Bitter Valentines
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I don't own Zatch Bell, Makoto Raiku does.
Foncé, Ken, Ishtar, Imité, Princesa, Aoi, and Yadau are all property of Rabukurafuto.
Chapter 2
"EEK! RIP!" Jeeno cried in shock upon seeing the other turn to glare at her. Standing before the freaked girl was Rip Bane; a slender, androgynous, adolescent mamodo boy. He had pale skin and long silky black hair which flowed straight to his waist. Rip was clad in a blue shirt with long black sleeves, gray pants and a white coat. He was physically pretty, but it was his face that bothered Jeeno. Rip usually expresses an uncomfortable grin from cheek to cheek. If that wasn't enough, his turquoise eyes always had a piercing look, also scary. It was the kind of eyes that no one can trust, aside from Foncé's violet snake eyes. His nose is a bit sore, thanks to Jeeno.
And he wasn't pleased by it. "You," he hissed while rubbing his nose. Luckily, it wasn't broken nor bleeding.
"I'm so sorry, Rip, really. I didn't know you were there." Jeeno apologized, holding the book Rip dropped. She noticed that it was an H.P. Lovecraft book she was holding. She wondered if everyone here were into the genre of horror.
"The book," Rip said, waiting for it to be returned. Jeeno held the book out as the mamodo took it. Muttering "Stupid girl." he made his way out of the library, rubbing his sore nose. Jeeno knew better than to talk back to Rip even if it was an insult, especially what happened last time. She never realized what Rip was capable of; the greyness, the loneliness, the darkness, the fear, everything that made her skin crawl all seem to happen to her at the same time back then. That was when she learned her lesson to not make Rip mad. She thought that the others would have more resistance in this experience than she did.
Putting that behind her, Jeeno began her search from aisle to aisle mainly looking for romance novels and how-to-get-a-date type of books, thinking that they can help her with what to do for valentines. She that one key factor finding that special someone is to know what they're socially into. So far she several things Zorcu were into, things she were okay with. She thought about playing some games with him, or maybe she can cook something for him. Or maybe... maybe...
Jeeno was now stumped. She was thinking too far ahead and she has yet to read through the books she picked out. She went about her business, picking out similar books and shelving back the ones that turned not as helpful or interesting as the ones she's still carrying. "Maybe at long last, Zorcu and I can finally understand each other." Jeeno smiled as she shelved one last book back to its original place.
"Understand what?" said a familiar voice. Jeeno felt a cold shiver running down her spine, make it hard for her to breath. She slowly turned around to find herself facing both a frown and a pair of piercing turquoise eyes. Her grip over the books weakened, and soon they fell to the floor.
"Rip," her frail voice squeaked the mamodo boy's name. "I-I thought you left."
Rip's frown brightened to a smirk. "I never said I left you off the hook." Jeeno began to noticed how close Rip was to her. "So what're you up to, Jeanette?" the mamodo asked, picking up one of the books lying on the floor. "Silly me, valentines day is coming around, isn't it?" Rip giggled in recognition. "So how are you gonna get Zorcu?" he said slyly.
Jeeno's eyes widen. "How did you know I was-"
"It's obvious to practically everyone you're in awe with Zorcu." replied the creepy adolescent mamodo. "You've been after him since that costume party we had a long time ago. But to question your cute little love-story, Jeanette, how do you know he loves you the same way?"
"Of course he likes me. We were-"
"There's a difference between like and love, and I used the latter in my question." Rip moved closer to Jeeno. Instinct told the human girl to step back, but it wasn't til she realized her back was almost against the book shelves. She felt uncomfortable with him this close to her. If she didn't know better, she suspected that he was taking pleasure in invading her personal space... and she couldn't do anything about it. "What if he just likes you more as a close friend than a lover? What if there's someone else he's in awe with, like maybe..."
"Please, don't say it." Jeeno whispered.
"... Aoi for example? Maybe Zorcu likes her instead." Rip finished. Jeeno swallowed a hard lump of spit after hearing that name. Hearing Aoi's name made bitterness well up inside her. Rip wasn't making it any better, Jeeno now suspecting if he has been spying them for a while. "I can't blame him though."
Rip moved closer to Jeeno, the lack of space was causing the brunette to sweat a little. "Face it, Jeanette; against a girl like Aoi..." during a brief pause, Jeeno felt a slight cold tingle on her right leg. Her eyes dared look down to see Rip's left index finger slowly traveling up her leg. "You don't stand a chance." His finger moved up Jeeno's leg til he began gently rubbing and tugging on her skirt with his thumb and index finger. Then he began tracing the human girl's cheek with his right index finger. Jeeno's breathing unwillingly became heavy for being touched by those cold fingers, then she suddenly blushed when realizing Rip's finger began moving from her cheek down passed her neck... passed her collar... passed her chest... to her stomach where it stopped where her navel would be.
"You and Aoi are practically opposites; she's fun to be around, while you're almost no fun at all," said Rip devilishly. Jeeno exhaled a light gasp when after Rip paused, she felt his finger pressed against her navel. Worse for her, his left hand slowly began moving up her skirt. "You may win in being kind, but you're too uptight." his finger pressed into Jeeno's navel again. "Aoi sounds more like the fitting mate for Zorcu. And in terms of appearance and attractiveness, she beats you too." he pressed again. "She's tall, fit, sexy, bosomy, and beautiful." he pressed again. "While you're small, scrawny, flat, hardly noticeable, and just plain cute." Rip's finger pressing deeper and deeper into her navel, Jeeno felt as if his finger was gonna burst through her stomach. "How can Zorcu possibly fell in love with you?" the fingers of his left hand made contact with Jeeno's underwear.
