Fire&Ice - 3

    "Are you sure this is the right place?" Shinja frowned at the imposing architecture of Suishou Private High School. There were rumours about some pretty strange people that attended the school. Of course he didn't believe any of the stories, but after taking a good look at the school up close... he felt that anyone voluntarily going to Suishou must not be normal.

    "Yes, I know it is. Trust me!" Toura waved a hand at the disbelieving looks he received. "I'm positive this is the right place!"

    "But, don't you think we're....stepping out of bounds?" Huang hesitated and stared warily at the building. "I mean, barging into another school, especially one we've been rivals with for decades, and trying to kidnap one of their students... won't that reflect badly on us?"

    "No, no! That's not right!" Ryuji waved a finger at Huang. "We're only borrowing him! After all, Yoru-san did sign a contract with us that said he would do everything in his power to ensure the band's survival! It's perfectly legal."

    Toura nodded. "Yeah! Especially since Masui said that his recovery is going to take longer than he thought."

    "You guys still haven't answered my question yet." Shinja repeated with strained patience. There were times that the older boy couldn't help but wonder why he stayed with the other three. Granted, he was forced to work with them because their manager had decided that their voices were most appropriate but Shinja gradually found himself becoming... not physically repulsed by their company. It was odd. He didn't really know when it happened.

    Shinja said, "how do you know that this is right place?" He knew this wasn't the time to be thinking about the past and was determined to keep it from interfering.

    "Huh? Oh, that's simple!" Toura cheerfully held up a worn but expensive looking leather wallet. "It's got his ID and address and everything in here! Proof that Yoru-san is going to be here. And besides, I'm sure he would appreciate us bringing it back to him, right?"  

    Huang and Shinja exchanged doubtful looks. 

    "Somehow that fails to inspire any confidence within me." Shinja said.

    "How are we going to find him? All we know is that he goes to this school...and that's not much to work with," Huang said. 

    They all stopped to consider this new obstacle to their goal and to try and discover a way to get around this problem with the least amount of effort on their part. Not only that, but they would really like to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Or at least as inconspicuous as four famous idols arguing loudly, trespassing during school hours on a closed campus, and wearing the uniform of a most hated rival school could be.

    "Excuse me boys," a female student said, "but may I be of service to you?" 

    A girl dressed in the blue-and-grey Suishou uniform watched them with an enigmatic smile upon her face. This worried the four young men. They hoped that she didn't recognize their uniforms or their faces which, admittedly, was a rather futile hope to cling to and prayed that she would go away if ignored long enough. So for lack of a better plan of action, the four proceeded to ignore the girl in hopes that she would get bored and go away. 

    "Excuse me," Amefuri's voice rose with annoyance and adopted the distinct ring of authority. "But may I ask why the four of you are at Suishou and not at your own school?"

    Shinja waved a dismissive hand at her. "It's none of your business, girlie. Now you run off to class and leave us alone."

    Amefuri bristled. The false cheer crumbled under the weight of anger and indignation and Amefuri found herself struggling to regain her equilibrium before trying to speak. She had to constantly remind herself that she still appeared to be quite young to humans and that ignoring the slights about her age and gender would be best for her health in the long run. However, she never learned how to fully tolerate rudeness even though she knew full well that her stubbornness would only create more problems for herself. Amefuri sometimes wished that she could be as easy-going as her brother and, every now and again when she tried to adopt Mikata's attitude, only managed to fail in the end. Too many years in isolation had firmly cemented the girl in her self-appointed role as the eternally surly grumbler.

    "Now you listen to me, boy." Amefuri closed the gap between herself and Shinja, then pulled herself to her full height to stare straight into his surprised eyes. "If you think that I'm going to turn around and allow a group as suspicious as yours to wander around campus to do whatever you like, you are sadly mistaken."

    The boy tried to speak but she stopped him with a glare.

    "Now, if you do not explain yourselves then I must inform you that I will personally escort all of you off school grounds. I will see you are brought back to your school, into your office and force you to explain your actions to a principal that isn't fond of delinquent youths such as yourselves. Idols or not, you will not be excused for your behaviour. If it so happens that your principal does not provide a satisfactory conclusion to the events, then I WILL."

    Ryuji stared at her. 

    He never expected such fury to come from such a small, frail looking girl. There was something strange about this dark-haired girl that confronted them that encouraged the boy to choke back his scathing remarks. He thought that maybe it had something to do with the way she carried herself or the way she spoke. She looked younger than themselves but, in some ways, acted like someone from his parent's generation... if not older. If he had to put a name to the overall impression that she exuded, it would have been archaic.

