Author's notes- Okay, a lot of you are going to hate me for what Kurogane says in this chapter to Carmen, but believe me: WHAT HAPPENS IS THE BEGINNING OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP! This means someone is singing. This means someone is talking in a text message.
~Chapter Three~
"Remind me again where you're taking me?" I asked Winry as we made our way down the school's hallway. It was Monday afternoon and Winry had come up to me in homeroom during Study Hall and told me she had signed me up for some new class. Of course, I was totally pissed off that she signed me up without asking me first, but my over-excited blonde friend had told me to bring my songs and she would explain it on the way.
My outfit today consisted of a red T-shirt with an open, green, hooded sweatshirt over that. Blue shorts were on my legs, and my boots were on my feet. I had put my hair in two thick french braids going down my back.
She sighed, "Jesus, Carmen. Have you been listening to me at all?" Winry asked me. She sported a nice white blouse with black skinny jeans that had a blue floral design wrapping itself around the shin. Blue sandals were on her feet. "Anyway, you probably already know what Chorus is, but it might be a little different from what you remember. We're there for two hours. The first hour we work on the songs that we're going to be singing for the concerts, and then the second hour we just hang out and do whatever we want. Sakura, Tomoyo, Watanuki, Fai, and I are all in it, and I thought that I would sign you up. Isn't that great?" she asked me.
Chorus did sound pretty interesting. It definitely seemed like the kind of class that I would enjoy.
We then came to a set of double doors, Winry pushed them open and went in, calling out for Sakura, Tomoyo, Watanuki, and Fai. I trailed in behind her, checking out my new surroundings. There were many separate rooms. Some were for singing, easily noticed with the strong, steady flow of harmonic notes making their way through the atmosphere to outsider's ears. Others were for playing instruments, being just as equally noticed. I exhaled happily. "I think I'm going to like it here."
I proceeded to walk into the nearest room I saw. Winry was chatting away with Sakura. Today, my auburn-haired friend was wearing a pale pink T-shirt and blue kakkies. A cherry blossom hair clip held her hair back. The emerald-eyed girl smiled when she saw me. "Carmen!" she exclaimed, coming over to hug me.
"Hey Saku-saku." I greeted her. She looked up and into my face with surprised eyes. "Where did you learn that nickname?" she asked me in a shocked tone. She was quite the innocent little thing getting all flustered and embarrassed over the pet name given to her by a certain someone.
I grinned mischievously, "Syao told me that he would sometimes call you that when you were kids," I told her, using her childhood friend's nickname.
She ducked her head in embarrassment, but I caught her face blushing a deep pink, "Do we have a little romance going on in our little gang?" I thought to myself, chuckling at the shorter girl's nervousness.
It might have been a little cruel, but I decided to mess with her a bit more. "It seemed like he really liked the thought of having made that pet name up for you."
"WH-Wh-what?" she exclaimed. "Really? D-Do you really think so?"
"She really can't suppress the happiness of it, can she?" I laughed lightly at her antics.
"No! Well, I-I-I mean, it's from so long ago an-and I, just, um... yeah,..." her voice trailed off.
"She might be oblivious now, but she'll realize that he likes her back."
They both couldn't really hide it. Syaoran was happy about the nickname because he was the one to give it to her, and that gives him a sense of ownership and emotional bond with her. Sakura likes the fact that he gave her and likes the nickname because it makes her feel that he likes her with the nickname, and that he gave it to her because he wants to protect her. I was always pretty good with emotional psychology.
"I'll leave it up to her to figure it out, for now. I'll give a few nudges here and there. I'm sure everyone else isn't exactly blind on the situation either. They'll help too."
Even Winry couldn't suppress her "I'm-your-best-friend-and-I-know-you-have-a-thing-for-him-no-matter-how-much-you-deny-it" giggles from behind either.
"Oh, don't you worry Winry. I'll get you and Ed someday too."
That would have shut her up.
Sakura then detached herself and held out her arms. "Carmen Vega, welcome to Chorus!" she announced a bit too loudly. "Probably trying to hide her embarrassment"
I laughed and started to play along, "Thank you, Miss Kinomoto!' I said back.
"And tell Syao-syao I really love the fact he's telling everyone my childhood nickname." she snickered playfully.
I stared at her.
Then I burst out laughing.
Syao-syao? That's priceless!
Suddenly, I sensed Winry walking up behind me. I turned around to smile, but it faltered slightly when I saw what she was carrying: a guitar.
"Carmen, would you mind singing us one of your songs that you wrote? You can play it on this. Just one, please?" she asked me sweetly.
"Yeah, right! You were planning this from the get-go!" I gave her a look. She just smiled.
"I didn't know you could play guitar, Carmen-chan! That's amazing!" Sakura piped up from behind me.
Winry smiled even brighter, and this time with a hint of mischievousness. She knew she had got me. I couldn't deny Sakura. She was the type of nativity I couldn't say no to.
I heaved a sigh. "Okay. I can't fight the two of you at once." I then took the guitar from Winry, slinging the strap over my shoulder. I sat down in a chair while Winry and Sakura settled down on a bench nearby. Tomoyo, Watanuki, and Fai joined them a few moments later.
