Worth more than I thought

Satou Kimura

Annoyed Author's really random ramblings:

I cannot believe this.

I lost my usb. Well, that's what my friends are telling me, but I'm convinced that a certain someone stole it. Just can't prove it.

So the special chapter that I typed up, and the story plan and the next 4 chapters are all gone. I have to re-type it from whatever I remember. It isn't that bad. Just ticked off that my 16GB usb might be in someone else's pocket.

And I always have this unhappy/annoyed clenching in my chest when I re-type this…

Ah well.

I'm inclined to put in a disclaimer.

So.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't own . Shame really.

Onwards. =.="

Chapter 2

Hikari blinked. She tried to make sense of what had just been said to her, but no matter what her ears picked up, her brain didn't seem to want to accept. It started to make excuses. Her brain was in totally and absolute denial. This must be some kind of sick joke that Anita-sama was pulling. Was it April fools? She stared at the tinsel that wavered under the air-conditioning…nope, it was December. But then it didn't make sense. Anita-sama always knew when the teachers were coming. She would always warn her and she would pull out before they could catch her. She wont leave her to this type of confrontation.

But it was reality.

She turned on her heel and took a deep shuddering breath. She would have to talk. Wordlessly and mouth slightly a gap, Hikari pushed the wall behind her, and a hidden door slid open. The Sino-European girl pondered her choices… close to none.

She slipped through it, and beckoned Cross to follow. The red head finished his alcoholic drink in a few gulps, before following.

The door scraped the uneven concrete floor as it slid back into its original position. They stood in the dark alleyway, face-to-face. The sounds of Kabukichou's nightlife seemed to be a mile away, and the closest sound was the one of Cross taking a long intake of his cigarette. Hikari stared determinedly on a sullied 'PSG BAND' sticker on the ground, as her brain chugged at a million miles per hour. She frowned at the explicit picture on the ground and, finally, raised her head to frown at her teacher. She found a pair of emerald eyes staring back, but there was no look of distaste or harshness. It was an unexpected emotion.

A look of amusement.

And boy did it make her want to punch the living daylights out of the bitch.

Cross look at the girl in front of her. She was an interesting one. There was a certain confidence—even arrogance that radiated from her. It seemed to emit from her pale blue eyes to the white tips of her platform converse; from every fiber of her being. He smirked. It didn't even seem to fade when he had told her who she was. She seemed to deflate for a second, eyes wide, then frowned, and stood up high, arrogance back.

It made sense, seeing who her father and mother is. Working at a hostess club with drunken men didn't help either.

She was perfect for his assignment…

She stared at him, glaring slightly. Then sighed. And closed her eyes dejectedly. She dint even know what she should say.

There was no point. She would be expelled.

She got the top grades, but the teachers all hated her. Not a single school would accept her with the recommendations (or lack of) from teachers.

She would have to beg Anita-sama for a job as a bar tender… maybe a hostess. She would need money.

If it got to that, she would have to beg her father to return… no. She wouldn't. She'd rather act as a whore. Virgins cost more. She grimaced. Before she could do that though, she had to know when she would get chucked out of the damn school.

She flickered her watery eyes up, a departed look in them. She stared determinedly at the lit cigarette, avoiding those bright green eyes.

"So when am I getting kicked out? Never really liked how I had to deal with the crazy workload, and perverted homeroom teacher… Speaking of which, I have a biology essay for Mikki-sensei… seven fucking pages of bull crap… so if I get chucked out, I won't bother with finishing it by tomorrow…" She took a deep breath, shuddering slightly, fully aware that she was rambling. "And so…"

She heard a splutter. She frowned at the smoke pillowing from the tip of the fag, and stared further down it, stopping at his lips.

He had a sarcastic grin adorned on his lips, and his brows were arched. Cross plucked the cigarette out from his lips and a low chuckle rumbled from the base of his throat. Soon, it escalated from maniac smile to a crazed giggling and Hikari could only stare at him incredulous as he clutched his stomach, laughing.

How the hell could he laugh? A young girl with a bright future was about to be devastated and, all he could so was splutter in her face? Laugh at how pathetic she was? Was that it?

She didn't care anymore. She wouldn't even try beg him. She had enough. Enough.

"Do-you-know-how-much… do you know that you might be ruining a perfectly fine girl's future with the next words you spit out? This might be one of the few-" She gritted her teeth, and continued feigning calmness "-or just one of many students you're going to screw round with… but it is MY FUTURE. MY DAD'S GONE! AND I'VE BEEN GOING NEAR-INSANE FROM HIS FUCKING DEBTS!" She took a quaking breath "…and all you can do… is… laugh?"

During her little rant, Cross had regained posture and even had his smoke between his lips again. She glared up at the man. Blue met green; angered met amused, and they stood there again. Silently.

