—First Day of School (and Other Firsts )—
—Skylar—
"Um... Miss Aly?" Tohru tries. "Miss Aly?"
Aly barely stirs, though, rolling over and tucking herself deeper into the covers.
I grin evilly. "That's not gonna cut it, Tohru," I tell her. "Listen, this is the only way, okay? I know you want to be nice, but she's far too stubborn when it comes to sleep, and she stayed up late last night with me, so~"
"It's just... you seem to be enjoying this, Miss Skylar," she says.
"Oh, I am," I say. "And you should call me Skylar. We're not strangers~"
"Oh, uh, okay, Skylar."
"Now that that's settled, should I tip it slowly or all at once because I—"
Aly shoots out of bed before I can do anything. "I'm up, I swear!"
I smirk down at her, the ice water in my hands clinking against the glass. "Oh, good. Record timing, my dear~"
She glares at me as she tosses the covers off of herself. "Have I told you how much I hate you?"
I laugh, throwing her uniform at her. "I love you too~ Now, get ready and get downstairs."
"Bossy," she grumbles.
I laugh again, heading out of the room with Tohru in tow behind me.
I had woken up before the alarm this morning because I was extremely excited for school today, so I got dressed in the Kaibara High uniform they sent us yesterday and headed downstairs to get help with the tie. No one but Tohru and Shigure were up, though, so Tohru helped me with it, and I decided I wanted to wake Aly up. Tohru, of course, was uneasy with the idea of splashing water on her, so she wanted to try shaking her awake first, and here we are.
"Are you sure that was okay?" Tohru checks as we walk down the stairs.
"Don't worry about it~ Aly and I have been friends for years, and in those years, I've learned a simple fact: she's the worst when it comes to waking up. Because of that, I've had to get creative, or we'd always be late for school~"
She stops, looking at me. "Did you just remember something, Skylar?"
I stop too, cursing myself internally. Quickly, I blink like I'm confused. "Oh. I guess... I guess I did."
"Don't worry," she says kindly. "I'm sure you'll remember!"
I smile at her. "Thank you."
She nods and goes to make everyone's lunch.
I kick myself a bit for being an idiot before following her, offering to help until we're ready to go.
Eventually, Aly joins us, fussing with the tie of the uniform too. "Can someone help me with this?" she asks.
"I can~" Shigure says, stepping into the kitchen.
"Thank you," Aly says, smiling gratefully at him.
He walks over to her and unbuttons the first few buttons of her shirt. "It'll be tight around your neck," he explains.
Just then, Yuki walks in. He's fully dressed in the school uniform, but he still looks like he just crawled out of bed: messy hair and heavy eyes.
"Good morning, Yuki," Aly says, instantly brightening.
He yawns. "Morning," he says absently, glancing at her. He does a double-take, though, before slamming his fist into Shigure. "Perverted dog."
Shigure rubs his face as I chuckle and Tohru frets over him. "I was only helping her with her tie," he whines.
Yuki glares at him. "I bet you were just using it as an excuse to touch her," he says darkly. He looks at Aly, expression softening. "I'll help you."
He fixes her tie quickly, barely touching her.
"Thank you," she says.
He smiles. "No problem."
Despite his smile, though, Aly's eyes darken, making me tilt my head. She mouths later, and I nod.
"Where's Kyo?" Tohru asks. "He missed breakfast."
"That stupid cat is coming," Yuki answers her.
"What the hell did you say, ya damn rat?" Kyo hisses, joining us in the kitchen.
It's so not fair that I'm this close to him, and I still can't touch him~
...
Okay, that sounds bad even in my head, but I can't help it! It's Kyo.
Just look at him, all dressed in his uniform~ He's not wearing the blue tie, of course, revealing the black shirt underneath his shirt, and his hair is a mess, strands of it practically defying gravity, but that's what makes him cute~
"Time to go," Yuki says, completely ignoring the cat's remark.
Kyo growls, pulling me from my swooning, and stomps out the door ahead of us.
I sigh, and Aly sends me a sympathetic look before she joins Yuki on the dirt path.
This chance is ruined if I can't manage to talk to him again!
