WtLB
I shall be updating my stories here on LJ... xD But it will take a while, so if you're impatient, you can read the story on FF, which has all of my existing chapters up. xD (Although they probably won't be as up to date as these... Since I plan on editing some of them as I post here.
And I'm going to do a two chapter special for WtLB. Enjoy!
“Bold” English
“Italics” Thoughts, Flashbacks, Important Stuff, etc
“ Normal” Japanese when used for dialogue
Recap
Ryoma snapped his eyes open to meet grey ones.
“AHHH!!!!! IT’S A MONKEY!!!!!”
When the Line Breaks
By Sweet Obsidian Rain
Chapter Four: Surprises
“When the line breaks, everything becomes forbidden;
Just as it is forbidden to break the line.”Tuesday, Seishun Academy’s Medical Wing, 12:00 P.M.
Atobe Keigo was a beautiful man. Of course he knew it himself, being the vain person he was.
Never was he ever insulted. He was never ignored. And never was he called a monkey by anyone except one certain brat.
So when that certain brat had woken up thanks to his beautiful nursing skills and all but screamed “monkey” upon seeing him, Atobe had decided to never help that brat again when he passed out from one of those disgusting commoners’ concoctions that Inui made.
“Hmph, you should be awed by Ore-sama’s beautiful face. It was all thanks to Ore-sama that a brat like you could wake up.”
Ryoma sat up on the bed and stared wide-eyed at Atobe. “Y-you…” something clinked in Ryoma’s head. An old friend huh? Old friend my ass. I’m gonna strangle that old man. “You’re the one that Oyaji sent?!” Ryoma sniffed, “I don’t need a monkey to help me, much less a Monkey King.”
Atobe raised an eyebrow, “Ore-sama happens to recall rescuing you from one of Inui’s concoctions, and he doesn’t even get a ‘thank you’? Some ‘Prince’ you are, brat.”
Ryoma cringed at Inui’s name. So that mad scientist was here as well. “Che. So? Where’s the information I’m suppose to get on this school?”
Atobe smirked. Although brat he may be, he could hear the silent thank you Ryoma had given him. While many people who did not know these two may think that they did not get along at all, behind the insults and glares was the silent support and strength they lent each other. The two had practically grown up together before parting when Atobe moved away and entered senior high school.
He turned around to face his desk and stuck one of his pens into a hole on the bottom of the top left drawer. Lifting the fake bottom up with the pen, he reached in and took out a file envelope.
He threw the file envelope at Ryoma before pulling his pen out and locking the drawer up. “Everything is in there. However, Ore-sama suggests you read this somewhere other than your dorm room. By yourself, obviously.”
“Why? I can just read in my room while my roommate is away, can’t I?”
Atobe snorted. “Did you even check who your roommate is? Never mind, Ore-sama takes it that you didn’t, judging by that expression.”
Ryoma searched around for his binder that contained his schedule. He blinked before slapping himself on the head. “I left my binder in the math room.”
“Then how did you pull through your other classes without it?” Atobe sank down in his chair.
“I didn’t. I got locked in the math room until towards the end of lunch.” The boy blushed a bit.
“Then why didn’t you pick the lock?”
“I couldn’t; forgot to bring lockpicks.”
Atobe raised an eyebrow, “It’s not often that you’re so careless, Ryoma. Be careful around here.” The concern was shown through his sentence.
“I know! It’s just that I didn’t think anything like this morning would happen! I’m supposed to be going to a normal all-boys school.”
“If you think this school is normal, you’re going to need some help. This school is filled with spies from different organizations. Not to mention the son of the head chairman of MO attends here. How much did Nan-jii-san even tell you?”
Ryoma glared, “The stupid old man just said that I had to attend here and spy on the MO’s head’s son and that I would find help from some ‘old friends’. Speaking of which, who else is here?”
“You didn’t even check the file that Ore-sama spent his precious time to put together.”
The dark-haired boy snorted and opened up the envelope, pulling out the data to look at. He read the first page.
SD:
Third Years:
Akutagawa Jiroh
Mukahi Gakuto
Oshitari Yuushi
Second Years:
Kaidoh Kaoru
Kirihara Akaya
Teachers:
Atobe Keigo- nurse
Inui Sadaharu- home economics and science- third and second years/third
Sanada Genichirou- P.E.- second years
Yukimura Seiichi- Tennis Team Coach
MO:
Third Years:
Fuji Syusuke (son of head)
Sengoku Kiyosumi
Shishido Ryo
Second Years:
Hiyoshi Wakashi
First Years:
Horio Satoshi
Katou Kachirou
Mizuno Katsuo
Teachers:
Yanagi Renji- science- second years
Yagyuu Hiroshi- social studies
Data may be flawed. Some agents may have been undetected yet.
Ryoma twitched. Both sides had that many agents in the school?!
“Fuji-senpai… is that one I’m supposed to gather data from? He’s the one that’s the son of the MO chairman?” the boy found that hard to believe. Sure, the fair-haired boy did have something sadistic and dangerous in him, but he didn’t think he was that important.
“So you really didn’t know. What’s more, he’s your roommate.”
"He's my what?!"
"Your roommate, brat."
"Argh... Great. Now that I think about it, he was around every time something bad happened to me ever since I set foot into this school. It's like I just crossed a black cat."
Atobe snickered, "Poor little baby. Don't worry. He's not as bad as you think as long as you stay on his good side. Just be more careful from now on. We can't risk someone finding out who you are."
"I'm not stupid, Monkey King. Did we get new agents? I'm pretty sure I only know Oshitari-sempai, Yukimura-san, and Inui-san."
"Says the one who just stated that he was not stupid. The only ones new are Kaidoh, Gakuto, and Sanada-san. And it's Inui-sensei and Yukimura-sensei for you. The others have been with us for at least two years," Atobe sometimes wished the boy was more flexible. That way he wouldn't have to do all the talking and answering all the time, "You sure you don't remember Kirihara? He busted your knee pretty badly last time you two met."
Ryoma growled, "You mean that dog who follows Yukimura-san around with the red eyes?"
"Bingo. And it's Yukimura-sensei."
"Che. Whatever. I need to go get my binder," the boy muttered as he slipped the data back into the envelope.
"You're planning to join the tennis club, right?"
"Of course, idiot."
"You know, as the school nurse, Ore-sama do have the authority to punish you for being so disrespectful."
The brat rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't dare," he paused, "How did you become the school nurse?"
"Thanks to Ore-sama's beautiful skills and brilliance, the headmaster offered me this position."
"I thought that you hated dealing with blood and body parts other than your own."
"Ore-sama is a generous person. Be awed by Ore-sama's kindness."
"Oh, I'm very awed by your monkey features," the boy retorted, "I'm going back to the math room now." Ryoma stood up only to groan and fall back into the mattress.
"Get it later, kid; you need to rest after drinking that nasty stuff. You're dismissed from the rest of the school day."
"Fine..." He lied back down and shut his eyes, "Wake me when the last bell rings, Monkey King."
"Ungrateful squirt," Atobe muttered. His eyes soften as he watched his long time friend fall asleep, "Sweet dreams, Ryoma."
"...'Night Keigo."
Atobe smirked.
Room 478, 2:50 P.M.
"Nani mo nakattan'da yo to Sasayaite kuretara
Donna ni ima boku wa sukuwareru darou...
Dakedo still love you," Fuji's melodious voice rang throughout the choir room.
"Nani mo nakatta ka no you ni Furumatteiru kedo
Soredemo mada kimi wo omoidasun'da...
Ima wa sukoshi nakasete..."