    Amefuri paused to meet Ryuji's stare with one of her own. Haughty amethyst eyes bore into his, daring him to say something... anything. It was as if she knew his thoughts and couldn't care less about the things he knew. An irrational fear of her strange gaze crept through Ryuji until the spell was broken when her eyes shifted away.

    "We're looking for..."

    "If you wish to find Chikawa without drawing further attention to yourselves, I suggest that you follow me and remain silent." She turned away without waiting for a reply. 

    "Ah... y- yes... thank you," Ryuji stammered. He ignored the curious looks from his friends and followed them silently into the building.

*  *  *

    The door to the classroom slid open with an audible clack, announcing the return of Amefuri and the suspicious boys she guided from the front entrance. At first there was no reaction from the class and the four boys from 'Storm' began to wonder if they were perhaps not as popular as they thought. That was, of course, until somebody looked up and recognized them.

    Yorukai blanched. His chair was knocked to the ground in the mad scramble to his feet. Of course, since he had been seated in the teacher's desk and answering questions about the band, everyone noticed this odd behaviour and looked towards the door to see what could have produced such a reaction in their cheerfully patient teacher. The class degenerated into a chaotic screaming match.

    "There you are, Yoru-san!" Toura dashed into room and lunged for Yorukai's arm.

    "No I'm not!" He jerked back and rapidly back-pedalled away.

    "It's them! It's Storm!!" A girl squealed after double checking the magazine she held.

    "You're just imagining things! I'm not really here! Umm... umm... This figment of your imagination really must be going now!" Yorukai made a mad dash for the window and yanked it open.

    "Guys! Stop him!" Toura screamed at the other three.

    "Oh my god! They're really here! I can't believe it!" Another girl squealed.

    Shinzui managed to grab hold of Yorukai's jacket before he could successfully jump from the third story window and yelled at him. "Are you crazy?! Suicide won't help!"

    "Neither will staying, so lemme GO!"

    Akuma watched Yorukai's thwarted escape attempt with an amused expression. "...'this is the last place that Toura and the others will look for me,' did you say?"

    "Help or shut up!" Yorukai snapped at him.

    "No thanks." Akuma waved a hand airily. "I'm just a spectator."

    Yorukai glared at him.

    "Do you know how much trouble your death would cause us?!" Shinja snarled as he grabbed Yorukai's other arm. "Get back in here!"

    "Thanks for returning Masui!" Huang bowed quickly and rushed to help pull the stubborn man inside the room. "C'mon, in you go!"

    "NO! Out I go!" Yorukai yanked his arms free and lunged, unsuccessfully, for the window.

    "It was my pleasure to be of service to you." Amefuri said with a satisfied smile and leaned against the door frame.

    While all this was going on, Ryuji hung back from the chaos and took stock of the classroom and the people in it. He rarely had the chance to wander around the inside of  Suishou and wanted to learn all he could, Ishi Private School students were not welcomed. As he took stock of the room, Ryuji saw something quite surprising.

    "....Manager? What're you doing here?"

    That one innocent question caused all action to cease. In unison, all eyes in the room to turn towards Ryuji and the person he was addressing: Akuma. Amefuri noted with slight admiration that the only indication that the silver-haired man had noticed the drastic change in atmosphere was the distinct paling of his face. Akuma had to clear his throat several times before he was able to speak normally.

    "I do believe that you have me mistaken with my older brother, Akio. I have already stated clearly that I am not affiliated with the part of the family that operates Storm."

    Ryuji looked doubtful.

    Akuma replied after a long pause. "I'm an Okugi but I'm not your manager. Now I suggest that you and your friends return to Ishi Private School and do not return until the next athletics competition."

    It was at this point that Amefuri stepped forward with Shinzui's magazine in hand.

    "If what you say is true," she said with an air of smug superiority. "Then explain why this article on Storm mentions that without the aid of Okugi Akuma," Amefuri paused to wave the magazine in Akuma's irritated face, "Storm would not have been able to finish their follow-up CD on time."

    Akuma didn't meet Yorukai's accusing stare.

    "Even if I did help with the CD, that doesn't mean that I'm the reason Yoru-san is a member of the band." He retorted, choosing to look at Amefuri instead.

    "Then why are you credited for coming through with a last-minute replacement in the interview?" Amefuri shot back. 

    "That could mean anything, like equipment."

    "But that still doesn't explain why a member of the band itself says that you're their manager!"

    "Being manager doesn't mean that I can decide who are members!"

    "Then you admit that you're their manager." Amefuri smirked. "Good. Now admit that you signed Chikawa up as the replacement."

    "I will do no such thing, you manipulative little--" 

    "Okugi!" Yorukai snapped with a dangerous look. "You will watch your language in class. You may speak like that on your own time but you may not do that here, understand?"

