The Merry Wives of Namimori's A Team
by: Paio Ichiris Jin
The tenth story in a collection of random "for-fun!" stories.
The next part of the Shakespeare crack story.
Oh and note: I am crappy at designing clothes...
The students had gathered in one of the classrooms again, called by their ambitious and ever passionate A Team leader, Sasagawa Ryohei. The silver haired boxer paced the front of the room as the students settled down in their seats. There were various props and finished set pieces lining the walls, the result of another week. There was only a week left before opening night...! The team of actors and actresses, managers, costume designers, make-up artists, backstage workers, and light/sound technicians trembled in their seats in anticipation. Ryohei clamped his hands together, emitting a loud clap that resounded in the air, immediately gaining all of the students' attentions.
"Right then! Now that the second week is starting to end and we are fast approaching the third week before opening night, I have good news to report!"
The students leaned in eagerly. Ryohei pumped his fists up into the air in a victory stance.
"All of our costumes have finally been completed! We can start doing dress rehearsals now!"
Gasps of delight and fast-paced murmurs erupted from the crowd. Tsuna paled, tensing in his seat at the back of the room. The brown haired boy sunk in his seat at the thought of wearing something like a large, pink, frilly dress full of lace, bows, ribbons, and other things girls supposedly liked to wear during those Shakespearean times. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." He gulped as a few girls giggled and pointed at him before giggling again.
Yamamoto let his hand fall comfortably upon Tsuna's head of messy brown hair and he ruffled it playfully. "You don't have to look so down, Tsuna. It could be fun! Besides, I think you'll look great!"
Gokudera's eyes lit up and sparkled like the morning dew water. "Jyuudaime would look great in any costume!"
Tsuna's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he sunk further down into his chair. Weren't they suggesting that he looked good as a girl?! He sighed and started to whimper pitifully into the table.
Ryohei snapped his fingers expertly and three tall girls, all smiling brightly, rushed into the room. The silver haired boxer grinned back at them and gestured grandly, "These are the self-proclaimed leaders of the costume designing party. It's been hard and tiring, but they have finished at last! Let's give these ladies and their friends a hand!" Loud applause rushed to support Ryohei's words.
"WHOOO!" A boy rooted the three girls on.
"Let's see some of those costumes!" A girl yelled eagerly, eyes gleaming.
The three girls bowed simultaneously, as though they had rehearsed the entire thing, and then they gestured to the door with their arms. The classroom door suddenly slammed open, surprising Tsuna from his stupor, and in came racks upon racks of costumes, rolling in through the door, pushed in from behind by four other girls and three boys. They lined up the racks neatly beside each other and the students stared in awe as the costumes seemed to glow majestically under the school's fluorescent light.
"Woah..."
"Incredible..."
"They're... They're glowing..."
Ryohei grinned widely and gave everyone a thumbs up. "The costumes are shining to the extreme because of all the effort put into them!"
The three girls aligned themselves so that one girl took the left-most rack of costumes, gesturing to her left. Another took the right-most rack of costumes, gesturing to her right. And the last girl knelt upon the podium, gesturing downwards. The three girls looked very much like those smiling girls in a show such as The Wheel of Fortune, show casing the costumes cheerily.
A bead of sweat ran down Tsuna's head. This... this was going too far... Just what kind of people went to Namimori Junior High anyway?!
Ryohei nodded and held up a hand to hold back the turmoil of questions aimed at him. "I understand. WE ALL WANT TO SEE WHAT OUR COSTUMES WILL LOOK LIKE! But... I think it would be more interesting if each of us went one-by-one to dress-up and let everyone else see what we look like!"
Loud shouts of agreement erupted from the group of students, all eager to show-off themselves in their new costumes. But Tsuna squeaked at Ryohei's suggestion. "He wants us... to go up there... all by ourselves... and d-d-dress in our c-c-costumes... and then show everyone else?"
"Sounds interesting..." Yamamoto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He grinned down at Tsuna. "I guess you'll get to see who we are, then! Ha ha ha!"
Tsuna's mouth dropped open. That wasn't the point! Although... Tsuna's mouth closed with a click as he thought a little longer on Yamamoto's words. He still didn't know who Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto were acting as... This would be the perfect opportunity to find out!
