Sighing, I leant back against the chain link fence, its swaying movements ceasing as my hands wound around the cold metal wire so tightly that my knuckles were as white as the clouds gently gliding above me. The three of us were completely alone, tucked safely behind the school building, a feat which was actually something that required quite a bit more effort that one might believe. We practically had all eyes on us from the get-go, it was more than a little difficult to manage to pry ourselves away from curious crowds of girls who would stare and gawk, or otherwise shoot off such unanswerable, unbelievably stupid questions that they actually made me feel tempted to repeatedly smack my head against the nearest convenient wall. It had taken a while for everything to build up to such a degree that it was threatening the composure of my normally shy, meek attitude and I finally managed to muster up the courage to ask the question I had been dying to ask throughout a whole day of embarrassment.
"Seriously, can't you guys just give me a minute to myself? I'll be okay here."
To be honest, I already knew that it was hopeless even before Ichii opened his mouth to answer, with his usual, kind voice and a softly sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry, Hikari, I really am, but we've got to keep a close eye on you." The sigh that travelled through my body was probably the loudest one I had ever emitted in my life. I hung my head even further, shielding my face with a veil of hair as I tried to banish the tears prickling at the my eyes as my shoulders slumped forward, defeated.
"The whole school's gossiping about us, they think we're all going out. I hate it. Everyone's staring, its-" I just shook my head and released my grip on the fence, burying my face in my hands. They didn't understand. They could escape from this torment at Christmas, or in fact, any time they liked before that- not that the whispers were even remotely bothering them. I, on the other hand, was stuck here until I could move up into Highschool, where I would most likely be followed by more than half of my classmates. I could never escape unless I moved to the other side of the world, and I'd rather pull all my hair out then leave such great friends and a beautiful home.
"Stop complaining," Zero replied, without a hint of sympathy, his arms folded crossly over his chest. "This is your fault for swallowing the pearl, anyway." Of course, just because he was usually like this, it didn't mean that his biting words had no effect. In fact, they annoyed me a great deal, so much so that I automatically retaliated, bolting upright, hissing furiously at him.
"You think I like this? If I'd had any idea what that stupid pearl was, I never would've eaten it in the first place, jerk!" I spat furiously, before I could even remotely begin to reel in my emotions. Having closed the space between us so dramatically with that one gesture of rearing forwards, we were now standing almost nose to nose, keeping in mind that I had raised myself up onto my tip-toes to do so. His cool blue orbs were staring into ones of a slightly darker hue; eyes that were bright, alive and ablaze with smouldering fury. Then, snapping back to my senses, I stumbled back, completely mortified. The fire sparked, burned, then quickly died. Without even sparing another glance at the two boys, I turned and retreated.
"Hey, Hikari!"
"Hikari, get back here!" Zero called after me, a commanding tone in his voice. I paused. My fists clenched at my sides, swaying anxiously on the spot, almost, just almost convincing myself that it would be better for me to whirl around and apologise profusely. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. There was no way I could face Zero after that. Not this soon. Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I continued to walk away, my fists so tight that the nails were digging painfully into the palms, possibly gearing up to leave large, painful indents. Bad thought: That was really mean of you, Hikari. You know he was only trying to protect you. So why did you have to snap at him like that? He probably hates you now. Good job ruining everything. "I'm not kidding!... Hikari!" Reasonable thought: Zero isn't going to hate you for something as stupid as that. So you lost your temper, big deal. Just cool down and apologise next time you meet. It's as simple as that.
As I heard the two of them quietly begin talking among themselves, a small mewl stopped me dead in my tracks. Outside the fence, cautiously padding closer was a tabby cat, watching me with delicate, wide eyes. "Hello pretty kitty," I said, slowly kneeling down and outstretching my hand towards it, poking a couple of fingers through one of the many large gaps in the chain-link fence. Just watching the adorable creature was enough for my anger to dissipate completely. "Come over here. It's okay, come on." I coaxed gently, to which the cat hesitantly obeyed, easily snaking its petite body through a gap, mewling as it began rubbing it's head against my knee. I allowed myself to released a small, happy giggle. "Are you itchy, little kitty cat?" I asked, lightly scratching behind it's silvery ear to which it purred contently.
