When It Rains, It Pours
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Chapter Two: Morning Rush
Although the morning sun was shining brightly, Kaname's mood was not improved. Sluggishly she brushed her long, blue hair in the mirror and watched as her sleepy reflection stared back at her.
After Sousuke had left the night before, all Kaname could do was crawl into her bed and mope. Her thoughts ran away with her and they all had to do with a certain military nutcase. She had buried her head in her pillow and screamed loudly in her frustration.
Why was it that every time she felt she had made any sort of progress with Sousuke, all he had to do was open his mouth to prove to her wrong? She had truly thought that the ordeal in Hong Kong would have somehow showed Sousuke just how much she cared for him.
Honestly, how many girls would go through perverted old men, deadly assassins, not to mention kiss-stealing-playboys, just bring a boy back to Tokyo?
With a sigh, she had turned to her side a saw a picture Shinji had taken of them all during one of their many beach visits that past summer. Her eyes ignored the faces of her smiling classmates and were glued on Sousuke's sullen features. Staring at the picture, she couldn't help but think of the question that had been floating around inside her head since the two of them had returned from Hong Kong.
Was it all really worth it?
And thanks to those sort of thoughts, Kaname was up nearly the entire night and now looked terribled. She was never a morning person, but even a naturaly pretty girl like herself needed her beauty sleep. After doing all she could with her tired face, she made her way to her desk to pack up her books for school.
As she was packing, she noticed something strange. Her Japanese History notebook was sitting on her desk. She could've sworn she saw Sousuke walk out the door with it the night before, so why was it still in her room?
"He must've taken the wrong book," she mumbled to herself. "Leave it to that moron to be so careless. I wonder what book he..."
The moment the realization hit her, Kaname felt all the air exit her body, as if she had be punched in the chest. Frantically, she began to search her room for the small notebook, hoping and praying that it was just lost and not in the hands of a certain soilder.
Her search came up empty, and Kaname reached for her cell phone and called Sousuke's number.
After four rings, it went to voicemail.
She screamed in frustration and threw her phone at her bed, where it bounced off and fell into her laundry hamper.
She didn't have time to worry, though, as she slipped on her sneaker, grabbed her bag and rushed out of her apartment. She didn't even bother waiting for the elevator, but instead stormed down the staircase. Unlike every other morning, Sousuke was not waiting for her outside her apartment to escort her to the school.
Had he been assigned to another mission, or did he actually read the contents of the book and no longer wished to see her?
As she sprinted to the train station, the mental image Tessa laughing at her with Sousuke by her side flashed through her mind. Kaname shook the images away and made her way to the ticket booth. When she asked for her usual ticket, the vender gave her a strange look.
"Sorry, hon, but that train left a good five minutes ago."
Baffled, she looked at the clock overhead and saw that the vender was right. All that searching for her notebook had caused her to be late and her to miss her usual morning train.
"Is there another train on that route anytime soon?" she pleaded.
The vender shook his head, "The next one isn't for at least another twenty minutes."
Growing even more aggravated at the darkening situation, Kaname looked over her shoulder to see an older couple exiting a taxi. She quickly ran and jumped into the car, just as the couple was paying the driver.
"Jindai Municipal High School," she nearly screamed. "And hurry!"
"Uh...sure," the driver said as he sped away from the station. "It's not a problem."
The phrase struck Kaname's heartstring, a reminder of why she was rushing to school in the first place. She leaned against the seat and thought of how she could explain the contents of the notebook to him. She couldn't tell him the truth, of course. That would be just too mortifying, and besides, if she couldn't tell him in Hong Kong then there was no way she would be able to tell him now.
Or maybe he already knew, but pretended to play dumb to spare her feelings. Could it be that him and Tessa were having some steamy affair on the Tuatha De Danaan? She remembered the little twit slipping to her that she and Sousuke had been alone on a beach together. Images of the two running through waves and splashing each other in raced through Kaname's mind. She began to claw the faux-leather interior of the taxi in anger.
"Ugh! That's such an underhanded move, Tessa!" she screamed, gaining the attention of the driver.
"Ex-excuse me?" he stammered as he looked at her through his mirror.
"Uh...it's nothing." Kaname stammered, feeling her face grow red with embarrassment. "I...uh...thought I saw someone outside the cab that I knew."
The driver raised an eyebrow at her lame excuse, and informed her that they were in front of Jindai High. Feeling even more embarrassed for not noticing, Kaname paid the driver and gave him a nice tip. She exited the cab and ran to the front of the school.
She checked her wristwatch and saw that she still had some time before homeroom started, and frantically made her way to her shoe locker. She was just in the middle of slipping on her right shoe when Shinji entered.
"Shinji!" Kaname called gaining his attention.
"Oh, good morning, Kaname," he greeted, stopping dead in his tracks. "How are yo-"
"Have you seen Sousuke anywhere?" she interrupted, knowing if anyone would know where an arm slave loving nerd was, it would be another arm slave loving nerd.
"I just saw him not too long ago talking to Ms. Kagurazaka. Did he blow something up again?"
"Not really...but, let's just say he has a ticking time bomb in his possession."
"A ticking time bomb?!"
"No, not a real bomb. That was just a figure of speech," Kaname insisted, remembering that when talking about Sousuke one had to be wary of what they said. "He just has something of mine that may cause a lot problems if I don't get it back."
"Oh," Shinji let out a sigh of relief, "Well I saw them in the classroom talking. You can check to see if he's still there, but you should hurry since homeroom is about to start."
Kaname thanked Shinji and hurried to the classroom, lucky that her athletic talents had come through for her. She slid opened the door and saw Sousuke sitting nonchalantly in his desk.