She couldn't stand another second in this position, she had to get out of the room. She turned heel and ran as fast as she could, her face completely red. She'd never felt so violated before.
Rip could only smirk as he watched the human ran out of the library. "Stupid girl. She forgot her books."
"Mistress!" Ishtar called out cheerfully as she entered Foncé's throne room. The dark mamodo girl was thinking to herself about valentines day, Ishtar's entrance almost made her jump.
... almost.
"Bonsoir, Ishtar. Lively today as always?" Foncé replied, her deviant smile expressed to see the bubbly sorceress.
"You bet," said Ishtar as she walked over to Foncé. "Mistress, have you heard about valentines day?"
"Yes, I have. Ken explained it to me earlier."
Ishtar's eyes lit up and sparkled. "That great, because I was thinking of what we can do together. Hey, maybe we can go visit that new museum that's opening up? Or maybe we can bake a cake for each other,"
"Ishtar,"
"Or how about we watch a marathon of Avatar episodes,"
"Ishtar,"
"Or perhaps we can play a-" Ishtar's talking stopped when she felt Foncé took her hand into her own. "... game of cards?" Ishtar finished. The dark mamodo girl was out of her throne, standing right next to the older mamodo girl. She brought the sorceress down til they were at eye level. Foncé's violet snake eyes have always enchanted Ishtar whenever she looked into them. It filled the sorceress with butterflies every time; disturbingly, overly cheerful black butterflies.
"Ishtar, I'm currently thinking of my own plans for valentines day. Plans which everyone can enjoy. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't attend to your offers." said Foncé, as she cupped Ishtar's cheek with her hand. It has been a very long time since both girls spent any personal time together. It never seem to bother Foncé, but she wondered if Ishtar really missed her. She probably, in spite of her childish nature and being around with her human partner. Now thinking about it, Foncé looked back on the different moments she spend with Ishtar from when they first met and became friends, to when she scorn the sorceress for telling everyone they were in a relationship, their bathtub moment, them sleeping together, sleeping together again only with Princesa joining them, and last to when Ishtar offered Foncé to burn her spell book.
She knows Ishtar longs to spend a special moment with her again, maybe she feels the same for the older girl. "You know I love you, Ishtar. I'm sure we'll find something to do together for valentines day. Just give me a bit more time, okay?"
Ishtar placed her hand over Foncé, holding it closer to her cheek. "Okay." she lightly smiled.
"How touching." a masculine voice spoke, surprising both girls to see it was none other than Foncé personal An'uuto servant.
"Aw, Yadau, I've been expecting you. Welcome back." Foncé greeted the Shamuan'uuto. "I wish to talk to you a bit. Ishtar, would you please head to the kitchen and bring me some tea?"
"Okay." said Ishtar. She turned and made her way out of the throne room. With that, Foncé sat back on her throne as Yadau took a seat in a nearby chair.
"Now tell me, Yadau, what news have we received from the World of Darkness?"
Ishtar walked down the hall, then passed the second corridor. The kitchen shouldn't be far now. It wasn't long til a few seconds later she heard a eerie sound came up from behind her. She looked over her shoulder, to find no one or nothing behind her. Turning forward brought her face-to-face with an unfortunate familiar face.
"Hi, Ishtar. What're you up to?" Rip smiled at the sorceress.
"Rip." Ishtar said, a bit surprise to run into him now of all times. "You sure like surprise people. What do you want?" though Ishtar too admits that Rip is pretty, it's those eyes of his which she didn't trust. As said before, they were the kind of eyes that no one would trust.
"I'm not here to cause harm, Ishtar. I just want to ask you for a bit of help, that's all." Rip replied, holding the expression of as if he's trying not to smile wickedly. Ishtar still did not trusted him, not one bit.
"What kind of help?"
"It's regarding valentines day." that surprised Ishtar at least. Who would of thought that someone like Rip would care for a very minor holiday like valentines day. "I just need some help, some advice. It'll just be a moment of your time." Rip insisted, putting his arm around Ishtar's shoulder.
The so-called cheerful bubbly sorceress was able to quickly come up with something before answering. Ishtar still didn't trust Rip, but he sounds like he's willing to cooperate with whatever advice or help she's able to come up with. But it was still necessary to be precautious. "Well... I feel more comfortable if we have Imité join in this. It would make sense to have a third person for additional help."
'So that's your game, eh?' Rip said deviously in his mind. 'I know what you're scheming. You say Imité Ying would be joining in as additional help, but what you're really up to is to have someone try to prevent me from causing any harm. Trying to keep me in line, would you? Alright then, I'll play along. I'll beat you at your own game and get information I need.'
"Well then lets go." Rip agreed, removing his arm from Ishtar's shoulder. So then both of them were on their way to the kitchen, there they can contact with Imité to come over to 'help'. Rip smiled dastardly in his mind. 'This will be easy.'
To Be Continued...
Sorry, Rabukurafuto. I couldn't come up with anything else to do with Yadau, but I hope you like the chapter.