Fixing me with it's big emerald orbs, it prodded me, kneading my foot with it's soft little paws before it nimbly jumped up onto my lap. Positively delighted, I, laughing quietly, scooped the little cat into my arms, to which it didn't protest. It merely snuggled closer, nuzzling my chin with it's little head and puring softly. "You're such a gorgeous little kitty cat," I cooed, stroking it's soft fur in small, rhythmic movements, cuddling the little kitten closer to my body.
"What are you doing?" I gently pirouetted to face the two boys, my skirt flaring just above my knees and my locket sweeping out in a wide arc as I did so, displaying the little cat to the two boys. I wouldn't be surprised if my smile lit up my whole face.
"Isn't she just the sweetest little kitty cat you've ever seen in your life?" I gushed, laughing as I felt the cat lick my fingers. Zero stared at me, his expression unreadable, though I could tell he was fazed by my sudden change of attitude. "This is the little kitty that lives between my outhouse, I'd never would've thought she'd follow me to school. She's so smart!" The cat gave another tiny mewl and, closing my eyes as I gently cradled the her closer to my chest I squealed. "Aw, you're so cute!" Though my joyful expression was wiped off my face as we rounded the corner. I had no time to hide the cat, which I had dubbed Tabby, before she was spotted by most possibly the nastiest teacher in school.
Before I could even blink he was already invading my personal space, his voice demanding, while I just shrank back, pulling the cat even closer to my chest in an attempt to protect her from his biting words. "Will you stop yelling at her?" Zero shouted, his fists clenched at his sides as he stepped forward to block the teacher's path to me. "Jesus, are you trying to deafen the poor girl or something? She's only got that damn cat because I asked her to help me coax it out, I thought it was injured!" For a moment he was completely flummoxed, stunned into temporary silence. I couldn't help but feel exactly the same. Zero was defending me, even after our little fight. This boy was full of surprises. "If anything it's my fault, so if you want to blame anyone, blame me! Don't just scream like that at someone who can't defend themselves!"
Zero standing up to a teacher for me... it was beyond touching. In fact, I was sure that at any moment I would throw my arms around the boy and squeeze the life out of him with one big, grateful hug. Thankfully, I managed to restrain myself though. Meanwhile, Ichii was frowning intently at me. It was actually a little unnerving. With a movement so quick I could barely even register it, he'd reached out and grabbed my wrist, gently manoeuvring it so my palm was facing upwards. "Zero!" I shrieked, finally realising that the cat was not licking my fingers. Crimson red was smeared almost artfully across the palm of my hand. "She's bleeding!" It took about a second for Zero to process this information. Without warning, Zero grabbed my free hand, despite the blood and hurtled around the teacher, sending him one last glare as he passed, Ichii following at my other side.
Sighing, I whirled around to face Zero and Ichii, both eager to continue their protection now that we had allowed Tabby to be taken to the nearby vet's. They had been dogging my steps ever since and now we were on the second floor, positioned next to the stairs, the girl's toilets right in front. "Please, can't you two just give me a little space?" I asked, exasperated but already aware of what the answer would be. "I understand that you want to protect me, but you're suffocating me! I can't act normal, or concentrate in my lessons, I can't even talk to my friends!"
Ichii frowned. "Well, I can see how that could be a problem. I really wish there was some other way to do this, but there isn't, I'm sorry about all this, Hikari."
"Aw, this is so frustrating." I fumed, shaking my head as I stepped away from them. "I wish I could just- Kyah!" My foot slipped off even ground, throwing my whole body off axis as I fell sideways, almost in slow motion, the stairs seeming to grin Cheshire Cat style as I went to tumble down them. Bad Thought: There's no way you're going to survive this. I could barely hear Zero as he yelled my name, though I suppose it was more to do with my scream than anything else.
Ichii reached out and grabbed my wrist, hauling me forward with such force that when I collided with his chest, he fell backwards onto his rear, palm resting on the small of my back, pushing me tightly into his chest. Eyes closed, I took a moment to steady myself. My arms were locked around his middle, preventing him from moving, but it didn't look like he was complaining too much. "Hikari. Are you okay?" Carefully, I raised my head. Ichii was still smiling, it was almost like smiling was his default expression, but this time I could see the concern in his eyes and the warmth in his gentle, kind voice. "Are you okay, Hikari? Does anything hurt?"
