Chapter Fourteen

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

The students talked among themselves in the classroom. Daita and Raye sat on a table with the girls awing and hovering around Raye while the boys discussed the upcoming baseball season. Some of the girls sat in their desk painting their fingernails while a group of boys gathered around the television. Raye glanced over to the corner. The blonde-haired boy quietly worked with the sound equipment the class was going to be using for the production.

"People! People! Come on! Settle down now!" The teacher walked into the classroom clapping her hands to settle the class down. Raye looked away from Kyoji to the teacher. She slid down off the table and walked towards back with the other students. Daita followed behind her, putting his hands on Raye's hips.

The teacher kept clapping her hands. Most of the students took her authority as a joke since she was the unusual and eccentric type with her cheetah print ribbon in her messy curly brown hair, flamboyant accessories to her Sensei uniform with the usual cheetah print, and extremely ecstatic personality. "Alright, people, let's start at Act 2 Scene 2."

"Sensei Rousseau, we've already done this scene a thousand times!" The girl who was playing the nurse complained.

"Yes, but there's something not right about the scene." Sensei Rousseau commended. "This is acting, students. There must be passion! There must be life! There must be…" She flailed her arms in the air.

"Is there something I'm doing wrong?" Raye stepped forward.

The Sensei put her arms down and looked over at Raye. "No, dear, you make a fine Juliet…" At this, Raye smiled. "…but, I'm afraid Daita needs some work on his lines."

"What's wrong with my lines?" He hissed.

"Nothing, dear, it's just you act like you don't want to be here."

"I don't want to be here," He mumbled under his breath. "Why did you make me sign up for this dumb class anyway?" He asked Raye.

"I didn't make you. I just asked if you wanted to take this class with me, that's all." Raye whispered.

"Alright! Let's run through the lines!" Sensei Rousseau clapped her hands. "Places everyone. Go ahead Daita."

Daita cleared his throat and tugged at the collar of his throat. "He jet at scars that…uh…never any felt wounds. Uh…But look! What light through the window breaking? It's…uh…the East, and Juliet is the…what was it? Sun! Yeah, Sun!"

Then Sensei smacked her hand against her forehead and shook her head. "Oh, goodness."

"Who cares about the dumb lines?" Daita threw his playbook behind his back. "Let's get to the good part." He reached for Raye and tried to kiss her.

"Daita! You're skipping ahead too far!" The Sensei scolded.

"What? Who cares about that boring junk anyway?" He shrugged his shoulders and started to learn in closer to Raye.

"Daita, if you're not going to read the lines correctly then I'm going to ask someone else."

Daita laughed. "Yeah, like who'd want to do that? This class is full of a bunch of nerds and losers. Like you're gonna find a better looking Romeo than me."

"Go to the office!"

Daita shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. Whatever." He walked straight out of the classroom.

"Who's going to take his place? We've done so much work already that it'd be too much for someone to jump in." One of the boys stated to the Sensei.

Sensei Rousseau gazed over her class for a few moments. She tapped her finger on her nose then pointed. "Kyoji."

The blonde haired boy jerked his head up from the audio visual equipment. Everyone had their attention turned in his direction. He looked behind his shoulder to see if they were looking at then noticed they were staring at him.

Raye closed her eyes and slightly groaned. "Why do these things always happen to me?" She muttered to herself.

"Him?" One of the girls asked in disgust.

"Why not?" Sensei Rousseau asked. "He knows all the lines. He's been to every practice…"

"I've never even heard him speak before!" One of the boys interrupted.

Sensei Rousseau walked over to Kyoji and grabbed him by the arm. Her long nails, painted the brightest shade of red, dug into Kyoji's flesh. She dragged him into the middle of the room and put him next to Raye.

Kyoji flinched as the nails dug into his arm. "Sensei, you're hurting me…"

"Nonsense!" She exclaimed. The Sensei handed him a script. "Just try the lines. You'll never know until you try."

"Sensei, I don't think it's a good idea…" Raye said.

"Come on now. Let the boy try before you decide."

"Sensei, I…" Kyoji started to say, but she pushed him next to Raye. "Just read the lines."

