Disclaimer: I don't own Kyo Kara Maoh.
Wonderful Wonder World
~ Chapter Ten: The Next Step ~
The afternoon of the interview, Fleur was a total basket case. Well, it was reasonable seeing as she had filled out several an application and went to several an interview, but still nothing had ever really came out of it. "Uh-but what if I don't get the job," she asked out loud to herself with a sigh and the roll of her eyes. I mean, what a waste it would be.
"Hm? You need to be more confident in your abilities." Oh, wait, scratch that. Conrart was right there sitting at a small, round kitchen table. Her mother had surprisingly allowed him inside the house. He had rented a hotel room twenty or so minutes away from the house. He had also rented a car. Yep. He was absolutely correct. Fleur was a total basket case. He knew it and so therefore that is why he had come to check up on her to make sure she was all right.
Having heard his voice, she stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him with wide eyes. CONRART WAS RIGHT THERE SITTING AT A SMALL, ROUND TABLE?! WHAAAAAAT?! "EEEEEEK! Wh-what are you d-doing here?!" Her mind tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but then gave up and went blank. Boy did she feel like an idiot!
The door that lead from the house into the garage swung open and the back of the door knob where the lock was located banged up against the wall. A very arrogant and impatient Wolfram entered the house. "Hmph! Well, isn't it obvious? He's making sure you're okay!" Apparently, he had heard the conversation through the tiny crack in the door. He had been waiting outside for about five minutes. Jeez, that's the girl you chose to be your girlfriend?!
Fleur took a step to the left and Conrart's right and another step forward. She glared daggers at Wolfram. "Hey, Brat! Watch it! You break it, you pay to replace it and besides that, that question wasn't directed at you!" She seethed. I will be even more upset than I am now if I have to spend my birthday money replacing the sheetrock! Her birthday was coming up and she wanted to keep the money given to her by her relatives.
Yuuri reached up and took a fist full of the back of Wolfram's shirt and gently pulled on it. "Eh?! W-Wolfram, I don't think you should-" Please, not this! Boy, those two sure knew how to rile things up!
He tugged forward towards Fleur. "Shut up, Yuuri and let me go while you're at it!" Oh, now she's done it! "I dare you to repeat that," he growled at the young woman. He had the temper of a feisty, small, old female dog. Whoa! If Fleur was not careful, he would certainly bite her face off!
She grinned from ear to ear showing off a full two rows of brilliant white teeth. "Brat! Brat, brat, brat, brat!" I am having way too much fun! Should she really have that much fun picking on a little kid? Wait, he was a little kid?! Actually, she had no idea how to answer that.
Wolfram gritted his teeth, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. "Alright, that's it!" So arrogant! Ha! Well, technically, he was just as arrogant. Technicalities weren't his specialty.
Changing the atmosphere and maybe even her mood just a little bit, she sighed and slouched forward. Her energy was spent and she was bored. "Well, whatever. I'm good." She stepped to the left and Wolfram and Yuuri's right. "Aren't you coming in," she asked, motioning for the boys to enter the house. I have to leave in a little bit. There is no sense in getting myself all worked up over the small things.
Wolfram behaved as if Fleur might have set up some deadly trap or at least something to embarrass him to no end. Before he even so much as took one step inside the house, he looked around himself.
Impatient and fed up with Wolfram's stupidity, Fleur closed the gap between her and Wolfram, grabbed a fist full of the front of his shirt and pulled him forward. Her attempt to just simply get the boys indoors was all a total waste because Wolfram tried to dodge her and they ended up colliding, taking Yuuri along with them.
"WAAAH-" Fleur released a startled scream as she tumbled forward so quickly that she had absolutely no time for it to cross her mind that she was falling forward onto a couple of guys. "Oof!" She slammed into Wolfram, her silk black skirt hiking up her leg within a split second of the abrupt movement. The skirt was just a little pass the knee in length, but it really wouldn't have mattered any what with the way she fell. She could've worn a skirt that was right down to her ankles in length and it still would've reacted in the same manner.
Yuuri, under the weight of both Wolfram and Fleur, groaned. "Ouch." He struggled to sit up, but the combined weight on top of his body kept him pinned down to the cold, hard cement. Not only that, but he could have sworn he felt a random hit to the back of his head. Did I really hit the back of my head just now? I mean, it all happened so fast.