     Akuma blinked at Yorukai in astonishment, as did several other members of the class.

    "What are you talking about Yoru-sa..."

    Yorukai him off with an annoyed wave of his hand. "Have you forgotten your place?"

     "Not at all, teacher." He replied frostily. "I hope you haven't forgotten yours."

     "Now, now..." Shinzui slipped in between the two and gently pushed them apart.

    Shinzui didn't want to risk attracting their ire but knew that he had to intervene when he noticed Yorukai's flinch. Personal experience told the pale-haired boy that it was as dangerous as it was difficult to back their unpredictable teacher into a corner, but the older youth seemed to do it with ease. There must have been something piece of knowledge that Akuma was holding ransom over Yorukai that gave him the power to force the braided man to back down. Shinzui didn't know what it was or where to start looking, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was.

    Whatever it was, it was dangerous knowledge.

    "Why don't we just ask why these guys want Chikawa-sensei to go back with them?" Shinzui offered meekly. "Then maybe we can decide what to do?"

    "He's holding up their production schedule." Amefuri frowned at the blasé attitude that Yorukai showed as he continued to act as if he were completely innocent of their accusations. "It's obvious that Chikawa should go with these boys without a fight."

     "But... but then you won't have anyone to teach the class!" Yorukai protested with a hopeful smile, dropping the act in the interest of self-preservation when it appeared that the others were seriously considering Amefuri's proposal. "Your normal teacher doesn't seem to be here, I should... no, must! I MUST stick around. It's my duty as your assistant teacher to keep you all from becoming poor students, since, you know, I am one." He paused and added, "Assistant teacher that is."

    Yorukai turned to face the boys of Storm. "So, you see, I really can't go with you. I'm sorry. Really. I'll have to meet you later!"

    He pushed the protesting boys towards the exit.

    "You signed a contract and you have to work!" Toura protested. "You gave us your word!"

    The blue-haired man grit his teeth and stopped. It was becoming increasingly obvious that his normal methods to avoid unwanted attention were not working. He cursed internally. If things were allowed to progress and he was forced to appear on stage to sing of all things, his entire reason for remaining on Earth could be blown. There would be quite a few people interested in his activities that Yorukai didn't want to meet quite so soon. No, if he wanted to free himself from Storm's grasp for a while then he would have to use a little influence.

    He glanced at Akuma, who was watching him with a tiny smile of amusement. 'The jerk's enjoying this!' Yorukai thought furiously. 'Debt or no, I'm not going to let him get away with laughing at my expense. But... there's still that obstacle...'

    Yorukai shifted his gaze to the dark-haired girl that sat primly on the corner of Shinzui's desk, talking to the boy with another expression of amusement.

    'I'll be fine. It's noisy enough that she shouldn't be able to notice.'

    Blue eyes slid shut as Yorukai concentrated inwards to release the other power in his blood. While training to become proficient in his powers, there were barriers created from necessity and habit that needed to be removed. It was true that Yorukai had greater resistance to the power that Shinigami channelled than most of his people, but it was still painful to use electricity. The electric power in his veins clashed with the Rusalkian's power and it burned. Deep inside of his body, the power in his blood fought itself and it burned with an indescribable agony.

    It was no great wonder that Yorukai had devote most of his attention to keeping one side of his heritage in check.

    'But, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.' Yorukai took a deep breath and braced himself as a barrier dropped away within his mind.

    The long dormant power flowed through his body, pushing through paths long guarded by second power and into the sparkling blue strongholds to reassert it's dominance. The electric power was strong, it was tempered with the experience of countless battles and transformed more than once into something else. Something formidable. By comparison, the Rusalki's power, the water demons' power, was always weaker. The worst of the battle only took a couple seconds.

    But it was different this time.

    The Rusalki blood was stronger that he remembered.

    Yorukai gasped and squeezed his eyes shut against the pained tears that threatened to fall. 'Oh gods, it hurts.' It was the many years practicing his acting that allowed the man to automatically conceal his reaction as a fearful cringe from the dirty looks of the others. 'D... did my Rusalki powers fi... finally develop? Wonderful timing. Geez, could give a guy a little warning.'

    Toura smiled brightly and said, "You'll come with us, right? You can't abandon your duty!"

    Yorukai forced his consciousness to focus on the matter at hand. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could suppress it again. The swirling power flowed into his throat.

    "I can't abandon my duty here, I'm a teacher first and singer second. Toura, you and your friends will go back to Ishi Private School and finish your classes. We will meet at the recording studio at the scheduled time, understand?"

