Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/U: Just one word, "Finals". Oh, and Mizuki Nana, she has taken captive of my soul. Anyway, the usual thanks to RPPuzzle for betaing this chapter, and also thanks to all who reviewed! Please proceed with the reading, and dont forget to leave a feedback :D
One-second Interlude
Chapter 5.
The brunette ran down the wide stairs quickly, not wanting to be part of the family reunion, which was quickly becoming some kind of old-people gathering. She hid behind a pillar when several waiters came by carrying a heavy table between them towards the ballroom and rushed towards the empty corridor once they were out of sight.
Man, she really hated gatherings like this, why didn't her parents understand that?
Loosening her tie with one hand, Ritsu speed walked towards the front door with her other hand rummaging around her pockets in search of her car keys.
Where are those damn things?
"Nee-chan!" Ritsu turned to her right to see her younger brother step out of a room. She felt herself grin when she saw he was dressed in a white suit that he insisted he would never wear. The brunette waited until her brother was closer before she continued walking.
"Mom finally got you to cave on wearing that suit, huh?" her brother blushed and Ritsu grinned, slapping him on the back "you look like you're ready for a wedding!" The two laughed at the old joke. Ritsu would often joke that whenever Satoshi was told to dress in white by their parents, it meant that they wanted some yummy grandkids soon. The older sister was saved from that kind of predicament because she's a girl and Satoshi's the heir of the Tainaka family.
Not that Ritsu minded. She hated being tied down.
"By the way, here are your car keys," Satoshi took out a jumble of keys on a drum keychain out of his suit pocket and handed them to his sister "you left them in your room."
"Ah, thanks. What were you doing in my room again?"
"Mom told me to get you to meet the family." Ritsu cringed at this, she was just there dammit! Apparently her brother saw her expression and he caught on. "You already did? Where are you going now, then?"
"Anywhere but here."
"Nee-chan!" Satoshi stopped in his tracks, looking a tad disappointed in his sister who turned around at the call "but you just got home a little while ago!"
Ritsu sighed and motioned for her brother to continue walking "I know. But if I knew that mom and dad wanted me home for a gathering like this, I wouldn't have come in the first place. This party's full of crap and I don't even know half of the people who came anyway."
"Me either. I didn't know our grandparents spawned that many kids." The younger brother flinched when Ritsu burst into laughter at his deadpanned reply. He only grinned at her reaction, knowing she'd share the same sentiment. Most of the people who came probably weren't part of their family, but rather were the usual people who tried to leech off the Tainaka family's fame and fortune.
Ritsu's laughter died down eventually and they walked the rest of the way in silence, listening to the faint hubbub coming from the ballroom, which now seemed far away.
"By the way, nee-chan," Satoshi began again, prompting a 'hmm' in response to continue "I met your date that night. You know, from the dinner you bailed out on?" That took his sister's attention, as the black suit-clad girl stopped walking to give him her full attention "she's a really nice woman. I think you should apologize to her for not coming."
Satoshi was a nice kid, and she understood why he told her to apologize. But Ritsu wasn't the type to say sorry easily, especially to a person she didn't know, so being mean about what happened didn't bother her. When she looked at her brother's amber, pleading puppy-dog eyes, her big sister mode was activated, causing her to give in to his request despite herself. She then ruffled the messy and short brown hair on the taller sibling's head fondly.
"You're a good kid, you know that?" Satoshi let out a grin of embarrassment at the familiar gesture from the sister he adored "and I owe you one for that. I'll apologize once I see her, that's a promise." The boy grinned happily at hearing her words. They walked down a short flight of stairs and headed towards the entrance where Satoshi decided to speak his mind once more, before his sister left.
"That woman really was nice," he said suddenly and Ritsu had to stepped backwards to meet his eyes, as Satoshi was a foot taller than her "nice, and really pretty too. And I like her."
One eyebrow rose on the older sister's face "…okay?"
"Do you mind if I pursue her?"
