I Don't Like The Catched in the Rye
Author's Notes: Now, I don't like starting a chapter with Author's Notes, but for this chapter I'm making in exception. I got a complaint about my little note on kohai being put in the middle of the chapter, which I did because, well, FFN doesn't allow footnotes or for text to be made smaller. I'm gonna go through it briefly here, so later when ya come across it you won't be confused by the reaction it causes, in case ya don't know what it means.
Kohai (as extracted from the Wikipedia):
"Senpai is a Japanese term (sometimes an honorific) for a person in a club or other organization, including a school or college, who is a senior (in other words, a member for longer or of a higher year) and mutually recognized as such. The junior counterpart is called kōhai.
…In a Japanese school sports club, such as a baseball team, the kōhai are usually expected to perform various menial tasks for the senpai, including washing clothes and cleaning. The kōhai may not be allowed to play the sport at all or have only limited opportunities to do so until they become senpai.
More than simple seniority, senpai implies a relationship with reciprocal obligations, somewhat similar to a mentoring relationship. A kōhai is expected to respect and obey their senpai, and the senpai in turn must guide, protect, and teach their kōhai as best they can. Senpai/kōhai relationships generally last for as long as the two people concerned stay in contact, even if the original context in which the senpai was senior is no longer relevant."
End of Kohai description
Now, on with the story:
Chapter 3
Detention hall. After two dreadful hours of mathematics ("…Find an approximate value for the limit of B as n approaches infinity by considering an appropriate graph and—") she absolutely welcomed the thought of sitting around doing nothing. Mathematics made her head hurt—it didn't help that she had absolutely no idea what was going on. Eventually after trying to pay attention for the first ten minutes she had zoned out and ended up playing with her pencil.
When she eventually got bored of that, she amused herself by doodling on the table, only to get threatened with detention by Kisaragi-sensei ("Writing 'Maths sucks big time' on your desk is not going to improve those failing grades, Makimachi-san") and forced to write the answer to a question on the board. Without help. After forcing her back to her seat ("Will you stop randomly dividing and multiplying numbers! That is not a graph and the trapezium rule is not a proclamation of the trapezium's superiority over the square!"), Kisaragi-sensei had slapped her with an additional 5 pages of homework to do, saying she should be glad it wasn't detention and resumed teaching, though she did so rather crossly.
She was on her way to her locker to drop off her books when she bumped into Megumi, who all but dragged her to the classroom.
"Gee, Megumi," Misao said as she stumbled after the taller girl, who unfortunately happened to have hold of her elbow. Since when were they all buddy-buddy? "Saitou's on duty Tuesdays, I hate him and all but it's not like I'm gonna skip it (I've done it before), I'm not that much of an idiot."
"Hurry up," Megumi said impatiently. "I don't want to spend any less time than I have to with Ken-san and since you're the only person I know in detention you have to sit with me."
"Huh, Ken-san?" Misao echoed. The events at lunch slowly came back to haunt her and she stared at the back of Megumi's head in horror… Did she really…! "You mean Himura?"
"Yes, yes," Megumi replied, not really listening to her. "Is this the room? This is the first time I've been to detention, so I wouldn't know." Misao nodded numbly, allowing herself to be dragged into the still empty room. Oh no… Kaoru is going to KILL me! This is not happening to me…
"Since you know Ken-san," Megumi said, finally letting go of Misao's arm as the dazed girl sank into the chair next to Megumi. Somewhere at the back of her head, she wondered what Megumi did to get herself into detention. "You can tell me more about him, and I'll even let your introduce me to him." She flashed Misao a pearly white grin.
"I don't normally need someone to introduce me," she said, striking a pose. "I mean, I do have beauty, confident and sex appeal, after all—" Misao face faulted "—but Ken-san seems to be the shy, quiet type so if you introduce me it'll probably be less awkward for him, and when the time comes he'll thank you for introducing one of the most popular girls in school to him. Oh ho ho ho…" (Are those fox ears??)
"Erm, gee, thanks Megumi," Misao said nervously. "You see, the thing is…"
"Are you refusing my favour?" Megumi demanded, her head snapping forward.
"N-no!" Misao replied hastily. (I wouldn't dare!)
"Good," she said, dismissing Misao as she sat back in her chair and started adjusting her make up. Oh no… What am I going to do? Misao frantically wondered. If I don't help her, I'll have one of the most popular girls in the school on my back, but if I do, Kaoru will kill me! Well… What Kaoru doesn't know wouldn't—
"Oi! Weasel! Who's the foxy mama you have there!"
"What the hell rooster!" Misao yelled back without thinking. "Who the hell still says foxy mama?!"
"Indeed," Megumi added, snapping her compact close as she looked up. "I can see you're a real ladies' man." Block-headed and dense as he could be, even Sano couldn't miss the sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"Excuse me? I'll have you know that last night I—mmf?!"
"I-I don't think that's information you would want to divulge in with a pretty girl such as herself, de gozaru!" covering his mouth just in time, Kenshin had appeared seemingly out of no where and happened to hear the end of the conversation. Not that any conversation with Sano would have been hard to overhear.