I quickly stood up, feeling my cheeks begin to flame up as I stumbled for my words. In all honesty, my knee was stinging a fair bit from where I had scraped it, but I was far too embarrassed to pay that tiny niggling pain any attention. "A-A-Ano, I- I'm fine... Nothing hurts... I-Ichii- thank you for saving me... I'm... I'm going to the bathroom!" And with that I raced through the first door on my left, slamming it behind me as I attempted to catch my breath. That was so embarrassing...
I could only gasp in surprise as I was surrounded by a gaggle of excited girls, all calling out in some form or other, demanding to know the relationship between me, Ichii and Zero. All of the questions were so unanswerable, they just left me gaping like a fish. I searched the door for the handle, but couldn't discover it without turning around and broadcasting my intentions to the entire crowd. A chuckle caught my attention, and there, with his arms folded, stood Forte, San of course, right next to him, blending right in. I briefly wondered how they'd managed to acquire some female uniforms, but that unnecassary thought was quickly banished from my mind. "This is going to be a whole lot easier than I expected, San. Now give us the pearl!"
Wait... Girl's uniforms? "Forte... I'm sorry." This was met with a confused huh as the boy was completely thrown off track. "I really am... I thought you were a boy, Forte. I'm so sorry."
He looked horrified as he stood up straighter, glaring at me. "I am a boy, you weren't mistaken!" He yelled, pointing a finger in my direction as he continued. "The one and only reason why I would ever wear a dress is to capture you! Got it?" This statement wasn't taken all too kindly by the other girls present, who promptly chased Forte out of the toilets, baying for blood and screaming loud insults which almost always involved the word pervert. Despite the fact that he was the enemy, I still wished him the best of luck, since he was definitely going to need it to get out of that situation alive. Using the distraction to my advantage, I followed them to the door, my eyes peeled for any sign of Zero and Ichii. I needed to warn them about San and Forte.
The two aforementioned boys raced past me, obviously not hearing me yell their names as the went, chased by the herd of excited, babbling girls, the same girls who had previously been hunting down a terrified Forte. It doesn't take much for these girls to get sidetracked, does it? "Zero! Ichii!" I exclaimed, my voice lost in the sea of others all vying for the poor boy's attention. I managed to take almost four steps to follow them before a rather nasty looking prospect stared me right in the face. Before me was one of San's Air Fish.
Bad Thought: You're so screwed.
"That's called an Air Fish," San informed me, with a what you could mistakenly call a cute smile, which was in actuality her default evil smile. "It's a fish, but it's a carnivore, so you might wanna be careful because they are known to eat people now and again." Turning on my heels I raced down the corridor, unfortunately in opposite direction to which Zero and Ichii had been headed. "Wanna play tag?" San's voice called after me, as she quickly mounted a big Air Fish. "I promise that it will be a total blast and those bullies aren't here to ruin our fun!" I quickly barged through a set of double doors, slamming them shut with my back and attempting to keep them that way while San and the Air Fish strained against them on the other side.
"I don't wanna play!" I yelled back, my voice rising a whole octave in sheer panic. Realising this wouldn't work, I gave up and raced forwards, reached the staircase and hurriedly began climbing the stairs, my locket thumping painfully against my chest, almost in time with my pounding heart. I was moving faster than I ever had in my whole life, not daring to look back in case I lost any ground. The teeth on that thing looked so deadly and sharp, I was not about to take my chances with being fish food. Screaming as I felt the fish clawing at my hair with it's teeth, I accelerated, racing down the corridor, grabbing the sharp corner of the wall and sliding around it, using it to propel me forwards and, before I could even register the movement I had jumped up and mounted the banister, sliding down it. I jumped when I reached the bottom, careering through another set of double doors before San conjured some Air Fish to block the way outside. Looks like I'm going to have to go back up...
Once again, after I'd crossed the corridor, I frantically ran up the stairs, this time taking the next set up to the roof. I didn't stop to question the logic with that move, nor the fact that I would be well and truly trapped once I was up there, finally realising as I slammed the door behind me, tripping over my own feet and sprawling across the ground, feeling a scream of terror rise into my throat. I pushed myself off the ground and hurriedly scrambled up to my feet. I didn't stop running until I'd used up all the space left; my back pressed up against the railings, well and truly cornered. I cradled my stomach, my chest heaving from running for so long, a painful stitch sending agonising jolts across my side.
