"If you can't get someone out of your head, maybe they're supposed to be there."

-Unknown

Kyo

…

"That was really nice of Ari to get you out of trouble like that." Tohru said as we sat down to eat lunch. It was just me and her. Hana, Up, and Yuki were still in line.

"Yeah." I said absentmindedly. That girl, Ari, had been on my mind all dat, I couldn't understand what made her want to be so nice to me and it was pissing me off because I was confused.

I looked around the room and found her seated at a table with two girls and three guys. She looked all business as she handed them each a few papers. She saw me looking at her and smiled, raising her hand in a lazy wave. I waved back but looked away, unable to keep my face from turning red.

"She'd make a good friend for you, Kyo. She runs the after school Martial Arts club and she's really nice too." Tohru smiled. I couldn't see a girl like her wanting to be friends with me.

"Who's really nice?" Uo asked as she sat down beside Tohru.

"Ari." Tohru smiled.

"Yeah, she's nice, but don't get on her bad side. That girl can kick ass and she's feisty." Uo said and Hana nodded in agreement.

"A boy last year was picking on one of the… less experienced students in her Martial arts club and she put him through a wall." Hana said in her usual mysterious and misty voice.

"She's usually quite pleasant, though." Yuki added as he sat down.

"Hey, why the red face carrot top?" Uo smirked, just noticing the blush that I hadn't quite managed to get under control yet.

"Shut up, Yankie," I growled, letting my eyes find Ari again, looking away before she caught me.

(later)

'Finally, last period class and then I can get out of here,' I thought as I walked into the science room, taking a seat at the back of the class. A few people went to sit by me, but my 'I hate the world' glare scared them off. I was staring straight ahead and saw Ari skid into the classroom right as the bell rung.

"You just barely made it, Ari." Mr. Osono laughed. "Find a place to sit."

She turned and walked right up to the place beside me and sat down. Everyone was seated in twos. I was about to feel a little special when I noticed that it was the last place left to sit down.

"Alright, wherever your sitting is where you're sitting for the rest of the semister. Starting next week we get into doing labs and experiments. No more easy worksheets and such." Mr. Osono laughed and half the class groaned. Ari didn't. "Okay, there's some lab safety papers on your stations. Look them over. I didn't plan anything else for you to do, so take time to get to know your 

lab partner, cause if you can't work well together someone's going to get hurt." Mr. Osono said, sitting down at his desk and hiding behind a newspaper.

"I love this class. Mr. Osono rocks." Ari laughed.

"Thank you, Ari. Now read your papers." He said and Ari chuckled as she picked up her stack and rifled through them. I picked up mine too and pretended to read.

"Okay, so don't eat anything, don't put anything up my nose, and don't pour anything in my eyes. Seems pretty basic." Ari grinned as she set down her papers. I couldn't help it. I laughed. "Aaaah, so the newbie does have a sense of humor," She smiled as she fiddled with a silver cross on a long chain around her neck.

"Sometimes." I replied, putting down my papers as well.

"Well it looks like you're stuck with me till the end of the semester. Think you can put up with me?" She asked.

"I'll manage." I smirked and then I got quiet. Tohru lived with me. Uo and Hana were her best friends. They all had reasons to talk to be. She had no reason to be kind to me and I didn't know why she even bothered. She saw the look on my face and didn't say anything else. I knew it wasn't because she was afraid of me. She was giving me space.

The bell rang and both of us waited for the crowd to clear before exiting. I went to talk to her a few times, but then backed down.

"I'm not going to bite your head off if you talk to me." She laughed once we reached the lockers. My face turned red. "If you have something to say, then say it."

She turned the lock on her locker and threw her books inside, pulling out her messenger bag.

"…Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked, my voice probably sounding harsher than it needed to be.

"Do I need a reason to be nice to you?" She asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, you do!" I said angrily. She was turning my question around and it wasn't helping my understand anything.

She turned to me, eyes narrowed and looking annoyed. "I'm being nice to you because you're the cousin of the most popular guy in school, and I figured it's gotta suck to be swarmed by girls that are only talking to you to learn stuff about him! I figured you might like having a friend who wasn't just spending time with you to get to Yuki!" She snapped, eyes blazing and fists clenched. Tohru and Uo were right. She was fierce. She slammed her locker door shut and stalked off.

If I wasn't so damn determined to win the argument I might have realized the meaning of her words. "Don't waste your time! I don't need a friend!" I called after her. She stopped and turned to look at me. If looks could kill I probably would've been dead right about then.

I stormed home, ignoring Shirugre's welcome speech and slamming my door shut. I heard Tohru ask Yuki what was wrong with me and he said he didn't know. I couldn't get her out of my head. Every time I blinked I saw her glaring with those intense eyes, and I just got pissed off at myself for making her that angry for no good reason.

It was an hour or so before I came down, happy to find Yuki gone, off shopping for food with Tohru.

"Kyo, can you come in here a second?" Shigure called and I reluctantly went into his library/study room and plopped down on the floor. "You seem upset. Something wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, looking away from him. I realized about half an hour ago how big of an ass I was to her.

"Yuki and Tohru told me about your new friend, Ari. Is it something about her?" Shigure asked. I found it amazing that he asked two serious questions in a row.

"She's not my friend." I sighed.

"Why not? From what Tohru told me, she was very kind to you."

"I made her mad. She wanted to be my friend and I pissed her off for no damn reason." I said, standing up and going to punch the wall, but stopping myself at the last second. I didn't want to have to repair the wall myself.

"You just stopped yourself from damaging my home because you have some sense of self control over your body. It takes self control to deal with people too, especially people we don't understand. But when you find someone who honestly wants to be your friend and get to know you then you should try your hardest to be a friend back to that person." Shigure said, displaying knowledge that he so often hid with his perverted nature.

"She probably hates me. I was so mean to her." I sighed.

"If she really wants to be your friend, she'll forgive you and learn to accept that you have a hard time controlling your temper. Apologize, and give her a chance to get to know you." Shigure smiled and I nodded. I would talk to her tomorrow and pray that she would listen to me.

...

Ruh Roh. :( Well let's hope Ari can forgive him. Hope you liked the second chapter.

-Rosetta