Kyoji sighed deeply. He started to read the lines, and he at least read them well with a clear voice and accurate pronunciation. Raye was able to read her lines and interaction began to emerge within the line reading. They kept going straight through. Tension and nervousness started building within each of them as the dreaded scene drew nearer and nearer with each line—the kissing scene. And when they reached it, they stopped abruptly and looked up at the teacher.

"Go on." She nodded.

Kyoji looked back at Raye. She slightly scowled at him, but he slowly and cautiously advanced. Awkwardly, he leaned in focusing intensely on Raye's face.

"Stop!"

Kyoji and Raye quickly jerked back from each other—their hearts pounding with anxiety. Sensei Rousseau came up and stood between the two actors. "There is no passion. There is fear. This will not do. No, this will not do." She turned to Kyoji. "You have to be passionate. You are Romeo. You are madly in love with Juliet. You have to make me believe that you love Juliet."

Kyoji looked down at his feet. "Sensei Rousseau, I don't think I'm the right person for this."

"Nonsense!" She hollered. "Kyoji, you have to feel the passion! Feel it deep within your soul!" She quickly reached out and snatched Kyoji into her arms. She was a large woman and Kyoji's small body was crushed in her grasp. "You have to feel the passion! Feel the passion!"

Kyoji gasped for air as he was being suffocated by the large, crazy, French Sensei. The other students started giggling then they burst out into laughter as the Sensei kept squeezing Kyoji harder and harder while lifting him up off the ground.

"Do you feel the passion? Do you feel it, Kyoji?"

"Yes, I feel it!" Kyoji gasped.

"Good!" Sensei Rousseau dropped Kyoji. He fell to the ground gasping for air. "Now try it again!"

After a few moments, Kyoji stood up and composed himself. Again, Raye and he tried the scene, but it was wrong again.

"No, Kyoji! Show her passion! Show her romance!"

They kept making awkward false starts over and over again while Sensei Rousseau kept yelling loudly and the other students looked on and giggled. The loud obnoxious voice of the Sensei blurred into one dizzy headache in Kyoji's mind. It drove his nerves mad. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Looking up at Raye with intensity and seriousness in his eyes, his posture changed and he stepped forward. Quickly, he grabbed unto Raye's wrist, pulling her up against him then his arms went to her waist.

A grasp started to escape her lips, but it was silenced. He sunk her into the deepest kiss she ever had in her entire life. The classroom fell silent. Her arms naturally went up to rest on Kyoji's forearms. After a few moments, they pulled their lips away from each other. Their eyes locked for a few moments. Terror struck Kyoji's face after a look of confusion and horror washed over Raye.

"Good." Sensei Rousseau said, quite surprised. She smiled and started to clap. Kyoji and Raye looked over at the Sensei and backed away from each other. "Do that on the stage, and you'll have the audience on their knees!"

Kyoji sighed while Raye rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes in frustration.

"Alright, let's move to the next scene."

He walked through the cafeteria silently carrying his lunch. As he walked by each table, the table would hush and start whispering quietly. He headed toward the back corner of the cafeteria and sat down by himself. He opened his paper bag and dug out his lunch. Propping his head up with his fist, he somberly ate his rice and picked at the bits of shrimp and vegetables.

Loud and noisy, Serena came over to the table and plopped down while shoving rice into her mouth. Kyoji looked up at her while she sat down. After she finished chewing, she opened her mouth. "Hi, Kyoji, what's new with you?" She asked, in a peculiar tone.

Suspiciously Kyoji glanced over at her. "What do you mean?"

Serena reached over with her chopsticks and picked into Kyoji's lunch. He glanced at her eating his lunch, but she didn't seem to notice. "Oh, I don't know. How was class today?" She ate the piece of shrimp she grabbed.

"Fine," He said shortly.

Serena thought for a moment. "Just fine, huh?" She fell silent and turned back to her rice. Kyoji started picking through his lunch again while Serena worked on emptying her rice bowl.

After a few minutes, Serena quickly jerked back over. "Everyone's been saying that you kissed Raye in class, and that it wasn't just a kiss on the cheek, and you guys were making out…"

Kyoji jerked his head over and pulled his chopsticks out of his mouth. "I did not "make out" with her!" Kyoji exclaiming, sounding awkward when using slang terms.