Everyone in the room clapped after the tensai finished his solo. Fuji gave the audience his usual dazzling smile and bowed. "Wonderful! Marvelous, Fuji-kun! A masterpiece!" the choir teacher praised the blue-eyed boy. Her attempt to speak English was very poor due to her accent. Thus, not many students understood her.
"Thank you, Minami-sensei." Fuji went to take his place on the risers.
"Now, my dear students! Who's next? Ahh! Kikumaru-kun! Oishi-kun! Let's see you perform your duets."
"Hoi?"
Dormitory Office, 3:00 P.M.
Tezuka Kunimitsu sighed as he reorganized his desk. Somehow, someone was here and had obviously gone through his stuff. At least nothing was gone...
Stacking a pile of forms for the upcoming Intra-School Ranking Tournament, the Dorm Leader and Tennis Club Captain started another pile of notes students of Dorm A had sent him. Most of them were just complaints and notices of small problems. Nothing much of importance.
A slip of paper caught his eyes. Pushing the pile he had started aside, Tezuka picked up the sheet and scanned through it.
Echizen Ryoma, Prince of the Samurai Demons, is attending this school. He will be joining the tennis club. Please look after him, Tezuka-san.
-KN
The boy felt a headache coming. Being Dorm Leader, Student Council President, and Tennis Club Captain to a bunch of (in his opinion) insane and out-of-the-world students was already enough pressure and stress. Added to that, now he had to look after a boy who has two governments and god knows how many other people after him, was not something that would help his health. Nonetheless, the brunet had to oblige. It was an order from his superior after all.
Going through his drawers, Tezuka found a lighter. Carefully, the light the slip of paper on fire and watched it burned away before picking up his tennis equipments and heading out the door.
Medical Wing, 3:05 P.M.
Ring. Ring. Riiinnnnngggg.
Atobe jolted awake and looked at his surroundings. He had nodded off in the middle of reading his novel.
The school nurse stood up and stretched; his eyes landed on Ryoma's curled up lithe figure. Atobe reached out a hand and hesitated before shaking the boy awake.
"Oi, brat, wake up. You need to go to the tennis club to hand in your registration forms, right?"
"...Five.. mo..re minutes... -san..."
The school nurse sighed and ran a hand through his (beautiful) hair before staring at the lump of laziness in front of him. His friend hadn't change all that much over the years. Oh well, there was only one way to wake up the brat. It was one of the many tricks he had learned when he had been with the Echizens.
Holding his hand above a certain boy's rear end, Atobe brought his hand back and brought it down again onto his target.
Smack!
Ryoma jumped up and kicked into the air out of habit before realizing what Atobe had done to wake him up. He glared at the gray haired man before standing up and rubbing his butt.
Atobe shoved a note into Ryoma's hand along with the file envelope before pushing him out the room and slamming the door shut.
The boy glanced at the note and walked off. Now, let’s see... rooms 200 to 312 were towards the East Side of the school...
Ryoma entered the math room after making sure that there was at least something to block the door from closing and locking him in again. (In this case, it was a book.)
Seeing his binder on his desk, he picked it up. Wait, there was something... missing. Something he was suppose to do...
He set his stuff down and zipped his binder opened. A few sheets of papers flew out; his hand went to catch them instinctively. Hey, weren't these registration forms for the Tennis Club? ...Tennis Club... Tennis Club... wait- Tennis Club?!
Ryoma groaned. Stuffing the papers into his binder, the boy hastily ran out of the room and out of the building towards the athletics section of the school.
Tennis Courts, 3:13 P.M.
"Members! Assemble!" Tezuka called out. He watched as the non-Regulars members of the club scrambled around to line up. The Regulars were already in their places.
The captain scanned the courts for any sign of the Prince. Players started to dread as Tezuka's frown deepened; they did not want any more laps other than the 20 they did for warm up.
Oishi was on the verge of entering mother-hen mode.
Eiji and Momo were ready to bolt if Tezuka decided to bellow out laps.
Kaidoh and Taka shifted nervously as they watched their buchou frown.
And Fuji just smiled.
The other non-Regulars had faces with fear written on them.
Of course, normally, the members wouldn't be as agitated as they were now when Tezuka frowned or showed any sign of annoyance. But the captain had been snappier and more irritated than usual this past week, resulting in laps, laps, and more laps. For whatever reason, they hoped their beloved buchou's change of mood would revert back to normal.
Suddenly, the source of Tezuka's frown arrived at the courts. That is, after he practically threw the gates open and almost ran into Momo.
Bent over, with hands on his knees panting, Ryoma held out his note from Atobe to Tezuka. His binder rested next to him as he looked up to study his new captain. The man- boy didn't even look like a high schooler! He was better fitted as a teacher than a student.
"I need your registration forms, Echizen," he informed the boy who was studying him.
"...Right," Ryoma crouched down to take his forms out of his binder. "Here."
Tezuka took the forms and turned to the crowd in front of him. He nodded to Oishi.
The vice-captain stepped up front and announced, "Everyone, this is the new transfer student, Echizen Ryoma. Please be kind to him, as he is part of out club now," he turned to the boy, "Would you like to say something?"
Ryoma shook his head and bowed slightly before lining up with the rest of the non-Regulars.
"First years, practice your swings on Court D. Second and third years, pair up and play doubles on B and C. Regulars, will be doing accuracy training here on Court A. That's all."
As the players separated, Ryoma heard snippets of conversations about him.
"Isn't he the one Fuji-sempai carried to Atobe-sensei?"
"He's Fuji-sempai's latest victim, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Let's stay away from him. I don't want to be any part of the hell Fuji-sempai's going to put him through."
Victim? What on earth was going on...? He felt someone stare holes through his head. Turning to the source, he caught Fuji-senpai staring at him. He gulped; something was up.
Fuji didn't know rather to celebrate or curse. Now that his current victim joined the Tennis Club, he would be able to torture him more. But aside that fact, the boy was also the Prince.
If that man knew about this, Echizen would be in danger. Even if the man was his "boss", there was no way Fuji was going to help him get what he wanted.
"Hoi ho- Nya! Fujiko, look out!"
Fuji broke out of his pondering just in time to block a ball coming straight at his face.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) the ball flew off course and hit a loud first year who, instead of doing his swings, was complaining about how his skills were wasted by just doing swings with the rest of the "amateurs". The kid fell over and blacked out. No one cared; he was annoying anyways.
A shadow loomed over Ryoma as he stood by himself on court B. "Hey, shorty, this court is for second years. Go do your swings with the first years."
Ryoma glared at the boy who just insulted him, "I'm a second year."
The other boy smirked, "Oh? Well, I suppose a shorty like you should just go along with the first years. No one wants to pair with you either way."
As the said "shorty" was about to retort, a stoic and commanding voice interrupted the two. "Arai! Echizen! 10 laps for not practicing!"
"What?! But it was that shorty's fault!"
Ryoma had already taken off.
"Arai. Make that 20 laps."
"A-Hai!"
5:05 P.M.
"Alright, everyone! Practice is over. First years pick up the balls and clean the court! Second years, put down the nets! Everyone dismissed!" Oishi wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.
"Oishi-senpai, want to go grab some burgers with Eiji-senpai and me?"
"Ha? Eiji's going?"
"Of course, nya! Let's go together, Oishi!" The redhead was bouncing on his heels with excitement.
"Aah... Sure." He had better go and watch over the two; they were the most troublesome out of all the Regulars. "Tezuka, will you be alright?"
The buchou of the Tennis Club nodded from behind Oishi. "Ahh. Go, I'll lock up for you today."
"Okay..." Before Oishi could say more though, Eiji dragged him away as Momo walked after them.
Fuji almost bumped into Tezuka as the taller boy stopped abruptly. "Tezuka?"
" Fuji. Can you..."