All of my muscles were screaming for me to stop, to just collapse. I couldn't. I had to escape, I had to do something. Picking up a stone, I threw it as hard as I could. The pebble made a smooth, sloping arc which was easily dodged by the target it was aimed at. Unluckily, with that last move it looked as if I had riled up the Air Fish even more. "San! That's enough!" Zero jumped, seemingly out of thin air - which is probably likely since he is a sorcerer and all- to block the path to me. "Way to go, genius, I thought I told you to stay close to us." He muttered angrily to me, in an undertone that was rather lacking in the quiet aspect.
"Don't be such a jerk!" I exclaimed, feeling my panic cloud my senses, and throw my politeness, my shyness an basically everything positive about myself completely out of the window. "Couldn't you see that I tried? You guys were sticking so close, though, it was making me go insane! And I tried to warn you about San and Forte but it was you that disappeared and when I tried to follow, San attacked me! How is any of this my fault?"
"You shouldn't have left us in the first place, you idiot!" Zero yelled, his face mere inches from mine, which, in normal circumstances, might have fazed me, but right now it only caused to make me even angrier. Here I was, after having nearly ran myself to death, having avoiding the tempting fate of tripping down, or alternatively up the stairs on two occasions and successfully avoided being eaten alive by stupid fish and he had the audacity to bite my head off. And seeing how terribly this day had gone, I think I was perfectly entitled to have my little prima donna moment in which I had to escape to the sanctuary of the bathroom.
Bad Thought: You've just completely screwed the both of you over, Hikari. Thanks to you, you're both trapped. Nice job, genius. "I'm sorry if I needed to go to the bathroom, jerk! And who are you calling an idiot? You're the one that's being an idiot!" Bad Thought: Who are you to argue with him? You disobeyed them, and you're in trouble because of it. This is your fault.
"Well then, watch this; idiot, idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot!"
Bad Thought: He could just leave you right here and now.
Before I could spit back a clever response movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. San was conjuring more Air Fish, lining them up, ready to attack. That quickly snapped me back to my senses. Reasonable Thought: They were suffocating, sure. But that's their job. They promised to protect you, and they were doing that. Instead of crying and running away, grow up and deal with it. Now, apologise. Zero doesn't need distractions right now. "This isn't a good time to be arguing." I said, diplomatically. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, Zero." He turned back to face San and my lips twitched up in a slight smile as he muttered an apology back. It was very fast, and, to be honest, barely audible, but it was still an apology and it was still somewhat sincere.
"Hey everyone, check out my awesome new fish! I have a whole squadron of them now and they can't wait to sink their teeth into you." Laughing manically, San brandished her golden staff, pointing it in our direction, sending the fish flying towards us. "Get 'em fishies!" She urged, bouncing up and down in obvious delight. She's enjoying every second of this. It's all like one big game to her...
"Tell them I don't taste very good." I cried out, shrinking back, my hands shielding my face as Zero blasted them with his Destruction Magic, a cry of oh, no you don't echoing loudly through the silence. But, impressive as it was, that feat was barely even acknowledged by San, who simply conjured up even more Air Fish to replace those who had fallen.
"Gimme a break!" Zero exclaimed, blasting them away, along with the two other reincarnations that followed. However much I wanted to aid Zero, I knew I was completely unable to, and with a third group heading our way, he decided to pull out the big guns and blasted them with his Magic Cannon. When I peeked through my fingers I could see that Zero was crouched on the floor and despite his claims that the attacks hadn't fazed him, I could tell that using his magic was putting a lot of strain on him. My wish to be able to do something, anything, even the tiniest bit useful at that moment was magnified tenfold. Instead, I satisfied myself with staying focused on the battle, forcing myself to keep my hands away from my face, standing poised, ready to run at a moment's notice while mentally sending positive energy towards Zero- something which I had seen once on a television program, although I was quite sceptical to whether it actually worked or not. Though, right now, I was ready to try anything to help. As San sent her Big Air Fish towards us, it knocked Zero out of the way, making it perfectly clear it's real target was me. "Hikari!"
Steeling myself, I ran straight at it, ducking down at the last moment and absorbed the impact with a roll, while Zero punched it, his hand alight- courtesy of his destruction magic. Upon Zero's instruction, I scrambled back behind him, watching as he continued to fight for me, though when he grabbed his arm in a quite lull of the fight, I could tell he wasn't as fine as he led me to believe. "Zero!" I exclaimed, rushing forward, fully intending to aid the boy, to take care of his wound. "You're injured. Let me help you!"