Below Fleur, Wolfram had somehow accidentally gotten his entire face squashed deep into a certain someone's good sized chest. "Mmmph!" He struggled to speak, but his words were muffled. These things feel soft, but… Just as soon as he caught himself thinking such thoughts, he mentally kicked himself in the rear end.
Fleur felt hot breath in the middle of her cleavage and she instantly removed herself from the pile of flour sacks as if the other two flour sacks had just caught fire. She sat there on her knees in front of Wolfram and Yuuri.
Wolfram sat up and climbed off of Yuuri. "Wow. That was, um, unexpected…" He had no idea how to really react. All he could do was stare at Fleur, who sat there on her knees, head lowered, trembling.
Yuuri sat up, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. He noticed how freaked out Fleur was about what had just taken place and concern entered his coal black colored eyes. He scooted closer to her. "Hey, are you all right?"
WHY?! Tears gathered in her bluish-greenish colored eyes. "Y-You…" She lifted her chin, her head moving upwards, her eyes coming into a level glare with Wolfram's emerald eyes. Within an instant a loud smack echoed throughout the garage. With that, panting and flushed, she stood.
Conrart stood just inside the door, staring at the three with wide eyes. "Uh, you know…" He had started to say something, but then thought it best to just keep his mouth shut. Fleur didn't have to say or do anything. He could already feel the intense atmosphere around her.
"Don't even…" Fleur projected her irritation onto him. She stomped her way towards the door and then shoved pass him. Stupid! Just my awful luck! Deep down, she knew it wasn't fair to project her anger onto Conrart, but she really didn't care at that moment because it was like a pinball machine inside of her. The door that she had held tightly shut had slammed open.
Hours later, Fleur was practically doing a victory dance. Did she really just score herself a job?! Oh, it was too good to be true! Actually, it was something so good and so random that happened to her that she thought that surely there had to be a catch somewhere. Little did she know, there was. However, she wouldn't find out until within a week of her training.
Just as she had trained herself to do so many times, she scolded herself and slammed the door shut. As a reassurance, she tightly placed chains of the thickest and most unbreakable material on the door and then locked it all up. Ah, but another door was about to open itself up.
She impatiently went through the drug test, signed many a paper and attended orientation. Jeez, just give me the job already! Her nerves coiled very tightly and she walked along a very thin sheet of ice. She was happy to finally have a job, but that didn't matter to the very people who constantly got onto her for one thing or another.
The night of her second month into her job, Fleur laid on her stomach facing the foot of her twin sized bed. Before her set the laptop she had bought from her younger sister for like forty dollars (basically every cent she had earned while babysitting). On that laptop played a movie titled Painful Secrets. It was about thirty minutes into the movie. The movie probably would last for another hour or so. It was the second movie of that night, the first being For the Love of Nancy.
Conrart currently paid her a little visit. It had been a few days in his world and one day in her world. He figured he had best make sure that she was okay. So far, though, things had not appeared to be okay. They had barely spoken to each other and he noticed a gloomy air about her.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stupid," she mumbled, forgetting the fact that Conrart was visiting. Why do I have to feel as if nothing in my life is at all certain. Well, apparently, visiting or not, the volume wasn't loud enough to block out her voice and of course Conrart had heard her.
Conrart stared at her in concern. She looks so worn out. "What is it?" He noticed how pale she was and there were bruises under her eyes. It could've been his imagination, but he thought he noticed a wrinkle here and there. Wait. What was that smell? He couldn't tell if it was her breath or just her hair and clothes.
Her face heated up and she carelessly shrugged. "Oh, it's nothing." She reached over and raised the volume as loud as it would go. The silence ringing in her ears was too loud and it annoyed her and besides that she didn't want to hear Conrart's response.
He reached over and pressed the pause button on the laptop. "You're lying." The smell seemed stronger and he began to wonder where she had been and what she was doing. Has she been drinking? Smoking?
She defiantly slapped his hands away and hissed, "Mind your own business!" She then pressed the play/pause button and the movie continued. Just who does he think I am?! He shouldn't have been so concerned. She was a big girl.
Finally, Conrart sighed and reached over to the left side of the laptop, unplugging the power source. Where her younger sister had broken the screen, the laptop's webcam didn't work and the laptop had to be plugged in in order for it to work even though the screen had been fixed. He then quickly shut the laptop and took it away. "Okay, don't talk to me." With that, he stood from the bed and made his way towards the exit, laptop still on hand. He was just about to completely leave the bedroom with the laptop when he heard a sob. He then stopped and turned around with a sigh.
