So Kiss Me Goodbye

[Emma]

"That's a little tough, isn't it?" He queried with a raised eyebrow. "Seeing as I'm about... oh, a foot taller than you are? Now come on." He half-snapped, less than pleased as he held out his hands. God, he hated dancing. With some demented kind of passion, he hated it. "Let's just get it over with. The quicker we dance, the less time we'll spend overall. Try not to make too many mistakes."

-----

"Not all of us are that lucky - And your brother is sure to make friends of his own." She replied with a small grin, idly taking notes without looking away. "Like that kid I spotted him walking to Art Forms with. That is your brother, right? The british kid, tall, eerie purple eyes. You talk like you're from the same place. Acts like you, too. Bit more... Upper-class, though."

[Tuna-Chan]

Sitting in class was like hell. The teacher talked, and talked in such a monotone voice that in just ten minutes, three students got yelled at for falling asleep. But it wasn't like Hao was paying attention to it anyway. He took the time to look around and examine the rest of the students. He glanced quickly over the room, seeing everybody but not taking anything in. That is until his eyes rested on the blond girl near him.

Instantly he could tell that she was not the average teenager, no, far from it. In Hao’s eyes he saw a girl who was holding something back, she was someone with strong will power. To him she was the only interesting person in the whole room.

So Hao kept an eye on her. He waited and watched as another girl started talking to the blond. It wasn’t a very lively conversation so Hao tried to listen to the teacher. After only a few seconds he was bored again so he turned and scooted closer to the girls so they could hear him.

“You know talking in class is against the rules, you girls could get in trouble…” He whispered, a grin set firmly on his lips as he waited for a response.

[Mana Ego-Chan]

"Oh bite me, Baka," she said finally having enough of Ellie and turning it toward Hao, "Forgive me, but you look the sort of person who couldn't give two shits about what goes on in the class or anyone in this room. And as far as my brother goes, he is faaaar from high-class. So you can take your second rate observations and shove them."

She raised her hand immediately. She had had enough of this inquisition and desired nothing more to leave. The teacher called upon her and she excused herself to "go to the bathroom." The teacher nodded and she left immediately. Her neighbors were getting a little too close for her comfort and something told her by the way they both looked at her, that this was only the begining. She remembered Ellie saying something about seeing her brother go to Art Form's class. She resolved to peek in on him and see if he was as miserable as her.

She wandered the hall for a bit until she heard music. She followed it to an open door. On the door it said ART FORMS, so she was in the right place. But what was with the music? She peeked in to see what was going on. What she saw both disgusted and HIGHLY amused her.

There was her brother in dancing shoes dancing with another man to a waltz. But not just any man. It was the china man from earlier. She glared briefly but saw the look on the look on Mithos's face and held back a giggle. Both looked very uncomfortable and miserable. Mana fished into the pocket of her blazer and took out her cellphone. She thanked Neptune she remembered to bring it. This was a photo op she could NOT pass up. She snapped held in her laughted and snapped a few really good shots of the two. Neither of them seemed to see her so she snapped a few more and giggled quietly to herself. Finally, a scene to be happy about. She loved the fact that her brother was miserable, but she loved it even more that the chinese boy was even more uncomfortable and totally dwarfed by Mithos.

She was going to stay and watch, but suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around with a small squeak as she came out of the doorway with a start.

[[Either Ellie or Hao....you two decide. They are both persistant.]]

[Loki-chan]

Ren was more than mildly uncomfortable with this, but he had little choice. At least Mithos danced well. He was peeved from the "don't make a mistake" comment, as if HE could ever err. Ren was most uncomfortable because, as the female, he had to rest his hands on Mithy's hips and lower back. He was doing his best to not blush.

Just as Ren was absorbed into the akwardness that surrounded their dance, he heard small clicking sounds coming from the entryway. At first he didn't care to look, until they continued. His head turned and his eyes darted, to find that blond from before taking pictures of them while they danced. If that weren't enough, it caused Ren to lose his footing and trip forward, right into Mithos and knocking him down as well. Which of course, caused enough of a commotion to stop the class in it's tracks to stop and laugh. High school could be so cruel. Through his insane blush, Ren crawled angrily off of Mithos, and got to his feet. That did it. He couldn't hate people without a reason anymore, but she'd just gotten him /pissed/.

