Une Jolie Fleur
(Beautiful Flower)
Chapter Two
Wisteria Sinensis
A few days after the meeting between Kalifia and Ritsu, the young red headed man found himself standing outside Des Fleurs d'Annette in his new uniform.
"Can I help you?" a pretty woman asked, obviously a few years older than him. She seemed slightly familiar to him. She rather soft looking, a healthy sort of plump, with long black hair and wide brown eyes. She had a rather motherly smile, emphasized by the toddler on her hip.
"Aa," Ritsu said, avoiding her eyes. For some reason, they made him feel unreasonably guilty. "I'm looking for Tsubaki Kalifia. We're supposed to walk to school together." The woman smile at him and he realized that she looked like a more gentle version of Kalifia.
"I'm afraid my sister isn't up yet," she seemed slightly annoyed with her sister, then she beamed at him, the resemblance to Kalifia obvious now. "If you'd be so kind as to hold my son for a little while, I'll go get her for you." Ritsu was bewildered as the toddler was deposited in his arms. Ichigo Shikari grinned at her son and sister's friend before going upstairs.
The Tsubaki family house and Des Fleurs d'Annette were built very close together and had a little bridge-like structure connecting the upper floor of the shop to the attic of the house, were Kalifia kept her little pet projects. A half-finished painting sat in one corner, a chest of dresses in another. Sheet music littered and several crude drawings of animals lay around the floor. Ichigo stopped briefly to scoop them up and put them on an old oak desk before heading out of the attic and downstairs, where her youngest brother, Jean, was trying to make his hair lay down flat.
"Ichi-nee!" he cried, the fifteen year old spinning around to beam at her, the way most of the Tsubaki family seemed to.
"You do realize you're trying the hopeless, right?" she asked wryly, running a hand through his messy, dark brown hair. Jean just laughed, sitting down at the table. "Where's Kal?" Jean seemed to sparkle as he started to babble about his older sister.
"Nee-sama's still in bed! I tried to tell her it was morning and that she should get ready but then she picked me up and threw me down the hall! Isn't she awesome? She's so strong and -" Ichigo tuned her brother out as she headed down the hall, an act she had perfected for almost fourteen years.
Quietly, she pushed open the green door to Kalifia's room, stepping inside. She shook her head at her sister's messy room. Papers and clothes were scattered on the floor, the pale green rug rolled up into the corner. She had various posters plastered to the light green walls, anime characters and French rock stars were pinned up at random. Her light oak desk was covered with unframed and framed pictures of friends and her family.
The bed contained a sleeping Kalifia, dark hair splayed out over her back and face down in the pillow, muffled snores coming from her. Ichigo walked over to the curtains and threw them open, allowing the light to flood the room. She shook Kal gently, whispering softly.
"Kal. Kal, get up. There's someone waiting to walk to school with you!" she raised her voice on the last part as her sister stirred. Kal pushed herself up slightly, turning her head towards her older sister, eyes shadowed.
"Go. Away." she growled, radiating killing intent.
"Silly," Ichigo replied, thumping her forehead. "You don't want to miss your first day of school, do you? Now, there's a young man waiting for you so I suggest you get ready."
She then rose from the bed and walked back into the kitchen, where she found Ritsu sitting awkwardly at the kitchen table, listening to Jean ramble. Daisuke had found him standing in front of the shop, Ichigo's son, Erik, pulling on his hair curiously. He then proceeded to drag him inside and try to force him to eat breakfast with them. Ichigo giggled as he ducked when Jean's fork flew through the air, and picked Erik up, adjusting him on her hip.
"Is Nee-sama ready yet?" Jean asked, slightly impatient.
"She should be." A few seconds after she finished, Kalifia stalked into the kitchen, bag slung over her shoulder and a disgruntled glare on her face.
"Move it. School. Walking. Now." she growled, grabbing a piece of toast and stalking out the front door. Ichigo just smiled pleasantly at the red head, who was confused with Kalifia's sudden personality change.
"I'm afraid she's like this in the mornings!" she said cheerfully, spooning some rice into Erik's open mouth. "AB blood type you know!"
"Aa?"
"Let's go Kasa-senpai!" Jean cheered, grabbing Ritsu and dragging him out the door with surprising strength.
Strange family. he thought, sweat dropping.
"The middle school is huge." Kalifia stated flatly, eyes wide as she stared up at it.
"Aa," Ritsu said. Kal frowned.
"Is that all you can say?" she pouted, wanting an actual conversation.
"Hn," Ritsu had to bite his cheek to keep from grinning as Kal threw her hands in the air and stalked off. Her bad mood had faded away and she was the expressive girl he had met days ago.