The glow from the cigarette was getting dimmer, and the red-haired man threw it down, next to the sticker Hikari was staring at before. The dying embers of the remains of the cigarette were crushed under the heel of his left shoe.

He looked up, as if expecting her to speak. When she didn't, he grinned.

"Done with ranting?" He paused, as if waiting for a sarcastic remark. "Well, now you have to listen." He stopped abruptly, and reached in his pocket for another smoke.

He was bringing it to his lips, and Hikari had to resist the urge to help him light it. He raised his eyebrows and tapped the cigarette lightly. She ignore him.

"Not going to light it?"

"Bad for your health to smoke…" She death panned.

He shrugged, not seeming to care, but replaced the smoke into his pocket.

"…So as I was saying…" he stopped for a second, as if pondering something, then continued "I'm not going to get you expelled."

She blinked. And blinked again.

The creases between her brows were prominent again.

"W-Wha-? But didn't you-"

He tapped his shoe impatiently. "I said that I was supposed to check on you, not rat you out."

Her frown deepened.

"Then, why—wha?"

"Well…" He seemed excited now, grinning slightly "I wouldn't really have chucked you out; you're Anita's cute bar tender. Anita would have my ass ripped off if I got you in that shit… but now you owe me one."

She nodded, wide doe-like eyes staring up at the European man as a million questions ran through her mind. Why did he treat Anita like a familiar? Who the hell was he? What did he want? Her eyes widened. He would want any special… services? She shuddered.

Cross didn't seem to notice, and he kept talking.

"I need you to help me… spy on Tyki Mikki. I need information. Anything. Even insignificant things, like habits, what programs he has on his computer, usb information… anything. Not too hard?"

She shook her head.

"Why me? Why Mikki-sensei? And… what's going on between you and Anita-sama?

He chuckled, raising his hands up in mock defense.

"whoa whoa, one question at a time!"

"Well?"

"well… I heard that you were pretty bright, and… well, you owe me one." He grinned.

She frowned, narrowing her eyes suspiciously

"Did you plan out all this?"

He chuckled, Shrugging his shoulders.

"Maybe… your guess is as good as mine."

"No, it isn't" she said stubbornly, puffing her cheeks out and kicking at the sticker on the floor.

"As for Mikki… Can't tell ya."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Are you… straight?"

Another deep chuckled rolled from his throat, and he shook his head in a way that reminded her of how her kindergarten teacher had shook her head when she tried explain, for the umpteenth time, that there were no rabbits on the moon.

"What make you think that?"

"Well… you want everything about him… habits, what he does…" She glanced at him weirdly, "you sound like a homosexual stalker who's too embarrassed to do the job yourself…"

"Well, I'm not."

She nodded, a skeptical eyebrow still raised slightly.

"Oh yeh, and I'm Anita's new lover. That proves that I'm straight."

She nodded slowly; realization seemed to hit her square in the face.

"Okay… I'll be off."

She tugged at the handle of the hidden latch, and took a step in the club, but she seemed to think of something. Several stands of her thick glossy hair tumbled over her shoulder as she turned back to glance at him, a thoughtful and cynical look on her face.

"I suppose you like to get the best of both worlds…eh?" The mischievous glint was still in her eyes as she closed the door behind her, and he heard a light chuckle.

He sighed and lit the cigarette that was already caught between his fingers. A deep inhale later, he murmured to himself,

"Confidence back, I see…"

There was an unconscious smile on his lips as he trudged towards the busy district of the Sleepless Street, unaware that the same smile was adorned on the face of a certain bartender.

The wheels of fate creaked, and the clockwork moved smoothly, silently, until it fitted into place. They stopped; an invisible barrier seemed to be holding it back. They were waiting patiently for the catalyst to move the cogs and send them spiraling out of control.

As you see I got over this annoying bit (which I didn't enjoy re-typing =.="), and am now deciding that I need a break. I'm not even going to check it.

Just going to submit this.

You can see that my quality control is wonderfully magnificent, eh?

By the way, for you guys that want me to type longer chapters… I can't. It's just a thing I do. When I write to a certain amount, I stop, and refuse to type… so this is as long as it gets… or maybe it will get longer as the story progress… we'll have to see. If you look at the chapter length in my previous story, Cold Hands, I didn't even have chapters longer than a thousand words, so this is already longer than what I normally write. Please bear with me.

My fingers are numb from the typing-in-freezing-December so if you excuse me…

Please review and tell me what you think. If there are any mistakes, because of my lack of checking, I apologize. Please tell what you don't like though. Yeh. Damn its cold. I'll reply all of you, so please tell me whatever you think :).

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and I'll tell you this: our character seems to have a little red headed complex :).

KiMu~