She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "I-I…" She released a breathy moan. Was she really useful to anyone at all? How come all she ever really did was made things worse? She realized more than ever before that it was the mean people, the people that lied, the people that were sneaky, the people that cheated and the people that were greedy who always got what they wanted out of life. Well, what about her? She just wanted a job, jeez! Obviously her simple dreams were always way too much to ask for.
Conrart approached the bed, gently placed the laptop on the floor beside the bed and then sat down on the bed beside her. "Look, I'm not trying to be hateful…I just…" He was at a loss for words. All he could do was wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him.
She nodded, tears spilling from the rims of her eyes. "Yes, I know." Why am I even here? Would anyone really miss her if she went away? What if she were to run away and start an entirely new life? Maybe she could change her identity. Actually, on second thought, maybe that was way too much effort.
He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, really, why do you smell like alcohol and tobacco? It's not like you to go for that." The smell really bugged him. He really wanted to know what it was that smelled like that.
She couldn't stop herself as she burst into a fit of laughter, causing more tears to roll along her cheeks. "I'm sorry, but the way you just said that was priceless!"
"Well, at least you're smiling and laughing." He had no idea whether to be relieved or worried.
She wiggled her way out of his warm hug. "I have to show you something."
He released her.
She slid off the bed onto her feet and approached the area of her bedroom where she fixed her hair and makeup. A tiny bottle of perfume poked out from behind a small, round, battery powered light up mirror. In one dainty movement, she reached for the bottle, grabbed it, spun around and made her way towards the bed. "Ah, it must be this you're smelling. Plus the fact that I always seem to have people who smoke around me even though I don't smoke." She stopped and stood in front of him, holding the perfume out for him to see.
His eyes widened with a gasp. "Uh, hold on!" He quickly took the bottle away from her. It was at that very moment when he heard footsteps creak themselves close towards the bedroom and he immediately took action, grabbing Fleur's hand, rising from the bed, taking the step or two towards the bedroom closet, rattling the doorknob as he turned it and opened the door. He quickly shoved Fleur inside and shut the door.
She stood there in the darkness of the closet, staring wide-eyed at the closed door. "Conrart, what are you-" Why'd he do that just now? She had also heard the footsteps in the hallway and she thought something serious was going to go down just as she stood there in that closet.
He spoke to her in a low voice. "Shh…Just keep quiet and be still." He eyed the nearly full bottle of so called 'perfume'. This isn't perfume! The footsteps were almost at the bedroom door and he reached for his trusty sword, on guard for trouble.
Ken Murata stood in the doorway, a nasty grin on his face. "Well, well, what have we here?" He spoke in a tone of darkness that reflected true evil. As if that wasn't startling enough, Yuuri and Wolfram stood right there behind him with the same nasty grin.
Conrart stared at the three with suspicion. "Just what are you three up to?" He could sense that there was something wrong with them. They reeked of the ugly dark natured demonic soul-like nature.
"We want the little lady in that closet there behind you," Ken said. He approached Conrart. I want her! His eyes were glazed over and his complexion was a very sickly color white. His face distorted until no one recognized him.
Conrart drew his sword. "Stop right there!" He took a fighting stance. "What has gotten into you?" He still couldn't place his finger on it. This is so unlike them!
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from just down the hall and Fleur began to rattle the doorknob and push on the door. "M-Mom?!" Oh no! The door swung open and she almost fell flat on her face, but she had managed to balance herself at the last minute. When she noticed Ken standing right there in front of her and Conrart, she gasped, her eyes widening. "Stop it right now, Ken! This isn't funny!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she shoved her way pass Conrart and towards Ken.
Ken licked his lips. Come right to me. He watched and waited as she neared him, enjoying the fire in her eyes. Though, it completely tossed him off his game when she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and then threw him with such power over her back.
"Ken, you jerk!" Red hot flames emitted from her body and she panted, sweat beading her forehead. I swear, I could just about gouge out his eyeballs right about now! She trembled, struggling not to just start punching him over and over again.
"Hey, you two, just what are you up to?!" Her mother rushed towards Yuuri and Wolfram, taking a good knock at them with the broom handle she carried, causing them to drop to the floor. As soon as she saw the heated state her daughter was in, a passed out Ken on the floor and a very confused Conrart, she exclaimed, "Oh no, baby, what happened?!"
At the voice of her mother, she immediately cooled down and dropped to her knees with a tired sigh. "I'm fine, momma." Well, besides the fact that she felt sleepy, but that was just from her rush of adrenaline and she knew it.