"Don't even think for a second that I missed your little 'Mission Accomplished' signal to them!"
I dismissed it for the moment, and began.
As I played the intro, I started humming to the melody. I then closed my eyes and started singing:
"Na na, na na na na na.
I miss you,
miss you so bad.
I don't forget you.
Oh it's so sad.
I hope you can hear me,
I remember it clearly.
The day you slipped away
was the day, I found it won't be the same.
Oh...
As the song continued, more and more kids started getting drawn in by the sad melody. They leaned against the wall in clumps, watching me play.
"Wow, she's really good." Sakura whispered in awe.
"Her mom taught her how to play guitar when she was three. Carmen was her first kid, so she wanted her to be as influenced to music as possible," Winry then stopped, her smile faltering, "But then, it all ended when she was four."
I heard all of their conversation, even though they thought I couldn't hear. It was all true, so I didn't have any problems with it really.
"What?" Sakura asked, confused.
The blonde hesitated, but then proceeded to tell Sakura the story. "Her mother passed away from giving birth to her little sister when Carmen was four. Then, when she was eight..." she paused again before continuing in a shaking voice, "her father was murdered by his ex-wife."
Sakura's eyes grew wide and she looked back at me. She now fully understood why I wrote this song.
88888
"God damn it! What is up with Yuko signing me up for these idiotic classes!" Kurogane growled, once again cursing the principal of the school for her seemingly evil unfairness and cruelty before shoving open the Chorus hallway door. The raven today was wearing a black leather jacket over a black T-shirt with white trim. Faded jeans covered his legs and black sneakers were on his feet. The principal had once again called him to her office, to which she had added two twin, plush, bunny-looking things, one black, one white, with red and blue gems on their foreheads, onto her desk, and changed one of his classes to Chorus. "Make some new friends" she had told him for the hundredth time. And for the hundredth time, he had told her that he already had friends. What did this woman want from him? He was perfectly content with the friends he had now. He didn't need anyone to change that.
His foul mood changed suddenly when he was greeted by sad, but captivating guitar playing. A girl's voice was heard singing along with the melody. His feet led him to the room closest to him. He stopped in the doorway and peered in.
It was me, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, strumming the strings on a guitar with my eyes closed. A crowd of students were on the other side of the room, watching me play like they were in a trance. He saw Winry, Sakura, Tomoyo, Fai, and Watanuki among the small audience. I began to sing again and Kurogane's ears perked up. He was hearing me sing for the second time in his life. It was in a less embarrassing scenario this time though.
"I didn't get around to kiss you
good-bye on the hand.
I wish that I could see you again.
I know that I can't.
Oooooh
I hope you can hear me,
'cause I remember it clearly.
The day you slipped away
was the day,
I found it won't be the same.
Oh...
I've had my wake up.
'Won't you wake up?'
I keep asking why.
And I can't take it
it wasn't fake it,
it happened, you passed by.
Now you're gone!
Now you're gone!
There you go!
There you go somewhere!
I can't bring you back.
Now you're gone!
Now you're gone!
There you go!
There you go somewhere!
You're not coming back.
The day you slipped away
was the day, I found it won't be the same.
Oh...
The day you slipped away
was the day, I found it won't be the same.
Oh...
Na na, na na na na na.
I miss you.
88888
The last note was finally played. I opened my eyes and looked over at my audience. Silence filled the room for only a few seconds before it exploded into applause and cheers. I blushed a little. I then looked over at my friends. I was surprised to see Sakura and Wantanuki crying, but having big smiles on their faces. Winry, Tomoyo, and Fai were clapping with everyone else, cheering madly. I looked down at the guitar. That song was always a tear jerker. I had written it when Sarah and I first went to live with Aunt Pinako, Winry, Ed, and Al.
"I wrote it because I would never able to be with my dad after that night."
I looked back smiling at Sakura, but I quickly became confused. She was no longer crying and was glaring at something off to the left.
"Sakura? What's wrong?" I asked her, following her gaze.
Standing in the doorway of the room, was a familiar tall, crimson-eyed male. His scowl, which most of the time seemed almost permanent, had lightened slightly with surprise as he looked at me. Our eyes locked for a second before I turned away and started putting the guitar back in its case.
"Kurogane-sama!" Tomoyo cried out happily. She jumped up from the bench and ran over to her friend. "What are you doing here?"
"Yuko," the raven mumbled like it was an obvious answer. When he saw that people were staring, he glared at them murderously. Everyone went back to playing instruments or leaving the room. Kurogane stalked away from everyone else and went to the far end of the room, sitting down in a sulking manner and pulled out his cell phone.
I had put the guitar back in the corner and was walking back to Winry and Sakura who were now sitting together in two of the chairs from the audience.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Sakura growled. Luckily, Tomoyo had left the room so she wasn't involved in our conversation.
"Yuko must have changed one of his classes or something," Winry replied.
"Well, I don't want him here! I told Syaoran not to become friends with a murderer, but he didn't listen to me!'' Sakura started ranting.
I stiffened. "Murderer? What do you mean murderer?" I asked. Unfortunately, Sakura was too busy ranting and raving to bother with answering the question.