"Can I?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Can you... walk Echizen to the dorm?"
"Eh? Why would you be worried about him?" Fuji teased lightly. It wasn't everyday that the stoic Tezuka Kunimitsu asked someone to walk home a boy he barely knew.
"I heard he was unwell. Atobe-sensei sent me a note to look after him." He lied. It was the only thing he could come up with without blowing Echizen's cover. Even if Fuji did work for the opposite side, he trusted that the young man would keep his word to look after the boy if he was asked.
"I see. It's fine by me; he is my roommate anyways."
"Thank you."
"No problem!" Fuji cheerfully responded.
In front Seishun Academy, 5:11 P.M.
"Echizen-kun!!!"
Ryoma looked up as someone called him. He saw Fuji-senpai waving at him by the gate. The boy mentally groaned; what did he want?
"What is it, Fuji-senpai?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just waiting for you to come out so I could walk you to the dorms." He started to walk.
Ryoma, with his curiosity perked, asked, "Why would you want to walk with me?"
"Saa... You're my roommate. And I'm afraid Tezuka would hold me responsible if anything were to happen to you."
"Buchou? Why would he hold you responsible?" Ryoma jogged a bit to catch up to Fuji.
"He heard you were unwell from Atobe-sensei."
"I'm perfectly fine, Fuji-senpai."
"I don't think someone as light as you would be "perfectly fine". You just recovered from wasabi sushi and Inui Juice, after all."
"So you fed me those on purpose?! Wait- How would you know if I was heavy or not?!" Ryoma was enraged. He had thought that incident was merely an accident.
"Saa..." Fuji ignored Ryoma's first question. "I carried you to the nurse."
"Oh..."
For the rest of the walk, the two stay silent.
Ryoma, who was still angry at Fuji, muttered curses under his breath. Suddenly something hit him. If he carried me, then he could've discovered my identity! My uniform wasn't exactly tucked in...
He shot Fuji a few nervous glances, unaware that the other boy was watching him from the corner of his eyes. Seriously, this boy doesn't even seem to act like the infamous Prince of the Samurai Demons.
"Ne, you don't have to keep looking at me. If you have something to say, say it. You're acting like my carrying you was a bad thing."
"Er... It's nothing." I don't think he found out though... Oh well, I'm confident that I can defend myself if he ever finds out.
Fuji mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he saw Ryoma relax. He had decided. I guess I'll just keep watching him to see what his true motives are before taking action.
"We're here."
Ryoma looked up to see a huge classy building. His jaws dropped, "That's the dorm?!"
T.B.C.
The song Fuji performed was called The Ache of My Heart by Fuji Syusuke (Yuki Kaida).
First Unrevised Version 8.9.07
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Bold" English for dialog
"Normal" Japanese when used for dialog
"Italics" Flashback, Important Stuff, Locations, etc
Recap
Fuji mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he saw Ryoma relax. He had decided. I guess I'll just keep watching him to see what his true motives are before taking action.
"We're here."
Ryoma looked up to see a huge classy building. His jaws dropped, "That's the dorm?!"
When the Line Breaks
By Sweet Obsidian Rain
Chapter Five: Karupin
"When the line breaks, everything becomes forbidden;
Just as it is forbidden to break the line."Dormitory A: Room 411, 6:30 A.M.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A groan.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A hand stuck out from underneath the covers and attempted to shut the alarm clock up. Swatting empty air, a green-black head stuck out and golden eyes squinted around their surroundings.
BAM!
The boy jumped up and barely saved himself from falling off the top of the bunk bed. Ryoma peered below him to see Fuji trying to shut of his alarm clock. Keyword being 'trying'.
"Meow..." Karupin was sitting on top of the honey-haired boy's face.
Scrambling down from his bunk, Ryoma quickly grabbed hold of his cat and stepped back to see Fuji giving him and Karupin the evil eye after turning off the alarm.
Oh, his roommate was so going to get it... This, added to the revenge the boy was still going to get from yesterday. Putting on his usual smile, Fuji stood up and slipped into the bathroom first.
An hour later, 7:30 A.M.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Ryoma continued to pound on the bathroom door while literally hollering for Fuji to hurry up.
"Oi! Fuji-senpai, are you done yet?! I need to use the bathroom, now." Damn. He couldn't hold it in longer... Hopefully his troublesome senpai would be out before he had an accident.
"Not yet, Echizen-kun... Give me five more minutes."
"Five more minute... five more minutes... It's what he's been saying for the past half an hour..." The younger boy muttered under his breath. He was most definitely going to be late for class. Ryoma shifted again. Maybe he should just let it out...
Finally, the door opened and revealed a fresh and beaming Fuji Syusuke. "Here you go, Echizen-kun!" He looked at his wristwatch, "Oh, I'll get going first. Be sure not to be late for class." And just like that, he was gone.
Ryoma wanted to glare and stab Fuji a thousand times and again. However, he now had to take care of his bathroom problem. Slamming the door shut behind him, he rushed to get ready.
Ryoma threw the dorm doors shut behind him and scurried out of the building towards his school. Holding his binder in one hand, he tried to put on his tie correctly. He really needed to shop for a school bag.
Not exactly paying attention to his surroundings as he still struggled to put on his tie properly, the boy didn't notice the tall form walking ahead of him. Before he knew it, he had collided with the person.
"Echizen?!" The person- Momo exclaimed, picking himself off from the ground. He held out a hand to Ryoma to help him up.
"Thanks," the younger boy said as he shook of Momo's hands.
Momo frowned, "Aren't you suppose to be in class?"
Grunting and unwilling to explain, Ryoma instead retorted with, "So are you."
Blinking for a full second, Momo didn't registered what the other boy said until a few seconds later, "EH?!?! Echizen, we're late!"
Rolling his eyes, Ryoma was about to make a snarky comment, but Momo had already latched onto his arm and dragged him off to the school.
3... 2... 1
"WE'RE SORRY, WE'RE LATE!!!" Momo shouted as he barged into the quiet math room. Everyone's head turned towards them; Ryoma and Momo were once again, the center of attention. (For Ryoma, at least.)
"Momoshiro-kun, Echizen-kun, in your seats now! See me after class," Tatsuya-sensei ordered.
As Ryoma sat down, he wondered what happened to the timid Tatsuya-sensei he met yesterday. The class was extremely quiet as well; not at all like the gossiping teenagers they were yesterday.
"Now, class..."
11:05 P.M., Courtyard
"Awahhh! I'm so glad we only have to get to class early for cleaning duties! Tatsuya-sensei sure is strict..."
Ryoma yawned as he walked with Momo towards the cafeteria. He was dead tired; still not used to the time change yet. The boy contemplated between actually going to buy and eat his lunch or go and find the Monkey King's office so he could take a nap in one of those beds.
"...Echizen? Oi! Echizen, are you listening?"
Ryoma continued to drown out Momo's enthusiastic talking and looked at the school's surroundings. Preferably the gardens. His sensitive ears twitched as they caught the sound of arguing...
"I told you...! I refuse, and I absolutely forbid you from telling that man!" The voice was familiar to the boy's ears...
His eyes widened; that was Fuji-senpai! Was his roommate in trouble? Ryoma anticipated going to help out his senpai, but then mentally gave himself a slap. Of course not! The guy was the son of the head of an opposing organization; he could take care of himself.
But... This was a good chance to gather information.
"ECH-" Ryoma covered his new friend's mouth before he could shout and ruin his chance.
"Mhm!..Hef yo!" The taller boy struggled. Never again, was he going to bend down to get Echizen's attention.
"...Momo, I'll only let go if..." Momo stopped struggling as he felt Ryoms'a breath on his neck. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. What the...? What was that sound? "...You go to the cafeteria quietly. I just remembered I have something to do, so I can't go with you. Do you understand?"
