I Don't Like The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 2
It would not be entirely fair to call Shinomori Aoshi a new student, Misao further reflected after Literature class, walking absent-mindedly towards her locker. Kaoru had hurried off to some urgent, last minute Student's Union meeting (that girl has no life) and Misao was left to her own devices for the ten minutes they got between classes to get to their respective venues.
She paused at her locker thoughtfully, her fingers dialing the combination without her brain actually participating in the action. In fact, Shinomori Aoshi and Misao had shared a childhood together. His parents were good friends with the foster family she had been living with at the time, so he was over at her house almost every afternoon while their mothers swapped the latest gossiped over steaming cups of tea.
A bright but quiet child, Aoshi had preferred reading to 'gallivanting around' as he often told Misao. She, in turn, would stick her tongue out at his 'big words' and would drag him out into the yard to play pirates with her. Oddly enough, he never complained, and in fact seemed quite happy to let himself be dragged around by the tiny girl. At the tender age of six, Misao was a loud, endless source of boisterous energy, and simply adored her 'Aoshi-sama'.
No one could get her to stop adding the honorific and it had stuck—Aoshi had, one afternoon after being forced by the girl to play samurai, declared that since he was older and the head samurai, she had to call him 'Aoshi-sama'. The small girl, delighted that the older boy had contributed to their play making ("He's too quiet for a pirate captain!"), had started calling him such from then on. The boy had blushed when he went over the next day and she had continued calling him what he had, caught up in her excitement unthinkingly yelled out.
Eventually he got used to it, and it seemed treated the adoring young girl with more gentleness and care thereafter. She loved him to death, and it seemed the steadfast, unquestioning nature of a six year old's love had won over the heart of the usually stoic, indifferent boy.
Sadly, their time together came to an end when his parents had quite abruptly moved out of the country. A young Misao had, convinced that 'the evil pirate rivals' were jealous of his superior skills and had finally gotten to him, stomped through the house every afternoon after kindergarden searching every nook and cranny, certain she would find her Aoshi-sama bound and gagged.
After the realization that she would never see him again sank in, she had cried in her room for days on end, refusing to go to school until they brought her back her Aoshi-sama. It was through much cajoling and many of Misao's favourite dishes that finally ended her huge tantrum, but it would take another 2 years before she finally stopped crying in her sleep for her Aoshi-sama.
"Oi! Weasel, what are you standing there with that stupid grin on your face for?"
Snapped out of her day dream, Misao slammed her locker door shut and sent a flying kick to Sano's head.
"WHO YOU CALLING WEASEL, YOU DUMB ROOSTER?!"
"OW! WHAT THE, DUMB—"
"Maa maa, Sano," Himura Kenshin, his shorter, slightly feminine companion interjected timidly, holding the taller boy back. "You could get into trouble for fighting in the halls, de gozaru. Again."
"Cheh," Sano said, shrugging Kenshin off. "She started it!"
"I most certainly did not!" Misao retorted indignantly. "You started it with the name calling!"
"YOU started it by wearing that stupid grin on your face, looking all weaselly," he replied haughtily, crossing his arms stubbornly. "I had to say something!"
"What! I was not wearing a stupid grin!" she said angrily. "I was just… reminiscing. I happen to enjoy my life, unlike you, you stupid love hating, worm eating rooster!"
"Worm eating!" he cried, throwing a punch in her direction she just narrowly avoided.
"Hey, watch it!" she said, jumping backwards. Her foot caught something hard and she found herself tripping backwards, straight into the arms of…
SAITOU!? her eyes snapped wide open as she stared up into narrowed, amber eyes.
"Get off me!" he snapped, shoving her roughly. She stumbled but managed to catch herself, all romantic notions of falling into the arms of one Shinomori Aoshi scrambling away to make space for the nausea she felt mounting. He had touched her…!
"Detention," he barked. "For all three of you!"
"What?!" Sano and Misao yelled in unison. Kenshin just looked lost.
"Wait, Kenshin didn't even do anything!" Misao sputtered, Sano steaming angrily behind her.
"The three of you are standing in the middle of the hallway, causing a huge ruckus I could hear from inside the classroom," he said calmly, gesturing towards the open door he had apparently come from. "I came out to check on you insolent fools and see ahou here—" at that he waved an arm vaguely in Sano's direction "—trying to punch you." He spun on his heel and started walking back into the classroom.
"That means rooster head and you owe me two detentions," he said without looking back. "Do not be late."
-
"I swear, Kaoru, that crab faced bastard is out to get me!" It was lunch, and Misao and Kaoru were involved in a heated, mostly on-sided discussion about the school's most notorious history teacher.
"Well, you did call him an ugly mongrel last year…" she said thoughtfully, taking a bite out of her casserole.
