"Friendship" "Ohayo Kino-san." The chestnut haired girl merely nodded in her response, barely responsive in general as though she'd just been wakened from a restful, deep sleep. Most students in the hallway mistook this cloudy state and moved clear out of the brute's way fearing a confrontation or getting on the wrong side of the girl. School was like prison after all; when one transfers to a new place, one either has to conform to the crowd or make his or her presence so inherently foreboding that everyone steers clear. In other words, Kino Makoto chose the route of the big bull. But that was not why she was so popular. Oh yes, despite the kids' attitudes around 'The New Transfer', they all secretly admired her and longed to be close to her; or in other cases, longed to be her. This was what Hotaru must endure day after day, being she was a year below Kino. All her classmates could only seem to discuss for the past month was the tough and cool rogue. Girls would squeal with delight upon hearing about another conquest of hers; boys would attempt to mimic her behaviors and way of speech, fancying that they were brutes with boundless charm. It seemed the only people who truly disliked Makoto were those who were in the rogue's class or above: lions don't like it when other lions stray into their herds and show them up, winning the respect of their lionesses. Like all first year students, they were considered lionesses being that they were the youngest in the school, and they were expected to fawn over their sempai's with great vigor everyday. Crap like that only irritated the dark haired girl. "I take it you've never confessed any of your feelings to your muse, yet." Unaware that the tall tomboy had come back, purple eyes widened in surprise, the pale girl nearly yelping out in surprise. The hall had thinned out; only a few stragglers left behind as students went from second period class to the next. Hotaru had art class next period and since she knew the sensei never showed up until ten minutes after the first bell, the Goth girl never felt the need to show up until nine minutes after. Throwing her nose indignantly in the air, the shorter girl responded shortly, "I don't know what you're talking about and if it's the picture you're referring to, than I must set things clear in saying that she only makes for a good model." The dark haired girl abstained from laughing, though she was very enthralled by the prodding's of Kino Makoto. She liked the tomboy immensely; and it was not the admiration similar to her classmates. Hotaru felt she could appreciate and understand her sempai, though she did not know at all why. "Maybe the photographer should throw caution to the wind." If it were anyone else, Hotaru might've wiped that cocky grin off the face with a well placed slap. Instead, the Gothic girl laughed and blushed lightly, embarrassed and intrigued by the innuendo the rogue was so obviously throwing out. "Why do I have a feeling that you like me better than anyone? Oh, with the exception of a certain blue haired girl." The dark haired girl smirked and began walking slowly towards the art room. She felt Makoto's presence follow her quietly, emerald eyes boring into the back of her head. There was no harm in a little banter. Hotaru heard a small cough behind her followed by the rough, tenor voice that could not be mistaken for anyone other than the rogue, "I do like you, Hotaru. You've got a lot of potential." The small pale girl laughed, "Potential to do what? Change the world!?" The last part she emphasized very jokingly, throwing her hands up for effect. She turned around and met up with soft green eyes, smiling pleasantly in return of the rogue's praise. There was no mistaking it, Makoto did genuinely like the leather sporting teen and she once again felt a common connection with the tomboy. This is a friendship one does not question, but simply accepts, as though it were predestined, planned out down to the tiniest of details. "My muse has no interest in me, you know that." Purple eyes darkened at the thought and Hotaru set her lips firmly together. Makoto shoved her hands in her pockets, appraising the girl before her, "Have you ever asked her about it?" "Yeah right! Besides, I'm a one girl-girl. Even if there were the slightest possibility she would even spare a less than hatred glance in my direction, she's too much of a... a.... whore. I don't want to be with someone who thinks sleeping around is a sport." "STD's are pretty painful I hear..." Emerald eyes glimmered. Hotaru raised a thin dark eyebrow, "What have you heard?" The rogue laughed, "You're defending her, how incredulous!" The laughing only lasted a few seconds before cutting off abruptly erupting into a most oddly thoughtful look on the tall girl's face. "That's me, unexpecting and unapproachable. I'm going to class now, ja ne." The two girls shared a smile before turning and leaving for the next period. Dark purple eyes glanced back curiously towards the chestnut haired tomboy, wondering why the girl was walking to the south wing when second years' classes were generally held in the west wing. The Gothic girl seemed to fret a moment, glancing towards the door to her class and then back towards where Makoto went. She seemed to be at odds with herself, part of her very curious as to what the brutish teen was up to and part of her very studious, not wanting blemishes on her attendance record. Because despite all outwards