That statement there, Ritsu didn't expect. She looked at her brother in bewilderment, afraid that she had heard his words wrong. When nothing more came from him, she let out a sigh "Satoshi, listen, she's way older than you— "
"She's 22." Satoshi interjected and Ritsu found her right eye twitching.
"And she probably has a boyfriend— "
"She said she's currently single."
"Well, then she's probably gay, like me— "
"She's bi."
Ritsu face palmed at the fact that her brother really did his homework correctly. She met her brother's expectant eyes wearily, as though expecting him to spout more facts about the date she was supposed to have. When none came, Ritsu let out one last sigh "do you like her that much?" to which her brother nodded confidently. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, but she had to say this for her brother's sake.
"But you do know that she's…promised for me right?" Satoshi looked surprised at this, not expecting this talk at all "I mean, mom and dad, once they're set on something, they won't back down after one failure. They'll make me meet this girl again and again until they're satisfied. Do you still want to pursue her now?"
Satoshi looked guiltily at his well polished shoes "If you don't mind…" he mumbled.
Ritsu gave a smile and pat his arm "I don't mind. Just…don't do it too aggressively. Respect her wishes as well, okay?" to which he nodded happily in agreement. With one last pat, the older brunette walked towards the front porch, twirling her key ring around a finger. She stopped when something came to mind.
"Don't forget," she called over her shoulder, stopping her brother from climbing up the steps and made him turn around "she's still my promised." Ritsu gave him a teasing grin and headed for the mansion's personal garage without looking back, completely missing the surprised look on her brother's face.
Her smile disappeared immediately once she turned the house's corner, walking briskly towards the large garage which held the family's transportation.
'Satoshi's interested in her?' Ritsu let out a snort as she pushed a button on the garage wall, opening the large right door of the building 'just like him, to be interested in what's mine.'
Her little brother Satoshi was, for a lack of better term, perfect. He's handsome, he's tall, he's athletic, and he gets good grades in school—basically, the exact opposite of her. He was the type of person people loved to adore and worship. Satoshi was chosen as the heir to the Tainaka family business on his 9th birthday and was currently working part-time in their family's company. But Ritsu didn't care about those things really. She loved her brother very much and they were each other's best friends.
But there were times when she really, really hated him for being the way he was; too nice, too naïve, too trusting, too…perfect. She loved him too much to be able to truly hate him, and this fact was what frustrated her the most. The few rare moments this feeling surfaced in her, Ritsu immediately felt like killing herself out of guilt.
She was a very possessive person, and she acknowledged that fact. What belonged to her, she wouldn't relinquish to anyone else, under any circumstances. She would hold onto them tight, and never let go.
'And Satoshi was interested in the girl…the girl who was supposed to be MY date,' Amber eyes burned behind her sunglasses as she brought her Lotus out of the Tainaka mansion driveway 'She was promised to ME. So…even though I bailed on the first date…I won't let this one go.'
Because there were too many things Satoshi had already taken away from her.
~888~
Ritsu's mood had spiraled downward completely when she reached the highway. This was one of those days when you felt like crap and that suddenly the whole world had ganged up on you to give you more crap.
Her car's top was open and she spent the whole car ride driving slowly down the road, giving random people the finger, and glaring at them from behind her sunglasses to vent her anger. They were too intimidated by her car to react and that gave Ritsu a sense of satisfaction.
It wasn't until somewhere after the fuckin' roadwork (roadwork that took almost 2 whole lanes and made Ritsu wait 15 minutes for cars to move) that Ritsu saw the form of her salvation. Grinning for the first time since she left her house, Ritsu immediately pulled over and sat on the top of her seat waving "Akiyama-sensei!" The call made other people in the bus stop look over at her, but she ignored them as though they were a bunch of expired potato chips.
The raven haired woman, who was peacefully reading a paperback novel, visibly twitched and looked up at the call. The brunette let out a hearty laugh when she saw the teacher blink in confusion.
"Um…" the older woman walked closer albeit hesitantly and suspiciously "do I…know you?"