[Emma]

Mithos shook his head, glaring at his sister as he stood up rather gracefully and brushed himself down. "I thought you lot were too busy falling over yourselves to notice us." He half-snapped, putting his glasses back on and running a hand through his hair. Now not only did Mana hate Ren, it was likely Ren would hate Mana. Fantastic. Eventually, the teacher shooed Mana away and instructed the class to get back to work.

-----

"...That's quite rude, you know." Ellie told Mana as the dance teacher shut the door. "You've just made your brother and his friend a laughing stock - I don't think he'll be best pleased with that. They were doing well." She commented, then shrugged a little and smiled. "Quite cute together, actually."

[Loki-chan]

Upset by the disruption in her sanctuary of a clasroom, the teacher took the time to begin describing their next project, since no one looked much interested in continuing the waltz.

"Class! Now that you have experienced formal dance, I would like you to be spontanious and free! For the next four classes, you and your partner will choreograph your /own/ dance. And then next week we will present them! Excellent, right? I expect you to all have fun with this! You can dance together however you like, just as long..." She went on and on about the minimun time it had to be and how many counts of 8 that came out to. Ren just grimaced. Some members of the clas were still snickering. Ren had a right mind to take out his sword and slay them all-- but he resisted. He was supposed to be moving away from such anger, but... it wasn't working too well when everyone around him gave him the right want to kill.

"Free dance. Oh joy. Perhaps your sister will photograph /that/, too." Ren said to Mithos, with more than jsut a little bite to his tone.

[Mana Ego-Chan]

Mana smirked as the teacher shooed her off. She took one last look inside at Mithos who was glaring at her, and Ren who was glaring at her more. Was he that mad at her? Good. He deserved to look like the fool he was.

"Cute couple," Mana spat back a the girl, "You are off your rocker woman. A. My brother dosen't swing that way. And B. Even if he did, he could get someone so much better than that sewer scum. No doubt Mithos will recover gracefully from this little incident. But I still will hear about it."

Mana grumbled at the idea of Ren and Mithos. It made her angrier and angrier as she thought about it more. It was disgusting and wrong. Besides, Mithos just didn't get it. There was no doubt Mithos was going to scold her heavily for her actions of that day when they got home. But she was prepaired to fight. He was being unfair to her. He, of all people, knew her position and why she was so rude. He, HIMSELF, had to bring her out of her depression of the news of her father's death. Her treasure had been taken by the likes of Ren and his scum race. What they did to her father and his crew was unforgivable. Mithos had to know all of this. He knew that even if Mana and Ren were the last two people on Earth, they would go to opposite and assemble armies of ferocious highly trained animals to attack each other. That thought kinda made Mana smile. Then Mana realized that Ellie was staring at her and blushed.

"What the hell are you doing here anyway," Mana said as they walked side by side down the hallway, "Weren't you in class? Are you stalking me or something?"

[Emma]

Mithos rolled his eyes as the teacher went on. "She had her reasons, I'm sure - and if annoying you just happened to embarass me at the same time, so much the better." He replied dryly, then shook his head. "...We'd best get to choreography, then - and you know, our height difference makes it better. It's easier, that way." He said shortly, then waved a hand. "...Think of something, hmm?"

-----

Ellie sniggered, shaking her head. "Hardly. That crackpot just kept going on, and most of us have been speaking japanese since we were tiny, so we just upped and left." She explained, grinning a little at the slight blush on Mana's cheeks. "So... You got a vendetta against the chinese?" It was more of a statement than anything, and Ellie wasn't going to press for answers this early.

[Loki-chan]

"Oh, everyone has their reasons. Wouldn't mind if she hated me after meeting me, though." Ren certainly had never seen her before in his life. So it was obviously not a personal vendetta. He recalled Mithos mentioning a problem she had with the chinese. What horrible racism. At least Ren had hated the whole world at once. No discrimination that way.

"Oh, you want me to pull the weight?" Ren eyed the teen and then reached for his briefcase. he fished about a bit before emerging with a simple bo staff, equivalent to Ren in hight. "And... it's not like there's that big a hight difference..." Ren scowled and stabbed at the floor with his staff.
"You know any martial arts? They say the flowing movements of Tai Chi or Pa Kua are about as close as you get to actual dancing. If we can choreograph movements like a fight, I might be able to find some dignity in this project." Ren tapped the stick again. His accent was eccentuated when pronouncing the names of the various forms of martial art. He had that special lilt that only the chinese had, as he could prounounce the words with the emphasis they were meant to have in mandarin chinese.