Bad Thought: Zero's hurt because of you. He could die and it would be all your fault.
"Don't worry, it's just a scratch." He replied indifferently, ignoring me as I pressed on rather persistently, pointing out that his shirt was ripped and his arm was bleeding so it couldn't possibly be just a scratch. "I told you, it's nothing!" Shaking his head, he merely shoved me hard in the chest as soon as he realised San had sent another Air Fish towards us, pushing me back onto my rear but succeeding in keeping me out of harms way while he dealt with the threat.
"Why do you try so hard to protect her, Zero? All you care about is the Crystal Pearl, anyway. So why are you going to all this trouble?"
"What I do is my business!"
San continued to keep up her relentless barrage of Air Fish, Zero struggling to keep up with the bombardment while I scowled at her, keeping a wary eye on the fight the entire time. "But still, if you just get the pearl from Hikari then you wouldn't have to go though all this and get yourself injured." She watched us from above, already conjuring another wave of fish lined up and ready for the next onslaught as I decided now would be a good time to be standing.
"Jeez, you're wasting your breath there, San. I've already decided that I'm going to protect her and I won't let her down!" Before I could say anything, he'd whirled around to face me, anticipating my reply even though I hadn't even had the chance to open my mouth. His eyes were blazing with such determination, all I could do was smile. "A promise is a promise."
"Oh well, I guess it's time for me to end our little play date and deliver the final blow. Go, Air Fish, Go!"
I gasped, but fully believed that Zero could defeat our opponent. He said before that protecting someone gives you unimaginable strength. Well, I believed him and as long as I had faith, I figured he could do the impossible. And I didn't care what San said. Zero would protect me with his best ability and even though I couldn't protect him from the magic examinees in return, I would find a way to repay both him and Ichii for their trouble. "That's it San, I've had enough of this! Destruction Magic: Magic Cannon!" He attacked San's Air Fish without mercy and the whole area was engulfed with a radiant flash of light before smoke poured around, clouding my vision.
I could hear San laughing, obviously not fazed by the fireworks show. "Wow, that was great! But no matter how many you destroy, I can always make more!" and with that, San brandished her staff, ready to send another bombardment towards me. I smiled very sweetly back, already fully aware with what Zero had done and feeling very proud of him for pulling it off so effortlessly.
"Wow, you actually fell for it." Zero's voice, fairly smug, sounded from behind San, the boy himself concealed in the billows of smoke. "This curtain of smoke was actually pretty useful. Gimme that." He snatched the staff away from her, holding it high above his head. "Thanks." As San lunged forward to retrieve her staff, Zero merely placed his hand on her forehead, easily holding her back as her hands flailed just short of her staff. "Oh no, I have the wand now, so I'm in control, San and you can't cause any more mischief." He gently shoved her, causing the girl to stumble back a couple of paces scowling up at him.
"That wasn't mischief. And now I'll take that back." Zero barely had enough time to turn around before Forte had snatched the staff away, out of Zero's firm grasp, still clad in the female school uniform. It seemed as if he too had used Zero's smoke distraction to his own advantage and had managed to sneak up behind Zero while he was focused on San.
"Forte?" Zero managed to choke out, his eyes bulging as he looked the boy up and down, shoving his hand hard against his mouth as he tried to look anywhere other that at the blond, thankfully knowing that collapsing into a fit of giggles definitely wasn't going to help improve the situation. Seeing Zero's reaction was just priceless.
"Mischief implies playfulness, but I can assure you, we're both completely serious. We'll get that pearl from you somehow."
"Yeah, well, word of advice; don't expect to be taken seriously while wearing that." Zero replied, gesturing towards Forte's very feminine attire, barely managing to hold back his laughter. To be honest, I was also struggling in the department of Not-Laughing-At-The-Person-Who-Could-Possibly-Kill-Me-At-Any-Second.
"Just shut up, Zero!" Forte snapped, by now very furious. "And prepare yourself for the onslaught."