"I wonder why he doesn't like us," Tohru says sadly.
"He's just... scared," I say absently, picking up my bag. "He wants to be accepted, but he doesn't want to be rejected, so he's constantly fighting with himself, you know?"
Tohru looks at me, tilting her head in confusion, and Shigure's staring at me with a new gleam in his eyes.
Crap! I said exactly what I was thinking without editing!
Quickly, I laugh, shaking my head. "Ah, what am I even saying? This is why I should go to sleep at a decent time—otherwise, I end up talking nonsense~"
Tohru blinks but smiles back. "Don't worry! Tonight, we'll make it a point to go to bed earlier!"
"Okay," I agree, smiling. Thank God Tohru is easy to sway.
Shigure, on the other hand, is just staring blankly at me.
"Let's go," I say, following after Aly and Yuki.
I'm not running away, I tell myself, I'm just... just saving my best move for last. Yeah! No one goes into battle with all of their moves at once, right? Right?
...
Okay, so I'm kinda running away, but it's best this way! Honestly!
—x—
I don't know why I thought Kaibara High was farther away—I mean, Tohru and Yuki walk the whole way to school, no bus or train—but here we are, at school within ten minutes, and I'm surprised.
"I just thought it'd take longer," I defend.
"Well, some days, it can take up to fifteen minutes, especially if there's something going on, but..." Tohru tries to help out.
"It's okay, Tohru. Skylar just doesn't think," Aly says.
I pout. "Rude~ I think. I just didn't..."
"Think?" Aly offers.
"Okay, whatever. The point is we're here, and we need to get to our homeroom."
"Who's your homeroom teacher, by the way, Miss Marsh?" Yuki asks.
Aly smiles at him. "Skylar and I both have Mayu-sensei."
Kyo stops, and I can practically see the orange cat ears pop up on his head.
"What about you, Kyo?" I try.
He looks back at me but quickly looks ahead. "I have Mayu too," he mutters.
I brighten even though I knew he would say that. "That means we're all going to be in the same homeroom!"
He looks at me again, blinking. "Yeah, I guess."
"That's awesome!" I cheer.
He stares at me and clears his throat, face turning red. "It's not worth all that," he mumbles.
"Let's just get going," Yuki says. "If we don't hurry, we'll be late."
Dang it, Yuki! I just got him to talk to me a little, and you have to go and ruin it! Ugh!
Kyo immediately glares at him. "Like I need you to tell me that, ya damn rat."
Without thinking about it, I scowl at him too, irritated.
Yuki notices and is taken aback, making Aly swat at my shoulder.
"Stop it," she hisses lowly. "Your look is rearing its head, and no one's even heard of your temper yet, so calm down."
The look. Implied quotation marks around it. Also known as Aly's nickname for the glower I have when I get angry. It's stupidly infamous at our old high school because it means I'm about say—or do—something that'll get me in trouble.
"I can't help it," I mumble, trying to soften my face. "I didn't even know I was glaring."
"That's a definite sign that you need to calm down," she says, "because I think you've thrown Tohru and Yuki for a loop."
I close my eyes and breathe, trying to calm down. I didn't realize how angry I was when it came to getting interrupted with Kyo, but, apparently, it's really bothering me.
"Better?" she asks.
I nod. "Sorry~"
"It's okay," she whispers. Louder, she says, "Let's go to school, shall we?"
Yuki and Tohru look at her, unsure, so I grin. "Come on," I say, snagging Tohru by her hand and pulling her down the road. "I can't wait to see Mayu-sensei again~ She was cool during the exam."
"You had her as your proctor?" Tohru wonders.
And, just like that, the tense atmosphere disappears, everyone relaxing. Tohru asks how my exams went, what subjects I thought I did the best on, and other things while Aly tells Yuki about her own experiences.
Luckily, even with everything that happened, we make it to homeroom just past 8:30. The teachers are still in their daily meeting, so everyone in the classroom is split off into groups, talking to each other.
As soon as we walk in, they go quiet, eyes wide, before they all start talking at once again.
"Are they the new students?" someone whispers.
"They're all so... different," another mutters. "Are they all related to Yuki?"