"Ken-san!" Megumi exclaimed. "What a surprise!" Misao rolled her eyes. As if. So much for letting her introduce Himura to her. Not that she minded, in fact she was glad she was not forced into in a way betraying her best friend, but it did bug her that the girl could forget her promise so quickly once in the presence of another guy. Maybe that was why she didn't seem to have many girlfriends.
This girl drops her friends like hot potatoes, Misao thought, tuning out Megumi's gushing over Kenshin, who looked incredibly confused ("Erm, s-sorry miss have we met before, de gozaru?"). I would NEVER do such a thing! Well, actually no guy has ever asked me out, so I guess there isn't really any way I can test out that theory.
Mildly depressed by that thought, Misao was snapped out of her mulling and back to the present by the entrance of Saitou, who cast Sano a disgusted glance ("Ahou.") before sitting behind the teacher's desk. A couple more students trickled in, and Saitou addressed them.
"Now, shut up, sit down, and stay that way for the next two hours," he said, propping his foot on his desk and lighting a cigarette. "That means you, rooster head."
"I hope one day he burns his damn face," Sano muttered, sinking into the seat next to Misao. Megumi had all but dragged Kenshin across the room, away from Misao, and was asking him quietly questions about himself. Occasionally her giggle would float across the room, earning her a glare from Saitou and, oddly enough, Sano.
Misao studied the Sano, who did not seem to realize he was watching the couple intently. Surely not…
"You have a crush on her don't you!" she squealed excitedly, jabbing Sano in the ribs. Jumping in his seat, Sano scowled at her, rubbing the spot where she prodded. Saitou narrowed his eyes at them, and Megumi paused her interrogation of Kenshin to give them an annoyed look.
"What are you talking about you dumb weasel," Sano whispered angrily. Misao gave Saitou a sweet smile, and he was so puzzled by that look he literally recoiled in his seat and started marking the stack of papers on his desk. "I'm annoyed because that she-devil just stole Kenshin from me and now I'm left to deal with you alone!" He sounded convincing enough, and Misao would almost have been inclined to believe him—if not for the faint pinkish tinge that was slowly creeping into his cheeks.
"Liar!" she whispered back. "You're blushing!" She was rewarded with a further reddening of his face.
"Sano has a cru-ush, Sano has a cru-ush!" she sang gleefully.
"I do not have a crush," he replied angrily, whipping his head to the front and propping his feet on the desk, crossing his arms and staring stoically to the front. "Especially not on that damn fox devil. Dumb kid…"
Giggling to herself, Misao rested her head on her desk so that she was facing Sano.
"I'll let that one slide," she whispered conspiringly. "Cause if there's anyone who can help you get Megumi, it's me." In spite of himself, Sano turned his head a fraction towards Misao, trying and not entirely succeeding at keeping the interest off his face.
"You sound pretty damn sure of yourself, weasel," he said, quirking an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
"Weasel?" she bristled, sitting up and glaring at him. "I just may reconsider helping you, you big dumb oaf."
"Geez, touché," he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Fine, fine, how exactly are you going to achieve that, Makimachi-kohai."
"Kohai!" she screeched under her breath. "Forget it, you're not worth my time."
"Aww, c'mon," Sano said, reaching over and patting her head. "You know I mean it in a good way."
"Whatever Sano," she said huffily, slapping his hand away. "Don't come crying to me when all your attempts at winning her over fail! (You think you're such a charmer, geez!)"
"Pfft, I don't need you! (What, I am!)" he replied. "And I'm not interested in that fox, look at her, she's all over the wrong man!" They shared a glance at Megumi, who was laughing hysterically at something Kenshin had said. Kenshin himself looked more embarrassed than proud, and looked like he would do anything to get out of his current predicament.
"Right," she said after a long pause. "Anyway, do you want my help or not?"
"What makes you so sure you can help me?" Sano narrowed his eyes at her.
"Because, Sanosuke no baka," she said, heaving a great sigh of exaggerated patience. "I happen to be the only person she knows who knows Ken-san, I mean, Himura—aside from Kaoru-chan that is. And we have Biology and Chemistry classes together. No doubt during those two periods she will come and try and find out as much about Himura as possible. And she trusts me (at least I think she does), somehow or another we're buddy buddy now, so you just work on making sure Himura doesn't accept her advances quite yet, and I'll find out for you what kinda guy she likes so you can earn her affection!"
"What makes you think she won't like me the way I am right now," he said, frowning. He looked at her suspiciously. "And why are you being so helpful? You hate me."
"I don't hate hate you, like the way I hate Saitou," she replied, slightly annoyed that he kept questioning her motives. Keeping Kaoru's secret was way harder than she thought it would be. "I just can't stand the thought of my dear rooster head here, heart broken as his unrequited love is thrown back into his face as some girl forces herself on an unwilling Himura! Who then will I have to make fun of and beat up?!"
"Wouldn't getting her to fall for me make her unwilling too?" he pressed, unwilling to drop the subject. "And who says I love her?"