Momo gulped as he realized that the sound he heard earlier was really his heart thumping madly. Nodding desperately, the boy gasped for air as Ryoma let him go.
He opened his mouth only to have his friend cover his mouth with his hand again. "Talk quietly!" Ryoma hissed before removing his hand.
Opening his mouth to talk (again), he realized that he was oddly feeling uncomfortable. Oh shit... Momo felt the familiar feeling of a blush creeping up is neck. What the hell is wrong with me?! The boy gulped (again) as he looked at an expectant Echizen Ryoma before dashing off.
Ryoma had a confused look on his face as he stared after Momo. Surely the boy was going to ask why he was so secretive or suspicious... Oh well. Shrugging, the black-green haired boy cautiously walked closer to where he heard Fuji's voice.
Reaching closer, the Ryoma stopped and hid behind a tree as he met the sight of Fuji and the history teacher, Yagyuu-sensei, arguing in the center of the circle of trees. More quietly now than before, but definitely still in a heated argument.
"Do you realize how dangerous it is to keep it from the boss?! All of us here would be at risk if he found out. Even the one-"
"Even the ones who don't know about this." Fuji finished the sentence. His voice wasn't the cheerful one that many people heard. It was iced and hard. "Yagyuu, if you say you really are loyal to me, then you will trust me. I will not give in to that man." With iron control and authority, Fuji left no room for any more objection.
"...Meow."
Ryoma looked at the source of the noise up in the tree he was hiding behind. His mind went up in panic as he saw Karupin up in the tree. Oh, his dear beloved Karupin was stuck in a tree!
"Karupin!!" The boy shouted before even realizing what he did. Ryoma stopped and froze as he felt two pairs of eyes snap up to look at him. Quickly recovering, the boy pointed up shakily up at his Himalayan cat. "Karupin... G-get down..." Indeed the boy was deathly worried for his cat. It was a good thing that this was something that could cover up his mistake though.
"Saa... Echizen-kun, I don't think you would want your cat to jump down from that height. You can easily see that he's injured his front foot." Fuji’s mask was up again as he walked up to his roommate. “Yagyuu-sensei, can I borrow your key to the closest storage closet? I’m sure they have a ladder there.” To untrained people, it would’ve just been a normal request coming from a smiling student. However, Ryoma was trained and he saw that there seemed to be a hidden meaning in Fuji’s request.
“Fuji-kun, why don’t you stay here and watch… Karupin was its name? With Echizen-kun? I’ll go and get the ladder.” Ryoma stared after his social studies teacher.
“Echizen-kun? Is there something wrong with Yagyuu-sensei? You seem to be quite taken by him…”
He's sharp, Ryoma thought and mumbled, “Karupin isn’t an ‘it’,” to cover up his mistake. I have to be more careful from now on…
Laughing lightly, Fuji said, “Yagyuu-sensei is like that. He isn’t good with pets, especially cats,” he paused and seemed to be trying to remember something, “I remember there was one time- last year I think when a kitten that Eiji found accidentally got into his classroom after school. The next morning he and his classroom was a wreck.”
Raising an eyebrow, Ryoma replied, “Where’s the kitten now?”
“Ahh… Eiji was having trouble raising a cat while keeping up with his studies, so he gave it-her away to a friend of his sister’s.” Fuji corrected himself and flashed Ryoma an amused smile when the boy gave him a half-hearted glare.
“I see…”
“Ahem…” The duo turned to look at the social studies teacher and a ladder next to him. “Could you two please help me set this ladder by the tree?”
Hurriedly, Ryoma went to help Yagyuu. He was about to climb the ladder when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. “Let me go up, Echizen-kun. It is my duty as a teacher to see that you don’t hurt yourself. Not to mention, you still won’t be tall enough to reach it.”
Ryoma twitched at the mention of ‘it’ and said, “But... Karupin doesn’t like it when strangers touch him…” What he said was true, but he also didn’t want someone who didn’t get along with cats to touch his precious Karupin.
Yagyuu frowned.
Fuji seemed to be laughing amusedly at the two. “Karupin didn’t seem to have any problems with me this morning…” The tensai paused; Ryoma shifted uncomfortably as he remembered what had happened in the morning. “I don’t mind going up. I’m pretty sure I can reach him too.”
Sighing resignedly, the shorter boy stepped back from the ladder and watched as Fuji climbed up.
11:50 A.M., Room 237
Ryoma slumped in his seat as he regained his breath. Damn… He almost wished he didn’t agree to attend this school; it was huge.
Fuji and he had, thankfully, made it in time to science before the bell rang. After rescuing Karupin, Fuji invited himself to walk with Ryoma back to the dorms. Of course, Ryoma had refused when the blue-eyed boy offered to go, but Fuji seemed to have not heard his protest and tagged along.
After they had made sure that Karupin was safely in their room, Ryoma found himself in a race with Fuji to see who would make it back to the school and to the science room first. Needless to say, it was a tie.
Suddenly, the chatter that was around him went silent as someone stepped into the room. Glancing around, he saw that many other students had paled after seeing something.
Following their gaze, he saw something awfully familiar in a pitcher. His face paled as well as his eyes traveled up the hand that was holding the container to see opaque box shaped glasses.
Inui-san… Ryoma inwardly gulped and winced as he remembered his past experiences with the man.
“Ii data… The new student, Echizen-kun, is in class today…” The box shaped glasses glinted as the man set his pitcher down on his desk and scribbled into his notebook.
The silence was so tense in the classroom that the birds on the tree next to the classroom window flew off as if they sensed the tension.
A pencil dropped on the ground and the owner- a tiny third year squeaked.
“Ii data…” Inui finally snapped his notebook close, “Class, today we will be studying the uses of different insects.”
And Inui Juice released its wrath.
Seishun Academy’s Medical Wing, 2:05 P.M.
A certain black-green haired boy stirred as he heard many other groans.
“…I’m alive…” He heard someone say to himself.
He boy sat up and winced. His head was pounding again… “I swear I’m gonna…” He trailed off as he heard a voice.
“Ore-sama sees that everyone has woken up. Now, I kindly demand that you all leave my office at once. Ore-sama does not need too many people in here. It’s making the room stuffy.”
The students, already traumatized enough, meekly bowed and limped (or crawled) out of the nurse's office.
Ring.
Ryoma, being the brat he was, refused to move. Instead, he lied down on the mattress and attempted to go back to sleep. Except someone thought he did not need the sleep and woke him up.
“Echizen-kun… Echi-” The gentle voice was cut off as the door to the medical wing slammed open.
“ATOBE KEIGO! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHY SOME OF MY STUDENTS ARE MISSING!!” Apparently, the person who woke Ryoma up was Sanada Genichirou. The man took a few deep breaths before calming down. “Why are some of my second years missing? And in your care nonetheless?”
“Ah? Sanada, if you haven’t noticed, the entire third year fifth period science class was sent here due to stomaching horrid juice. Go find Inui to yell at.” Atobe inspected his nails, “Ore-sama merely took care of his test subjects.”
“Saa… I thought the juices were exceptionally tasty this time.”
Atobe glanced at Fuji, then at Sanada’s paling face, “Well, almost everyone in that class.”
Huffing, the physical education teacher stalked out of the room.
Ryoma sat there rubbing his eyes. The boy jumped when a certain sadist poked his side. “Echizen-kun, I think we should get going. Home economics will start soon.”
Ryoma took a few seconds to process what Fuji had said. Hey, wasn't Inui the teacher for that class too?
Before Ryoma could do anything, he realized that while in his thoughts, Fuji had managed to lead him to room 122.
He gulped.
