Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely week! As always, thank you for your reviews, alerts and support! You guys seriously make my day! :D Since today was the last day of school, I will have more time to dedicate to this story. Haha. It's been like what, 3 months since my last update? Hopefully, things will begin roll in the next chapter! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the next chapter of The Art of Seduction.
P.S. Does anyone want to be my beta-reader? -miiika
Kusakabe Tetsuya flinched as one of the Disciplinary Committee members slipped through the opened window and landed unceremoniously on the prefect's chair. The latter drawled out a lazy greeting to Kusakabe, stifling a yawn as he glanced around the unusually neat room.
Hibari did little to acknowledge Isamu's arrival and remained lying on the couch with his eyes closed. Unlike Kusakabe, Hibari was unfazed by Isamu's strange entrance. He was a little too familiar with Isamu's tendency to scale walls and dropping from impossible heights when he threatened to 'bite him to death'.
Swiping his finger on the mahogany desk, Isamu raised a slender eyebrow as he noticed it was strangely void of dust. The desk was also clear of paperwork and the room seemed to have a more inviting look to it. Isamu chewed on his straw thoughtfully as he focused his attention on the chairman and vice-chairman.
"Just out of curiosity, chairman." Isamu spoke, placing his feet on the desk as he leaned back into the plush chair with his arms behind his head. "Why exactly did you place me with that soushoku danshi (1)?"
Kusakabe deadpanned at Isamu's rather lame attempt at a joke. However, he remained silent, also wondering what changed the chairman's mind about Hinamori Daichi. It was just a week since he was assaulted by the boy's sister, yet today, he ordered Isamu to keep an eye on the boy.
What changed his mind? Kusakabe wondered. When Hibari did not respond to Isamu's question, the brunet focused his attention on him. "Kusakabe?" Isamu raised an eyebrow when neither of his superiors answered.
Sighing deeply, Isamu dropped his previous question. The chairman probably had his reasons for keeping silent about the subject, but it wouldn't matter in the end anyways. Isamu always had an uncanny ability to find out the things he wanted to. Besides, pushing the subject seemed too troublesome and a waste of time.
It wasn't as if watching Hinamori Daichi was difficult. In fact, it was almost like taking care of a puppy. A very wimpy, scrawny puppy. .But a puppy none the less. He just wanted to know why he - of all members - was chosen for the job.
He would of thought that his personality and appearance would have repealed the boy, but it seemed to do the exact opposite. Isamu mused at the thought; Daichi was the first person beside the Disciplinary Committee members to willingly buy him milk.
"Ah. What do you need, chairman?" Isamu spoke, remembering his original purpose of entering the room. Barely batting an eye, Isamu caught the manila folder that had sailed across the room and frowned at the words written on the cover.
"Go now. I'll deal with the teachers." Was all Hibari said as he shifted to his side on the couch and resumed his nap. Isamu gave the prefect a weary glance - which was of course ignored - and flipped through the contents of the folder.
Kusakabe gave Isamu a sympathetic glance as the boy scanned through the paperwork Hibari had given him. Isamu was one of the top members of the committee, yet he was constantly stuck with the brunt of the work due to Hibari's dislike of the boy.
While Kusakabe didn't know why exactly Hibari disliked Isamu, he had a hunch that it had to due with Isamu's detachment towards his appearances and his ability to outrun the prefect. However, Isamu seemed to respect Hibari - as all members of the Disciplinary Committee did - so their relationship was a bit strange.
"Okay. I'll be leaving now." Isamu said, rising from his seat with the folder tucked under his arm. Opening the window wider, he gave a nod towards the vice-chairman and slipped out of the room. The rustle of leaves signified that Isamu had landed safely on the ground and he was presumably on his way to complete whatever Hibari had assigned him.
"What job did you send him out to do?" Kusakabe asked, mildly curious about what job Hibari had bestowed on the boy. Usually, the tasks of the Disciplinary Committee ranged from hallway patrol to dealing with the neighboring school rivalries. Hibari usually took care of the outside affairs while the members worked with the internal, but Isamu was in the middle.