"How far is the high school from here, Kasanoda-san?" she asked her companion, taking off her dark sunglasses and putting them in her jacket pocket before taking it off as well. She folded the black and white clothing over her arms and traced the butterfly design boredly. The back of her black tank top lifted up slightly, revealing the smooth skin on her back just above the checkered belt she wore with her grey jeans, which almost covered her converse. She tucked a hand adorned with a fingerless white glove in her pocket, and looked over at him curiously.
"I think that's the clock tower," Ritsu pointed at the said object, which was just around the corner.
"Is it. . . pink?" Kalifia asked incredulously, stopping in surprise.
"Aa," Ritsu said. He wasn't surprised. He had gone with his father a few weeks ago to get his schedule and look around a bit before school started. At first, the whole pink color scheme confused and secretly frightened him a bit, but he brushed it off. He was going to be a leader some day and leaders couldn't afford surprises.
Ichigo had gone in place of Daisuke, who had taken Kalifia and Jean into the mountains to spend sometime with their grandparents, Tsubaki Anko and Taichi. Daisuke's oldest daughter thought it would be a good chance for her to meet the Headmaster when her sister went to get her schedule and only gave her the name of her designated class.
"Which way's the office?" she asked, head tipped all the way back to stare at the ceiling. The chandelier directly above her sparkled in the light, making her drool slightly. Mornings had a certain effect on Kalifia's mentality. Not in a very positive way though.
"Go down that hall all the way to the end." Ritsu instructed her, gently pushing her forward and tearing her gaze away from the 'sparklies'. "I'm gonna head to the classroom." Kalifia nodded and grinned at him before walking down the directed path.
"Catch you in a bit, Kasanoda-san!" she called, slipping her sunglasses back on and throwing her jacket over her shoulder. Several boys stared after her, eyes on her chest and face while the girls whispered their opinions about her. There was an even diversion of her being a scantily dressed delinquent and her being 'kind of cool looking'. Kalifia smirked, her ego boosted.
Ritsu shook his head, wondering just how her mind and emotions worked. One minute she was irritable the next overwhelmed and dazed and now, she was all smug and confident. He had chosen a very strange friend to make.
The secretary observed Kalifia with wary eyes, handing her her schedule cautiously, making sure not to touch her. To be honest, the students of the -D classes terrified her and no matter how sweetly the girl in front of her smiled, she wouldn't let her guard down for a moment.
"Thank you!" the brunette said cheerfully, smiling as she took the paper and bowed good-bye. As she walked out the door something slammed into her. The secretary watched nervously as the 'something', who was a teen about two or three inches shorter than Kalifia, fell to the floor. The taller girl staggered a bit then blinked down at the person.
It was a boyish looking girl with boy-short brown hair and caramel colored eyes behind large, thick-rimmed glasses. She wore an extremely bulky sweater over a white button up shirt and black pants. Kalifia might have mistaken her for a boy from a distance.
"I'm sorry," the girl apologized. "I should have been paying attention."
"It's not a problem." Kalifia said cheerfully, pushing her glasses back over her head and offering the fallen girl her hand. She took it gratefully, smiling slightly.
"I'm Fujioka Haruhi. I apologize for walking into you like that." Haruhi bowed slightly and Kalifia returned the gesture.
"Tsubaki Kalifia. It's nice to meet you, Fujioka-san. You're not hurt are you?" she added in concern, peering at her with slight curiosity.
"I'm fine." Haruhi insisted. Kalifia grinned and walked past her, waving over her shoulder.
"That's good. See you later, Fujioka-san!"
Kalifia was lucky that she was a first year. Her class was on the ground floor so she wouldn't get lost on the upper floors and staircases.
"Let's see," she murmured, looking over the signs outside the classrooms. "1-D. 1-D. 1-Ah! There it is!" She walked over to the door and opened it, taking a deep breath before stepping inside.
Review Corner:
No reviews, but thanks to makoko and BR BlackRose for Story Alerting.
Random Facts:
About Title: Wisteria Sinensis - Chinese wisteria is a stunning climber suitable for growing against a wall, up a large tree, or over a pegola. The brilliant lilac-blue, fragrant, pealike flowers are produced in long, pendant clusters during the late spring and early summer. It is a vigorous plant, but it can be restricted by careful pruning in summer after flowering, as well as in winter.
About Kalifia: Kal's 5'5", three inches taller than Haruhi. She also shares the Zodiac sign, Aquarius, with her along with the birth month of February. She's a year older than her and her birthday's February 2nd. If you haven't noticed, she's prone to extreme mood swings, a bit like Tamaki and Hani. She's a bit scatterbrained.