appearances, Hotaru knew that school would be her greatest asset for the future and even though she wasn't the smartest, her record would be untarnished for university eyes. Her curiosity got the better of her, though, and growling out loud, she jogged down the hall after the brute. ---------------- Rei cast a fitful glance around the classroom, noticing the lack of greasy chestnut hair. This was either going to be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not what the sexy girl heard was true. How dare that brutish tomboy go near her Ami-chan, having secret conversations behind closed doors of classrooms! She was also still angry about the previous day. That damn girl made a fool of her and she was going to pay big time. What was worst of all was that Rei came out looking like a fool in front of the blue haired girl. Makoto went out of her way this morning, between first and second period, to apologize collectively to Minako, Utena, Ami, and herself. Not that the apology was at all meaningful or heartfelt, the dark haired girl could see through that 'humble air' the tall teen wore so thickly. She could see the emerald eyes silently laughing at her, knowing they'd gotten the best of Hino Rei. The lavender eyed girl suddenly became the bitch who was so quick to leave someone else to die. Minako tried to reassure Rei by saying that at least the whole school didn't know. The sexy girl could tell she was being sarcastic, teasing playfully. This did nothing to reassure though, as the priestess never cared what the other students thought of her. If she had, she would've stopped sleeping with the random fan girls a long time ago. But this was a fallacy at the same time, because she did care what one student thought of her. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ami's mind and eyes were elsewhere at the moment. "Neh, Ami-chan, make sure you bring your overnight stuff on Sunday, since we have no school on Monday, we can stay up all night." Rei watched as the small girl took several seconds to respond, or rather, notice that she was being spoken to. "Oh, oh, right. Okay Rei-chan." Though the baby blue eyes met the sexy teen's gaze, they seemed to be in a far off trance. The genius smiled happily in the dark haired girl's direction, which was returned just as happily. When was the last time Ami had a far away look? Rather, a better question, has Ami-chan ever had her head in the clouds? These thoughts plagued the priestesses mind and a silence settled between the two teens. Snape-sensei had yet to enter the classroom though there was only a minute before the bell rang and the students around the girls were getting restless, many of them hoping the strict and usually mean professor would not show. "Yuuichiro and grandpa are going to visit another temple over the weekend, so it'll be just us..." Rei sighed annoyed, thinking about the two blondes who were working on ruining their small get-together, "just be us girls." This seemed to sober the small, blue haired girl, for she now tried all her focus on reorganizing the most organized school folder this side of the Pacific, not meeting curious lavender eyes. "Just us girls," Ami spoke as she pretended to rearrange papers, "I hope it is. Rei, you of all people know how much I dislike large gatherings." Her reply seemed to confuse the dark haired girl and there were several seconds where the girl's mind went blank, not finding a decent reply, before finally speaking incoherently. "Hai Hai, Ami-chan, I know you dislike large gatherings! You're the quietest girl in school, I think everyone knows this." Rei grinned, managing to look somewhat normal, despite her misgiving voice. The blue haired girl's answer was a mere nod. Rei withheld a sigh and made a mental note to inform the blondes to keep the 'gathering' from getting too large. The only reason she hadn't stopped Usagi and Minako from going ahead with their plans was that she wanted the shy genius to overcome that shyness. For many years she'd been friends with the small girl and it burned her to no end that everyone made her feel so self conscious; this being the exact reason she came to look after Ami the way she did. No one dared mess with the fiery Hino Rei, therefore, it stood that no one messed with Hino's friends either. But it became clear that it wasn't the people who made Ami shy, rather, just something in herself. The priestess decided that before the end of high school, she would break the blue haired girl out of any insecurity and have her enjoying life and the people that came with it. It didn't need to be done all in one night, though. Besides, the party would definitely be cleared up by midnight if Rei had anything to say about it. It was a rarity that the genius ever spent the night at the priestesses home and even rarer that she'd have her all to herself. Usagi, Utena, and Minako all had places to be on the only day off from school until winter vacation. The dark haired girl forgot exactly where they said they were going, but only that they were going, and this meant having the cute and sweet small teen all to herself. Ami wasn't like any other girl, Rei knew this, and had spent many years working her way into the stoic teen's heart. The best love grew from friendship and the sexy teen was absolute about having the best love from the most wonderful person she'd ever laid her eyes on. The key to Ami was slow and steady; Hino having been steady and tediously slow was sure that