"But you did kiss her, right?"

The blonde-haired boy started to blush a furious red. "It was a play, Serena." He looked away, embarrassed.

"So you did kiss her!" Serena clapped her hands.

Kyoji closed his eyes and sighed. "Serena, it was just a play."

Serena sat silent for a moment. "So?"

"So?" He looked at her confused.

A large grin grew on Serena's face. "So…" She grinned even wider. "Did you like it?"

"Serena," Kyoji said sternly, crossing his arms.

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "What?" She grabbed her rice and picked up her chopsticks. "She is your fiancée, you know." She picked around her food. "Tell me something, Kyoji."

He sighed. "What?"

She focused on her food. "Do you want to get married to Raye? I mean, you didn't even know her before you guys were engaged. It was kind of forced on both of you." She looked up at Kyoji. "Or do you like someone else? I know lots of girls who think you're pretty cute…" Her words were cut short when he glanced over at her, his deep blue eyes locking with hers. Sadness struck her heart as his eyes communicated deep pain and sorrow.

"Serena, I don't want to talk about it." He tore his eyes away from her and got up from the table. He walked out of the cafeteria with his head hung low.

Serena turned around and watched Kyoji leave. After a few seconds, she shrugged her shoulders and started eating Kyoji's lunch. She sat alone for a couple of minutes until Lita, Ami, and Mina came up and joined her. They unpacked their lunches and started to eat. They sat in silence for a few moments so Lita looked up at Serena. "What's wrong?"

Serena sighed. "I'm not sure. I was talking with Kyoji and he just got upset and left."

"What happened?" Ami asked.

"You know how he kissed Raye in class…"

Lita slammed her hands down on the table. "That rumor's true?"

Serena leaned forward and giggled. "Yeah, it's true!"

"So what's going on?" Mina asked, giggling too.

"Well, I asked him if he liked Raye or if he even wanted to marry her. He got mad and didn't answer. So then I just asked if he liked someone else." Serena paused for a moment. "He gave me this really sad look, said he didn't want to talk about it, and he left."

Mina pondered for a moment then shook her head. "You've got a problem on your hands, Serena."

"What?" She looked confused.

Lita sighed. "Serena, he likes you."

"What?" She exclaimed.

"Come on! Think about it. He was sad when you mentioned if he liked anyone and didn't want to talk about it with you." Mina crossed her arms. "Yep, admit it. He likes you."

"Are you sure?" Serena still looked confused.

"I'm more than sure," Mina said.

Serena buried her face in her hands. "Oh no! Kyoji can't like me. It'd break his heart if he found out I can't like him back."

"Did you tell him that you were seeing Darien?" Ami asked while reading a book.

"Well, yeah, I've told him, but I guess he couldn't help it."

"What are you going to do?" Lita asked.

Serena stood her head. "I don't know."

"You're going to have to tell him the truth," Ami said. "It's the only way."

Serena sighed. "Yes, I know, but do I have to?"

Mina slapped her hand on the table. "I have plan!"

"What?" Serena exclaimed, leaning forward over the table.

Ami laid her book down. "Wait a minute! I thought the plan was to tell him the truth?"

Mina blew a raspberry. "And when do we ever do something like that? I have a better idea."

"What is it?" Lita asked before taking a bite of her lunch.

A large grin spread across Mina's face. "I say we set Kyoji up on a date for the Winter Formal, and perhaps he'll become interested in someone else and forget about you."

"That's brilliant!" Serena clapped her hands.

"That's devious. Where do these powers of yours come from?" Lita asked jokingly.

Mina grinned. "What can I say? I'm the Sailor of Love."

"Kyoji and Raye are engaged to be married," Ami insisted.

"Yeah, well, she obviously isn't interested in him. She's dating Daita, so why can't Kyoji date someone else?" Mina asked.

"Who'd you have in mind?" Lita asked.

Mina pondered for a moment. "I'm not sure yet. I do know a lot of girls that would want to go out with him."

"Well, yeah, he is pretty good-looking!" Lita said.

"Why do you go out with him?" Serena suggested.

Lita shook her head. "Nah, he's nice and all, but he's a little too shy for me. Besides, I'm about thinking about asking Taro Kuroshima." She blushed.