"There's no way!" someone argues. "I mean, one of them has blonde hair!"
"So, then, they're foreigners?"
"I don't know. Should we ask them?"
I squirm under their stares, completely uncomfortable.
Thankfully, Hana and Uo notice Tohru and come over.
"Hey, Tohru," Uo starts. "I didn't know you knew the new students we were getting."
Tohru smiles. "Oh, I do! Skylar and Aly are, uh, transfer students!" she says. "From America!"
Uo blinks. "No kidding? That explains the blonde hair." She looks at Kyo. "Same with Orange-Top?"
"Oh, no, he's Yuki's cousin," Tohru explains.
"Really?" a random girl says. "What's his name?"
"Well, it's, um, Kyo," Tohru answers, uncomfortable.
She bounces over to Kyo, leaving us alone.
Tohru looks worried, so Uo clears her throat. Tohru snaps her head to us, eyes widening. "Oh! Right! Skylar and Aly, these are my friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima. Uo and Hana, this is Skylar Hayes and Alayna Marsh, transfer students from America."
"Nice to meet you," Aly says, bowing. "I'm Alayna, but you can call me Aly."
"Likewise," Uo returns, though she doesn't bow. "You can call me anything you want."
"Even Arisa?" I ask, making Aly elbow me for being rude.
She grins. "If I can call you Blondie."
"Uo it is~" I say, and everyone laughs.
"But he's so cute!" We hear a girl compliment over our conversation.
"Is that his natural color?" another wonders.
"Are you really Yuki's cousin like Tohru said?"
"Do you guys get along?"
"What's Yuki like outside of school?"
Kyo stiffens, hair standing on edge as he hutches his shoulders to get away from the giggling girls.
"His hair is interesting," Uo comments, looking at Tohru. "Reminds me of Kyoko's hair."
"Now that you mention it, it does," Tohru agrees.
Kyo suddenly stands up, the chair toppling behind him, and power-walks to the door.
"Wait! Where're you going?" a girl with short brown hair asks, linking her arms with his. "Let's talk, yeah?"
But it's too much for my poor Kyo, who grabs her arm and pins it behind her back, effectively getting her off of him.
"That hurts!" she cries.
"Kyo!" Tohru says, trying to get his attention, but it doesn't work.
"Just calm down, okay?" a girl demands.
Kyo lets go of the girl's arm, freaking out, and runs to the window to escape, opening it up. "Leave me alone!" he hisses, leaping out.
Everyone starts shrieking. "Wait! No! Stop! This is the second floor!"
Kyo's a cat, though, so he lands on his feet and starts running.
Uo's laughing. "That was hilarious! Like watching a cat try to get out of a bath!"
Aly chuckles uneasily, rubbing her head. "Yes, well..."
Tohru's clearly worried, so I put my hand on her shoulder. "I'll go look for him, okay?"
She looks at me. "Are you sure?"
I nod, smiling. "The stares in the room are making me uncomfortable anyway."
She looks around the room, noting all the side-glances me and Aly are still getting, and rubs her head. "I see..."
I nod to everyone else—ignoring the small smile Aly sends me—and head out of the room.
It's a lot harder to find Kyo than I thought it would be. Honestly, I didn't think about the fact that I don't actually know where he is at all—there's a skip scene in the manga, and the next panel has Kyo next to a building, but there's no indication which building he's by. And let me just tell you that, while there's only one building, there are a lot of stupid crevices with enough wall-space to be the place he's hiding out.
I was hoping to get there before Yuki, but because it took me so long to find him, he and Yuki are already into when I get there.
"A rat would never understand!" Kyo says, grabbing the front of Yuki's shirt. "This time I will beat you and become a member of the zodiacs! Do you hear me, rat-boy!?"
I try to get there in a hurry, hoping to stop it before it escalates too quickly, but I'm not used to the shoes Shigure bought to go with our uniform and end up tripping on the tip of it, crashing into Kyo like an idiot.
Poof!
He changed into a cat.