"Oh yeah…" Misao said, a grin spreading over her features as she recalled the memory. "I think I got a month's worth of detention for 'insubordinate behaviour'. The look on his face was priceless! (It was worth it!)"
"Why is it all our time seems to be spent discussing Hajime-sensei?" Kaoru asked, rolling her eyes. She did that a lot when it came to Misao. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were in love with the man!"
"Kaoru!" Misao exclaimed, shocked. "What… Blasphemy!"
"Well, girls don't talk about guys so much unless they liked them!" Kaoru replied matter-of-factly.
"Yeah well," Misao said. "At least I'm spending this afternoon with a certain red-head…" At that Kaoru blushed, but at the same time frowned angrily at the mischievous grin that had spread across the smaller girl's face. It was an open secret between the two of them that Kaoru was as crazy about Sano's best friend as Misao was about the newly transferred junior whom Kaoru secretly dubbed the 'Ice-block'.
"What, why?!" she demanded, gripping Misao's shoulders. "What happened!?" Laughing at her friend's reaction, Misao filled Kaoru in on what had happened earlier.
"Himura was just standing there!" she said, grinning at the look of incensement that was slowly taking over the pretty features of Kaoru's red face.
"Why that no good…" Leaning back to enjoy Kaoru's participation in that afternoon's Saitou bashing, Misao laced her fingers behind her head and surveyed the crowded cafeteria. Sano, Kenshin and a bunch of juniors were sitting a few tables down. Sano was presently involved in some ridiculous stunt involving balancing a fishbone on his nose, and his friends were egging him on. Misao rolled her eyes. Men.
Shifting her gaze further, she caught sight of Aoshi. He was sitting with four seniors, the only junior at the table. She vaguely wondered how he knew them when a shadow fell on their table and she looked up into the smoldering eyes of Takani Megumi.
"May I sit here?" she asked, slipping into the empty seat next to Misao without waiting for an answer. Whoa, what's going on? Misao wondered, glancing over to the table Megumi had been sharing with a handsome, brown haired senior. He was glaring at them angrily, and crushing his can of coke, he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.
"Whoa, bad break up?" she asked, watching his retreating back.
"You can say that," Megumi replied airily. Although a junior like themselves, Takani Megumi frequently hung out with what Misao always called the older crowd. Misao shared a couple of classes with her, namely Biology and Chemistry. The girl was a whiz at those subjects, and Misao was secretly envious of the pretty, popular girl. She had dated quite a few seniors, her latest conquest being Takeda Kanryuu.
"So, what went wrong?" Misao asked, biting into her muffin. Megumi threw her a cold look.
"What is this, 20 questions?" she huffed, grabbing her tray as if to leave.
"Oh, no!" Kaoru cut in, glaring at Misao. "I'm sorry about her, she tends to annoy people. Stay, we're sorry if we offended you, we didn't mean to pry. Well, I didn't anyway, and who cares what Misao thinks." Hey!
"…" Megumi looked hesitant, and then settle back in her seat, accepting Kaoru's explanation. "I'm Takani Megumi, by the way."
"Yeah I know, we have a few classes together," Misao said between bites. Megumi watched her in disdain as crumbs flew out of her mouth. "I'm Misao."
"And I'm Kaoru," she said, hurriedly sticking her hand out to Megumi. Megumi took the offered hand and shook it gracefully. "What classes do you have next?"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm having History, what a drag," Megumi replied.
"Ah, that crab faced bastard teaching you?" Misao nodded knowingly. Megumi laughed.
"Is that what you call him?" she said, smiling for the first time at Misao.
"Yeah," she replied, grinning. "And an ugly mongrel, that got me a month of detention."
"Oh, wow, in his face too, this girl's got guts," Megumi said, nodding in approval and a hint of admiration. Misao blushed at the compliment.
"Aw, shucks," she said. Kaoru gave her a puzzled look. "What? It's not every day I receive a compliment from one of the most popular girls at school!" It was Megumi's turn to turn a light shade of pink. Dropping her head she started eating her salad in silence.
"Misao!" Kaoru chided, laughing. "You've managed to offend our guest twice in the span of five minutes!"
"What, I said she was popular, and she is, she's pretty and smart!" Misao replied defensively. "That's not offensive!"
At that moment Megumi cleared her throat, deciding to interrupt them before the loud-mouthed girl embarrassed her any further, and asked, "So, what do you have after lunch Misao?"
"Math," she groaned, bringing her hand to her forehead. "My absolute worst subject ever, I think it should be abolished, I hate Tuesdays."
"Misao, I think abolished is only used when in conjuncture with a law," Kaoru said. "And in any case, it's not that bad, you're just lazy."