    "Y...yeah. I guess this is a little forward," Toura agreed slowly. "But you've gotta show up at the studio like you said, okay? We'll find you and drag you back by force if you try to run, got it?"

    "Er, yeah. Got it." Yorukai agreed, his attention split between the conversation and restoring the internal barriers. "No, wait." He started to protest as his brain finally caught up with his mouth. "I didn't mean..."

    "Yoru-san." Akuma shot Yorukai a cryptic look that caused the blue-haired man to visibly deflate.

    "Okay, okay... I got it already. I'll be there." Yorukai said sullenly. "No tricks or anything. I swear on my honour that I'll be there."

    Akuma's expression did not change when he showed his approval of Yorukai's defeat with a terse nod. The silver-haired man smoothed the wrinkles from his uniform jacket as he stood to guide the boys of Storm from Suishou Private School's grounds. The four boys followed quietly and left no sign that they had ever paid a visit to the class.

    Yorukai collapsed in his chair with a weary sigh.

    The pain was taking longer than usual to recede. He wondered if his luck was really so bad that his Rusalki powers would wait until he was in trouble on Earth to develop. The last thing he needed was for his aquatic powers to appear now, after he developed his electric abilities to the point where they could be made his primary skill.

    Then again, he wouldn't put it past the powers-that-be to have a good laugh at his expense by doing so.

    "Chikawa-sensei?" Shinzui looked at him with obvious concern. "You look really tired, maybe you should take Akuma's advice and get some rest."

    "But I can't just run away!" He protested, ignoring the muscles in his body that screamed for rest. "It's not right to abandon the class."

    "Like the way you abandoned the band?" Amefuri piped up.

    "Yes, like I aban... hey! No! I didn't abandon them!" Yorukai yelled, "I was just taking a well deserved break!"

    "On the other side of town." Amefuri said, crossing her arms with a sigh. "How like you to be too stupid to take a break and work yourself to point of exhaustion. Now, will you stop arguing and rest like you said you were?"

    Yorukai gaped at the dark-haired girl, unsure how to respond since he was absolutely certain that he had heard her words wrong. 'Did she just say something nice? To me? Well, not really nice since she still insulted me but, you know, nice for her.' He shook his head. Now there was no doubt in his mind that he was suffering from extreme mental exhaustion and was not hearing things right.

    "You know, you're probably onto something Shinzui." Yorukai smiled at him. "Maybe I'll go to lie down in the nurses' office for a while."

    The boy nodded.

    Amefuri rose to her feet and crossed the few metres separating them to grab Yorukai's arm before hauling him to his feet. He sputtered indignantly that he was perfectly capable of walking under his own power but she ignored him. In fact, she gave no indication that she heard a single word that he said as she dragged him towards the door.

    "H... hey! Where are you taking me? Lemme go! I'm older than you! Respect your elders!"

    The girl gave him a withering look and hissed. "I sincerely doubt that. Also, you have given me no reason to respect you or your intelligence after that attempt to commit suicide. I kindly implore you to remain silent or you will force me to silence you for the remainder of the day."

    Yorukai decided that following her orders would be in his best interest in the long run and fell silent. Amefuri grunted her approval of his decision as she carried him to the infirmary. Another reason that Yorukai decided to listen to her was not because of fear, but all his posturing was just that. Yorukai knew he didn't have the strength to walk all the way the infirmary without collapsing halfway unless he had some help... even if it was unwilling help that probably just wanted to keep a close eye on him.

    As soon as they arrived, Amefuri slid open the door with a foot while balancing the full weight of the blue-haired man. They entered and found the room empty. Apparently, the school doctor was on their break and they were on their own until she returned. Yorukai grimaced as Amefuri dumped him unceremoniously onto one of the beds and smoothed the wrinkles from her jacket. As she walked towards the door, he briefly allowed his spirits to lift with the hope that she would return to class without a word.

    Then his hope was violently crushed by a massive wave of dread as she closed the door and returned to take a seat on the chair next to the bed. Yorukai was seized by paralyzing anxiety as he lifted his head to meet the curious dark-eyed stare of his charge only to be met with the top of her head.

    Amefuri sat on the plastic chair with her eyes firmly averted from his own and a sense of unease in her frame that was completely unrelated to the comfort of her seat. The rough blue skirt fabric of the Suishou uniform was twisted and tugged by slim fingers that, even his distance, bore the faint scars and calluses of combat. He could see that she was absently biting her lower lip when she briefly flickered her eyes up to meet his before refocusing on her hands and stilling them.