[Mana Ego-Chan]

Mana kept walking and rolled her eyes. If it wasn't obvious by now, then she would have thought her mental. But still, the girl was astute. And though she would never say it aloud, it was nice to have company to walk with, other than her own brother. But she knew if she engaged in any more conversation with this girl, she would be tagged forever. Suddenly words like "friendship" and "sleepover" would be thrown around. That thought scared Mana beyond all reason. But just walking was boring.

They walked outside. It was a beautiful fall day. The leaves were breathtaking hues of sunswept fire and the air could put the most savage of souls at peace. Mana sat on a picnic table and didn't say anything when Ellie sat near.

"You know, you have pretty much figured out my life story," she said with a nonchalant look, "Why don't you tell me something about you? Like what is with your accent?"

[Emma]

Mithos nodded, silently impressed at Ren's knowledge of martial art. "Of course. ...I'd much prefer that, actually." He added, tapping his thumb against his other wrist in thought. "...Yes, that could work." And he proceeded to throw ideas into the air.

-----

Ellie grinned, shrugging a little. "I was born in America, and I moved here when I was about six. I picked it up really quickly, but I've always had a little bit of an accent. Mom said it would pass in time, but it doesn't really bother me."

[Tuna-Chan]

Hao watch with a smirk on his face as the blond asked to leave. She responded as he had expected she would, rash. As soon as the teacher turned around Hao stood up and walked out the class, making all the other students whisper.

It only took him a minute to find the girl standing outside the dance studio. He watched her take out her camera and start to take pictures, trying to contain her laughter. /She's beautiful.../ he thought as he watched her. It seemed that she was a bit more relaxed then she had been in the class. That is until another girl came behind her and started talking to her.

When she had finally left her place near the dance door a thought passed Hao's mind. /What made her laugh before?/ so he walked over to the door and looked in. It only took a moment to relize weho he was seeing and he had to turn his head to contain his laughter. He will never forget what he had seen. Ren dancing, and with a boy, a /tall/ boy. It was the perfect scene.

Hao then quietly nudged the door open and stepped in. He closed the door behind him and once again crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the door, and watched as Ren and his partner started to "free" dance.

Time to have some fun, Hao thought. Never letting his eyes off the odd pair.

[Mana Ego-Chan]

Mana shrugged. American eh? She had been to America before. She was particularly fond of the West coast. They had some fun times and killer surfing. She made a mental note to see if she could find a board shop after school. She had heard that Japan had some choice waves as well.

"Good surfing," she said smiling for a moment, remembering learning to surf at 5 years old with her father. Just then a pain hit her that she hadn't felt in a long time. Chunks from her breakfast started to rise in her throat as she pushed them down again.

"Well I had better get going," she said making a hasty exit, "Im going to prepair for my next class."

And not even bothering to hear what she said, she left in a hurry. She had not cried since her father's funeral, where she vowed to supress the memory of him so that she would never be so emotionally weak again. She just needed to get a handle.

She went in the door and turned the corner. She thought she saw a flash of dark hair enter the "Art" room but she didn't pay to much attention. She wandered around the halls for a while until she could breath again. She looked around to make sure that no one had seen her little tantrum and when she felt the coast was clear, she went to her locker and prepaired for her next class.

---------------
Lunch
---------------

Mana walked into the room and went over to the line and looked at the food. Sushi, rice balls, all looked okay. She barged her way into line, and winked at the guy who yelled at her. After that he didn't say much. Then she continued to look for an avialable space. The dinning hall was packed so she went outside and found a quaint grassy knoll far from anyone. It was quiet enough to hear the birds sing. She took a deep breath with a serene smile and began to eat her food.

[Loki-chan]

Ren smirked, pleased that Mithos knew what he was doing. This would make the assignment a whole lot easier, if Mithos was any good.
"Well... then try not to make too many mistakes." Ren grinned his usual evil grin, and they began to put some moves down. Ren was surprised... They could actually preform the same motions in perfect synchrony. A sign? Perhaps, but not an obvious enough one to smack Ren in the face. Just as Ren was starting to cheer up from the earlier incident, a familiar scent came to his nose. The smell of burning cedar wood and hair care products. The unforgettable scent of Asaukura Hao.