"Whatever, Miss Honour Roll," Misao shot back. "We can't all be perfect students like you!"
"You're on the honour roll?" Megumi asked, turning to the blushing girl.
"N—I mean, well, yes," she admitted, looking down at her plate.
"That's something to be proud of," she said, smiling gently. "I tried to get on the Honour Roll in my first year and gave up because it was too much effort."
"Thank you," Kaoru said quietly, cheeks aflame. Misao laughed.
"I could never be on the Honour Roll," she said. "Aside from my crappy grades, that Saitou has been on my ass since year one! In fact I have detention today with him, along with that loser—" she jerked a thumb in Sano's direction "—and his friend, the red-head."
"Oh, those guys, huh?" Megumi said, immediately perking up. Misao followed her gaze to realize it rested on Kenshin, who at that moment was trying to dislodge something Sano had gotten stuck in his throat. Uh-oh…
"Tell me, Misao," she said, resting a perfectly manicured hand on Misao's. "Who is that cute red-head?"
"Cute…?" Misao blinked. Kenshin was such a sissy! "You mean Himura? Oh, but you can't like him, he's—oof!" Kaoru's foot had stomped right onto Misao's, and the sudden action had snapped Misao's jaw right into her tongue. She glared at Kaoru, who explained smoothly to a confused Megumi that Misao had 'issues' about guys who weren't 'tall dark and handsome'. That shut her up, and only then did it occur to her that she had almost let Kaoru's secret out. Baka!
"Ah, I see…" Megumi said, leaning towards Misao and giving her a knowing smile. "So, who do you think is cute, Misao?" She choked, and could feel her cheeks catching fire.
"N—no one!" she chirped, and started studying her fruit juice intently. Megumi giggled, and turned to Kaoru.
"So," she said, winking. "Is he taken?"
"Erm…" Kaoru replied, shifting nervously. "Not that I know of."
"Good," Megumi said, smiling in satisfaction. "I think I may just get myself into detention today." Standing up, she winked at the two girls, who looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Thanks for lunch today girls," she said. "I had fun." They watched helplessly as she sailed through the cafeteria, 'accidentally' bumping into the back of Kenshin, who turned around and started sputtering apologies which she dismissed with a wave of her hand. They continued to watch as, giving him a foxy grin, she and leaned in close and whisper something into his ear, making him blush. Beside her Kaoru groaned.
"Misaaoo… This is all your fault!!"
Author's Rants (12th August 2007) :
Surprised?! I wanted to stay clear from too many clichés (yes, I know just writing this fic is a cliché all on it's own but I don't care) so that's why I refrained from dumping Misao straight into the arms of Aoshi (believe me, the temptation was there) when she trips, haha, surprised you huh! I want to keep things nice and fresh, without being too predictable. There are a million and one AU AM fics like this, so I wanted to make it something different and special. Hopefully that turns out alright.
I know, there are already a million clichés in the story, and already a lot of things aren't really working out very well, as mentioned in my previous ran, like why the hell are Japanese students studying The Catcher in the Rye. Hopefully, you as the reader will suspend your belief for a moment and just pretend it all makes sense okay? I personally didn't quite like the book (hence the title, I hope this doesn't lose me my readers!) because all the 'goddamns' really put me off right from the start too much for me to properly enjoy it. I probably will try and work the Catcher in the Rye into the storyline a wee bit more.
I kinda only chose it because, well, it's the one so called classic that comes readily to mind that I've actually read all of despite not quite liking it (my boyfriend liked it, which was why I was convinced to read it, although a few months later he came up to me and said 'actually, the story was kinda pointless', as which I laughed and promptly rubbed it in his face). Also, it happens to be on my shelf above my bed—which is where sit to write on my laptop—so it's easily accessible for quotations and references. It's actually a bit of a MacGuffin, i.e. (quoting the Wikipedia) a plot device that motivates the characters and/or advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story… it is not important what the object specifically is.
Anyway, I actually finished this chapter two days ago, but am only (Sunday evening 12th August 2007) writing this rant now, makes it feel more complete, in my mind anyway. At this moment I just finished the next chapter, damn I'm addicted to writing when I should be studying for my exam in two days! Only gonna post this most probably this Wednesday, 15th August 2007 though, can't wait for your reviews!
(13th August 2007) :
Okay so I couldn't wait to post this up. Haha, since so far it seems like people are actually reading it, and I'm already about 80 through with Chapter 4, I decided I'll post this a bit early! The story WILL pick up, I promise, so far I quite like how this fic is turning out. Stay tuned for more, I think I'll be posting Chapter 3 on Sunday, August 19th. Or I may post a liittle bit earlier, at least, if the response is good. C'mon people, review it more! I know you're reading it, haha...