"Daita's best friend?" Serena asked.

"Yeah," She sighed dreamily.

Mina kept glancing around the room. "Who can we get to go out with Kyoji?" She asked herself.

"Pick someone nice. He at least deserves that," Serena said.

Mina's eyes darted back and forth around the room until her eyes locked on a young girl with medium length blonde hair, short and small frame, warm smile, and bright green eyes. "She's prefect."

Ami, Lita, and Serena all looked toward the girl that Mina was staring at.

"Achika Nakamura?" Lita questioned. "I thought she was dating someone?"

"Not anymore," Mina said.

Serena stared at the cute blonde. "She's perfect! She's kind, somewhat shy, and cute. She and Kyoji would be perfect for each other."

"Now, how do we get him to ask her to the Winter Formal?" Lita asked.

"No! Kyoji wouldn't go for that! We have to think of something else," Serena said. "I know him. He'd be too shy to ask her."

Mina thought for a moment. "Well, we could tell Kyoji that Achika is having trouble finding a date. You know, make him feel sorry for her and ask if he'd take her. Then we could tell Achika that Kyoji wants to go with her, but is too shy to ask her."

"You are so bad!" Lita shook her head.

"I think this might be crossing the boundaries of ethics," Ami stated. "Why not just let Kyoji find his own date?"

"Sometimes people need a little help, Ami. I thought I was going to have to find you a boyfriend, but you beat me to the punch." Mina giggled.

Ami blushed. "Well, I managed to find someone so why don't you let Kyoji do the same?"

"Because he found Serena, and she's already taken." Mina crossed her arms. "So the Sailor of Love is going to give him a hand. Don't worry, Serena. I've got this all under control."

There wasn't play practice after school so Raye walked home to the temple by herself. She walked into her house brushing the snow off her jacket. After tossing her backpack into her room, she took of her shoes and headed down the hallway of the house towards the kitchen.

As she slid across the smooth wooden floor, she stared down at her feet as she glided like an ice skater. She glanced up went she heard footsteps in front of her.

"Hi, Raye-san." He smiled brightly.

"Kaiba." She smiled back. "How are you?"

He walked up to her. "I was out today, and many things happened." He smiled even more. "I have a job now!"

"Really?"

"Yes, I am now what you call a barista at Starbucks!" He opened his jacket and showed her the green polo shirt with the coffee company's logo. "They gave me this shirt, and after I work for two weeks, they will give me money."

"That's great."

He grew more serious. "Then I will be able to pay you for my room instead of Ami having to do it."

"Well, I'm sure it would help Ami, but I know she really just wants to help you."

Kaiba nodded. "Yes, but Ami shouldn't have to take care of me. If I have a job, Ami's mother will respect me and approve of me being with Ami."

Raye nodded back. "Yes, you're off to a good start."

Kaiba glanced behind Raye. There was a telephone on a stand behind her and pointed to it. "I saw people with those machines today. Apparently you can have a conversation with them?"

Raye looked behind her at the telephone. "That's a phone. You can use it to talk to other people."

"Really?" His eyebrow cocked. "Can I talk to Ami?"

Raye smirked at how cute he was acting. "Yes, you can talk to Ami if you want."

She walked over to the phone, and Kaiba followed her. Kaiba picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "Ami? Ami, are you there? Ami? Ami?"

Raye held in her laughter as she watched Kaiba yell into the telephone for Ami. She bit her lip to keep from laughing as she dialed Ami's number. Kaiba glanced over at her.

"You have to dial Ami's number first before you can talk to her."

"Oh." He lightly blushed. He waited at the sound of the ringing.

"Hello, Mizuno…" Ami Mizuno answered.

"Ami!" Kaiba exclaimed at the sound of her voice.

"Kaiba?" Ami questioned, surprised he'd be calling her. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to you. Raye showed me how to use this machine. She called it a telephone."

"I'm glad you are learning so quickly."

"Listen Ami, do you think you can come to the temple tonight? I want to talk to you."

"Yes, okay. I'll come by later tonight after I finish my homework."

