Chapter Six
I walked down the street in my borrowed school uniform, Kyo on my left, Tohru on my right, and Yuki on her other side. Momiji and Hatsuharu didn't walk with us, but we'd meet them there.
The whole way Yuki and Tohru chatted about some decision or other made by the student council, and Kyo walked in an almost brooding silence. I was content to be left to my thoughts for the moment.
"Tohru!" A voice called the moment we walked on campus.
"Uo! Hana!" She called back, waving. I looked up to see a tough-looking girl with pretty blonde hair, and an almost eerie girl wearing all black.
"Who's your new friend, Tohru?" The blonde asked.
"This is Rei Otsuka!" She said with a huge smile. "She's going to stay with us now! Rei, these are my best friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima!"
"Nice to meet you," I greeted with a small wave.
"We'll, we've gotta get going. People to terrorize and all that good stuff," Uo said. "Nice meeting you, Rei."
Yuki tugged lightly on Tohru's hand. "Would you like me to show you that website I was talking about?"
"Yes, I'd like that very much!" Tohru exclaimed, then glanced at me. "But what about Rei?"
"Oh, I'll be fine!" I said with a smile. "I'll make Kyo show me where things are. Go ahead!"
Tohru gave me a slight smile and followed Yuki into school. I glanced at Kyo and held back an exasperated sigh.
"Do you always wear your tie like that?"
"Like what?" He asked, surprised.
"Like normal. You look like you have a stick up your ass. Here, lemme help." I reached forward and pulled on the knot, making it so it hung loosely around his neck. I stepped back and tapped my chin ponderingly, then undid the top two buttons of his shirt. "There you go," I said, satisfied. "That way suits you so much better."
He gave me a look. "I probably look ridiculous, and you just want me to walk around looking like an idiot."
"No, I swear. It looks hot like that," I said with a mischievous wink. "Now show me where the classroom is."
He blinked at me, looking like he was questioning my sanity, but shrugged and started walking. I skipped forward to catch up, and then walked by him. "Soooo…" I said conversationally, and then nudged him in the ribs with my elbow. "Got a hot girlfriend?"
"No," He said, turning his face away from me, but too late to hide his slight blush.
"Why not?" I asked, moving in front of him and walking backwards.
"Because I just don't, okay?" He snapped.
I shrugged nonchalantly and turned forward, so he wouldn't see me scowl. I hate it when people snap at me, despite the fact that I do it all the time. "Whatever, I was just asking."
There was a slight pause, and then he sighed. "Hey, I'm sorry," He said grudgingly. "I didn't mean to yell or anything."
"Yes you did," I said matter-of-factly, linking my hands behind my back and continuing to walk a pace in front of him. "If you hadn't been irritated enough to yell, then you wouldn't have in the first place."
There was another pause, and then, "How do you do that?"
"Do what?" I asked, looking at him in confusion.
"Make something pointless sound smart," He said, giving me a weird look.
I blinked at him. "I dunno… That's just the way I am." He just kept looking at me, and I looked right back. After a few awkward moments of our childish staring contests, I looked away, blushing slightly. And of course, it was that moment that the toe of my shoe caught in the crack of the sidewalk, and I fell forward.
My arms shot in front of me to lighten my fall as I readied myself for impact on the unforgiving concrete sidewalk. I was surprise when instead I felt a pair of warm arms wrap themselves around me and pull me back up. "What is it with you and falling?" Kyo demanded, making sure I was steadily back on my feet before releasing me.
"What is it with you and saving me?" I asked with a slight scowl.
"Would you rather I let you fall and die next time?" He asked, raising his eyebrow skeptically at me.
I paused, pretending to think before I answered. "No," I finally answered with a pout.
"That's what I thought," He chuckled. "Come on, the classroom is this way."
I followed him down the hallways in silence, ignoring the stares of other students and whisperings about the mysterious new girl.
"Gosh, isn't she pretty?"
"Her hair looks like it was cut by a five year old"
"She's cute, think she would go out with me?"
"What is she doing with the Prince's cousin?"
"Are those two dating?"
I blushed slightly at the last comment, stared at my feet, and tuned the whispers out.
"Ignore them," Kyo advised. "The kids at this school would die if there wasn't something new to gossip about."
"Isn't that the deal at most high schools?" I asked sarcastically.
He just shrugged and stopped in front of a classroom door. "Here we are. And by the way… You look cute in that." He pushed the door open and walked in before I could respond. I looked down at the uniform I'd borrowed from Tohru, blushed, and hurried into the room after him.
