"Asuka the bitch strategy isn't working" I sigh as I stuff my uniform into the locker in front of me and pull out my red violet Lobelia soccer uniform. "I need something better."
"Well I don't know what to tell you," Asuka says as she begins to pull her long waving hair into a ponytail. "I think you have yourself a stalker and those don't leave easy."
"What do I do?" I grumble as I slam my locker closed and bang my forehead against the cool metal. "I thought there weren't supposed be any problems like this at an all-girls school."
"At least yours can't follow you around school," she snaps as she collapses on the bench behind us. "All the boys are starting to think I'm into girls now. Do you know how bad this is for my lifestyle?"
"So you're finally admitting you have a problem?" I chuckle dryly.
"Oh shut up," Asuka grumbles. "I have needs. What's wrong with that?"
"Then I guess we need to fix this problem soon," I say with a smirk. "We all know what happens when you go into withdrawals.
Asuka pales considerably under her strawberry blond waves, a haunted look taking over her brown eyes and temporarily washes them out. It lasts a moment before she shakes her head vigorously and jumps off the bench.
"Do you know where I can hire a hit man?" she asks as her hands clamp down on my upper arms.
"Um…I think that you need to consult Ryuu about that one," I reply as I try and pry her hands off of me. "Not really my area of expertise. Besides, doesn't Mikuru know you already have a boyfriend?"
"She knows, but I don't think she cares," Asuka whimpers as she collapses back onto the bench.
"Then I got nothing," I sigh as I sit down next to her.
"Well…I could hook you up with one of my exs if that would solve your problem."
"It won't," I grumble. "He said he'd wait. Plus I don't want your table scraps."
"Do you think a hit man would offer a two for one deal?" Asuka muses as she scuffs her cleats against the locker room floor.
"We could do some research," I giggle weakly as I glance up at the clock. "But we're kind of occupied now."
"Why did we sign up for this anyways?" she complains as I get back to my feet. "I hate soccer."
"Because I wanted to and you follow me everywhere," I only half joke as Asuka allows me to pull her to her feet.
"Sad but true," she sighs as we begin walking towards the exit that leads to the field.
"Plus your boyfriend said he'd come and watch you," I add. "And you never miss a chance to show off for the boys."
"Also true," Asuka giggles without shame as she crosses her arms behind her head. "Remember to kick the ball to me so I can do the backflip kick I've been working on alright?"
"No promises," I reply with a roll of my eyes and a jab of my elbow into her ribs. "Come on, we're the only ones not out practicing yet."
"It's not like you need to," she grumbles as she rams her hip into me and sends me staggering forward. "But anyways, let's go kick some ass!"
"Alright," I sigh as we step onto the field. "I refuse to lose to Ouran in any way shape or form."
Asuka gives me a slightly concerned glance as I stare down the group of girls in canary yellow jerseys across the field. Ryuu and Reiko are already in uniform and kicking around some soccer balls with the rest of the girls on our team. And right behind them is…
"Look," I snort as I point to the track lanes behind them. "Your girl is leading the cheer squad."
Sure enough, Mikuru is in uniform with megaphone in hand, leading the rest of the cheer squad in chants that we can't make out from this far away. They give off extremely competitive vibes that clash with the cheer squad from Ouran. Usually this would hype me up, but this time it just makes me want to back away quietly.
"They let her be squad leader with her hair like that?" Asuka muses as she folds her arms over her chest.
"But it's blue!" I mimic shrilly with a bat of my eyelashes. "Asuka-senpai loves the color blue!"
"I don't know what's wrong with her," she whines as she stomps her foot childishly. "Plus I hate that shade of blue."
"On her specifically, or just in general?" I tease.
"URGH!" Asuka groans as she fists her hands in her hair. "She's made me hate my favorite color!"
"I bet it would be a completely different story if every boy in this stadium had blue hair," I scoff.
"Oh the fantasies," she sighs as she lifts the back of her hand to her forehead and pretends to swoon.
"Hey now," I groan as she crushes my body under her taller and more muscular body. "The game is starting soon, get your shit together."
Then I see him.
"Shit," exclaim as I completely drop Asuka.
She falls to the floor with the thud, and clutches the back of her head. Through all that she still manages to pull herself back into a sitting position. I duck down behind her, hoping she can hide me yet fully knowing there's no way she really can. I've already been seen.
"Hide me Onee-chan!" I whisper frantically as I cover my head with my hands.
"From who?" she grumbles as she rubs the back of her head.
I point over her body towards Shou, who's making his way down the stands. He holds a small plush penguin in a little blue scarf, his eyes focused on my hiding place behind Asuka. I make a weird sound in the back of my throat that sounds like a mix between a groan and a whine.
"Damn it all!" I whimper. "He makes it hard to stay angry when he does things like that."
"Do you want to talk to him or would you like me to do the dirty work?" Asuka asks as she gets to her feet.
"Pretend I just got called to do a set of drills with Reiko," I reply as I get to my feet and sprint down over to the rest of the team.
I watch the exchange from behind a wall of girls.
After a short exchange Asuka takes the penguin from him, and he goes back to his seat in the stands. With a smirk she places the penguin on the bench next to my water bottle before trotting over to the rest of the group.
Our captain gives her usual long pre-game pep talk, and as usual, I ignore it. The game starts, and I still can't think straight. All I can see are the pair of amber eyes from Music Room 3. And the pair of brown eyes surrounded by fluttering sakura petals.
Was he pitying me?
Does Kaoru truly believe I still like him?
Do I still like him?
I shake my head vigorously and try to focus on stealing the ball from the other team. It's not working. Everything feels fuzzy and surreal, and I can feel my body is completely functioning on auto pilot. What I'm seeing isn't even in front of me.
And what I'm seeing was something that makes me feel sick.