"Oh, good morning, Chidori," he greeted. "Are you feeling any better?"
Kaname clenched her fist in anger, "To be honest, no, but that's none of your concern."
"Chidori, your well being is always my con-"
"Where were you this morning?!" she demanded.
"I...uh...I was helping Ms. Kagurazaka in the classroom. I am still being punished for dismantling her car, as you remember."
"Oh...that's right." Kaname's voice trailed off, but she soon found her spunk once again. "But then why didn't you answer your cell phone when I called you? What if something bad happened to me on the way to school!"
"Uh...well..." Sousuke began, sweating from Kaname's interrogation.
"I can answer for that," Ms. Kagurazaka said from her desk in the front of the room. "I took away his cell phone because I did not want him to be distracted from his punishment. Now, Chidori, if you would kindly lower your voice. This is classroom, not a sports arena."
"Yes," Kaname said with a bow. "I'm sorry."
The moment Ms. Kagurzaka left the classroom to quickly pick up some papers from her office, Kaname quickly swung around to face Sousuke again.
"Um...Sousuke?"
"Yes, Chidori?"
"Do you have my notebook?"
"Affirmative," Sousuke said with a nod as he reached into his bag and brought out the tiny notebook that had caused Kaname such a stressful morning. "As always, your notes were far superior to mine."
"What?"
"As you requested, I used your notes as reference and I was a little surprised at first. I had no idea that our assignment was actually supposed to be writen as a journal entry, however as I looked over my own assignment I realized that our reading was actually based off the memoirs of Emperor Meijii."
"Uh...well...I..."
"I found that your assignment really showed the personal bond between the Emperor and his military. I was very impressed, Chidori."
Knowing full well that their assignment was not supposed to be written in a journal format, Kaname was torn. It seemed that Sousuke, clueless as always, had taken the notebook to actually be their assignment. Then again, if Kaname was to explain the true reason why her "assignment" was written that way, would also lead to them discussing was actually in the notebook. However, she couldn't just leave him to hand in the wrong assignment, he was already practically failing the class as it was.
If Kaname Chidori had anything, it was a great sense of right and wrong. She knew what she had to do, even though it may prove disastrous in the end.
"Sousuke," she began, quietly. "There's something I-"
She was cut off by the bell sounding and Ms. Kagurazaka quickly entering the classroom.
"Uh...rise," Kaname stammered as she and her classmates rose from their seats as their teacher entered the room. "And...uh...bow."
After the class was seated once more, Ms. Kagurazaka flipped through the papers on her desk.
"Chidori," she asked, as she picked up the paper she was looking for, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Yes...I'm fine."
Ms. Kagurazaka gave her a suspicious look before beginning the class.
"We will now go over your homework from last night. Would anyone be so kind as to volunteer to read their assignments out loud?"
Ms. Kagurazaka looked around the room, and Kaname felt a lump gather in her throat. She knew that if Sousuke was called on, he would not only make a fool of himself, but would share what was in the notebook with their entire class.
Fearing mortification above anything else, Kaname instantly raised her hand.
"I'll read mine out loud, Ms. Kagurazaka."
"Thank you for volunteering, but I think it's time we have someone else in the class read for once," Ms. Kagurazaka said as she tapped her chin with her index finger.
With every tap, Kaname felt herself that much closer to having a mental breakdown.
'Oh please,' she prayed to whatever God was listening. 'Have some sympathy...'
"Let's see..."
'I'm a good person, and after all the stress and frusration I go through with him, I deserve something nice..."
"Who haven't I called on in a while?"
'And besides, there are nearly twenty kids in this class...'
"How about you read out your assignment..."
'Don't let her call on him.'
"Sagara!"
'OH COME ON!'
"Affirmative," Sousuke said as he rose from his desk.
"No," Kaname whispered in a sad attempt to make him stop. He might as well had been aimig a loaded pistol at her, for the moment he read his assignment, her life would be over.
"'If there is one thing I have learned from all this'," Sousuke read. "'Is that there are no better heroes to me than those in the military. I know it sounds strange, but every time I see him in his uniform, I have this strange sense of pride. Because he is protecting me, and no one else. I am his prime concern and my well being is constantly on his mind, and when I remember that I get this wonderful flutter in my heart. Maybe we have some common ground after all, and I am on his mind as often as he is on mine.'"
Kaname felt as if the ground had crumbled from beneath her and she was in free fall. She felt so many emotions boil and churn within her heart that she swore she felt it burst from emotional overload.
"Um, Sagara," Ms. Kagurazaka said. "Wasn't Chidori supposed to help you catch up on the work?"
"Yes, and she has. Is there a problem?"
"Well, it's just that I don't think you understood the assignment. It was supposed to be about the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors issued by Emperor Meijii."
All she could do was feel the gaping hole in her chest where her heart must had exploded. It had to have, there was no other explanation for the pain she was in.
"I am aware of that," Sousuke said, looking over his notebook. "Isn't that what I was just reading to the class?"
The echoing words of Sousuke reading those words, those very private words, to the entire class rang in her ears.
She could never forgive him.
"What you were just reading to the class, you good for nothing military moron," Kaname screamed from her seat. "Was an excerpt from my diary!"
Oh Sousuke...bad. Poor Kaname. I think that's every teenage girl's fear that their diary will be read to their entire class. Anyway, it had to be done for the greater good of increasing the plot of this story. Sacrifices must be made, as they say.
Thank you hottytottie90 and La Flor del Fuego for reviewing, PatternGirl and sippingsodapop for adding the story to their favorites after just the first chapter and lastly Jtmscola, hottytottie90, and sippingsodapop for adding this to their alerts!
I'll make sure to update...soon...ish. :P