her fruits of labor would be rewarded by the end of the school year. That is, as long as she could put Kino Makoto back to being a blip on the radar. Her very presence seemed to upset her Ami-chan and this she wouldn't allow. All her hard work was going down the toilet thanks to a very imposing and annoying brute that seemed inherently determined to get to the blue haired teen before Rei could. If Kino wanted a fight, Kino was going to get one. Five minutes after the bell rang Snape-sensei strolled into the room, seemingly nonplussed that he was late and started into his teaching as though nothing were out of the ordinary. Stillness crossed over the class, the only sound of pens scratching wildly against papers, attempting to keep up with the fast paced lecture. Lavender eyes sought out the small girl to her right and the sexy teen could only sigh, feeling her heart tense up. No one could appreciate Ami-chan like Rei did. --------------------------------- "This is crazy! You're crazy! You.two.are.crazy!" "Calm down Hotaru." "No! I will not calm down! These two are being sought after by bounty hunters and you expect me to be calm!" "You know, if you hadn't let the curiosity get the better of you, you might have been spared all of this." Harry watched the pacing girl with fretful green eyes. Dark purple eyes shot upwards, "Don't you dare lecture me!" Makoto looked to Harry, "She means it." "She's a wee one! I bet beneath all that silver and leather, she's just a softie." Ron snorted, laughing at the Gothic girl. His less than thoughtful comment earned him a square punch in the nose and the lanky boy fell backwards, clutching his face. "BLOODY HELL!" Harry's eyes widened at the small dark haired girl and he smiled despite himself, "You can really spot 'em, can't you Mako-chan?" Emerald eyes met up with dark pools of purple, "There's too much to explain. But no one's saying you need to stay quiet. It's your right to go and inform the proper authorities." "Sbrew dab, I'b gonba kib her ass," The now bleeding Ron lunged after Hotaru violently only to be cut off by both Makoto and Harry and pushed back against the wall. "Ron, go down the hall to your right, there's a bathroom, clean yourself up." The tomboy's voice was unerringly stern causing the tall boy to turn right around, half jogging down towards the bathroom. Makoto turned to Harry, who looked as though he was ready to throw in his own two cents, "You keep your mouth shut." After she was certain Harry would keep quiet, the rogue set her eyes on the distressed Hotaru and raised an eyebrow, waiting for the other girl to speak. Hotaru huffed loudly and crossed her arms over her chest, not meeting either of the green sets of eyes watching her. "Shit Kino, I knew you were a bad ass, but you're endangering more than yourself by keeping them here. Did you ever stop to think of that?!" Though her voice was shrill, she managed to keep it down for fear that someone else would be walking the hallways near the gymnasium. "No one knows they're here." The tomboy kept her eyes on the pacing Goth, watching her every reaction and action. Purple eyes finally met the eerily calm emerald eyes and the dark haired girl stopped pacing. "You don't know that for sure, Makoto." "Let's say you're right," the chestnut haired teen spoke slow and clearly, as though talking someone out of jumping, "Let's say that someone saw those two enter the school. Do you really think they'd enter in after them, guns blaring? Besides, they aren't legit bounty hunters like you think. Were they, the proper authorities would have been called because the boys' mere presence would be endangering students." The Goth nodded, comprehending completely what her upperclassman was saying. She hadn't meant to overhear as much as she did, she was prepared to turn right around and go back down to her class, forgetting she'd ever heard anything to begin with, but it was too late when the shorter boy saw her and alerted Kino-san. Hotaru took a deep breath and looked towards the floor thinking on what to do next. Makoto had given her the option of just leaving it all and pretending it never happened, an option which was beginning to seem more and more viable. Nevertheless... "So these two are just going to live in the school until, what, until they're not being sought after anymore?" The dark haired girl secretly bit her lower lip and looked back and forth between Harry and Makoto, oddly worried about both of them. The tomboy shook her head, "Just for a few days." The photographer looked at the taller girl doubtfully, causing her to continue speaking, "They're old friends, Hotaru, and old friends to my new friend you have to know that I'm going to help them however I can. But it is my problem and being my problem, I'm going to make absolutely sure not to endanger anyone other than me and those idiots." A sigh escaped Hotaru's lips, "No, no Makoto. It's not your problem. We're friends, as you say, and I'm glad. So as friends, I will help you however I can. Besides, I made it my problem when I began to eavesdrop." It was Harry's voice that broke through the thick atmosphere, "Loyalty like that'll make Mako sick with worry." He grinned behind the tomboy's back, winking at the Goth girl. Emerald eyes hadn't left the small dark haired girl, ignoring the comment from behind. Hotaru figured her sempai was trying to see if she was for real, if she really could be of any use. "If we need your help, we'll ask." Makoto