I was still wearing my party dress when mom pulled up in front of a mansion three times the size of our own. She's been saying something to me ever since she picked me up from the dance. I've haven't seen her this excited in a long time, but even then I can't even remember what she's said since the moment I sat down.
All I can think about is that my heart is bleeding. Dripping like a sponge full of paint.
I'm still in shock. I don't even remember getting out of the limo and walking inside the house. Nor do I remember the two people standing in front of me.
A large and muscly bald man that is covered in tattoos is standing at the foot of a grand staircase. His clothes consist of a pair of basketball shorts, a plain white tee-shirt, and a pair of sandals. At first glance he looks really scary, but as I get closer I can see he has one of those infectious happy auras around him.
The girl standing next to him has it also, and she seems to be around my age. She is continuously bouncing on the balls of her feet, causing her strawberry blonde hair to bounce around her shoulders.
The man comes over to give mom a hug and kisses her cheek, much to my somewhat dulled surprise. Their conversation sounds like a bunch of warped sounds until mom finally grabs my shoulder and forces me to pay attention.
"This is your new family Yuuna dear! Isn't this exciting?"
She gives me a shove towards the other girl, and gives us a dismissive wave before wrapping her arms around the man and walking off into a different room. An awkward moment passes before the silence seems to get to the other girl.
"Um…So hi!" she says somewhat awkwardly as she takes a few steps towards me. "I'm Asuka, but you already knew that…and I guess we're sisters now!"
"Yuuna…" I trial off, still sounding completely spaced out.
My hand trails up from my side and Asuka takes in in between her own two hands. She shakes my hand enthusiastically, causing me to wobble back and forth from the sheer force.
"Sorry," I mumble as I fight to stay on my feet. "But what's going on? Why is my mom hanging all over that guy?"
"Apparently they got married a few days ago."
My jaw slackens for a minute. I haven't seen mom in a good three days…but…there's no way…
"Hard to believe huh?" Asuka asks as she begins to yank me towards the staircase. "But it's true, I came home from school yesterday and my room was empty and the wall between two three guest bedrooms in the west wing were knocked down and made into one room. So…I guess that means we're sharing now!"
"A-alright…" I stammer as she takes the stairs three at a time, leaving me to trip up after her.
"So since break starts tomorrow I figured we could spend the day figuring out what we wanna do with the room. It's indigo right now, and I hate it. It's too dark and purplely. I like blue. Do you like blue? 'Cuz I was thinking of painting the room blue. Or at least my side. I thought I'd wait to ask though."
Asuka leads me to a part of the estate that is being renovated for our new room.
"You're really ok with this?"
"I don't see why not," Asuka says with a shrug. "I've always wanted another sibling. My brother is annoying. First thing you should know about this family. Second is that my dad is a professional cage fighter. Whatever you do…NEVER EVER mention pineapples around him."
"A-alright…" I stammer as Asuka leans in towards me creepily. "Why though?"
"Just trust me," she sighs as she draws back.
"Ok…" I trail off. "Does he have a problem or something? Is that like a trigger phrase that makes him go nuts or something?"
"Yes…and no," Asuka says cryptically. "It's kind of an obsession."
"Oh," I reply as I glance down the staircase. "So uh…did you know about this?"
"Nope, not really," she says as she leans over on the railing.
"Has this umm…happened before?"
"Nope."
"Oh…" I flush in embarrassment and avert my eyes. "So I guess we're really sisters now."
"Yup!" she says as she glomps me.
"Well uh…" I stammer as I stiffen. "As you can probably tell, I've been an only child all my life."
"Well I ignore my brother as much as possible, so I may as well have been one too!"
"Oh…" I trial off, surprised that she seems to take all of this so lightly. "So…blue? I like purple."
"Dude come on, we're losing!'
I blink and Asuka is standing in front of me and shaking my shoulders. She's sweaty and her hair is sticking to her forehead and neck.
"Wait…we're what?" I reply as my eyes drift over to the score board. "Oh shit…"
"Why are you just standing there?" She asks through grit teeth. "You got us signed up for this and you're not even doing anything!"
"Sorry," I mumble with a shake of my head. "I'll do better. I'm just a little out of it."
"Well get into it," Asuka orders as a smirk stretches across her lips. "I don't wanna lose with all these boys watching."
"So I take it there's been no flying backflip kick yet?"
"I was waiting for my pass," she says with a halfhearted glare.
"Sorry about that," I reply as I scratch the back of my neck sheepishly. "Just give me a minute."
"Okay," she sighs as she glances down at me.
Her eyes are unreadable, and I don't want her to look at me like that for too long. So I take off down the field, trying to invest myself for the rest of the game and help the team catch up.
Ten minutes go by and the first period is over. I'm panting and dripping with sweat, but we're five goals up from where we were, but still losing badly. And I'm already feeling it in my legs and they tremble under the task of keeping me upright. Asuka steps up beside me and claps me on the back, sending me flying towards the floor.
"So I take it that's your payback?" I grumble through a face full of dirt and grass.
"Well, you got me the pass eventually," she says cheerily. "I guess that's for spacing out."
"Okay…" I sigh as I push myself up into a sitting position.
"You may wanna wipe the dirt off your face," Asuka teases. "You've got an admirer."
I glance up to see Shou looking down at me from the stands. The look of concern on his face is not even trying to be subtle, and I glance away, only to be met from a pair of amber eyes.
It's only a second, and then they're gone and I'm wondering if I even really saw them in the first place. My eyes dart around looking for them again and my pulse leaps. Then I realize what I'm doing and shame makes my face blaze.
I begin to wipe the dirt and grass from my face and stop halfway, shame socking me in the pit of my stomach. I feel the dirt smear from my temple down to the corner of my lips.
I won't keep looking for something that isn't there.