Ren stopped in his tracks and glared at the pyro, who was out of his usual poncho-and-pants attire and into normal human clothes. Nothing could disguise that head of hair though.
"Asakura! What are you doing here?" Ren said to him, once he'd come close enough that he didn't have to shout across the room. The last thing he needed was more attention. His cheeks blushed slightly, how long had he been there? Long enough to see him dancing with another man, surely.

[Emma]

Mithos rolled his eyes, following Ren quietly and snatching hold of the back of his collar. "Come on, Ren, let's not waste any time." He said quietly, watching Hao carefully without letting go of Ren. "We don't need any more attention drawn to ourselves now, do we?" He hissed, tugging Ren away. He could continue his conversation with the other boy later.


---------------
Lunch
---------------

"So, who was that guy? Obviously important enough to risk interupting. We can't waste any time with that, you know - We've got something to prove, after the little incident my sister caused. You can understand that, right?" He said to Ren as they wandered towards the dinner hall, hands in pockets.

-----

Ellie took to wandering the grounds, looking for someone to sit with. Then she spotted Mana and headed over quietly, sitting beside the girl without a word. She desperately wanted to ask what it was that had startled Mana so, but she didn't know how to phrase it. So she settled for sipping at her drink and watching the world go by.

((Someone needs to mention Mithy's father at some point. Like. Hao or someone, being really bitchy. Because Mithy wouldn't get all weepy - he'd get really fucking angry. !))

[Loki-chan]

"To make those ungratefuls eat their laughter? I suppose. Little pride lost to the ignorant masses though. Can't say out-dancing them would bring me the self-gratitude I seek, but it's better than nothing. Just to prove I can do anything better than anyone, I guess." Ren snickered, his pride showing through. Not that it was easy to get hyped up over beating some amatures.

"That guy? Of course I know him. He's fucking insane. We were competitors in... this big tournament, year or so back. Big fight in Tokyo, lots of foreigners showed up to it. How I got here, initially. Hao was a native, I suppose, he's twin brother to my current housemate. But he's absolutely crazy... a menace to society to put it lightly. I thought he was dead. Bit of a shock then, you could imagine." Ren ran through the lunchline grabbing only a couple riceballs as he went. He never particularly enjoyed Japanese food, he ate Chinese every other meal. Though, when given no choice, he'd eat about anything.

[DeviousOne]

[]

When she had first discovered that her refuge for the next year was Japan, Eris' blood temperature had risen to a menacing level. Being primarily raised in Greek and English traditions, the thought of relearning an entire lifestyle appeared to be anything but zestful. As her plane landed at the Tokyo International Airport, her British prejudice seeped down from her mind and ran rampage through her veins. She remembered not too fondly the Japanese during the Second World War. Oh yes, she could just picture it now.

Months later, she stood before a full view mirror, working her tie around the collar of her school uniform. After spending so much time in learning about the Japanese culture and people, she marveled over their sense of conformity in their schools when their pop musicians seemed to be the creme a la monde of nonconformity. Still, those were not her questions to ask or even attempt to answer. She was here to escape them.....she must remain true to the plans....

The required tennis shoes for girls at this high school gave Eris a bit of a heel as she walked across the sea of white concrete toward the school in the distance. The booming of her footsteps sent some of the birds skyward and caused a few heads to turn in her direction. Sakura petals covered the white ground, a sure sign that summer was dying and the school season had begun. Under the shade of the sakura tree, Eris bent down to retrieve one of the pinkish petals, examining it closely. Yes, it was beyond beautiful. Most other flowers looked to be as if sprayed by a one toned brush, but these petals appeared to be made by an artist using watercolors. The pink at the tips blended masterfully into the white near the center. A small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, her first in Japan. It was short-lived as she tucked the petal into her corduroy backpack. Yes, she was now very fond of this little flower.

Stepping into the sunlight, a gasp of shock sounded from a man who was working on the school lawn. His eyes widened at the sight of her flowing white hair, hair that appeared to be made of gossamer, not strands. Eris ignored the man's rude staring and continued more briskly toward the front doors. She knew that she was late, but the school officials had told her to not come in straight away. Apparently, foreign students had to be signed in at a different time on the first day of school.