"Crap," I mutter as Kyo stiffens. "I didn't mean to do that. I was actually just trying to get to you two, and I ended up tripping over myself." I laugh uneasily, rubbing my head. "Funny how things like that happen, right? At least we didn't ram into the building—"
"Would you shut up!?" Kyo hisses, looking at me. "I don't care what happened to you! Why do you keep saying useless things anyway? Don't you get it!? I don't want to talk to you!"
I blink.
Okay. That kinda hurt.
Like, I know that he lets his temper get away from him, but I thought me and him were past that point—when he got mad at Tohru, he'd barely spoken to her, but, because he helped me fix the door, I thought we were a little closer than this. I didn't realize that he thought what I was saying was... useless...
I stand up without saying anything, eyes watering despite myself, and dust off my skirt, working the dirt out of it.
He doesn't mean it, I tell myself. He's just angry. You know that.
But it doesn't work, even after I'm back in the school, hiding in the bathroom.
—x—
Eventually, Aly finds me.
"Guessing it went about as well for you as it did for Tohru," she says, leaning against the stall.
"Worse," I mumble. "He said he didn't want me to talk to him."
"You know he doesn't mean it, though," she points out.
"Yeah, I know," I agree, sighing. "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
She raises an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who said Tohru was too sensitive because it was obvious Kyo didn't mean it?"
I groan, standing up. "Hush, okay? I was younger then—less wise."
"It was literally two weeks ago."
"Yeah, but it was back in our world, so it doesn't count~"
She rolls her eyes. "How convenient."
"What're you doing here anyway?" I wonder, wiping my eyes to get rid of the wetness in them. "I figured you'd be with Yuki or Tohru or something."
"The stares were suffocating," she says, "and I was worried when you didn't come back."
"I get it. Half the reason I'm here is because I didn't know if I wanted to deal with the stares."
"It's a bit... strange to be the new kids."
"Right? We've never been the new kids, have we?"
She shakes her head.
"Wow. I just realized how long we've been in the same town." I blink. "That's... uncomfortable."
"Agreed," she says, but she sighs. "Are you okay? Honestly?"
I let out a breath. "Yeah," I say. "It just struck me a little harder than I expected, you know? When he said I said useless things, I just thought of... Well, I thought of that time when everyone in class said I would be better off if I never talked."
Aly nods knowingly. "I remember that—that was when your look started, right?"
"Yep," I pop.
"I remember because instead of getting quiet, you had this look on your face right before you started singing really loudly off-key."
"They told me to be quiet! Why would I listen to them?" I grumble.
Aly chuckles, shaking her head. "You should work on your idignance," she says.
"One day~" I sing, making her laugh harder.
"Come on, idiot. Let's get back to class before Tohru worries."
"Aye-aye, Captain!"
—x—
School ends without much else happening. People stare all day, of course, and without Kyo to distract them, we're the new center of attention, getting questions left and right about my hair or Aly's English skills or our old school or whatever else they can think of. Thankfully, because of Uo and Hana, we don't have to deal with it at the end of the day while everyone's cleaning the school—they get so fed up with the questions that they end up scaring half the school away with a look. It was pretty great.
Afterwards, me and Aly head straight for Schatz Kiste for our training. Despite the fact that I was still a bit upset about the tiff with Kyo, I was super excited to start training—while I'm not a big fan of waitressing, I was interested in trying a different type of waitressing: Maid Cafe style!
Eiko, our store manager, was the main person in charge of training us, which was nice. She's so mature and elegant it's unreal. She walks gracefully like a queen, and I spent too much of my training being jealous of how refined she acted, both in front of the customers and in the back. She spoke so softly, too! It's a little unnerving, honestly, because she's, like, the definition of the perfect woman in Japan. Anyway, when I wasn't totally wishing I could walk with my head held high like Eiko does without tripping on my feet, Aly was making fun of me because I'm close to being the world's worst server.
"I can't believe you thought this was a good idea," Aly cackled after I dropped yet another glass. "You can barely walk, let alone walk and carry a tray of glasses."
"Be quiet you," I had said, bending down to pick up the pieces. "You're just jealous because this was my idea."
Eiko came over, though, shaking her head as she bent down with protective gloves on. "I can handle this, Skylar. Why don't you go up front with Junko and learn how to check people out?"
