kill you because you accidentally slept beside his sister was the situation. Wait. Did he just thought of her as his crush?
Ugh, screw that. That was not the situation.
"Ann! Marui! You guys are gonna be late if you don't wake up!" A voice came from downstairs, which the two figured out to be Kippei.
"Wha-at a-are you…do-ing here?!" Marui pointed his shaking finger at her, unable to say what he wanted to say properly. Ann crossed her arms and pointed out,
"I should be the one asking you that," Ann told him, which made him realize that she was correct.
"Ann!" Another order from Kippei was heard.
"Hai!" Ann jumped off her bed, leaving the redhead alone in the room, flabbergasted.
"Second day and I'm really about to get retarded…"
Marui went down the flight of stairs and got to the kitchen, where the Tachibana siblings have just finished preparing breakfast. Marui secretly raised an eyebrow at Kippei, unsure if the latter saw them sleeping beside each other or not. He then shrugged, probably he didn't, because if he did, by now he would've killed him, right? And if he did, hell know what's he's gonna do.
"Itadakimasu."
Marui Bunta sighed. Why was he the only one thinking about what happened a while ago? Ann still seemed energetic, as usual. Does she even care? And how did he even fall asleep in there anyway? A bump in the head? Pills? A poisonous kiss?!!
Marui clutched his head in frustration. What?!
"You must think that I'm a dangerous, evil and merciless seductress, don't you?" Ann's voice flushed away all his thoughts. Marui looked to her and sweat dropped.
"You know me that well?"
"Wasn't that hard to figure out when a usually composed guy starts clutching his head while on the way to school…"
"Where's Ani-- I mean, Tachibana-san? He left right after eating." Marui tried to change subjects, which evidently succeeded. Ann mused for a bit before answering.
"Well, sometimes he goes to school early to train with the tennis club." Ann giggled. "He's so supportive of the team."
"Tennis club, huh…" Marui muttered in quite a low voice, which made the girl worry.
"Want to join the tennis club?" Ann flashed a smile at him, which made him smile as well.
"Hm. Maybe, let's give it a shot." Marui was back to his proud self. "But when I beat everyone in the club, that makes me captain, right?"
"Haha, in your dreams, gum boy." Ann chuckled and pushed him playfully.
They stopped in their tracks as they found the said school in front of them. Anxiety had yet com back to Marui.
"Well, here we are, Fudoumine."
Slowly, they entered the school, holding their bags in place and directing towards the main building. Some girls gave a long stare at Marui. Probably amazed by his 'good looks'. Marui spotted a few staring, which made him smirk a bit. He blew a bubble from his gum he ate a while ago, to boost up his 'coolness'.
Ah, arrogant as ever.
Now there were a few murmurs starting; a few girls were looking how close Marui and Ann walked beside each other. Others were starting to form weird gossips.
"Is he the one?"
"The transferee from Rikkai Dai Fuzoku? I think so…"
"He has such a cool aura…"
"Is he, Ann-san's boyfriend?"
Marui choked at the thought. Him and Ann…together? Hah, if he was that lucky, he would've killed Akaya by just holding Ann's hand. Sadly, he wasn't. He's just a transferee helped by the resident popular girl anyway. But, he's still kind of cool.
Well, that was what he thought.
"Probably, they look so cute together!"
"Wai…Ann-san's so lucky!"
"TACHIBANA ANN HAS A BOYFRIEND?!!!" A random guy shouted, which effectively made all the pupils around turn to face the two. Ann was surprised, she didn't seem to hear all of the gossips that started like virus.
The same guy pointed at Marui. He had an expression of hate and disappointment pasted on his face. Marui sweat dropped. "Poor you," he thought.
Suddenly, all the other guys in the area started having the same faces, and they were all glaring at Marui. Weird. What'd he do?
"GET HIM!"
Now they had all started running towards the tensai's direction. Panicking, Marui ran, which lost all his 'coolness'. The guys chased him as he entered the building.
"Ann-chan, we feel for your guy…" A random girl patted her shoulder, as if trying to comfort her.
"Ann-chan that's okay!" Another one said.
"Here we go again…" Ann rested her face on her palm and sweat dropped.
"ANN-CHAN HAS A WHAT?!"
"Kamio-kun!"
To be Continued...
A/N: Kind of a little boring, huh? :3 Yeah, I think I'm losing it. Can't even type an interesting chapter. And the update was damn slow! Sorry everyone, I'm becoming a human turtle. At least, umm….just tell me what you think okay? Probably it'll make me feel better. :D Well, that's it for chapter two…yep, that's it. (And I think I almost forgot how to update a chapter.) //021009//
。Keisuke Cloudberry。
And did this just take me two months?!