Ryohei grinned and pointed at the first costume on the rack. "Okay! First off, we have lots of dance floor people. Who's that one for? Oh! Glasses girl, it's you starting again!"
And then it went on like that until...
"Yamamoto Takeshi!" Ryohei read off from the label on the red looking costume. Tsuna watched curiously as the black haired baseball player stood up, smiling enthusiastically. Red... Yamamoto would be wearing red... which meant that he was a Capulet! Someone from Juliet's family...
As Yamamoto ducked behind a screen that had been conveniently set up by the three costume mistresses, girls drooled and they watched the blank screen impatiently, wishing it would just break apart under their gazes. After a few seconds, Yamamoto stepped out again, grinning brightly and spreading his arms open, showing everyone his costume. Tsuna's mouth opened in an 'o' as he took in the form of Yamamoto decked out in his costume. Gokudera let out an annoyed humph, wanting to quickly dress in his own costume and impress Jyuudaime as well.
Yamamoto's feet were slipped into smooth leather shoes, a color of brown red. A gold insignia ran along the sides of the shoes, shining briefly in the light. He wore cleanly ironed dark red pants that closely stuck to his legs, giving everyone a good look at how well toned and long his legs actually were. A loose white shirt hung from his torso, bottom neatly tucked into a blood red sash around his lower waist. A light orange red vest with a few brass buttons hung open, leaving the collar of his white shirt to flap open handsomely under the air condition (artificial wind), exposing his strong looking neck, collar bone, and occasionally, chest briefly. Another smaller red sash was wrapped around his forehead, the ends of it sewn with small brass trinkets. It draped down near one of his ears, looking like he had the rugged look of a pirate.
"Woohoo! That's Tybalt for you!" A boy whistled. Why did Tybalt look sort of like a pirate? No one knew. Or cared for that matter! Because the guy looked great!
Tsuna's eyes widened. Eh?! Tybalt?! The guy who is trying to kill Romeo and ends up killing Romeo's best friend, Mercutio? Yamamoto is going to try to kill my lover, Hibari-san? ...Okay, that sounded weird... but anyway... then, Yamamoto ends up killing onii-san instead?! He's playing that role?
Girls screamed in glee, obviously ignoring Tsuna's inner turmoil, and Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"You think so?"
"Yamamoto, catch!" A rapier went flying through the air from the prop table. The baseball player's eyes widened and he deftly caught the light sword before it stabbed any of the ogling girls at the front in the eye.
"KYAAA! YAMAMOTO-SAMA!" The girls screamed and Yamamoto backed away, slightly frightened by his popularity.
Ryohei slapped the black haired baseball player on the shoulder. "Not bad, not bad. Now let's have..." He squinted at the name on the next costume and then his eyes lit up. "Ah! Octopus-head! It's your turn!"
"Who's an octopus-head, you turf-head!" Gokudera shot up from his seat angrily. A few girls 'kyaa-ed' in delight as Yamamoto swept past them and Gokudera pushed past the other boy irritably. "I'll be the one to impress Jyuudaime!" He snatched the costume from one of the costume girl's hands and ducked behind the screen, just as Yamamoto had done.
As the group of students waited in anticipation, Yamamoto settled down beside the brown haired boy, who was currently dreading his own fate about to come. The baseball player grinned and nudged the other boy in the arm playfully. "What do you think?"
"Eh?" Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts and stared at Yamamoto before smiling warmly. "Oh yeah, you look really good, Yamamoto!"
A small pink flush stained the taller boy's cheeks and he grinned happily. "That's good."
Suddenly, a round of breathless gasps came from the students and Yamamoto and Tsuna turned their attention upon the person standing at the front of the room. Their mouths dropped open. Tsuna blushed slightly, wondering if it really were Gokudera in the costume. Yamamoto blushed as well, watching the silver haired boy with wide eyes.
"He's... he's so pretty..." The girls at the very front sighed, entranced by the person standing before them.
A few boys sighed as well, watching the silver haired boy with far-off eyes. "He's pretty... even though he's just the nurse for Juliet..."