I don't know what it was, but I was getting kind of sick and tired of Sakura saying that she didn't like Kurogane, or that Syaoran shouldn't hang out with him. Why did she have to constantly barge in and try to control what her friends did? Her mother hen behavior was starting to upset me.
My eyes went over to the raven, who was still still sitting against the wall, texting. Didn't he know that you weren't supposed to use your phone during school hours? On the other hand, there weren't any teachers supervising us, so I guess it didn't exactly matter.
"Screw what Sakura says. I can go talk to him if I want. She's not my mom." I thought.
I hesitated at first, but I worked up the courage to walk over to his sitting position.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked him.
"What does it look like, Vega? I'm texting." he grumbled.
"Did Yuko change your class over to this like in Spanish?" I asked him.
"Yep."
"Don't you want to try playing something?"
His scowl deepened and he finally looked up, locking his eyes with my green eyed gaze, "Why the hell are you over here talking to me? Yuko just wants me to make friends - which I have no intention of doing, at all. I'm already forced to have classes with your three stupid little blonde friends."
My hands had curled into fists at that point. Was this bastard ripping on my friends? I tried to keep my voice calm as I said, "What's wrong with Edward, Alphonse, and Winry?"
"Are you really asking that? Winry has an obsession with mechanical things, and won't shut up about it. Ed has a short, annoying temper and has to shoot his mouth off every class if someone calls him a shrimp. His brother is useless at everything, and probably won't be anything good when he graduates," His eyes hardened as the gaze bore into mine. "It's also really obvious that you have the hots for that bastard, you lustful little bitch." he then went back to texting.
Something inside me snapped. I had been curling my hands so hard into fists that my knuckles had turned white. My body had started shaking all over and rage took over me. I drew my right foot back slightly, then drove my shin right in between Kurogane's legs. Hard.
The phone fell out of the raven's hand and clattered to the floor. He let out a yell of excruciating pain, doubled over, and then flopped painfully down onto his side on the floor. "What the hell!" he wheezed, looking up at me with a look of complete surprise and confusion.
"You're a dumbass," I growled, my furious gaze burning into Kurogane's red eyes, "How dare you tell me, to my face, that my friends are worthless. You don't know shit about what happened to me before I came here. So before you decide to insult my friends, or have the gall to call me that name again, maybe you should think first about what could happen to you!" I then turned on my heel and stormed off, heading for the door and slamming it so hard that the whole room vibrated.
I stalked out to the parking lot, throwing my backpack onto the floor of the driver's seat. I didn't give a shit if I got in trouble. I could care less right now. I slammed my door as soon as I was in the driver's seat and jammed my key into the ignition. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out to read the text from Winry.
"Are you okay? Do you want me, Ed, and Al to come with you?"
I sighed in frustration, quickly typing out the reply,
"No thanks. I might get in trouble for what I just did. I don't want to drag you guys down with me. I just want to be alone right now."
I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving down the street. I didn't know I was crying until I felt tears running down my cheeks. I pulled the car over to the curb and parked. I squeezed my eyes shut and slumped down in my seat. I started sniffling, but I didn't care. Nobody had ever called me that name. I didn't want to go back there.
88888
"Look what you did, you bastard!" Winry screamed. She shoved her cell phone into her pocket and stormed over to the raven, who was sitting up, but still was in pain from the crotch abuse.
"How dare you call my friend that disgusting name! She didn't deserve that at all!"
"Winry..." Ed warned her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Sakura had texted the brothers to come to the Chorus room after Carmen had stormed out of the room.
Winry ripped her shoulder away from Ed. "Don't you 'Winry' me, Edward! If you had been here you would have done the same thing to Suwa!" she then turned her cold glare on Kurogane. "I'm glad that she kicked you in the balls. I hope it hurt!" She had tears of hatred flooding out of her eyes.
It had hurt all right, and a lot more then he thought it would. I had put enough force into my kick to know it had. He had slowly gotten to his feet, with his legs slightly weakened and shaking from the pain. He shoved his phone back in his pocket, headed out of the room and out of Chorus. He limped down the empty hallway and opened the door to Yuko's office.
"Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Suwa?" the principal asked him, looking kind of surprised. She knew that she didn't call him down over the intercom.
"I want to go home," his crotch was killing him with the pain that he knew he deserved. The name that he had called Carmen kept echoing in his head, and it was enough to raise bile in his throat. He had used that revolting name, on someone who he barley even knew. Winry was right, she hadn't deserved that.
"For what reason?"
"I'm not feeling well. My stomach is killing me, and I feel like I'm going to puke." he wasn't lying about throwing up at all. The expression on his face seemed to convince Yuko.
"Very well. You're dismissed."
Kurogane gave her a small nod and trudged out to the parking lot.
Post notes- So yeah, please don't kill me. Credit goes to KawaiiChibiHime for making up the "lustful little bitch" nickname. Great, now Carmen is pissed at Kergs. What to do now? And yes, the song was "Slipped Away" by Avril Lavine. Read, review, and comment, and I'll see you in Chapter Four.
Your friend,
Carmen Veiga