I Don't Like The Catcher in the Rye

Chapter 5

Why was it so much of her life seemed to revolve around this stupid, tiny, horribly god-forsaken classroom? It was dingy and smelly and gross.

Cursing under her breath, Misao followed Saitou into detention hall, Aoshi by her side. He had taken it upon himself to personally escort the two of them to detention. Sitting behind the teacher's desk was a pleasant looking female teacher, who looked up in surprise at Saitou's entrance.

"Oh, hello, Hajime-san, Misao-chan, you're back again… Eh, Aoshi-kun?" she said, looking at him in surprise. "Did you get yourself into trouble? That is so unlike you!" Saitou glanced over his shoulder at Aoshi—who said nothing—and shrugged.

"I caught him and this weasel girl fighting in my class," he said, ignoring Misao's yells of protest. "I'll leave them with you, Sayo." Turning on his heel, he breezed past a fuming Misao, leaving the teacher looking very bewildered.

"Well, then," she said hesitantly, looking from Aoshi's impassive face to Misao's angry one. "Take a seat—ah, Sano, I see you're here again, as usual. Did Yukyuzan-sensei pass you the Maths textbook you left behind in detention last Friday?" Turning around, Misao saw Sano walking in casually, his white jacket draped casually over his shoulder.

"Ah, yeah, Muto-sensei," he said grinning widely. "A good day to you."

"It's all this idiot's fault!" Misao said angrily, jabbing a finger in his direction. Muto-sensei and Sano blinked simultaneously.

"What, is this how you greet your detention buddy?" he said, his grin changing into a smirk. "The scene you caused was something, weasel, I couldn't stop laughing my ass off." She glowered at him and, storming down the classroom, taking the seat nearest to the back door. Sano followed, sitting at the desk in front of her.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to you," she snapped curtly at Sano, who had turned his chair so that he sat with the front of Misao's desk to his left. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Aoshi took a seat three rows to her left, ignoring their loud exchange.

"Aww c'mon weasel," Sano said, laughing. "It was funny, you know that." Scowling, she glared at the grinning boy. Why couldn't today be the freak accident where Sano didn't have detention? How was she find a way to talk to Aoshi now? Or at the very least, spend the whole of detention admiring him off from the side, without this annoying chicken head distracting her?

"Funny?!" she said. "I don't see what's funny about humiliating me in front of—" she faltered, cutting off the words 'Aoshi-kun' just in time, "—in front of the whole class!" Sano didn't seem to notice her lapse, and laughed.

"You know you do that all the time," he remarked, grinning. "You don't need me to help you with that!" She glared angrily at Sano and, seizing the opportunity to look at Aoshi, whipped her head haughtily in his direction—away from Sano.

Aoshi was bent over his desk, his head in his palm, an open book on the table. His silky black hair fell across his face as he read. Misao wondered what he was reading. In the corner of her mind she had dedicated to Aoshi 24/7, she was imagining how it would feel to have him look at her with the same intensity and focus as he was now looking at good for nothing book.

"Misao… I'm sorry, I'll stop making fun of you…" at the husky tone in his voice, Misao turned back to Sano, who was suddenly looking at her with a serious face. "Please, forgive me… By telling me who it is you like?" Finally breaking into a grin, all mock seriousness gone, Sano laughed at the frown that formed on Misao's face at his last few words.

"Sano, stop it!" she snapped, annoyed she had actually believed he going to apologise. "I'm not telling you and that's that! Anyway, you have a huge mouth, if I tell you, everyone in school will know by next Monday!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aoshi lean back in his seat, resting the book on his lap. She turned her head slightly and caught the words 'in the Rye' as he moved it from table to lap. Good grief, would that book haunt her for the rest of her life?

"That's not true!" Sano protested. "In fact, I already know who you like, and I haven't told anyone, not even Kenshin, I've just been fooling around with you!"

"You know who I like?!" Her attention solely his for once, Misao leaned forward, suddenly worried. "Liar!"