T.B.C.
First Unrevised Version 8.24.07
First Revised Version 8.24.07
Chapter 3
Next Chapter
And I'm going to do a two chapter special for WtLB. Enjoy!
“Bold” English
“Italics” Thoughts, Flashbacks, Important Stuff, etc
“ Normal” Japanese when used for dialogue
Recap
Ryoma snapped his eyes open to meet grey ones.
“AHHH!!!!! IT’S A MONKEY!!!!!”
When the Line Breaks
By Sweet Obsidian Rain
Chapter Four: Surprises
“When the line breaks, everything becomes forbidden;
Just as it is forbidden to break the line.”Tuesday, Seishun Academy’s Medical Wing, 12:00 P.M.
Atobe Keigo was a beautiful man. Of course he knew it himself, being the vain person he was.
Never was he ever insulted. He was never ignored. And never was he called a monkey by anyone except one certain brat.
So when that certain brat had woken up thanks to his beautiful nursing skills and all but screamed “monkey” upon seeing him, Atobe had decided to never help that brat again when he passed out from one of those disgusting commoners’ concoctions that Inui made.
“Hmph, you should be awed by Ore-sama’s beautiful face. It was all thanks to Ore-sama that a brat like you could wake up.”
Ryoma sat up on the bed and stared wide-eyed at Atobe. “Y-you…” something clinked in Ryoma’s head. An old friend huh? Old friend my ass. I’m gonna strangle that old man. “You’re the one that Oyaji sent?!” Ryoma sniffed, “I don’t need a monkey to help me, much less a Monkey King.”
Atobe raised an eyebrow, “Ore-sama happens to recall rescuing you from one of Inui’s concoctions, and he doesn’t even get a ‘thank you’? Some ‘Prince’ you are, brat.”
Ryoma cringed at Inui’s name. So that mad scientist was here as well. “Che. So? Where’s the information I’m suppose to get on this school?”
Atobe smirked. Although brat he may be, he could hear the silent thank you Ryoma had given him. While many people who did not know these two may think that they did not get along at all, behind the insults and glares was the silent support and strength they lent each other. The two had practically grown up together before parting when Atobe moved away and entered senior high school.
He turned around to face his desk and stuck one of his pens into a hole on the bottom of the top left drawer. Lifting the fake bottom up with the pen, he reached in and took out a file envelope.
He threw the file envelope at Ryoma before pulling his pen out and locking the drawer up. “Everything is in there. However, Ore-sama suggests you read this somewhere other than your dorm room. By yourself, obviously.”
“Why? I can just read in my room while my roommate is away, can’t I?”
Atobe snorted. “Did you even check who your roommate is? Never mind, Ore-sama takes it that you didn’t, judging by that expression.”
Ryoma searched around for his binder that contained his schedule. He blinked before slapping himself on the head. “I left my binder in the math room.”
“Then how did you pull through your other classes without it?” Atobe sank down in his chair.
“I didn’t. I got locked in the math room until towards the end of lunch.” The boy blushed a bit.
“Then why didn’t you pick the lock?”
“I couldn’t; forgot to bring lockpicks.”
Atobe raised an eyebrow, “It’s not often that you’re so careless, Ryoma. Be careful around here.” The concern was shown through his sentence.
“I know! It’s just that I didn’t think anything like this morning would happen! I’m supposed to be going to a normal all-boys school.”
“If you think this school is normal, you’re going to need some help. This school is filled with spies from different organizations. Not to mention the son of the head chairman of MO attends here. How much did Nan-jii-san even tell you?”
Ryoma glared, “The stupid old man just said that I had to attend here and spy on the MO’s head’s son and that I would find help from some ‘old friends’. Speaking of which, who else is here?”
“You didn’t even check the file that Ore-sama spent his precious time to put together.”
The dark-haired boy snorted and opened up the envelope, pulling out the data to look at. He read the first page.
SD:
Third Years:
Akutagawa Jiroh
Mukahi Gakuto
Oshitari Yuushi
Second Years:
Kaidoh Kaoru
Kirihara Akaya
Teachers:
Atobe Keigo- nurse
Inui Sadaharu- home economics and science- third and second years/third
Sanada Genichirou- P.E.- second years
Yukimura Seiichi- Tennis Team Coach
MO:
Third Years:
Fuji Syusuke (son of head)
Sengoku Kiyosumi
Shishido Ryo
Second Years:
Hiyoshi Wakashi
First Years:
Horio Satoshi
Katou Kachirou
Mizuno Katsuo
Teachers:
Yanagi Renji- science- second years
Yagyuu Hiroshi- social studies
Data may be flawed. Some agents may have been undetected yet.
Ryoma twitched. Both sides had that many agents in the school?!
“Fuji-senpai… is that one I’m supposed to gather data from? He’s the one that’s the son of the MO chairman?” the boy found that hard to believe. Sure, the fair-haired boy did have something sadistic and dangerous in him, but he didn’t think he was that important.
“So you really didn’t know. What’s more, he’s your roommate.”
"He's my what?!"
"Your roommate, brat."
"Argh... Great. Now that I think about it, he was around every time something bad happened to me ever since I set foot into this school. It's like I just crossed a black cat."
Atobe snickered, "Poor little baby. Don't worry. He's not as bad as you think as long as you stay on his good side. Just be more careful from now on. We can't risk someone finding out who you are."
"I'm not stupid, Monkey King. Did we get new agents? I'm pretty sure I only know Oshitari-sempai, Yukimura-san, and Inui-san."
"Says the one who just stated that he was not stupid. The only ones new are Kaidoh, Gakuto, and Sanada-san. And it's Inui-sensei and Yukimura-sensei for you. The others have been with us for at least two years," Atobe sometimes wished the boy was more flexible. That way he wouldn't have to do all the talking and answering all the time, "You sure you don't remember Kirihara? He busted your knee pretty badly last time you two met."
Ryoma growled, "You mean that dog who follows Yukimura-san around with the red eyes?"
"Bingo. And it's Yukimura-sensei."
"Che. Whatever. I need to go get my binder," the boy muttered as he slipped the data back into the envelope.
"You're planning to join the tennis club, right?"
"Of course, idiot."
"You know, as the school nurse, Ore-sama do have the authority to punish you for being so disrespectful."
The brat rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't dare," he paused, "How did you become the school nurse?"
"Thanks to Ore-sama's beautiful skills and brilliance, the headmaster offered me this position."
"I thought that you hated dealing with blood and body parts other than your own."
"Ore-sama is a generous person. Be awed by Ore-sama's kindness."
"Oh, I'm very awed by your monkey features," the boy retorted, "I'm going back to the math room now." Ryoma stood up only to groan and fall back into the mattress.
"Get it later, kid; you need to rest after drinking that nasty stuff. You're dismissed from the rest of the school day."
"Fine..." He lied back down and shut his eyes, "Wake me when the last bell rings, Monkey King."
"Ungrateful squirt," Atobe muttered. His eyes soften as he watched his long time friend fall asleep, "Sweet dreams, Ryoma."
"...'Night Keigo."
Atobe smirked.
Room 478, 2:50 P.M.
"Nani mo nakattan'da yo to Sasayaite kuretara
Donna ni ima boku wa sukuwareru darou...
Dakedo still love you," Fuji's melodious voice rang throughout the choir room.
"Nani mo nakatta ka no you ni Furumatteiru kedo
Soredemo mada kimi wo omoidasun'da...
Ima wa sukoshi nakasete..."
Everyone in the room clapped after the tensai finished his solo. Fuji gave the audience his usual dazzling smile and bowed. "Wonderful! Marvelous, Fuji-kun! A masterpiece!" the choir teacher praised the blue-eyed boy. Her attempt to speak English was very poor due to her accent. Thus, not many students understood her.