The cold gray tiles reflected the flat lights of the school's ceiling. Eris stared, seeing that the tiles made the school look as if it possessed so much more light than it actually had. The tiles actually reflected something better, better than what actually existed. A short chuckle escaped her as she compared this image to that of American liberals.

"Ms. Eris Fayre?!" came a voice suddenly. Eris had failed to start at the intrusion of her thoughts, but just politely met the man's gaze and nodded.

"You are late, Ms. Fayre," he spoke in perfect English.

"Yes," she said softly. "I knew the way here less than I imagined."

"Then, you are already demonstrating traits of a poor student," he replied bitterly. "A good student would have started walking the distance, familiarizing themselves with it up to two weeks before school started."

Her mouth opened to reply, but she thought better of it. She might as well allow this man to have his fifteen minutes of power.

"My name is Taro Oichi and I am your Principal. I hope that this is the only occasion that I will have to be seeing you."

"I hope the same," she said, praying that he didn't understand the context.

He eyed her from head to toe, circling her as he attempted to find some sort of fault to punish her for. At last, his mouth crinkled into what she believed to be a smile, but she could not be sure. "You will be our example," he said as he took her arm and dragged her to the cafeteria.

"Students! Pay mind to me!," he yelled as she blushed beside him.

[Tuna-Chan]

Hao stood and watched Ren for a good ten minutes before the small boy even realize he was there. Hao smirked as Ren approached him, trying not to bring any attention to himself, but failing miserably. He didn't say a word though at Ren's question and even stayed quiet as Ren’s dance partner came and practically dragged Ren away. Yes, he thought, this is going to be fun. Not only will flocks of fangirls bother him about how he knew Hao, but he could tell when lunch came, it will be an all out feud, one that he wouldn't miss.

~Lunch~

He was first in line at lunch, grabbing only a Pepsi; he headed outside not wanting to be annoyed by the fangirls that had taken a liking to him. He walks a while around the grounds, and found the biggest tree. With a huff, he jumped and caught a low branch and swung himself up to the top.

He sipped his Pepsi slowly while he waited on the tree. Finally he saw the girl from before and was a little then less surprise that she sat near his tree. It was the most beautiful spot of all the grounds. He then got comfortable, and watched the clouds go by, waiting for the odd pair so that the fun could start.

[Mana Ego-Chan]

Mana had already noticed the rude boy from Japanese class in the tree when she sat down. Despite what people thought, she was more perceptive than even Mithos gave her credit for. She didn't have any doubt that he would be making an appearance soon. It was the only spot where no one seemed to go, so she chose to act as if he wasn' t there and enjoy her lunch without interruption. She highly doubted that this boy was anything like Ellie as far as smalltalk was concerned.

As far as Mithos went, she could hardly blame him. She did ruin his class, but she didn't care. She remembered the game they would always play to cheer each other up as children and smiled softly. It would surely be her ace in the hole. Still, she would have to question him about his sanity in dancing with the China man. Surely he just got stuck with out a partner and China would his only option. That had to be it. She felt someone sit next to her and opened her eyes and mouth to greet who she thought was Mithos. But she quickly closed it as she saw Ellie. Why was this girl so persistant? It really was annoying. She frowned a bit. The girl wasn't saying anything though. She was thankful for that. Especially after her hasty retreat earlier.

She looked over the grounds. More and more students were starting to come out. This school was probably much bigger than she thought. It was then a loud voice reached her ears. She looked over to see the overly pompous principle shouting in the cafeteria itself. She hardly paid any mind to him. Frankly, he annoyed her. So she continued to eat in silence.

[Emma]

"..Quite." Mithos agreed, only picking up a drink before heading towards the grounds. "C'mon, I don't want to be stuck in this place." He muttered to Ren as the principal began making an example of some unfortunate girl. Mana would undoubtedly throw a fit if she saw him chatting with Ren, but he had an ace up his sleeve for that.

-----

Ellie cast a glance to the cafeteria where the principal was yelling at some kid, and shook her head. She, too, had noticed the rude japanese boy sat in the tree above them, but paid no mind to him.