"I can clean it up," I had tried to assure her. "I'm the one who made the mess, so I should be the one to clean it."
But she smiled softly at me. "I can handle this. We're a team here. Go learn from Junko."
Unable to argue, I had nodded, standing up. "A queen who's nice to her peasants~" I had sighed later, making Aly laugh harder.
I still felt bad, though, so to make up for all the dishes I had broken (four plates and six glasses, fun fact), I volunteered to stay behind and clean up the store with Eiko. Aly offered to stay with me, but I had waved her off, so she headed home first. It didn't take long—an hour at most—so now I'm on my way home.
Home...
I make a face.
I was so busy admiring Eiko and learning from Junko that I nearly forgot about my spat with Kyo.
I sigh sadly.
He's probably already apologized to Tohru since it's past 11, and they're probably close to the house by now, bonded and happy and unaffected by how upset I am.
Don't you get it!? I don't want to talk to you!
I cover my face with my free hand, groaning.
You know, Aly was right—I really thought Tohru was overreacting every time Kyo got mad because it was obvious just from his face after every time that he didn't mean it. I mean, his expression practically crumbled every time she walked away from him—but here I am, completely torn apart by it. It hurts so much more when it's staid directly to you, I guess, even if it's just him lashing out.
Rustling leaves pull me from my upsetness, making me freeze.
Oh no.
A branch snaps.
Oh, c'mon! This is so unfair! I just got into my favorite manga, and I'm gonna be killed!? Seriously? Ugh! That's not even right!
Well, I'm not going down without a fight.
The sound of footsteps makes me square my shoulders, running through various self-defence techniques. As soon as the footsteps get close enough, I swerve around, using my bag as weapon to get him in the thigh... or hip. I'm not really sure because my eyes are clamped shut.
When there's no other move to come at me, I peek out of one eye.
Holy cow! It's Kyo! But why...!? Isn't he supposed to be walking Tohru home? Crap. And I hit him. Double crap. What do I do now?
"Hey, Kyo!" I say brightly. "Funny meeting you out here, isn't it? Here I was, practicing, uh, my batting skills, and then you appear, and then—wow! Funny how things like that happen. Maybe I should stop being so impulsive. I mean, this is the second time I've accidently ran into you. Of course, the first time I tripped—like I said back there—but now—you know what? Enough about me—"
"Stop it," he says, cutting me off. "You don't have to trip over yourself so much. If you have something to say, then just say it."
I deflate, tilting my head. "Something to say?" I repeat, blinking. "What do you...?"
He groans, rubbing his head. "Look. I just... I take back what I said about talking to you, it's just... losing to that damn Yuki makes me so angry, and... Ugh! Just hit me again if you're angry!"
Aww~ He's so cute~ Just look at him—face burning with embarrassment as he rubs the back of his neck, trying to find the right way to say what he's thinking. He's the best~
I can't help but grin at him. "I'm not angry, Kyo. I thought we were getting along pretty well, so when you said you didn't want to talk to me... well, it just hurt my feelings. That's all."
He looks mortified. "I—I'm sorry," he stammers. "I didn't mean—"
"It's okay," I say, smiling at him. "I really like you, and I know you're not a bad person, so I hope we can be friends~"
He blinks, thrown off, before his face turns bright red, even the tips of his ears burning, and I have to stop myself from squealing.
He's just so cute!
"It's not that great, you know, being my friend," he mumbles, turning around and heading down the dirt path. "Just... c'mon. Let's go back."
I grin. That's Kyo: short-tempered but sweet.
He really is the best
—x—
Kyo really is the best, though. Just saying~ He's so adorable when he gets flustered—I love it! Did you know that I almost named my cat 'Kyo' because I'm a horrible human? I didn't because he's not orange, but I did name him 'Yuki' since he was white like snow (he's not now, but he was when he was younger), which is my favorite inside joke with myself—a cat named Yuki, ha!
Anyway, what do you think of this chapter? I know there are thousands of KyoxSkylar moments, but I can't help it! AlyxYuki are coming up in the next chapter, I promise, so look forward to it~
Happy reading, cupcakes~
Bonus: look, my furbaby Yuki! (He really was white when he was a kitten, I swear!)