"Alright! Time for me to have a little fun again with summoning magic! Ready? Big Air Fish! Attack!" Gasping, I retreated back but found I had little to none space left to do so when my back hit the rails. Zero landed neatly before me just as I needlessly dived sideways, landing heavily on my shoulder as I rolled to absorb the impact, one of my ribbons being harshly yanked from my hair as I did so. From my position on the floor, I could only wince as I carefully rotated my shoulder, Zero stepping to the side, once again blocking their path to me, taking up a stance while Forte began playing his flute, sending a wall of fire shooting towards us, by it's side the giant fish. I barely acknowledged the boy's warning, I was too focused on the throbbing pain stabbing me all along my side. I'd completely screwed up that landing.
"Zero!" Ichii jumped down to protect us, already initiating his Crystal Barrier while Zero made a remark which sounded like; there you are. I couldn't help but feel it was about time Ichii showed up. Zero seemed to be struggling a little with fighting San and Forte on his own. "Forte! It doesn't matter what you do to try to stop us, we will overcome you and protect Hikari! I summon Defence Magic: Reflecting Tornado!" I shielded my eyes as a blinding light began emanating from Ichii's hand. Both San and Forte's attacks quickly bounced off, heading straight back towards them. They screamed as the were propelled skywards, soaring off and yelling inaudible gibberish.
"Are you alright, Hikari?"
"I'm just fine, thanks to you two." And with that I beamed back at them, before another thought struck so fast, it was as if I'd received a slap round the face and my happiness seeped away somewhat. "But Zero, you're hurt." I hurried forward, my hands twisting at my neck-tie, struggling to loosen it. "Here, let me help you."
I gently took his arm, which, thankfully, he didn't protest to, in fact I was sure he hadn't even noticed my presence, he was too busy glaring at Ichii. "Ichii, you took too long to show up!" He exclaimed angrily, his scowl only increasing in size, while I began tugging at his sleeve, slowly pulling the material up, being extra careful to avoid having it catch of his wound. It would be a whole lot worse if I aggravated his injury. "Where the hell were you?"
"I'm sorry about that," Ichii replied rather nonchalantly, shrugging over at Zero with an attitude that seemed just perfect with his usual calm composure. "I thought you would've easily been able to handle opponents of their skill level." He smirked a little, a hand resting idly on his hip as he cocked his head slightly to one side. "I guess I was mistaken." Zero's scowl only seemed to deepen as he used his free hand to lightly punch Ichii on the arm.
I positioned the cloth under Zero's injured arm, tilting my head slightly as I watched him nervously, waiting for permission. He nodded his head a little. Though, as I began to tighten it, I was forced to ignore Zero's cries of pain. Ichii helped to prevent the poor boy from swinging away from my grip, but I winced as his elbow caught me with a glancing blow which, aside from causing me discomfort, seemed to subdue him. "I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, bowing down again and again as I apologised several times. Ichii merely ruffled my hair and chucked, before lightly replacing the ribbon that had been tugged out of my hair.
He didn't seem to notice my blush.
I walked down the corridor with a new-found spring in my step. Every movement felt as if I was floating, it was almost as if I was walking on air. Zero and Ichii both flanked my sides but this time I didn't mind. In fact, I appreciated their company. To be honest, right now, if everyone in the school started staring at us at that precise second, I don't think I would be even remotely embarrassed. Actually, if that happened, I think I might just reach down and take one of both boy's hands in my own, allow my gaze to flicker over the crowd and give them a mysterious smile before striding straight past them, as if their presence didn't amount to anything.
This feeling was bliss. I felt like I was on top of the world. Nothing could destroy my good mood, and I could tell both boys could feel a definite change in my attitude. "Hikari, there you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Kei exclaimed as she spotted us, and began racing forwards, Ayumi following closely at her heels. Though Ayumi didn't stop as Kei did, instead she ploughed forward and wrapped me in a big bear hug, basically her usual greeting. My eyes instinctively passed over them, assessing the two for injuries. Luckily, I found no obvious ones.
"You have to see this!" Ayumi said as both she and Kei glanced backwards, at the scene over their shoulders. "Isn't it crazy?" I allowed my eyes to drift over, following their gazes to where a crowd of students were gathered, staring wide-eyed up at the ceiling which was cracked and splinted, parts of the plaster having fallen down and lay pushed up against the wall. "There were all these explosions, the entire school was in a panic. We had the fire and police departments here, it was totally chaotic!"
Ichii seemed to be the first person to recover from the shock, smirking slightly he shot a sideways glance towards the responsible party. "Zero, I think I need to talk to you."