Hibari covered his mouth as he stifled a yawn and he scowled at the window Isamu had left open. He didn't like to have prolonged eye contact with Isamu because the boy's lethargic eyes irritated him for some unknown reason.
Taking account of the time, Hibari grabbed his tonfas from the table and stowed in inside his jacket. School didn't end for another two hours, but there would be a few stupid herbivores who had the nerves to ditch class.
"I gave him the only job a politician's son (2) could do." Hibari answered shortly, making his way towards the door. Kusakabe blinked, watching the chairman open the door and hurried outside the room to join him on his patrol.
She had been conned.
Ripped off.
Given the short end of the deal.
It didn't really matter what term she used, Natsuya had been cheated out of her afternoons. When she had proposed the idea of letting Hibari Kyouya allowing the Disciplinary Committee to extend their influence to her own high school, the principal gave her a quizzed look and told her that Hibari already did control the high schools - in fact, he controlled the whole town.
So why had she never heard of the boy before if he controlled the town? Natsuya was far from being outside of any loop and was often the head of the grapevine.
The answer was simple.
Her friends had told her that her attention didn't stray far from fashion and her brother. Obviously, Hibari Kyouya did not fit in either categories, so it wasn't a surprise to them that she didn't know who he was.
It was all the baby's fault. If the baby hadn't planted such a ridiculous idea in her head, she would have spent her afternoons in town - not stuck in the stuffy room with piles of paperwork. Sighing deeply, Natsuya picked up the paperwork in resignation.
She had lost. The feeling was strange to Natsuya. Usually, it was her that ripped off the other party, but the tables were turned and Natsuya was left speechless. She vaguely wondered if she could make another proposal to Hibari, but quickly shot down the idea.
She couldn't risk having her brother subjected to bullying again. It had been exactly two weeks since she made the proposal with Hibari, and true to his words, Daichi was not touched by bullies since. In fact, Daichi had come home one day, stating that he finally made friends.
Besides, Natsuya knew that if she made a second proposal, she would somehow get the short end of the deal again. Therefore, her only choice was to suck it up and do her job. Once Daichi made more friends, he wouldn't need the protection of the Disciplinary Committee.
The only question was. .how long was it going to take? Natsuya's hazel eyes scanned the room as a deep frown was evident on her lips. It was just yesterday that she cleaned the room, so how did it get so messy?
"Men. ." Natsuya grumbled, picking up a pile of completed paper work. "How can they make such a mess when no one is ever in here?" She wondered, shifting the papers in her arms as she slowly made her way to the desk.
The task proved more difficult than she would imagine. The stacks of papers in her arms obscured her vision, so Natsuya had to train her eyes on the ground - which, unfortunately, didn't help her much in navigating towards the desk.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice broke through her thoughts. "You shouldn't carry the paperwork like that." Natsuya identified the voice coming from in front of her and raised an eyebrow as a pair of hands took the top stacks of paperwork. "You might drop it."
Natsuya opened her mouth to thank the person, but upon seeing the boy's face, dropped the paperwork and let out a blood curdling scream. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The boy watched as the paperwork fell to the ground, unperturbed by Natsuya's scream and commented dully. "See. I told you so."
"I'm fine."
Natsuya snorted in disbelief as she searched through the nurse's medicine cabinet, pulling out the items she needed. "Right, keep telling yourself that." She said, shaking her head as she turned to face the boy. "What exactly did you do to receive those injuries?"
The boy looked up from the ground and stared at her. "I fell."
"Off what? The school building?" She wringed a wet towel in a bowl and began to wipe the dried blood off the boy's face. He flinched from the sudden contact, but remained still as Natsuya gingerly cleaned his face.
"I don't need your help." Natsuya stopped and looked at the boy's face. He stared back blankly, but underneath the his mask, she caught a hint of apprehension in his voice.
Natsuya shook her head again, placing the soiled towel on the side and picked up a bottle of antiseptic. Men and their pride. "Don't worry, it won't hurt much." She reassured, picking up a cotton pad as she doused the object with the liquid.
The boy's stare remained impassive as he moved away from Natsuya. "I said, I don't need your help." The boy repeated, eyeing the object with distain. Natsuya ignored his words and pressed the cotton pad on a gash on his cheek.