    It was then when Yorukai was struck by how profoundly feminine and nervous those little gestures were. Those gestures were so unlike the Amefuri he had come to know. He had become accustomed to watching Amefuri's body language to get a sense of her moods, and more importantly if she were feeling inclined towards violence that day, but he rarely paid attention to Amefuri in the infrequent moments of peace between them. Why would he? She was always so agreeable and gave him no reason to expect her to do anything to possibly jeopardise his life or mission. In short, she appeared to tolerate his presence and he, in turn, never imposed his views on her.

    'Tolerating Yorukai's presence, rather.' He reminded himself sourly, 'Paradoxically, she has no qualms with accepting Shinigami. If she only knew...'

    Yorukai was startled out of his reverie by the Amefuri's sudden movement. She sat in the chair with back straight and head raised proudly as her eyes focused unwaveringly on the teacher's face. Privately, he thought that her transformation back into the girl he'd come to know would have fooled him into dismissing his revelation if he didn't notice that her skirt was still wrinkled and her hands were clasped firmly together when they began to shake.

    He probably would have said something about it if he didn't also notice the seriousness of her gaze and sighed internally. Yorukai knew it was too much to hope that she would drop the issue, especially when he dangled such a dangerous bit of information in front of her nose, only to try and snatch it away at the last second. Logically, he would have to do everything in his power to dissuade her of whatever notion she got in her head about his true nature. Logically, he knew that this was the only safe route for him. Logically, this was the only course of action.

    But still...

    'Just once.'

    Yorukai shook his head and tried to banish the thoughts before they could fully form. He ignored the incessant and familiar ache in his chest as he drew himself up and prepared for the inevitable confrontation. 'Just once,' that traitorous voice whispered before being silenced, 'I'd give anything to talk openly with one of my kind. It's been so long...'

    "What was that?" Amefuri demanded.

    Yorukai feigned ignorance. "What was what?"

    She scowled. "What did you do back there? How did you suddenly convince those boys to leave without a fight? Why did Okugi say that you forgot your place and you accepted it? What are you hiding from me?"

    Yorukai opened his mouth. "I..."

    "Don't lie," Amefuri interrupted, "I'll find out. I will not be happy. At all."

    He closed his mouth. This, he decided, was going to take some fast talking, some real fast talking to satisfy her curiosity. This was also going to be very, very difficult to accomplish without cheating. But then she would know for certain and Yorukai wasn't quite ready to tell her everything.

    "There's no real trick about it Ame-chan." Yorukai said brightly, "I told them I was too busy and they must have believed me and gave up for now. We were supposed to be meeting later anyway. Akkun said that I forgot my place and he's right since we're friends and I shouldn't be bossing him around. That's not right, you know, to order a friend around. I'm not hiding anything from you, Ame-chan. I'd never do that! If I do that, then how am I supposed to get you to trust me as your teacher? It'd defeat the purpose of gaining your trust if I hid something major!"

    Amefuri considered his words carefully before inclining her head in his direction and conceding the point his favour. There was only a short-lived thrill of relief before he realized that she probably did not believe a word he said. No, that wasn't right. She probably believe that was he said was possible, it just wasn't the absolute truth. In retrospect, Yorukai realized that it was only obvious that she would reject his excuse since she did hail from the same distant system as he.

    "Assuming that I do accept your excuses," Amefuri said. "That still does not explain why you became fatigued so suddenly. You were obviously tired for the majority of your visit, but when you suddenly cringed in pain..."

    Yorukai winced. It was definitely asking too much to have that missed by a Ryuzan's sharp eyes and intellect. This was bad.

    "...and then you nearly passed out in the chair." She stopped to watched his reaction with narrowed eyes. "You're hiding something."

    "Just my exhaustion, Ame-chan." Yorukai smiled weakly at her from where he lay sprawled on the bed. "I didn't want to worry you so I tried to hide it. I guess it all caught up to me when I tried to jump out the window," He laughed. "That was pretty dumb of me, ne? I just... I didn't want you to worry about me."

    She stared at him with an expression akin to horror and disgust. "You thought that I was worried about your health? Are you insane? I just want answers from you and I will get them, one way or another!" Amefuri belatedly remembered that they were in the infirmary and lowered her voice to a whisper. "One day, I will learn the truth about you."

    "Of course you will." Yorukai gave her a mock salute before turning away from her. "Sorry, but I really need to get some rest now."

    He heard Amefuri's quiet expression of disgust at his flippant attitude as she left the infirmary with a loud slam of the door. It was only after the sounds of her footsteps had long faded away that the tension was able to fade away. Yorukai knew that she didn't believe any of his reasons but they were good enough that she would not be able to continue arguing without looking foolish, which led to her retreat. Now he resolved to get some rest before he had to go to the recording studio.
 

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