Gokudera stood coolly at the front of the room, decked out in a dark red skirt that fell down to his slipper-clad feet, peeking out from layers upon layers of fabric. As the skirt blew in the air condition, the dark red fabric gleamed with a dull shine and the intricately embroidered small leaf designs upon the dress shimmered in a glimmering red. A cream colored shirt that looked soft to the touch, was loose upon his torso, almost like he could suddenly float away like a goddess. The sleeves of the shirt draped down from his shoulders, all the way down to the very tips of his hands, expanding out and splitting open so that his arms would still be visible when he moved them. Two silk red ribbons were tied to a spot on his biceps, the only thing tying the split in the sleeves closed. A red ribbon was around his neck, like a sleek collar, and a neat little stringy bow was tied slightly above the middle of his chest, leaving the ends of the small red ribbon to float along with the air condition (fake wind again).
Gokudera's eyes sparkled and he shouted across the room at Tsuna, who immediately blushed brightly in his seat. "Jyuudaime! How do I look?" The silver haired boy asked eagerly, waiting for the other's response in anticipation. Tsuna blushed further and tried to meld into his seat while ignoring the eyes cast upon him expectantly. The truth was... before, it might have been a little hard for him to recognize Gokudera as Bianchi's younger brother. But now... just put on a wig and Gokudera would look like Bianchi, hands down.
Gokudera's face fell as he didn't hear any response from Tsuna. He sighed and trudged back to his seat, feeling upset that his costume hadn't matched up to Yamamoto's. The girls and boys glared at Tsuna simultaneously and the brown haired boy gulped nervously. It wasn't that he didn't think Gokudera looked pretty... it was just that... to say that in front of all those other people... it was weird...
As the silver haired boy settled back into his seat, his many layers of skirts now padding his seat, Tsuna leaned towards him and smiled nervously. "Umm... Gokudera-kun..."
Gokudera blinked and listened closely to his boss.
"Um... uh... you..." Tsuna blushed brightly and coughed. "You... you look... very pretty..."
The silver haired boy blinked again and then a great smile burst forth upon his lips. "Thank you very much, Jyuudaime!"
Tsuna blinked at Gokudera for a second and then his lips broke out into a warm smile as well. Yamamoto grinned and nodded appreciatively at the explosives expert. "Gokudera really looks very pretty."
Gokudera turned to gaze upon Yamamoto for a moment before scoffing and turning his eyes upon the front of the room again.
Tsuna laughed and smiled at his two friends sitting beside him. So, one of them was Tybalt and the other was his Nurse... The brown haired boy glanced at Gokudera again and let his eyes fall upon the costume, wondering why the costume designers made the nurse look so pretty. If Gokudera looked so pretty... why didn't Romeo just fall in love with the nurse instead of Juliet? Not that... people just fell in love because they looked really good, but...
Ryohei interrupted his thoughts with a enormous shout to gain everyone's attention again. He snatched a blue costume off from the rack and read the name loud and clear.
"Hibari Kyouya!"
The class went silent. All pairs of eyes were now turned upon Ryohei and the costume in his hands, eyes round in curiosity. When no dark haired prefect went up to claim the costume, Ryohei shrugged his shoulders and said simply, "Oh well, we'll just put it back then."
A chorus of groans and whimpers came from the crowd. They had been looking so forward to seeing what Romeo's costume would look like... Couldn't... couldn't they just... glance over the costume and fantasize about how Hibari Kyouya would look like in it...?
But no, Ryohei plowed on once more. He grinned and snatched up another uniform. "Aha! This is... Sasagawa Ryohei, oh! That's my costume!" And without another word, he rushed behind the screen, clothes flinging out from the screen in every direction (there were too many people's clothes stashed behind, he had to throw those outside to give himself some more space).
The students stared at each other, perfecting each other's 'raise your eyebrow' look. What would their passionate leader look like as Mercutio... A bead of sweat ran down their heads. Somehow... it was hard to imagine the boxer in any other clothes besides his school clothes, sweat suit, or his boxing gear.
But Ryohei proved them wrong.