"Then call my bluff," he retorted, his face suddenly serious again. Twisting his body so he faced her, he leaned in close to her, his face inches away from hers. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, and she found herself hoping Aoshi could not hear their conversation.

"The person you've given your heart to," he whispered, his voice low and silky. "Is…" His gaze flickered to her left, and a wicked grin curled itself on his lips. "Shinomori Aoshi."

Misao recoiled as if she had been punched in the gut. Her heart all but stopped, and she felt her cheeks flare. Without thinking, she fled the classroom, muttering that she needed to go to the bathroom to Muto-sensei, who looked taken aback—a dumbfounded Sanosuke staring at her retreating back.

Shit. He was right??

-

Misao, you idiot, she thought angrily, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She stood with her hands on the bathroom counter, watching as the flush in her cheeks slowly died down. Had she truly been so enamored with the brooding junior that she had not realized how blatantly obvious she had been about it?

Obviously so, as proven by that idiot rooster's earlier confession. Well, if he had known for a while already, it seemed that useless idiot could be trusted with something. Better him knowing than someone like Megumi, who might use such information against her. Misao felt a warm feeling in a chest for the brown haired boy, and determined to thank him later for not telling anyone else.

On the other hand, she frowned, if it was so obvious even that dull-witted rooster could tell, maybe there was nothing to thank him for. Splashing water in her face, she scrubbed it vigorously, angry at herself for being so transparent.

Analyzing her reflection once more, she saw that most of the flush had died down. Satisfied, she went back to the detention hall, loudly apologising to Muto-sensei for her abrupt departure ("When ya gotta go, ya gotta go!") and returning to her seat.

It was then that she noticed that Sano was being uncharacteristically quiet. He had turned his chair back to face to front, and was sitting back with his feet propped onto the table, much to Muto-sensei's dismay. He had been looking at her intently ever since she got back from the bathroom. Now, as she passed to sit down at her desk, he gave her a smirk and leaned back into his outstretched arms, closing his eyes and ignoring her.

What's up with him? Misao wondered.

"Oi, Sano," she hissed, leaning forward so that her mouth was near the back of his head. He turned around to regard her oddly.

"What?"

"Nothing," she replied, frowning. "Just wanted to thank you for keeping it a secret for so long, how did you know? Was it really that obvious?" He looked slightly surprised for a moment, then shrugged.

"Don't mention it," he replied. He gave a crooked grin. "I'm not gonna tell you my secret." With that, he turned away, settling comfortably back in his seat.

"Hey, what's wrong," she persisted, not able to shake off the distinct feeling that Sano was hiding something from her. She grabbed the back of his seat and shook it. "Tell me!"

"Damn it, Makimachi!" Sano snapped, turning back. "Give it a rest will ya?" She gaped at his outburst. He turned away from her.

"I had expected better from you," he said quietly. "Than to just fall for some pretty face. You're just like all the other girls." He stood up and walked to the first seat of the row. Settling himself back once more, he closed his eyes, ignoring the shocked look Misao gave him.

-

Dumb, dumb dummy dummy dumb dumb dummy dumb dumb! ARGH!!! Misao growled angrily under her breath. She sat, staring at the back of Sano's head, wishing she could impale knives in his stupid skull. What the hell was that all about? 'I expect better from you?' Who did he think he was?!

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she flopped her head onto the table, her clenched fists on either side. First Kaoru, now, even Sano?! Was her life turning into a soap opera, because this was not one bit entertaining.

She lifted her head and stared daggers at Sanosuke once more. She's not even going to call him Sano, or rooster-head anymore. From now on, it was Sanosuke, no, wait, better yet, Sagara. If he was going to be an ass to her, well, she would be a total bitch then.

Finally coming to a decision, she turned her head and rested her cheek in her palm. Ah, now with Sano-no! Sagara, she mentally berated herself, out of the way, she could spend all of detention ogling over her beloved Aoshi-sama. He really was so perfect… From his perfect nose to those soft, so utterly-kissable lips, his high cheekbones and sculpted jaw to—"just some pretty face."

