Nero: ...I got nothing to say. Surprisingly. Enjoy.
Gabriel sat at the dinner table enjoying the beef stew her mother had made. Soft vegetables, tender chunks of steak, and a thick, spicy broth all served via bread bowl. Just how she liked it. Her parents sat at the far end of the table opposite of each other. Her three eldest brothers: Adam(19), Thomas(18), and Luis(16) sat on her father's side and she sat with her younger brother: Kevin(9) and mother.
"So, I heard you got called to the office today, Thomas," Cross said as he sliced a rather large chunk of meat.
"Yeah, got into a fight with some muscle head," Thomas replied, not looking up from his food.
"What was the fight about?"
"Thomas, answer your father," Sable(Mom) urged.
"The guy...he..."
"He what, son. You know how I feel about wasting time."
"He was hitting on me," Gabriel interjected.
"If that's what you call it," Thomas snorted. "I call it groping."
It was true. A popular football player had been interested in Gabriel, but it wasn't a mutual feeling.
"I see. Well, then I see the fight as justified," Cross concluded.
"Cross!!"
"He was protecting Gabriel and being a responsible brother. If I was there, the boy wouldn't be able to even have children."
Gabriel drowned out the conversation with the random thoughts of teenage life. Being the only daughter of a male dominated family made her someone who was always protected from any outside threat. All the boys her age were scared of going out with he because of her siblings alone. Throw her father into the mix and nobody even looked at her.
xxx
"Oi, Moyashi-chan, want to help me bother Yuu?" Lavi smiled.
"Lavi, I love ya like a brother, but.... if you're gonna risk your life for a prank then I can get my kicks else where."
"Aw, your no fun. Wel~l, you want to know why Yuu doesn't use shampoo?"
Allen sighed. "Your gonna tell me anyways, so why not. Why doesn't he use shampoo?"
Lavi grinned darkly as he leaned in to tell Allen the secret. "Well, I once replaced his shampoo with pink hair dye. He had pink hair for months because he refused to wear a wig or shave his head."
Allen's eye twitched. Kanda Yuu, the most feared excosist in the Order, with pink hair. And to make it all the more meaningful, the samurai himself walk round the corner.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!! HEY, PINKY!!" Allen screamed and got outta there quick as lightning.
"A-Allen?" Lavi stuttered.
An evil aura filled the hallway. Lavi was a deer caught in the headlights as Kanda turned with Mugen poised and ready.
"What did you say? USAGI!!"
"EEEEEEEEKKK!!" Lavi squealed. He bolted for an escape with Kanda hot on his heels.
Heh. Well, I got my daily fix of 'Tease the Swordsman.'
Allen chuckled from his hiding place. Just because he wouldn't risk his life didn't mean the opposite.
xxx
The next morning it was raining. Very hard. The Marian family had little to do and were bored as hell. Well, the children were. Mommy and Daddy were having their alone time. No kids allowed. The boys hung out in the living room watching cartoons or something, while Gabriel was upstairs being anti-social.
"I'm bored," Kevin groaned.
"Read," Adam said, not looking up from his own book.
"I don't wanna."
"Video games?" Thomas asked.
"I can't win against your cheating ass and no one else wants to play with me."
"Its not cheating, its being clever."
"Why don't you bother Gabe?" Luis suggested.
"...That seem to be the only thing I can do."
Kevin opened his sister's door slowly and saw her on her bed sketching. Seeing she was awake he thought it was okay to come in and hang out with her.
"Hey, Gabe!! What are you doing?" he asked in a suggestive tone.
"What do you want?"
"Huh? What makes you think I want something?"
"You're in my room."
"Wel~l, I'm bored and the guys told me to bother you."
Gabriel sighed. Sometimes she really wanted to murder those brothers of hers.
"Can I use your computer?"
"No."
"I'll be careful."
"Nope."
"Please," Kevin pleaded.
"No hablo estúpido."
"Stupid isn't a language!!"
"The answer is no, Kevin. Your the reason I have a new computer!!"
"I said I'll be careful!! And I don't have any juice with me," Kevin mumbled.
Kevin continued whining and spouting crap about being careful until Gabriel was forced to cave. She wasn't going to get her parents unless someone was dying. The first time she interrupted their 'Happy Hour' was also the last.
"Fine," Gabriel groaned. "I'm getting a snack. Don't. Touch. Anything!!"
Gabriel wandered to the kitchen to make a sandwich, closing the door behind her. On her way, she notice the door to her father's study was cracked open. That door was never left open. Cross had always made sure to close it and even bought a padlock for the door. Even their mother had never seen the inside of the study. There were theories among the siblings about what their father kept in the room: erotic magazines, adult toys, weird grown-up stuff, plans for world domination. Anyways, curiosity won over caution and Gabriel decided to have a little peeky-peeky.
Going into ninja mode, she tiptoed to the double door. Ever so slightly she opened the door to check if the coast was clear. With no one inside, she slide through the door and closed it to avoid suspicion.
xxx
Allen had hid himself in the Ark. Something he didn't do too often, only when he really need to be alone. Timcampy was with him, of course. Just in case something were to go wrong, he'd have Tim's radio to phone in for help. The Ark was its usual bright white color, but the atmosphere seemed heavy. Almost suffocating. Allen had retreated to the piano room. A place full of meaning door the young boy. He sat at on the bench and stared at himself in the mirror covered wall. And kept staring, when he saw a shadow move out of the corner of the glass.
xxx
The study itself was windowless. Painted a plain white, the only truly interesting thing about the room itself was the large mirror that covered the majority of the wall opposite to the door and the white upright piano. She had never heard her father play. In fact, she didn't even know when they had purchased the instrument. Surely it must have cost quite a bit of money.
Feeling sorry for the thing because as far as she could tell it was never played, she sat at the bench and started to play random scales she remembered from piano lessons she took. She was proud that she actually remembered and decided to go further, attempting to play an actual song. The piano instrumental for Utada Hikaru's song, "First Love". Her absolute favorite piece in the world. And as she played, the world around her became invisible and a stranger in the mirror watched and listened.
xxx
Allen watched and listened as the girl in the looking glass played. He felt someone near him, but took no notice. The music was warm and sweet. He swore in his mind as the room was filled with the smell of cool mountain air and spring flowers. The music itself was like hope personified, filling him up to the point were he was about to burst into tears.
He watched the faces she made as her fingers tickled the keys. She seemed so happy and content that he envied her, whoever she was. At the end of the song, sadly the image of the girl playing disappeared.
"Wow. That was amazing, huh Tim?"
Allen felt some touch him and it wasn't Timcampy because Tim was on his head. He whipped around and caught the hand of the intruder. The slender hand of the female pianist.
"...Holy sh-!!!" He jumped from the bench and pressed up against the wall.
"Who are you and what are you doing here!?" they scream at the same time.
Nero: Yeah, so longer chappie for you!! Hope you enjoy. Cross'll join them sooner or later. Till then, see ya!!