The silver haired young man stepped out from behind the screen once more, buttoning up the bottom of the sleek blue costume and leaving the top open (mostly because there were no buttons up there for him to button). He wore similarly tight pants to Yamamoto's, except his were a deep dark blue that gleamed almost as though he were wearing the night sky. A few blue belts clung to his hips and he had on a loose white shirt inside the jacket he had just finished buttoning up. The collar of the white shirt and navy blue jacket flew freely open upon his neck and shoulders, and the sleeves of the slightly tattered jacket stopped perfectly and neatly at his wrists. Ryohei grinned roguishly, looking suddenly very witty and mysterious.
"The powers of costumes..." A girl trailed off, staring at the boxer with wide eyes.
Another girl giggled behind one hand and blushed ferociously while squealing, "I'm so glad our team has all the best looking guys in school! This is heaven! Ahhhh." And then she keeled over from forgetting to breath for the past few minutes.
Not waiting to hear any more comments, Ryohei pumped a fist up in the air, yelling a short, "Let's keep going!", nearly ripping the costume to pieces from his brash actions. Thankfully, the costume designers were very meticulous about his costume and had made sure that all material and fabric used to make his costume could be stretchable... The silver haired boxer picked up the last costume—besides Hibari's—on the costume rack and paused for a moment, staring at the name on the costume in contemplation.
The students stared blankly at the costume and then all eyes turned back to land on one frightened little boy.
Tsuna gulped. "M-M-My turn...?" He squeaked, staring at all his costume-clad classmates. Why was it that he was last?! It was weird that he hadn't been called when they were distributing the Capulet clothes. Did they purposefully skip his costume and leave him for last?!
One of the three girls stepped up and she clasped her hands before her heart pleadingly. "Tsuna-kun... we put a lot of work into this costume. It was made just for you...! So please, please wear it?"
The brown haired boy gulped, sweat running down his head in rivulets. There was no way he could turn the girl down now... but... that didn't mean he wanted to wear a dress... Tsuna sighed deeply and then stood up bravely in his seat, earning gasps and surprised 'oh!'s from the group of students. He had been memorizing lines non-stop for two weeks now... there was no going back. Besides... it was... just a costume. He could do this...
Yamamoto grinned and gave Tsuna a thumbs up. "We're looking forward to it!"
Gokudera smiled brightly and nodded encouragingly to the brown haired boy. "I'm sure you'll look great, Jyuudaime!"
Tsuna smiled weakly and then started his slow walk to the front of the room. The eyes that had been upon him from the start moved along, staring intensely at him as he traveled. Tsuna gulped. This... this felt awkward...
When he finally reached the front of the room, Ryohei smiled warmly in a brotherly way and gently passed the costume on to Tsuna as though it were some sacred relic. And then, Tsuna ducked behind the screen. Students held their breaths as they heard zippers unzipping and clothes rustling from behind. As time went by, beads of sweat ran down their heads as they started to hear small yelps of pain. Perhaps... Tsuna was having difficulty getting it on...?
"Sawada!" Ryohei called curiously, voicing the worries of the others, "Do you need help in there?"
At first, the sounds stopped. Then, a small timid voice came from inside. "Erm... maybe... I just... I just can't get--WAHH!" The students eyes widened as the loud cry surprised them and they stared at the screen, half-expecting what would happen next. The screen fell forward with a loud boom, and Tsuna fell down along with it, having tripped over the hem of his skirt and falling face first into the screen. He groaned and pushed himself up, eyes slightly watery from hitting his nose against the screen. As he rubbed his nose and wiped the tears away from his eyes, the boy blinked when he was met with many red faces. "Huh?"
Tsuna was lying in a heap on the ground, his arms supporting his torso slightly up so that he could stare back at them in confusion. The layers of skirts were splayed out majestically behind him, falling across the floor in layers of red, cream, and gold. At his waist, a silk white lace was wrapped tightly together, giving them a look at just how thin he really was, and the lace went to the back, tied in an elaborate bow, ends falling and trailing behind him over the skirts like two angel wings. In his hair, there was a clumsily tied red ribbon that accentuated his amber colored eyes and he wore a cream colored top, similar to Gokudera's, except for the fact that the sleeves stopped at his elbows and the top hung off the ends of his shoulders, looking as though it would slip off at any moment. The shirt had three small red ribbons tied along the line down his stomach. Tsuna gulped, blushing a soft pink, wondering if maybe the costume exposed too much of his shoulders and neck... well... it was showing more than he ever wished to show anyone.