"Thank you, Minami-sensei." Fuji went to take his place on the risers.
"Now, my dear students! Who's next? Ahh! Kikumaru-kun! Oishi-kun! Let's see you perform your duets."
"Hoi?"
Dormitory Office, 3:00 P.M.
Tezuka Kunimitsu sighed as he reorganized his desk. Somehow, someone was here and had obviously gone through his stuff. At least nothing was gone...
Stacking a pile of forms for the upcoming Intra-School Ranking Tournament, the Dorm Leader and Tennis Club Captain started another pile of notes students of Dorm A had sent him. Most of them were just complaints and notices of small problems. Nothing much of importance.
A slip of paper caught his eyes. Pushing the pile he had started aside, Tezuka picked up the sheet and scanned through it.
Echizen Ryoma, Prince of the Samurai Demons, is attending this school. He will be joining the tennis club. Please look after him, Tezuka-san.
-KN
The boy felt a headache coming. Being Dorm Leader, Student Council President, and Tennis Club Captain to a bunch of (in his opinion) insane and out-of-the-world students was already enough pressure and stress. Added to that, now he had to look after a boy who has two governments and god knows how many other people after him, was not something that would help his health. Nonetheless, the brunet had to oblige. It was an order from his superior after all.
Going through his drawers, Tezuka found a lighter. Carefully, the light the slip of paper on fire and watched it burned away before picking up his tennis equipments and heading out the door.
Medical Wing, 3:05 P.M.
Ring. Ring. Riiinnnnngggg.
Atobe jolted awake and looked at his surroundings. He had nodded off in the middle of reading his novel.
The school nurse stood up and stretched; his eyes landed on Ryoma's curled up lithe figure. Atobe reached out a hand and hesitated before shaking the boy awake.
"Oi, brat, wake up. You need to go to the tennis club to hand in your registration forms, right?"
"...Five.. mo..re minutes... -san..."
The school nurse sighed and ran a hand through his (beautiful) hair before staring at the lump of laziness in front of him. His friend hadn't change all that much over the years. Oh well, there was only one way to wake up the brat. It was one of the many tricks he had learned when he had been with the Echizens.
Holding his hand above a certain boy's rear end, Atobe brought his hand back and brought it down again onto his target.
Smack!
Ryoma jumped up and kicked into the air out of habit before realizing what Atobe had done to wake him up. He glared at the gray haired man before standing up and rubbing his butt.
Atobe shoved a note into Ryoma's hand along with the file envelope before pushing him out the room and slamming the door shut.
The boy glanced at the note and walked off. Now, let’s see... rooms 200 to 312 were towards the East Side of the school...
Ryoma entered the math room after making sure that there was at least something to block the door from closing and locking him in again. (In this case, it was a book.)
Seeing his binder on his desk, he picked it up. Wait, there was something... missing. Something he was suppose to do...
He set his stuff down and zipped his binder opened. A few sheets of papers flew out; his hand went to catch them instinctively. Hey, weren't these registration forms for the Tennis Club? ...Tennis Club... Tennis Club... wait- Tennis Club?!
Ryoma groaned. Stuffing the papers into his binder, the boy hastily ran out of the room and out of the building towards the athletics section of the school.
Tennis Courts, 3:13 P.M.
"Members! Assemble!" Tezuka called out. He watched as the non-Regulars members of the club scrambled around to line up. The Regulars were already in their places.
The captain scanned the courts for any sign of the Prince. Players started to dread as Tezuka's frown deepened; they did not want any more laps other than the 20 they did for warm up.
Oishi was on the verge of entering mother-hen mode.
Eiji and Momo were ready to bolt if Tezuka decided to bellow out laps.
Kaidoh and Taka shifted nervously as they watched their buchou frown.
And Fuji just smiled.
The other non-Regulars had faces with fear written on them.
Of course, normally, the members wouldn't be as agitated as they were now when Tezuka frowned or showed any sign of annoyance. But the captain had been snappier and more irritated than usual this past week, resulting in laps, laps, and more laps. For whatever reason, they hoped their beloved buchou's change of mood would revert back to normal.
Suddenly, the source of Tezuka's frown arrived at the courts. That is, after he practically threw the gates open and almost ran into Momo.
Bent over, with hands on his knees panting, Ryoma held out his note from Atobe to Tezuka. His binder rested next to him as he looked up to study his new captain. The man- boy didn't even look like a high schooler! He was better fitted as a teacher than a student.
"I need your registration forms, Echizen," he informed the boy who was studying him.
"...Right," Ryoma crouched down to take his forms out of his binder. "Here."
Tezuka took the forms and turned to the crowd in front of him. He nodded to Oishi.
The vice-captain stepped up front and announced, "Everyone, this is the new transfer student, Echizen Ryoma. Please be kind to him, as he is part of out club now," he turned to the boy, "Would you like to say something?"
Ryoma shook his head and bowed slightly before lining up with the rest of the non-Regulars.
"First years, practice your swings on Court D. Second and third years, pair up and play doubles on B and C. Regulars, will be doing accuracy training here on Court A. That's all."
As the players separated, Ryoma heard snippets of conversations about him.
"Isn't he the one Fuji-sempai carried to Atobe-sensei?"
"He's Fuji-sempai's latest victim, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Let's stay away from him. I don't want to be any part of the hell Fuji-sempai's going to put him through."
Victim? What on earth was going on...? He felt someone stare holes through his head. Turning to the source, he caught Fuji-senpai staring at him. He gulped; something was up.
Fuji didn't know rather to celebrate or curse. Now that his current victim joined the Tennis Club, he would be able to torture him more. But aside that fact, the boy was also the Prince.
If that man knew about this, Echizen would be in danger. Even if the man was his "boss", there was no way Fuji was going to help him get what he wanted.
"Hoi ho- Nya! Fujiko, look out!"
Fuji broke out of his pondering just in time to block a ball coming straight at his face.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) the ball flew off course and hit a loud first year who, instead of doing his swings, was complaining about how his skills were wasted by just doing swings with the rest of the "amateurs". The kid fell over and blacked out. No one cared; he was annoying anyways.
A shadow loomed over Ryoma as he stood by himself on court B. "Hey, shorty, this court is for second years. Go do your swings with the first years."
Ryoma glared at the boy who just insulted him, "I'm a second year."
The other boy smirked, "Oh? Well, I suppose a shorty like you should just go along with the first years. No one wants to pair with you either way."
As the said "shorty" was about to retort, a stoic and commanding voice interrupted the two. "Arai! Echizen! 10 laps for not practicing!"
"What?! But it was that shorty's fault!"
Ryoma had already taken off.
"Arai. Make that 20 laps."
"A-Hai!"
5:05 P.M.
"Alright, everyone! Practice is over. First years pick up the balls and clean the court! Second years, put down the nets! Everyone dismissed!" Oishi wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.
"Oishi-senpai, want to go grab some burgers with Eiji-senpai and me?"
"Ha? Eiji's going?"
"Of course, nya! Let's go together, Oishi!" The redhead was bouncing on his heels with excitement.
"Aah... Sure." He had better go and watch over the two; they were the most troublesome out of all the Regulars. "Tezuka, will you be alright?"
The buchou of the Tennis Club nodded from behind Oishi. "Ahh. Go, I'll lock up for you today."
"Okay..." Before Oishi could say more though, Eiji dragged him away as Momo walked after them.
Fuji almost bumped into Tezuka as the taller boy stopped abruptly. "Tezuka?"
" Fuji. Can you..."
"Can I?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Can you... walk Echizen to the dorm?"