Ritsu blinked and it wasn't until she started to scratch her forehead that her teacher's reaction clicked."Hang on a sec," the brunette bent sideways and rummaged through the dashboard before pulling out something yellow and wore it on her head "ja-jaaan!" The look of shock on her teacher's face was priceless and Ritsu mentally kicked herself for not bringing a camera with her to capture this hilarious moment.
"Tainaka-san!" Mio screeched out loud with one hand on her chest, her paperback novel falling with a soft thud on the concrete "what are you—where did you—are you wearing a suit?"
Ritsu rolled her eyes before vaulting over the passenger seat's door to reach her teacher by the sidewalk "Yes, I'm wearing a suit. I just came back from a family thing. What are you doing?" the brunette eyed her teacher's attire and took in a purple long sleeved shirt, a black girlish vest and snug dark blue jeans. The woman had her hair tied in the usual ponytail and wore it over one shoulder, and Ritsu was dismayed to see that those dorky-ass glasses were still on her face.
"I'm waiting for the bus."
"Thank you for the report, Captain Obvious!" she gave a mock salute as the teacher glared at her "but seriously, what are you doing? The buses are going to be half an hour late because of the roadwork, didn't you read the announcement?"
"E-eh? Roadwork?" Ritsu only nodded and pointed at the bus stop notice board where the announcement was shown. She'd come across this piece of news randomly during the several times her car had to stop because of the roadwork.
Her math teacher jogged over to the notice board, the others waiting by the bus stop on her heels, and they all had thunderstruck looks on their faces as they read it. People then started to scatter away immediately like leaves blowing in the wind and left behind a very lost looking Akiyama Mio.
Ritsu pocketed her hands and whistled as she waited by her car pointedly.
Mio still hadn't moved a muscle.
Ritsu jumped on her obnoxiously bright car and winked at the frozen raven haired woman like someone from a car insurance commercial.
Mio's right eye twitched visibly.
The brunette let out an annoyed snort "Are you going to just stand there looking like an idiot much longer? Coz if you are I'm going to get some chips and a drink while I wait."
"B-but, I'm going to be late!" Mio suddenly let out a sob, making the brunette fall back into the car seats in shock at the sudden waterworks "If I had known, I would've waited by the bus stop in front of the station instead! And now I'm going to be half an hour late for sure!"
Ritsu poked her head out from behind her car door to see the usually calm woman crying and wiping her nose on her sleeve like a kid , hiccupping helplessly all the while. She let out a small smile at the adorable scene and stepped out of her car before opening the door to the passenger seat.
"Come on then, I'll drive you."
Mio stopped crying for a second and blinked through teary eyes "eh?"
"I said I'll drive you. So get your behind over here" Ritsu jerked her head towards her car which had garnered people's envied stares "before I count to three and get the hell out of here."
The math teacher made it in the car in less than 2 seconds.
Ritsu laughed as she clicked in her seatbelt with the woman on the left mirroring her, albeit meekly "You're really childish, has anyone ever told you that?"
"And you're very rude." Mio grumbled, looking out the left side of the car to avoid Ritsu's teasing eyes as she wiped her nose on one of the tissues her student offered her.
"That's my middle name," the brunette grinned as her orange Lotus merged in with the other speeding cars on the road "other than 'jerk', 'bitch', 'heartless' and…oh, 'horn dog'." She was pleased to hear the teacher giggle at the joke "so, where to?"
"The hospital down by the riverside."
"The one with the university?"
Mio nodded, but was unable to answer since she was too busy holding her hair back from whipping across her face. Ritsu watched for a few moments before pushing a button near the gear stick. Suddenly there was a whirling sound, and the black re-tractable top of her car covered their heads and joined the front windshield with a loud snap. The brunette then closed the side windows and thus ended Mio's hair trouble.
Mio blinked at her grinning student before looking away with a blush when she realized what had happened "Thanks."
The infuriating grin just got even wider "Don't mind, don't mind! I'm used to having girls with long hair ride in my— HOLY CRAP!" the car suddenly swerved sharply to the left as a metallic blue, 2-seater Bentley zoomed past them. Ritsu growled and gripped the steering wheel hard, managing to regain control before speeding up to chase the mother fucker. Good thing today was Sunday and the roads were mostly empty.
