Chapter 4 (Aria)

Aria bounded out of class, cramming notes and sheet music into her book bag as she went while humming a complacent tune to herself. Joyous and light at heart now that classes were done for the day, it had been a full week since the entrance ceremony and the celeste-hair recalled the occasion eventfully.

As top student in the recent entrance examinations she'd been elected Student Representative by the school's ridiculous-excuse-of-a principal, Shining Saotome, and was required to deliver a welcome speech during the ceremony; a doing she hadn't been keen on knowing it would bring unwanted attention upon herself. Still, she couldn't refuse the wacko former-idol and besides, being top student did mean she was on the right track as far as her own idol dreams were concerned.

Aria had proceeded to brag the information to her father, and via international call to her mother. The traditional, part-Austrian prima donna hadn't sounded particularly enthusiastic at the news. Her father however, had been a little more forthcoming, offering mild congratulations and even gave her some last minute advice about her speech the morning before the ceremony when her things had been moved into the dorms. Aria glimpsed traces of her roommate when she'd first waltzed into the sizable room but the person herself had been lost to sight and remained oddly so for many days on campus. As such, Aria had to wonder what the girl, Oikawa Miki had been up to but resolved to let the girl be since, as it turned out, she had plenty to deal with without the trouble of tracking down her lost room mate.

Just as the thought of things to deal with flitted through her mind, Aria felt a sharp push to the back of her shoulder as she made to descend a flight of stairs. She cursed inwardly. Hands occupied with the contents of her book bag she failed to reach for the safety rails in time and braced for the fall. She landed on her side with a loud thump, right hand hitting the floor palm down—results of her failed attempt to grab onto the banister and the celeste-haired winced perceptibly.

Unshed tears welled at her eyes as the resulting pain beseeched her delicate frame and Aria was momentarily glad her bangs were long enough to shield the sight from unwanted stares. Her eyes clamped shut on instinct and she chewed tightly on her bottom lip, refusing to cry out her hurt. Less than a second later her acute hearing registered the shuffling of rushed footfalls from the landing above. Peeling scarlet orbs open Aria caught sight of several unknown females hustling off to wherever she presumed they would think themselves safe from her wrath. 'Oh yes witches, run and hide while you can,' her inner she-devil damned. God was she furious, especially given this wasn't the first of their so-called harassments.

Soon a new echo of hurried footfalls, this time from the landing below grew audible, followed by a distressed cry of her name and she identified its owner. Aria tried to raise herself off the hard floor but faulted. "Ah!" The cry was past her lips before she knew it and she eyed the source of her pain. The nail of her right index finger was broken, practically coming loose. She choked at the sight of blood pooling from the slender appendage and lifted it gingerly off the cold surface, feeling her anger burn anew.

"Aria! Oi! Say something, does it hurt?" Queried the individual with burnt-orange hair, fussing about her for any severe injuries in his presently kneeling-before-her state. "You think, Jinguji?" she bit out through gritted teeth, finding it easiest to just direct her anger at him. Heck he probably deserved it too.

Aria wiped fiercely at her unshed tears with the sleeve of her uninjured hand. "I swear your stupid fan-girls will make a very apt murderer out of me someday." He laughed at that. "Doubting my prowess, Jinguji?" The orange-hair fought to stifle his guffaw, waving a hand in the air to dismiss her accusation. Aria noted he seemed relieved at her bite and felt her anger subside some, though she still wanted revenge.

"Gotta hand it to you, sweetheart. It's refreshing to know you're plotting murder and not bawling over from pain," he announced, then turning serious and taking her injured hand in his lightly, careful not to disturb her blood-soaked finger.

Her eyes widened at him. "Ren?" She watched, intrigued as he brought her finger near his lips, blowing gently before laying a tender kiss where it hurt. Aria flinched at the slight pain but felt consciously better almost immediately. She pouted prettily at him, finding it absurd that she might just believe the whole 'kissing away pain' thing after that display. A moment longer and Jinguji Ren released her finger from the touch of his lips. Aria noted he had her blood on his top lip and gaped at him as he licked it clean with a vampish grin on his flirty features. She arched a skeptical brow at him when he was done.