"Sano!" she cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. Why was he choosing now to use that stupid pea brain of his?
"Will the two of you shut the hell up!" Saitou snapped irritably from his desk. Their mouths snapped dutifully shut, and for once Misao was glad for his intervention. She stuck her tongue out at Sano, and started doodling absent-mindedly in her notebook, hoping a plan to get Sanosuke and Megumi together would scheme its way into her head.
She was snapped out of her plotting when a crushed ball of paper landed in front of her on her desk, narrowly missing her nose. She stole a glance at Sano, who was looking at her from the corner of his eyes, and opened the letter. Written in messy, horrible handwriting were the words "I know why you want to help me".
She wrote back "Why???" and threw it back. She watched as he wrote something on the paper and threw it back, and eagerly opened the crushed ball of paper.
"WHAT?!" she screeched.
"For the last time!" Saitou growled, slamming his fist on the table. Misao gulped and tried to look as repentant as possible.
"Sorry," she said meekly. "Won't happen again." He glowered at her before resuming his marking.
"I do not have a crush on Himura you dumbass," she hissed at Sano, who was laughing tears to his eyes.
"Why else would you be so eager to stop that fox from digging her claws in?" he said, grinning smugly.
"I'll have you know the guy I have a crush on isn't Himura," she whispered fiercely, feeling a brief flash of satisfaction as the ball of paper bounced off his head. "He's so much cooler than that sissy boy."
"Oh really?" Sano said, his interested piqued. "Who's the unfortunate guy?"
"Not telling you," she said in annoyance, crossing her arms and lifting her head haughtily. Well, at least he stopped asking why she was helping him.
"Aww, c'mon weasel," he pleaded. He gave her a wicked grin. "Promise I won't tell!"
"As if!" she said, rolling her eyes. "We both know you can't keep a secret with that big mouth of yours."
"Hey, I can if I really wanted to," he said, looking wounded. "Now you're hurting my feelings."
"You know I'm not," she snapped. "I'm not telling you and that's final." Resting her head on the table, she turned away from Sano and closed her eyes, ignoring his pleading and whining until eventually he gave up and spent the rest of detention carving obscenities onto the desk.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that appear in this fic. Nobuhiro Watsuki does. There, I've got this over and done with.
Posted: 18th August 2007
Author's Rants ( Sunday 12th August 2007 - one day before I posted chapter 2, the previous chapter ) :
Wow, this scene turned ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would. I originally meant for the detention scene to only take up half of this chapter, but I started writing it and, well… Anyway, I actually have no clue what I'm going to do to get Sano and Megumi together, if they end up together at all. I originally intended for the standard couples, but I dunno, hee, I may just screw around with them, just to mess with ya'll.
It's really really tempting to post all three chapters up, to see what people's comments are. So far I've gotten two reviews for the first chapter (thanks a lot guys! I feel quite honoured that Silver Miko would read and review my work, I've read quite a bit of your work but never got around to reviewing them, I will after my exams!) and I'm determined to stick to my plan of posting chapter 2 on Wednesday. We'll see how well me resolve holds. One reason I'm avoiding posting too many at once is because I don't want the gap between chapters be too long, because I'm trying to discipline myself to at least one chapter a week, and who knows when my enthusiasm at writing will die, or I get stuck with plot.
Another reason is that tomorrow (13th August, Monday) I have an exam (Principles of Accounting, I'm studying for a diploma in Business Administration and am in my first year), which SHOULD be fine, but next Monday I have my Economics paper, and I've not been to a single lecture (or on the rare occasion I am there, I never listen because I'm busy rushing a report, and when I do try and listen, I understand nothing and just copy blindly, or start playing my boyfriend's PSP) since our first test, which was 8 topics ago. In other words, I have one week to learn what they taught us in approximately 2 months. So I guess you can say I'm in a bit of a pickle haha.
Anyway, comments and criticism greatly appreciated, I'd like to know if you think the detention scene was too long and draggy with unnecessary dialogue (although given the fact that you don't know what I intend for the fic it'll be a pretty hard judgement call). All reviews are welcome, thanks again for reading this. :)
( Saturday 18th August 2007 - written as I'm posting this ) :
Good news for all of you reading this, I updated! It's a Saturday right now, and I know I said I'd post it on Sunday, but studying isn't quite going as planned (or, not going is a better term to describe it) and I ended up finishing Chapter 4 and half of chapter 5 in one afternoon, so ah to hell with my earlier resolve. Since my last exam is in two days, I figured I'd have plenty of time to write after that so posting this chapter up a day early should be fine. I've also decided to start writing the date which I posted this fic, so that my rants will make more sense chronologically, as well as tag my rant dates so that you know when it was written, i.e. the day before I posted, the day I posted, etc.
For those who care, my accounting test (which I had after my previous Author's Rant) went so-so. Couldn't balance the damn balance sheet, ugh, hope I can still get an A... Oh, yeah, and I plan on updating Chapter 4 on Wednesday (chances are I'll update earlier), so stay tuned my friends!