The insides of Mio's bag had fallen out somewhere during the swerve and a frantic hand tried to gather it all in as she fearfully watched the needle on the speedometer rise quickly "Tainaka-san! You're going past the speed limit!"
"I-don't-fucking-care!" Tainaka Ritsu snarled as the orange Lotus raced between surprised honking cars towards the metallic blue Bentley, which didn't seem to realize its incoming demise. Ritsu shifted the gear, stepped on the gas pedal, and the Lotus shot forward like a bullet, eventually passing the Bentley as though she were racing a grandma on a bicycle. Ritsu looked in the side mirror to see the Bentley driver' s jaw drop at the speed of her car. She grinned, lowered her window and proudly gave him the finger before slowing down once the Bentley was out of sight.
All was silent in the car as Ritsu closed her side window "Fun, eh?"
"FUN!" the brunette yelped in pain when she felt a piercing pinch on her left arm "YOU TOOK YEARS OFF MY LIFE WITH THAT STUNT!"
"God, they don't condone teacher's violence these days teach!" Ritsu rubbed her arm as she felt her eyes tearing up. Her teacher made no reply, only huffed and looked away.
"And that 'finger' was rude." Mio added after a while.
A maniacal grin graced Ritsu's face at that remark, which Mio had the misfortune of seeing "That was nothing. If that fucker somehow managed to put a dent in my baby, I'd skin him alive."
The math teacher face palmed "I shouldn't have gotten in the car."
"Too late! You're already in for the ride of your life!" and the orange car took a sharp U-turn that made Mio's heart jump up to her throat
"Waa! What the—! Your right—! Watch out for that car—STOP GRINNING AT ME AND KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!"
20 minutes of screaming, yelling and much laughter on Ritsu's side later, Akiyama Mio arrived in National University Hospital's parking lot with windswept hair, a pale face, clammy hands and shaking legs.
"I am not…no more…" Ritsu only grinned innocently as she opened the passenger door for her teacher who exited the orange car with shaking knees. The brunette raised her hands up in defense when her teacher turned to her and glared fiercely, glasses lopsided and all.
"Not a word—" Mio wheezed at the brunette, a finger pointing threateningly "not even one word at school."
The brunette nodded with a huge cheeky grin and the teacher was not pleased to see her glare had failed dismally. "Not a word, okay? I mean it."
"Gotcha."
The teacher took deep several deep breaths to compose herself—obsidian eyes still burning holes through a certain someone—before she looked down at her wristwatch.
She was 10 minutes early.
Mio let out a relieved sigh as she straightened her glasses and smoothed down her wrinkled clothes. She hated being late, which she would probably be if it wasn't for her student. The woman turned to her right and was a bit taken aback to see piercing amber eyes staring straight at her.
"Y-yes?" she stammered and that stopped Ritsu from staring "what's wrong?"
"Well…um," The brunette looked away and scratched her head awkwardly "are you…sick or something?" She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Ritsu had been wondering about her teacher's condition ever since the older woman said she wanted to go the hospital earlier. Especially after that racing episode on the way, Ritsu couldn't help but get a bit worried.
Mio seemed to catch onto this, as she gave Ritsu a small smile "no, not really. I'm just here for a checkup. Your driving won't affect me, don't worry." she added teasingly and the brunette had the decency to look a bit guilty.
"Well then, thank you very much for the ride. I'll see you at school." After a bow, a smile and a wave, Ritsu found herself staring at the retreating teacher's back that disappeared behind automatic glass doors of the hospital entrance. The long silky black hair whipped behind her figure with every footstep, not unlike those scenes from the movies.
The brunette shoved her hands in her suit pockets and leaned back against the passenger door thoughtfully.
'Should I? Or should I not?'
A small smile appeared on her face as she pictured the familiar smile of Akiyama Mio lingering upon the air around her.
'I should. No harm in trying, right?'