"You taste exquisite, sweetheart." She had to chuckle at that.

Gosh was he ever a flirt. It was perchance why they got along so well. And, now that she thought about it, why his stupid deranged fan-girls were being mean to her, if not for her being top student and all. It was a good thing they didn't know who she was engaged to. Aria shook her head to shake off the chuckling. "Look at me, Ren. How could I possibly taste anything but?" She chided playfully. Count on Jinguji to make her forget her she-devil thoughts.

Ren helped her to her feet, shooing off uninvited spectators with mindless hand waving and picked up her book bag along with its spilled contents, ruffling them back in with little grace. "I'll take that," Aria began, but stopped when she stumbled unsteadily, suddenly grateful when her companion grasped her waist, steadying her.

"I don't think so, lady. Come here." And before she could protest he lifted her up bridal style, "Whoa!" and was carrying her through a throng of people down the crowded school hallway.

"Jinguji!" She flourished heatedly, kicking the air in her flawed attempt to make him put her down. "Not happening sweetheart."

Aria blanched but stopped her futile efforts. "Where are you taking me?" She asked, ignoring the many stares and glares as her orange-haired horse trudged onwards.

"Why the infirmary, dear lady. That finger of yours needs treatment." The celeste-hair pouted at him again but it seemed the topic was closed to discussion.

No sooner had they arrived at the infirmary she was greeted by the sight of the school's nurse, merely fingers buried behind a large copy of the school newspaper at her desk. Aria cleared her throat and the petite older female, bobbed purple hair and green eyes hidden behind half-moon glasses looked up. Aria watched the woman's eyes bulge as she registered the sight of them and sighed as the nurse's jaw dropped. "Yes, Itou-sensei, again."

Ren propped her onto the nearest bunk as instructed. The orange-hair caught her eye and winked impishly at her as he stepped back, allowing the nurse the freedom to examine her wound as he dumped her book bag on the nearby chair. Following the woman's mute instructions, Aria let Itou-sensei examine her finger, observing the woman turn this way and that to get a better view of the injury.

"…torn tissue…bloody…" The bespectacled individual mumbled and Aria rolled her eyes in exasperation. She noted Ren's expression, hands folded, straining not to laugh. "She tends to lose herself in wounds and gore—a gore fetish!" She recalled his exact words from a few days back; the day after she'd first found herself visiting the infirmary and mentioned their resident nurse's habit of mumbling on about tissue tears. Apparently the woman was lost to the world once an injury set her going.

"You should leave," she informed her friend, then wincing minutely at the sting of Itou-sensei cleaning her wound, still evidently lost to her immediate surroundings.

"Classes are over for the day, sweetheart," Ren explained. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Aria smiled. Well, she had to award him for being such a pompous ass.

"Not that I mind, Ren, but he will," she offered. Still the orange-hair's grin only widened. He shrugged casually and Aria knew they were playing a game. "Pardon lady, would you be referring to the 'stiff'?"

Aria let out an unladylike snort at his comment, then covering her mouth with her free hand and sent an apologetic smile to Itou-sensei who surfaced momentarily as the celeste-hair convulsed with laughter. Aria let the good nurse resume her patch-up work before returning to address Ren. "You asshole!" She brandished, choking on laughs.

"I prefer 'darling'," Ren smirked. "Come now, sweetheart, you think so too."

Aria shook her head in mock denial, trying to keep down her fit of laughs. And as if on cue, the infirmary door shoved open and there in all his stiff glory was her fiancé.

Aria composed at the sight of him—panting, hair and clothes in slight disarray as he stood in the doorway and scanned her appearance in like. She judged he'd actually ran here and instantly found herself knowing she'd pay good money to see the man run all frantic and uncontrolled.

"Masato," she greeted, fashioning him a nod.

"Aria," he replied, semi-breathless. Straightening his tie and shirt before entering the room and shutting the door, he cast a narrow-eyed glare at Ren who looked smugly at him in return but made no further move of acknowledgement to his group mate.