The boy flinched, but remained still as Natsuya quickly disinfected his wounds. 'Obviously. .The 'I fell off the school building' is a bunch of bull.. ' She thought as she inspected the wounds. 'But, what could a middle school kid do to receive so much injuries?' She wondered, cringing at the gaping wound on his forehead.
"You know, you remind me of my brother in a way." Natsuya spoke up, tossing the cotton pad into the trash as she opened a box of bandages. The boy looked up from the ground and quirked a curious brow at her.
"Your brother?"
Natsuya nodded, pulling out a bandage. "Yeah. He used to get into so much trouble because he was so easy to pick on." She replied as she quickly dressed his wounds. "It was probably his short statue or maybe it was his personality that made his an easy target. ." Natsuya continued as she finished tending to the boy's wounds.
The boy lifted his hand to his forehead and lightly touched his head wound. He then focused his attentions to his fingers and was surprised to see then neatly wrapped. "You seem to be good at these kinds of things." He commented dully, using his hand to rake his hair.
"Yeah? It's just because I have so much practice with my brother." Natsuya replied as she took a seat in front of the boy. "So, what's your name?"
The boy raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you be going home?" He took note of her uniform. "You aren't even a student here."
Natsuya's eye twitched as she forced a smile. It wasn't as if she really wanted to be here, it was all just that stupid prefect's fault and his frightening reputation! "I'm just trying to make small talk. ." Natsuya murmured, with a small pout on her face. In all honestly, she wanted to stall time so she wouldn't have to reorganize the papers she dropped earlier.
The boy simply got up and dusted the dirt off of his uniform's pants. "Well, thanks for the help." He said, ignoring her previous comment as he turned towards the window and began to tug it open.
Natsuya froze with her mouth agape as the boy continued to pull the window open. 'Is he trying to kill himself?' She panicked. The nurse's office was located on the third floor, so jumping would most likely lead to more severe injuries or maybe even. .death.
Her eyes flickered over to the boy's wounds. There was no way he could have gotten them without being involved in some kind of fight, but perhaps he was bullied? Natsuya quickly deduced that the boy was being bullied and he was about to commit suicide in order to escape the torment his aggressors put him in everyday.
Natsuya paused. Wait. So his last words to the world would be "Well, thanks for the help."? Natsuya stared in horror as the window finally gave way to the boy's incessant tugging and opened with a loud creak. "W-Wait!" Natsuya called out, finally regaining her voice from her initial shock. "You aren't going to. .jump are you?"
The boy turned and stared at her like she was stupid. "Of course I am." He then turned back towards the window and placed his hands on the window sill to give him momentum for the drop. He leaned out the window and was about to make his jump, but was stopped as Natsuya grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the room in sheer desperation.
Isamu's eyes widened in shock as he watched the girl take deep breaths due to the weight she had just pulled back in. "Why did you stop me?"
Natsuya's head snapped up and she pointed an angry finger at the younger boy. "Are you kidding me? You were about to kill yourself in front of me!" Isamu raised an eyebrow. Kill himself? "Did you think I was seriously about to watch a middle school kid take his own life?"
"And seriously! Why would you want your last words to be 'Well then, thanks for the help.'?" Natsuya continued, ignoring the boy's confused expression.
"Uh. ."
"Are you trying to make me feel guilty for the rest of my life or something?"
"I wasn't-"
"Geez! If you're being bullied or something, you can just talk to someone about it!" Natsuya stopped lecturing when she felt something hit her shoe. Raising a curious brow, she paused and picked up the red fabric. Her jaw dropped and she stared at the fabric and then back to the boy.
Isamu noticed her expression of horror and stared at the red cloth. Pushing a hand in his uniform's pocket, he found that it was his badge in her hands. ". .Ah. That's mine."
Natsuya stared at the characters written on the fabric and then back at the boy. While the characters weren't sewed on with gold thread like a certain prefect, the meaning behind the characters struck a cord with Natsuya. "YOU'RE ON THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE?"
(1) Essentially, it means a man who is weak and soft-spoken. It translates to roughly to 'herbivore man', which is ironic because Hibari doesn't like herbivores, yet he has Isamu look after him!