"Okay thanks, Ami." Kaiba smiled through the phone. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Kaiba hung up the phone while Ami did the same on her end. After she hung up, Ami smiled, shook her head, and returned to her homework.

"Thank you, Raye" Kaiba bowed and turned around to walk down the hallway while Raye headed toward the kitchen for a snack. He turned right and walked past an open door. He stepped backward and looked into the room.

"Martial arts, eh?"

The shy blonde jerked his head up in surprise. Raye had informed that a guest was staying at the temple, but Kyoji hadn't talked to him yet. Kaiba stepped into the room while staring straight at the other boy. "I'm Kaiba."

"Kyoji." He bowed.

Kaiba pondered for a moment, sensing the boy's shyness. He decided to ask a question that Kyoji would be passionate in responding to. "What styles do you practice?"

Kyoji glanced up from the floor. "I know many, but I usually react to what I sense is my opponents strengths and weaknesses."

Kaiba smirked. "Good answer." He nodded. "Care to practice on me a little bit?"

Kyoji nodded and took a defensive stance. Kaiba pulled off his sweater leaving him with an old grey shirt. "Okay, I'm ready.

They unrelentingly attacked each other for the past two hours. They only stopped to strip off sweaty articles of clothing leaving them just to in their martial arts pants. Sweat soaked their hair. The blue-haired man was stronger, landing in hard hits, but the blonde was faster and more flexible, but each was still talented even in their weaknesses.

They jumped back from one another, catching their breaths. Kaiba stared his opponent down. At first, Kaiba refrained from using his power of strength, but as the match went on, Kaiba released his full-potential on Kyoji. However, his powers were of no avail when fighting Kyoji. The only thing he could do was use his ice powers, but he figured it wouldn't be good idea to have to explain his powers to a mortal. The only thing he could do was marvel at the ability and strength of the blonde-haired fighter.

Kyoji charged first and Kaiba responded in a charge. They ran toward each other knowing that this would be the final blow.

"Here they are." Raye and Ami stepped into the dojo.

Kyoji tripped trying to stop his charge while Kaiba smacked into Kyoji before he even tried to stop. The two men fell to the floor in a big heap. The girls walked up to them.

"Ami!" Kaiba leapt up from the ground. Kyoji stood up slower rubbing his sore head. He arose right in front of Raye.

The raven-haired girl looked at him as he arose, her eyes racking over his body. Her eyes caught the faint sweat that glistened over his muscles. She blushed as thoughts returned to what happened earlier that day. He caught her eyes with his own for a brief moment, but her embarrassment made her eyes trail to the floor.

"I have wonderful news, Ami!" Kaiba grabbed a hold of Ami's hand and dragged her out of the room.

Raye kept her eyes to the floor and slowly started to turn around to leave the room.

"Raye, I'm sorry."

Raye turned around and looked at Kyoji. She looked confused.

Kyoji looked to the floor. "I'm sorry for today."

"Today?" Raye blushed even deeper.

"I'm sorry for kissing you especially when you're in a relationship. I should not have done that. I regret it deeply."

Raye's eyes saddened. "Thank you." She turned around and left the room. She walked down the hallway, heart pounding hard. AS she turned the corner, she was met by her grandfather leading her other friends through the house.

"Raye, you're friends are here."

"Lita? Mina? Serena? What are you doing here?"

"We're actually here to see Kyoji," Mina said.

"Kyoji?" Raye looked confused.

"Tell you what, Serena and I will go talk to Kyoji and Lita can explain things to you."

"Explain what?"

Lita pulled Raye aside while Serena and Mina ran off down the hallway.

"What's going on?"

"Well, you know how Kyoji likes Serena?"

Raye's eyebrows hunched while her stomach went in a knot. "He does?"

"Yeah, so Mina and Serena are trying to set Kyoji up with Achika Nakamura."

"Why?"

"So he won't be upset about not being able to be with Serena."

"Oh." Raye looked to her feet.

Her friends left giddy and giggly. After an hour, they emerged victorious—Kyoji agreed to go with Achika Nakamura to the dance. Finally, she was alone in her bedroom. She shut the light off and crawled into bed. She laid on her back staring at the ceiling. Her stomach ached horribly as she tried to sleep. She felt sick, but she couldn't figure out exactly why.