Her Otherworldly Smile (Kyo⨯OC; Yuki⨯OC)

「Chapter 22」

Akito's laughs off-handedly. "It's quite all right. I didn't mean to be so aggressive."

"Don't worry," Skylar chirps back. "Anyway, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta get going~ I forgot they needed me to help with some things for phys. ed. before first period."

She wants to find Kyo.

It takes Akito a few beats, but she recovers with a hard smile. "Of course. Aly and I can continue our conversation instead, right?"

Aly nods, smiling at Skylar. "Don't worry about us; we'll be fine."

Skylar mimics her and nods before turning around, going in the opposite direction of her classroom. She tries for a normal pace but ends up at a jog-type walk when she rounds the corner and is out of sight.

"Ms. Hayes," Yuki calls out to her, stopping her. "Where are you off to?"

"Oh, uh, I forgot I need to help out with some things for phys. ed., so I had to leave Als and Akito."

He freezes at the mention of her name, and Skylar mentally apologizes. "What?"

"I said that I need to help out with—"

"Not that!" he practically hisses, vaguely reminding her of Kyo. "Who is Aly with?"

"Akito," Skylar says easily, still playing dumb, though she noticed that Yuki called Aly by her name instead of her last name. "He stopped by, wanting to see everyone and what not, and we chatted, but I—"

He doesn't listen anymore, pushing past her and barreling down the hallway. Cussing, Skylar starts running, forgetting about how much trouble she'll get into if she's caught by a teacher, and scans the hall, looking for something to help. She nearly runs past an old, sliding door but stops just in time. Quickly, she throws the door open and pulls out two badminton birdies and a couple of racquets. Situating them under her arm, she continues running down the hall.

And nearly runs into Natsu.

"Woah there, Sky," he says, steadying her. "Where're you going in a hurry?"

She ignores his question, shoving a racquet in his hand. "Here. Take this."

He blinks, doing as she says. "What?"

Opening the window, she grips the racquet's handle and watches.

Akito's approaching Yuki in the distance, Aly's eyes void as the wheels turn in her head.

"Why did you skip out on New Years?" Akito asks, eyes sharp and metallic. "Why would you do something like that? It hurts me deeply that you would do something so cruel — and after I've been so lenient—"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a feathery ball hit the back of her head, stopping her mid sentence.

"Oh, crap." It's Natsu, standing next to Skylar on the other side of an opened window. "Sorry, man, that was my bad."

Akito looks over at them, now openly glaring at Skylar, who doesn't react, choosing to smile and wave instead.

"We were trying to see if they were still as bouncy as they were last year," she explains. "Didn't mean for it to go out of the window."

Aly tilts her head, studying them. When she catches Skylar's wink, she quickly goes to Aktio's side.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Fine" is the curt reply she gets. "I guess I should be getting back to Shigure and the others anyway, lest they worry."

Akito looks towards the window one last time, but Skylar's gone. Natsu's the only one there, smiling apologetically.