He could see a few people nose-bleeding from within the group of students and he stared at them curiously, wondering why they were bleeding from their noses. Yamamoto was gesturing wildly from the back, blushing a ferocious red. Gokudera was gaping, frozen to his seat, also blushing to the roots of his hair.
"Ts-Tsuna!" Yamamoto shouted, looking very flustered. "Your! Your! Your z-z-zipper! On y-y-your b-back...!"
Tsuna tilted his head to the side cutely, causing a girl standing in front of him to burn up and burst with blood. His jaw dropped open. What was wrong with everyone?! And then, he turned to look over his shoulder to find the problem he had been tackling with before he had fallen forward into the screen.
He couldn't get the zipper on his back to close...!
Hm. Maybe that was why his top was falling off his shoulders so loosely...
Tsuna blushed as his smooth and bare back was exposed to everyone else to see and he looked up, blushing brightly. A few girls squealed and pointed at all the clothes strewn messily around the brown haired boy, looking as though he had just escaped from someone who had been trying to violate him.
"TSUNA PORN!" The girls squealed and tried to jump up onto the stage to hug the little boy in his dress.
One of the costume designing leader girls jumped in front of Tsuna quickly, face also burning up in red, and she shouted angrily, forcing the people back. "NO! Tsuna Porn is for our eyes only! BACK OFF, HARLOTS!"
As the entire group started to shout and bicker with each other, Gokudera leapt over the heads of all the people—lifting his skirts up with his hands—with a burst of such agileness people almost thought he were a mountain goat. He grabbed Tsuna roughly away from the crowd and pushed the boy behind him protectively. "You bitches! Don't touch Jyuudaime!"
Yamamoto leapt forward as well, legs spreading out long and gracefully over the students' heads. He landed smoothly in front of Gokudera and Tsuna and lifted up the rapier that someone had thrown to him earlier. "Anyone who dares to touch Tsuna, I'll stop you before you can get within a three foot radius..." His eyes narrowed significantly. And the girls gasped in delight.
Ryohei pumped a fist into the air. "Yes! We're all getting into our roles! This is great to the extreme! Aren't these costumes amazing?! They really change you, you know?" He clapped his hands together, oblivious to the hypocrisy in his words. "All right, everyone. Settle down. Settle down. Now that we have all our costumes on..." Gokudera turned to Tsuna, a deep frown upon his face. Tsuna stared up at the silver haired teen curiously and Gokudera blushed, promptly turning the boy around and hastily zipping up the back of Tsuna's costume. Gokudera spun the boy around again and fixed Tsuna's shirt before nodding in satisfaction. After blinking stupidly for a few seconds, Tsuna smiled and was about to give Gokudera his thanks when Ryohei burst out with an enormous, "OUR FIRST DRESS REHEARSAL!"
"EH?!" Tsuna took a step back, wondering what he had missed. "Dress rehearsal?!"
Yamamoto turned and eyed Tsuna up and down before nodding deeply, satisfied that the boy was at last properly dressed. Then he grinned brightly. "Well, senpai said that since we're all in our costumes already, we'll start the first dress rehearsal right now!"
"Whaaa?!" Tsuna cried, eyes bulging from the shock of it all. It was true that he had most of his lines down. But... dress rehearsal... already...? When he hadn't even practiced at all with Hibari-san? The brown haired boy gulped nervously. Dress rehearsal... he would be finally acting along with Hibari...
Tsuna took in a deep breath. He let it out slowly and then his body sagged.
This was going to be one of the most tiring years in his school life, wasn't it...?
AN: Okay, next chapter is really long... and unfinished. I'll have to finish writing it before posting it up. :D Until then, Back In Those Non-Existent Times is on a temporary hiatus! Thank you very much to all who have been reading so far!