Likewise ignoring their school nurse, he halted before her sitting form and appraised her with his deep purple eyes. Aria pouted nervously at the detailed attentiveness of his examination. Masato was no nurse or doctor and yet he seemed to scrutinize every inch of her as if he were one. She squirmed under his purple gaze, swinging her legs back and forth off the side of the bunk to busy herself. When he kept looking her up and down without a word she finally lost it and decided reassuring him would be best.

"Just the finger, Masato," she implored, willing him to stop studying her that way. He appeared surprised by her outburst but took it in stride and sighed his relief. Aria couldn't help being amused by his reaction. The man was a walking hull of contradictions.

"A pail of water one day and now a broken nail. Will you ever stop getting yourself in trouble?" Aria narrowed irritated eyes at his scolding tone and was about to chip a venomous response when Ren beat her to the chase with a vacant chuckle. Two pairs of eyes turned towards the orange-hair—hers questioning, his challenging.

"Forgive the interruption but I assure you, Hijirikawa, it's more your fault she got into such trouble in the first place." Aria shot him a warning glare to 'play nice'. The last thing she needed after being pushed down a flight of stairs was to have her friend and fiancé start a fight over whose fault it was.

Masato turned to face Ren full on, offering a hint of lividness in his usually unreadable manner. "Just what do you mean by that, Jinguji?"

"It was your fans who pushed her down those steps," the taller male stated, moving forwards to point accusingly at the blue-hair's chest. "I caught sight of them before they scurried away," he explained on glimpsing her questioning gaze behind Masato.

Aria pondered this for a second and realized he was probably telling the truth. Ren was forever servicing his female fans so while her familiarity with him had gotten her a number of evil-eyes and verbal stabs from his admirers over the past week they probably weren't as likely to hurt her as Masato's fan-girls were, seeing as she spent quite a bit of her time around him when the serious stiff-head was known to keep to himself, mostly unapproachable.

'Oh wow closure'. And Aria mutely added another positive to her list of why their engagement was to be kept secret in a school where love was forbidden; though Ren already knew from his family's contacts. Their fathers' groups had done business together since their childhood days after all.

"I assumed you'd do well to protect your lady, Hijirikawa," Ren burgeoned. "Clearly I was wrong."

Aria observed, all nerves as the rival duo stared each other down, Ren obviously doing it to let his words sink in before heading for the door. "Laters, sweetheart." And just like that he was gone.

The celeste-hair drew her eyes away from the closed door and eyed her fiancé's turned back apprehensively. What was he thinking?

"I'll bring hell," she said, somewhat lackluster in the anger department, not knowing what else to do to ease the tension in the room.

Masato breathed deep, hand combing through his blue locks and Aria recognized the action as a lost gesture. Growing up the rich kid in a strict environment, Aria suspected her fiancé thrived on routine and control. He could maintain his 'stiff'…

'Oh darn you Ren'

…demeanor that way, free of circumstances that could chip away at his armor. And yet here she was, the latest storm in his life, one he seemingly had no control over and already had she spied several 'unbecoming' instances of his usually serious being. His reaction to her hugging Ren when she'd first met him again after all those years for one. Aria snickered to herself. Oh she was learning to read him so well in such a short time.

"I'll find out who they are," he voiced, breaking her train of thought. "See if I can straighten things out."

"You will?" She asked, disbelief coating her question. His admittance surprised her. Aria was used to fighting her own battles so his offer was…well…

"My father would have my head if I'd let anything happen to you," he explained and she calmed, seeing where his reasoning fit into this.

"Ah…thank you." But Aria was mistaken had she thought that was the end of his ability to surprise her for the blue-hair reached out to her then, cupping the side of her face with his right and dared to stroke her cheek with his thumb almost affectionately. She froze at the unexpected touch.

"It's good that you're alright, Aria," he said, holding her gaze with his for a split second before releasing his hold on her and making it out the door, leaving his wonderstruck fiancée to stare after him, completely taken aback.

Heavens of Agnapolis knew how long she stared at the inanimate slab of wood before Itou-sensei chirped that she was done. Aria thanked the good nurse briefly before taking her own leave. Resolute to not think about Masato and his varied facades as she walked down a delightfully deserted corridor back to her dorm, the celeste-hair wondered to herself if she'd finally catch a glimpse of her elusive roommate this time.