She blinked, sitting up in her seat. Where did that come from? She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, a small frown spreading across her features. Truth be told, Sano's (Sagara's!) words had affected her more than she was comfortable with admitting to. Why was she obsessed with Shinomori Aoshi?

Ever since his arrival at Kyoto High, the only other interaction between the two of them had been when she borrowed a pencil from him during Advanced English ("Sorry, mine broke") on the 18th of April, the second week since school re-opened—her 17th class together with him (yes, she counted how many lessons they had together, she was such a dweeb, and technically it would be 15th class, but she counted her double Advanced Japanese classes as two lessons).

Right now, it was approaching the end of May and aside from the crash incident, she had absolutely nothing to show. She had absolutely no clue what kind of person he had become, or why he kept to himself so absolutely, did he not recognize her or if he even remembered her (she never understood why she never came straight out and asked him).

All in all, her one sided love affair with Shinomori Aoshi had been completely and utterly groundless—spare the fact that when she was six she was absolutely head-over-heels in love with him, and that he was one of the best looking guys in the whole of Kyoto High.

It seemed that Misao was coming to one inevitable conclusion: she was as shallow and stupid as the silly girls in romance novels that she constantly made fun of (yet still found herself reading). But surely that couldn't be it? If she were, then why wait until the appearance of her childhood (sort of) sweetheart, who just happened to be a total babe, to fall in love?

If that were the case, then she would have fallen for some good looking guy previously, like that Yukishiro Enishi! She and Kaoru had (despite the latter's so called commitment to a certain red-head) spent a fair share of lunch period swooning over his handsome face, broad, muscular shoulders and cool, quiet yet in control demeanor. The fair headed junior had even senior girls sending love letters to him!

And, she thought, frowning, it wasn't like he was not as much out of her league as Aoshi was! Well actually, she paused, an ugly thought dawning on her, that made him quite a bit out of her league. They both were as untouchable to a tomboyish, loud, short ugly weasel such as herself.

The sudden thought depressed her, weighed her down. Was that it? Did she fall for Aoshi just because they had that one bit of 'history' together, therefore a good looking guy was suddenly within reach for her, Makimachi 'Weasel' Misao?

Casting Aoshi one last sidelong glance, she sighed and buried her head in her hands. Damn Sano. Why did he have to open that big mouth of his?!

Author's Rants ( 20th August 2007 – Monday, two days after posting chapter 3 ) :

Well, I finished chapter 5. I'm so ahead of my schedule it's scary, this fic is turning out to be so much fun. Anyway, my last Author's Rants was REALLY long, so this one is gonna be really short, I only have two things I wanna say. Firstly, this chapter turned out really short, it seems my chapters are getting shorter and shorter, and I swear I'm not getting lazy, I just can't fit any more into it without making it too long! I promise I'll try to get it way longer the next chapter k.

Secondly, I want to end off my Author's rants by saying: I'm an idiot. I stayed up all night to study for my Econs test today, near panicking at having 6 chapters to study with 3 hours to the test, before I realize with the help from a classmate that the test is on THURSDAY. Ugh, at least it kick started my studying and at least now I can. Thank God for finding out, else I'd have taken the 1 hour journey to school!

( 26th August 2007 - Sunday, written while posting ) :

Well here it is, the much awaited Detention with Aoshi-sama. Haha, I QUITE like how it turned out, and I think the fic took an unexpected turn towards slightly darker themes, which was a surprise to me also. I'm not exactly a dark person, but I do like to explore very deep, very raw things that people usually are too ashamed to admit to themselves, or even realize. So yeah. I know, I'm posting this a tad late (it's Sunday afternoon), but I'm trying to keep to my schedule, plus I don't wanna rush it too much as well.

I'll post the next installment either Wed or Thurs, I've got myself a new job so for the next 3 weeks I'll be working 8am to 6pm, so you can imagine I'm not gonna have much time. I've already finished chapter 6 fortunately, but I'm still not sure about it, which is also why I'm putting off posting it till Thursday, I wanna read it through a few more times, see if I'm satisfied with it and like it still after I've sat with it a few more days, I only finished it yesterday night. Till then!