Zero winced. I couldn't help myself, even though I attempted to, albeit rather lamely, stifle my giggles, I was unable to stop myself and stood there, clutching my sides and laughing loudly. "What are you laughing at?" Zero demanded, which only served to intensify my laughter. I couldn't control it and, actually, I didn't want to stop even if I could.
"You're really gunna be in some hot water later, Zero!" Zura said, and he too, was laughing.
"I'll put you in hot water!" Zero retaliated, while I allowed my hands to drift over my mouth, my eyes closing as I laughed and laughed and laughed. It feels so good to laugh like this.
"I'm home!" I announced, carefully closing the front door behind me and kicking off my shoes, picking them up and sliding them onto the rack. My mother's were missing. "She must still be at work." I placed my bag on the table, removing my water bottle and the box which stored my bento and emptied the remains in the sink and bin respectively, before refilling the bottle and returning it to my bag and washing the box with foamy hot water, laying it across the draining rack and then lightly jogging into the living room.
Pinned up on the message board was a little note from my mum saying that she was working overtime and that she'd be back at around five. I could have some light snacks to tide me over until dinner, but I decided to pass on them. After the eventful day I'd just had, I doubt I could really stomach to eat too much. I put in a quick call to the local vets to check on Tabby and was glad to hear that she was recovering from her injury very well. When my mother returned I decided I should try to convince her to allow us to keep Tabby, which, in all honesty, shouldn't really be too hard. I'd spotted her feeding Tabby some fish on more than one occasion when she thought I wasn't looking. She seemed just as smitten with the little kitten as I did.
Raising both hands in the air, I yawned and stretched them up as far as they would go. I rubbed my shoulder as it sent a small jolt of pain across my limb and quickly took some paracetamol before lightly running up the stairs. I needed to change out of my uniform and take out the trash. Then there was the task of getting all my homework done. I flung open my door and promptly face-planted into the carpet as Ichii cheerily looked up from the table he and Zero were sitting at, casually sipping tea. "Good to see you home, Hikari."
"I-er- what're you- I... um... Wha... I... e-e-er..." I stammered, climbing unsteadily to my feet before I finally managed to conjure up the brain power to coherently string two words together. "What're you doing in my room?"
"Oh, well, starting today we decided me and Zero should live here with you." That statement left me gaping like a goldfish, while Ichii, not having noticed my comatose state, continued on as if he had not just dropped the bombshell of a life time. Instead, he laughed a little sheepishly and pulled back the door to my closet, displaying a quite a large room on the other side which I knew for a fact never used to be there. "Look, I extended this closet with some Magical Space and made a room for Zero and me. See? Now you'll never even know that we're around." I could tell that my unease was projected across my features. "We want to stay as close to you as possible, that way we can always be here to protect you."
"It's great! It'll just be like we're neighbours who share a wall." Zero enthused, seeming to be quite taken with the idea. I frowned, but secretly, I had always imagined having a set up like this. I thought it was pretty cool, in fact, me and my friends had all decided long ago that as soon as we were adults, we were going to have a house exactly like this, with all our walls connected so we could see each other whenever we wanted to. It was pretty ridiculous, really, now that we were older.
"We'll try to stay out of your way, but having us around could be pretty handy too." Zura said, as he floated idly next to Ichii's shoulder.
The three of them beamed brightly, obviously feeling as if they were complete geniuses. I was only really worried about my mother finding them. Now that would be awkward to explain. "We'll be here when you need us, so don't worry. Well, what do you think?" Ichii prompted gently.
"Oh and don't worry, we took all of your clothes out of the closet and put them in that room over there." Zero said, pointing over to the said room.
I twisted my hands nervously before finally voicing my opinion. "As... As long as you keep that door closed... then I guess... I guess it's okay. You're... Only doing this to keep me safe... So... I... Yeah, okay... Just don't come in my room before knocking, okay?" I could feel heat rise to my cheeks and buried my face in my hands as both boys easily agreed, as oblivious to my discomfort as usual.
This... This is going to take some time to get used to.
A/N: And that concludes my forth chapter! Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! It would really help me a lot if I could get some feedback on this, to know how I can and improve or what people like is really helpful xD
A big thank you to LoveInuyasha22 who reviewed, favourited and followed this story, I really appreciate it!