smiled, "Meanwhile, thanks for your blind loyalty, I won't let it get you in trouble. You should get to class now, Harry'll walk you back and I'll go have a chat with Ron." The tomboy had almost begun walking down the hall when she snapped her fingers and turned back around to Hotaru. "Harry, this is Hotaru, Hotaru, this is Harry. The boy you punched is Ron, and don't worry, he's harmless, but you already knew that. Oh yeah, don't forget the keys." She tossed the dark haired boy the heavy set of keys she'd palmed from the janitor earlier than morning. Harry flashed his best smile at the Goth girl and shooed the tomboy down the hall. "I'll take care of her, no worries Mako," he shouted to her as she walked steadily towards the boy's bathroom. When Harry made sure his friend was out of earshot, he turned towards where Hotaru was already walking down the hall and caught up with her, sparing a few glances towards her amazing purple eyes. Upon seeing the Gothic girl, he was most instantly enamored with her, thinking her to be the most beautiful goddess he'd ever seen. "She really likes you, you know." He turned on his charm factor, deciding honesty was the best policy with this girl, Hotaru. Purple eyes would not meet the young boy's momentary looks, which was beginning to take small stabs at his ego. When he was certain the girl would not respond, Harry continued on as though he and her talking together was the most normal thing in the world. "I've never seen her take to someone like she's taken to you. Don't get me wrong, she's not after you physically, she respects your mind instead. See, Ron and I are just very trusting and reliable; we don't really have the keen insight thing going on." Green eyes lit up as the dark haired boy laughed, "That's why she's taken to you so quickly. Probably starved to death for a mind similar to hers." "For someone who's just trusting and reliable, you seem to have some keen insight, unless you're just trying to impress me with your friendship with Kino-san, that is." Hotaru's voice was rough, showing she didn't think much of the situation of having to be walked back by the small English teen. Harry just shrugged, "It's not that. I'm not trying to impress anyone with anything. And my insight into Mako comes from many long years spent by her side. Don't misinterpret though, I'm not her best friend or anything like that, think of me more like a fan boy of the insatiable Kino Makoto, a girl who's genius is highly underrated." "Underrated, hmm..." Hotaru repeated those words, letting them resonate through the hall and both their minds. "This place is good for her. She hasn't been so friendly since her parents' deaths." The Goth stopped abruptly, Harry just barely noticing, stopping himself several feet ahead of her. He turned around, looking towards her eyes questioningly. Hotaru looked as though someone just struck her with a bolt of lightning. The dark haired boy was about to say something when he heard the girls voice, no louder than a whisper. "When did her parents die?" Finally meeting those dark purple pools, the small boy instantly felt pained for the girl in front of him, wanting to do everything in his power to comfort her. Brushing those thoughts aside guiltily, Harry spoke, "Just after her 12th birthday." It suddenly came altogether for the Goth. Why she felt so comfortable with Makoto, why she felt as though they understood one another without having to say a word; the basis for their friendship, such a tragic thing to draw two people together, and neither of them aware of the horrible link until just this moment. Because Hotaru was aware of the similarities of the way she and the rogue acted to those around them, because she herself, had lost her parents at the mere age of 11, probably around the same time Makoto lost hers. This wasn't a meshing of similar personalities, the dark haired girl noted; it was a meshing of reactions. She unconsciously recognized in the tomboy what she herself had done or thought about doing on countless occasions. The tomboy must've seen the same things; she administered the mutual respect after all. "How did they die?" Hotaru stared at the small boy in front of her as he shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, avoiding her gaze. Finally, he looked up and shrugged, throwing his head back and forth, indicating that he either didn't know or that he did, but wasn't sure about what to do. The dark haired girl looked away, very grief stricken by the memories of her own parents' deaths, for she hadn't thought of them in several months. Thus it startled her when Harry did speak. "Keep her as a friend, no matter what she does or says. You seem like the type who would, but I just want to confirm it, because Mako really needs someone like you. Ron and I only drag her down. Promise me you'll be there for her?" Harry felt his breath catch when dark eyes caught his green, they were so coldly intense, the depths so deep that probably many a victim fallen in, never finding their way out. "I promise." Keeping eye contact with the Goth, though very difficult, the teen knew she meant it. He smiled, feeling a great relief and a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. After all these years, standing along side the roguish teen or watching her from afar, he'd finally manage to succeed in something he never thought he'd be able to do. He was no longer needed.
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