Uo, Hana, Yuki, and Tohru were already there. I sat swiftly in the seat that Tohru had saved for me.
"Where have you two been?" Hana asked in a monotone.
"Making out in some corner, I bet," Uo said boredly. "Look, she's still blushing, too."
Kyo jumped to his feet with his fists clenched and started shouting at her, things something about ridiculous, insane, etc. etc. I just rolled my eyes.
"Kyo, shut up. The more you make a fuss about it the more they'll think you're denying it."
"I am denying it!" He yelled.
"But when you shout about it, it's more like a guilty denial," I pointed out.
He glared at me for a minute, then sat back down with a scowl.
"I like this one," Uo said decisively. "She can make orange top shut up without even fussing about it. That takes skill."
"It's a gift," I said with a modest shrug and a laugh.
"Yes… She does have some very nice waves," Hana said solemnly.
I looked at Tohru, confused and more than a bit creeped out, but the teacher called the class to order before she could reply.
I sat there the whole time, staring out the window boredly. As I didn't actually attend this school, I wasn't required to pay attention. After a while I got bored, so I took out a sheet of paper and a pencil and started doodling.
I never really tended to concentrate on what I drew before, but today I watched intently as the paper came to life, sinuous lines connecting and linking together to form a lean and feisty cat. It stared coolly at me from the sheet, and I continued to draw little squiggles to show its fur.
Once I found I couldn't shade it to make it look better, I dug around in my bag until I found a pack of colored pencils. I tinted its fur with a light orange. I deliberated with the eyes, staring thoughtfully for a moment. Green eyes were too normal for a ginger cat.
"Give him red eyes," Tohru whispered from the desk to my right. I looked up in surprise, and blushed when I saw Kyo, sitting in front of me, and Yuki, one desk up and to the right, watching.
"Um… Okay?" I took up the red pencil and carefully filled in the cat's irises with it. When I glanced up again, Kyo blushed and looked away. I blinked in confusion, but didn't think anything of it.
A minute later, the bell for lunch rang, and I hurriedly put my stuff away, taking care not to crumple my picture.
"So, is the cat your favorite animal?" Yuki asked conversationally once we were all in the hallway. He had an amused smile on his face, and I wondered how that was funny.
"Well, I guess. I've been a cat person for as long as I can remember, so…"
"Rei! Tohru!" An excited voice called from behind us. I turned to see Momiji running down the hallway, waving and…
"Momiji, what in the world are you wearing?!" I exclaimed as he came to a halt by us, Haru following behind him.
"Don't you think the girls' uniform suits him, Rei?" Haru asked.
"Um… I suppose…" I stuttered, but shrugged it off. I'd figured out by now that sometimes, with the Sohmas, it's better just to leave weird things alone.
"Come on, come on, let's go eat lunch!" Momiji said excitedly. He took my hand and started running forward. I stumbled a step, and then ran after him so I wouldn't tear my arm off. I looked at the others over my shoulder, and most of them were laughing. Kyo, however, was scowling.
"Lighten up, Kyo, or your face will stick like that!" I shouted back to him. This succeeded in making everyone laugh harder but him.
Momiji pulled me outside and over to the shade of a large tree. "We eat lunch here when it's nice out!" he explained.
I laughed. "Well, it is a pretty nice spot, and there's no doubt that the weather's beautiful today," I said, pulling an apple out of my bag.
"Please don't tell me you're one of those girls who thinks they're obese and only eats one meal a day," Kyo said sarcastically, showing up with the rest of the gang.
"Nah, I'm just not that hungry. I'm small, I don't eat much." It was true, I'd always eaten that way. I'd just have tons of teeny little meals throughout the day. The part about being small was true, too. The top of my head would probably just come up to Kyo's chin.
"Besides, it's not like you're one to comment on figures, Kyo," Haru muttered, poking Kyo in the side.
I laughed aloud. "Careful, Haru, we all know how fragile Kyo's self-esteem is."
Kyo sat there and glared at us, muttering angrily.
"If you're gonna throw insults, why don't you say them to my face?" Haru snapped. I blinked in surprise. He'd been calm and joking a minute ago, hadn't he?
Kyo scowled and stared defiantly at Haru. "I said, you're a cow, you shouldn't be commenting on figures either."
In a blur, Haru had Kyo pinned to a tree by his shirt. "Crap," Yuki murmured. "Haru's gone black…"
Dun, dun, dun!