"Eh? Why would you be worried about him?" Fuji teased lightly. It wasn't everyday that the stoic Tezuka Kunimitsu asked someone to walk home a boy he barely knew.
"I heard he was unwell. Atobe-sensei sent me a note to look after him." He lied. It was the only thing he could come up with without blowing Echizen's cover. Even if Fuji did work for the opposite side, he trusted that the young man would keep his word to look after the boy if he was asked.
"I see. It's fine by me; he is my roommate anyways."
"Thank you."
"No problem!" Fuji cheerfully responded.
In front Seishun Academy, 5:11 P.M.
"Echizen-kun!!!"
Ryoma looked up as someone called him. He saw Fuji-senpai waving at him by the gate. The boy mentally groaned; what did he want?
"What is it, Fuji-senpai?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just waiting for you to come out so I could walk you to the dorms." He started to walk.
Ryoma, with his curiosity perked, asked, "Why would you want to walk with me?"
"Saa... You're my roommate. And I'm afraid Tezuka would hold me responsible if anything were to happen to you."
"Buchou? Why would he hold you responsible?" Ryoma jogged a bit to catch up to Fuji.
"He heard you were unwell from Atobe-sensei."
"I'm perfectly fine, Fuji-senpai."
"I don't think someone as light as you would be "perfectly fine". You just recovered from wasabi sushi and Inui Juice, after all."
"So you fed me those on purpose?! Wait- How would you know if I was heavy or not?!" Ryoma was enraged. He had thought that incident was merely an accident.
"Saa..." Fuji ignored Ryoma's first question. "I carried you to the nurse."
"Oh..."
For the rest of the walk, the two stay silent.
Ryoma, who was still angry at Fuji, muttered curses under his breath. Suddenly something hit him. If he carried me, then he could've discovered my identity! My uniform wasn't exactly tucked in...
He shot Fuji a few nervous glances, unaware that the other boy was watching him from the corner of his eyes. Seriously, this boy doesn't even seem to act like the infamous Prince of the Samurai Demons.
"Ne, you don't have to keep looking at me. If you have something to say, say it. You're acting like my carrying you was a bad thing."
"Er... It's nothing." I don't think he found out though... Oh well, I'm confident that I can defend myself if he ever finds out.
Fuji mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he saw Ryoma relax. He had decided. I guess I'll just keep watching him to see what his true motives are before taking action.
"We're here."
Ryoma looked up to see a huge classy building. His jaws dropped, "That's the dorm?!"
T.B.C.
The song Fuji performed was called The Ache of My Heart by Fuji Syusuke (Yuki Kaida).
First Unrevised Version 8.9.07
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Bold" English for dialog
"Normal" Japanese when used for dialog
"Italics" Flashback, Important Stuff, Locations, etc
Recap
Fuji mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he saw Ryoma relax. He had decided. I guess I'll just keep watching him to see what his true motives are before taking action.
"We're here."
Ryoma looked up to see a huge classy building. His jaws dropped, "That's the dorm?!"
When the Line Breaks
By Sweet Obsidian Rain
Chapter Five: Karupin
"When the line breaks, everything becomes forbidden;
Just as it is forbidden to break the line."Dormitory A: Room 411, 6:30 A.M.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A groan.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A hand stuck out from underneath the covers and attempted to shut the alarm clock up. Swatting empty air, a green-black head stuck out and golden eyes squinted around their surroundings.
BAM!
The boy jumped up and barely saved himself from falling off the top of the bunk bed. Ryoma peered below him to see Fuji trying to shut of his alarm clock. Keyword being 'trying'.
"Meow..." Karupin was sitting on top of the honey-haired boy's face.
Scrambling down from his bunk, Ryoma quickly grabbed hold of his cat and stepped back to see Fuji giving him and Karupin the evil eye after turning off the alarm.
Oh, his roommate was so going to get it... This, added to the revenge the boy was still going to get from yesterday. Putting on his usual smile, Fuji stood up and slipped into the bathroom first.
An hour later, 7:30 A.M.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Ryoma continued to pound on the bathroom door while literally hollering for Fuji to hurry up.
"Oi! Fuji-senpai, are you done yet?! I need to use the bathroom, now." Damn. He couldn't hold it in longer... Hopefully his troublesome senpai would be out before he had an accident.
"Not yet, Echizen-kun... Give me five more minutes."
"Five more minute... five more minutes... It's what he's been saying for the past half an hour..." The younger boy muttered under his breath. He was most definitely going to be late for class. Ryoma shifted again. Maybe he should just let it out...
Finally, the door opened and revealed a fresh and beaming Fuji Syusuke. "Here you go, Echizen-kun!" He looked at his wristwatch, "Oh, I'll get going first. Be sure not to be late for class." And just like that, he was gone.
Ryoma wanted to glare and stab Fuji a thousand times and again. However, he now had to take care of his bathroom problem. Slamming the door shut behind him, he rushed to get ready.
Ryoma threw the dorm doors shut behind him and scurried out of the building towards his school. Holding his binder in one hand, he tried to put on his tie correctly. He really needed to shop for a school bag.
Not exactly paying attention to his surroundings as he still struggled to put on his tie properly, the boy didn't notice the tall form walking ahead of him. Before he knew it, he had collided with the person.
"Echizen?!" The person- Momo exclaimed, picking himself off from the ground. He held out a hand to Ryoma to help him up.
"Thanks," the younger boy said as he shook of Momo's hands.
Momo frowned, "Aren't you suppose to be in class?"
Grunting and unwilling to explain, Ryoma instead retorted with, "So are you."
Blinking for a full second, Momo didn't registered what the other boy said until a few seconds later, "EH?!?! Echizen, we're late!"
Rolling his eyes, Ryoma was about to make a snarky comment, but Momo had already latched onto his arm and dragged him off to the school.
3... 2... 1
"WE'RE SORRY, WE'RE LATE!!!" Momo shouted as he barged into the quiet math room. Everyone's head turned towards them; Ryoma and Momo were once again, the center of attention. (For Ryoma, at least.)
"Momoshiro-kun, Echizen-kun, in your seats now! See me after class," Tatsuya-sensei ordered.
As Ryoma sat down, he wondered what happened to the timid Tatsuya-sensei he met yesterday. The class was extremely quiet as well; not at all like the gossiping teenagers they were yesterday.
"Now, class..."
11:05 P.M., Courtyard
"Awahhh! I'm so glad we only have to get to class early for cleaning duties! Tatsuya-sensei sure is strict..."
Ryoma yawned as he walked with Momo towards the cafeteria. He was dead tired; still not used to the time change yet. The boy contemplated between actually going to buy and eat his lunch or go and find the Monkey King's office so he could take a nap in one of those beds.
"...Echizen? Oi! Echizen, are you listening?"
Ryoma continued to drown out Momo's enthusiastic talking and looked at the school's surroundings. Preferably the gardens. His sensitive ears twitched as they caught the sound of arguing...
"I told you...! I refuse, and I absolutely forbid you from telling that man!" The voice was familiar to the boy's ears...
His eyes widened; that was Fuji-senpai! Was his roommate in trouble? Ryoma anticipated going to help out his senpai, but then mentally gave himself a slap. Of course not! The guy was the son of the head of an opposing organization; he could take care of himself.
But... This was a good chance to gather information.
"ECH-" Ryoma covered his new friend's mouth before he could shout and ruin his chance.
"Mhm!..Hef yo!" The taller boy struggled. Never again, was he going to bend down to get Echizen's attention.
"...Momo, I'll only let go if..." Momo stopped struggling as he felt Ryoms'a breath on his neck. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. What the...? What was that sound? "...You go to the cafeteria quietly. I just remembered I have something to do, so I can't go with you. Do you understand?"
