A/N; Basing this interpretation on a thought from surfing Pinterest, which was cute but had one giant flaw. This is me cracking the flaw wide open.
Birthday Bash Prompt 2: Soul Mates
So… bored!
Haru tried not to, but her doe-brown eyes trailed up to the clock again, which seemed to be frozen in time for the sole purpose of mocking her. She tried desperately not to groan or sigh too audibly, but the slow torture was more than she could take!
Thanks to her night owl tendencies, she always had trouble getting up in time for school, and detention seemed to be barely more than her after-school club at this point. But, because she had forgotten to switch out books the night before, she had nothing to do after finishing her homework.
Was that clock broken?! Did it need a new battery? Or worse; did she suddenly gain time-stopping powers through that chemistry explosion Hiromi set off earlier?
Ichigo from three chairs over moved slightly in her chair to better focus on the cute eye glass case she was sewing, proving that the cliché was not the case.
'Why didn't I think of that?' Haru lamented, giving herself a mental kick. 'Mom has an entire box of scraps she wouldn't care if I went through.' The plan was now firmly in her mind; as soon as she got home, she'd switch out both a new book and pack a small scrap bag with a sewing kit in case she ran out of things to do during detention. She tried again to look out the window, but she had the wrong angle to see anything more interesting than a passing bird. And thanks to the darkening clouds outside, all birds were probably seeking shelter from the impending storm.
'At least I'm smart enough to leave a plastic bag for my books and a collapsible umbrella in my locker for emergencies like this. So bored!' In desperation, she grabbed a pen and opened her notes to the blank pages in the back.
Which were missing. Because Machida had needed some extra pages, and knew she wouldn't say no.
Her heart ached even as the frustration seemed to build up inside her. Now she didn't have the guy OR something to fill in the remaining thirty minutes until she could escape.
'Okay, Haru. Deep breaths. You're not going to throw a tantrum in front of the other inmates. You are a lady. You are a grown woman.
For whatever reason, the weakening sunlight made her arm seem paler than normal. As pale as paper, even.
'You are… bored!' Knowing she could always wash it off when she got home, Haru brought her wrist closer to herself and started doodling a curly bracelet on her wrist. That would look normal enough for no one to pay her any attention when it was time to leave. Since she had all the time in the world, she took special care to make each curl as uniform as possible before switching to her red pen. Within the center of each curl, she made a little dot as if it were a gemstone caught in the net-like bracelet.
A smile finally crossed her lips. 'Hey, this isn't turning out half bad!' After the red gems were in place, she quickly rifled through her pens for a different color, but all she could find were black and her one red pen. 'Dang it! Maybe I could slip in a small sketchbook and some colored pencils when I get home. Mom's bound to have some that she isn't using right now.'
Haru turned back to her wrist to start on a more delicate bracelet to compliment the first one… but dropped her pen before it could touch her skin again.
Right there, before her eyes, a blue line was forming underneath the inked-on bracelet. It twisted that way and this before breaking off and making a new line, slowly forming a sentence without pen or person.
Are you a ghost?
The brunette slapped her hand over the words, looking around as if expecting an axe murderer behind her.
"Hey, chill it, will you?" Sango yawned from the desk behind her, nestling his head back into his arms. "We're all trapped here, same as you."
Haru offered him a nervous laugh, but didn't trust herself to say anything else. 'I did not see that. The only one drawing on my arm is me.' She slowly raised her fingers enough to take a second look.
Are you a ghost?
'Do not answer. Do not answer. Remember Chamber of Secrets!' Her hand disobediently retrieved the red pen and clicked it once.
If I were a ghost, you wouldn't have been able to pen that on my arm.
Her eyes were glued on the pale skin beneath that, hoping that there would be no- there it was again!
Your arm? I'll admit that the bracelet is lovely, but not something I would care to personally wear. Who are you?
It took three lines before he was done. It had to be a 'him'; the words were trailing down the sides of her arm, as if it were being written on a larger arm than hers. There was also something decidedly masculine about the formation of the letters.
Yes, my arm. I'm Haru.
'Why did I admit that?!' she fought not to scream out loud. Whatever the unseen person was, she knew it was very inadvisable to give a supernatural being your real name. At least she didn't add her family name.
My friends call me Baron. Is there a symbolic importance to the bracelet?
Haru managed not to give a dark laugh while quickly explaining herself.
I'm trapped in detention with nothing to do. Homework's done, book's finished, and spare paper lent out. I'm half-mad with boredom!
It took Baron a while to think of something to say to that. Haru started tapping her thumb impatiently as her heart pounded. Supernatural or not, talking to him was better than counting the seconds that refused to pass by.
When he started writing again, he was deliberately making his letters smaller, since they were nearing her elbow already.
May I inquire to the cause of your imprisonment?
Haru did her best to follow his lead and made her words smaller as well.
I'm a night owl, so I never make it to school on time. I normally don't mind detention, but there wasn't a lot of homework today, and I forgot to switch out books.
Writing that was difficult, since rubbing the pen on the inner part of her elbow was ticklish.
That fails to explain how or why you can draw on my arm as well as yours.
If you have a theory, I'd love to hear it.
She started tapping her thumb when he didn't immediately answer her. The seconds were slugging along again, but this time it seemed worse. She knew what the outcome would be when the clock finally struck the hour, but what about this strange conversation?
Sorry about the wait. I had to retreat to a lavatory since my sleeve wouldn't roll up any farther. We're running out of arm. Do you have a phone number?
Her heart seemed to freeze over. She stared at the question until the world seemed to sway in her vision.
Very well, here's mine. Please text me at your earliest convenience so that I know you're real.
"All right, everybody! Be safe going home, that's quite a storm brewing out there," Hashima-sensei released them, clearly just as happy as they are about getting out of the classroom.
"Wait, already?" Haru asked, tearing her eyes off the slowly emerging number sequence.
"Dang, Haru! You must have been bored out of your skull!" Sango exclaimed while staring at her marked-up arm. "What's your novel about?"
She swiftly slipped her arm off the desk and to her side with a nervous smile, praying that her sleeve was now low enough to cover up the self-writing numbers. "It's about two pen pals. Haven't decided where to take it, though."
Sango huffed like he didn't believe her. "Just say romance, Haru. That's where those plots usually end up going."
"Not always," she protested through a violent blush. 'I mean, just because Baron's a guy and I'm a girl doesn't mean…'
But what if it did? She had never drawn on herself before, and it was clear he hadn't before today. What did this strange phenomenon mean?
Sango finished tucking his books into one arm and his pencils into one pocket while rolling his eyes at her. "Whatever you say, Haru. Don't forget paper tomorrow, because you don't have enough arm for chapter two."
"R-Right," she agreed, busying herself with grabbing her own books and pens until no one was left but Hashima-sensei. She then sped out of the classroom and tucked herself into a corner to write one last note.
Whatever was going to happen from here… she was interested in finding it out.
Give me 20 min. I left my phone at home.