Momo gulped as he realized that the sound he heard earlier was really his heart thumping madly. Nodding desperately, the boy gasped for air as Ryoma let him go.
He opened his mouth only to have his friend cover his mouth with his hand again. "Talk quietly!" Ryoma hissed before removing his hand.
Opening his mouth to talk (again), he realized that he was oddly feeling uncomfortable. Oh shit... Momo felt the familiar feeling of a blush creeping up is neck. What the hell is wrong with me?! The boy gulped (again) as he looked at an expectant Echizen Ryoma before dashing off.
Ryoma had a confused look on his face as he stared after Momo. Surely the boy was going to ask why he was so secretive or suspicious... Oh well. Shrugging, the black-green haired boy cautiously walked closer to where he heard Fuji's voice.
Reaching closer, the Ryoma stopped and hid behind a tree as he met the sight of Fuji and the history teacher, Yagyuu-sensei, arguing in the center of the circle of trees. More quietly now than before, but definitely still in a heated argument.
"Do you realize how dangerous it is to keep it from the boss?! All of us here would be at risk if he found out. Even the one-"
"Even the ones who don't know about this." Fuji finished the sentence. His voice wasn't the cheerful one that many people heard. It was iced and hard. "Yagyuu, if you say you really are loyal to me, then you will trust me. I will not give in to that man." With iron control and authority, Fuji left no room for any more objection.
"...Meow."
Ryoma looked at the source of the noise up in the tree he was hiding behind. His mind went up in panic as he saw Karupin up in the tree. Oh, his dear beloved Karupin was stuck in a tree!
"Karupin!!" The boy shouted before even realizing what he did. Ryoma stopped and froze as he felt two pairs of eyes snap up to look at him. Quickly recovering, the boy pointed up shakily up at his Himalayan cat. "Karupin... G-get down..." Indeed the boy was deathly worried for his cat. It was a good thing that this was something that could cover up his mistake though.
"Saa... Echizen-kun, I don't think you would want your cat to jump down from that height. You can easily see that he's injured his front foot." Fuji’s mask was up again as he walked up to his roommate. “Yagyuu-sensei, can I borrow your key to the closest storage closet? I’m sure they have a ladder there.” To untrained people, it would’ve just been a normal request coming from a smiling student. However, Ryoma was trained and he saw that there seemed to be a hidden meaning in Fuji’s request.
“Fuji-kun, why don’t you stay here and watch… Karupin was its name? With Echizen-kun? I’ll go and get the ladder.” Ryoma stared after his social studies teacher.
“Echizen-kun? Is there something wrong with Yagyuu-sensei? You seem to be quite taken by him…”
He's sharp, Ryoma thought and mumbled, “Karupin isn’t an ‘it’,” to cover up his mistake. I have to be more careful from now on…
Laughing lightly, Fuji said, “Yagyuu-sensei is like that. He isn’t good with pets, especially cats,” he paused and seemed to be trying to remember something, “I remember there was one time- last year I think when a kitten that Eiji found accidentally got into his classroom after school. The next morning he and his classroom was a wreck.”
Raising an eyebrow, Ryoma replied, “Where’s the kitten now?”
“Ahh… Eiji was having trouble raising a cat while keeping up with his studies, so he gave it-her away to a friend of his sister’s.” Fuji corrected himself and flashed Ryoma an amused smile when the boy gave him a half-hearted glare.
“I see…”
“Ahem…” The duo turned to look at the social studies teacher and a ladder next to him. “Could you two please help me set this ladder by the tree?”
Hurriedly, Ryoma went to help Yagyuu. He was about to climb the ladder when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. “Let me go up, Echizen-kun. It is my duty as a teacher to see that you don’t hurt yourself. Not to mention, you still won’t be tall enough to reach it.”
Ryoma twitched at the mention of ‘it’ and said, “But... Karupin doesn’t like it when strangers touch him…” What he said was true, but he also didn’t want someone who didn’t get along with cats to touch his precious Karupin.
Yagyuu frowned.
Fuji seemed to be laughing amusedly at the two. “Karupin didn’t seem to have any problems with me this morning…” The tensai paused; Ryoma shifted uncomfortably as he remembered what had happened in the morning. “I don’t mind going up. I’m pretty sure I can reach him too.”
Sighing resignedly, the shorter boy stepped back from the ladder and watched as Fuji climbed up.
11:50 A.M., Room 237
Ryoma slumped in his seat as he regained his breath. Damn… He almost wished he didn’t agree to attend this school; it was huge.
Fuji and he had, thankfully, made it in time to science before the bell rang. After rescuing Karupin, Fuji invited himself to walk with Ryoma back to the dorms. Of course, Ryoma had refused when the blue-eyed boy offered to go, but Fuji seemed to have not heard his protest and tagged along.
After they had made sure that Karupin was safely in their room, Ryoma found himself in a race with Fuji to see who would make it back to the school and to the science room first. Needless to say, it was a tie.
Suddenly, the chatter that was around him went silent as someone stepped into the room. Glancing around, he saw that many other students had paled after seeing something.
Following their gaze, he saw something awfully familiar in a pitcher. His face paled as well as his eyes traveled up the hand that was holding the container to see opaque box shaped glasses.
Inui-san… Ryoma inwardly gulped and winced as he remembered his past experiences with the man.
“Ii data… The new student, Echizen-kun, is in class today…” The box shaped glasses glinted as the man set his pitcher down on his desk and scribbled into his notebook.
The silence was so tense in the classroom that the birds on the tree next to the classroom window flew off as if they sensed the tension.
A pencil dropped on the ground and the owner- a tiny third year squeaked.
“Ii data…” Inui finally snapped his notebook close, “Class, today we will be studying the uses of different insects.”
And Inui Juice released its wrath.
Seishun Academy’s Medical Wing, 2:05 P.M.
A certain black-green haired boy stirred as he heard many other groans.
“…I’m alive…” He heard someone say to himself.
He boy sat up and winced. His head was pounding again… “I swear I’m gonna…” He trailed off as he heard a voice.
“Ore-sama sees that everyone has woken up. Now, I kindly demand that you all leave my office at once. Ore-sama does not need too many people in here. It’s making the room stuffy.”
The students, already traumatized enough, meekly bowed and limped (or crawled) out of the nurse's office.
Ring.
Ryoma, being the brat he was, refused to move. Instead, he lied down on the mattress and attempted to go back to sleep. Except someone thought he did not need the sleep and woke him up.
“Echizen-kun… Echi-” The gentle voice was cut off as the door to the medical wing slammed open.
“ATOBE KEIGO! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHY SOME OF MY STUDENTS ARE MISSING!!” Apparently, the person who woke Ryoma up was Sanada Genichirou. The man took a few deep breaths before calming down. “Why are some of my second years missing? And in your care nonetheless?”
“Ah? Sanada, if you haven’t noticed, the entire third year fifth period science class was sent here due to stomaching horrid juice. Go find Inui to yell at.” Atobe inspected his nails, “Ore-sama merely took care of his test subjects.”
“Saa… I thought the juices were exceptionally tasty this time.”
Atobe glanced at Fuji, then at Sanada’s paling face, “Well, almost everyone in that class.”
Huffing, the physical education teacher stalked out of the room.
Ryoma sat there rubbing his eyes. The boy jumped when a certain sadist poked his side. “Echizen-kun, I think we should get going. Home economics will start soon.”
Ryoma took a few seconds to process what Fuji had said. Hey, wasn't Inui the teacher for that class too?
Before Ryoma could do anything, he realized that while in his thoughts, Fuji had managed to lead him to room 122.
He gulped.
T.B.C.
First Unrevised Version 8.24.07
First Revised Version 8.24.07
Chapter 3
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