Angel Sanctuary Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Dust ❯ Self Centric ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: (evil glint in eyes) Spork attack!

 

AN: My stomach dislikes me. It's basically saying `you suck!', but in four-letter words. Nevertheless, here we go!

 

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Chapter Two: Self Centric

 

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She really had tried. He couldn't believe that she'd actually tried. But there it was - a roll of paper towels, on the table next to where she pillowed her head in her arms and cried. She jumped when Setsuna touched her shoulder, and hurriedly scrubbed at her face. It didn't do much good, since the tears kept coming.

 

“What's wrong?” Setsuna asked incredulously, heart beating just a bit too fast.

 

She tried to fake a smile for him, but then she had to look away again; she shrugged miserably. “What did you tell her?”

 

“Uh...” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Actually...”

 

Sara's eyes whipped around to him again, and she was glaring. “You didn't answer her?-!” She hit him in the chest with the paper towels, but just doing so once seemed to sap her energy; she shook her head with a small grin. “Oh, oniichan... you're hopeless...”

 

“Well...” he said cleverly, with a small nervous grin of his own. Then he knelt down next to her, causing her to glance at him in surprise. “What's wrong?” he asked again, softly.

 

She flushed, and looked annoyed about it, and turned to face full forward again. “Oh, it's stupid... it's just... I guess I'd kind of hoped that nothing would have to change between the three of us. I mean, at least not yet, you know?” She smiled brightly at him, even though her eyes were still overly liquid.

 

Setsuna, for his part, felt like a little bit of him crumpled, just like that.

 

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The next morning, Alexiel found herself beginning to truly believe that the world was out to get her.

 

To start things off, she'd overslept - for some reason - and yet she was still tired. Plus, she'd barely had time to rip a brush through her hair, let alone have breakfast. And on top of it all, she'd only just entered the schoolyard when one of her supposed `new friends' stormed up to her, glaring black death.

 

“Hi?” Alexiel suggested, somewhere between warily and wearily.

 

“I need to talk to you,” Kurai ground out. And, so suddenly that there was really nothing she could do in her partially out-of-it state, Alexiel found herself being dragged off by the arm, into the nearest vacant classroom.

 

“What the hell?” she demanded, wresting her wrist free. At which point Kurai reached back and slapped her.

 

She trembled with righteous rage as she shouted: “S-Stay away from Setsuna!”

 

Alexiel grimaced back from the volume of her voice, and then punched her hard enough to knock her to the floor.

 

“You're a woman,” she said dryly. “That means you're allowed to hit other women properly.” Kurai, to her credit, glared up at her while her fingers quickly assessed her bruised lip; Alexiel sighed, and perched herself on the edge of the teacher's desk. “What the hell?” she repeated. “Setsuna's that guy I met yesterday, right?”

 

Kurai's scowl deepened. “Yeah! And you better stay away from him! I've known him since we were kids-”

 

“You?” she said curiously. “This is about you? I thought he was already taken. The way they acted - isn't he with that Sara girl?”

 

Kurai gaped at her for a moment, and Alexiel saw something switch off behind her eyes. The tears that had been threatening since she'd been hit spilled over, and she bowed her head to try to hide them.

 

“He's not?” Alexiel hazarded quietly.

 

“She's his sister,” Kurai hissed. “I told him - that I liked him - and she got so upset-” she hiccupped miserably, “-and he just ran after her! He hardly even looked at me!”

 

Alexiel's eyes widened. “You don't think they-?”

 

“No!”

 

“They are, aren't they?”

 

“I don't know,” she moaned around her tears, and bit her lip. “I think... I don't know... It's so disgusting...”

 

Alexiel sighed again, and slipped to the floor next to the other girl. “Don't talk like that,” she said sternly. “You know people can't help things like that. No one ever can.” She shrugged. “That's supposed to be the beauty of it, or something like that. He's not hurting you if he wants his sister any more than he would by wanting some other girl, so don't get prejudiced over it.” She smiled sadly. “It's okay to hate him a little for wanting someone else, though.”

 

Kurai blinked up at her. “You don't understand!” she insisted, sniveling. “They're my best friends! And I don't know - if I can... be around them any more. I don't know if I even want to!”

 

Alexiel shook her head, and used her sleeve to dab at the girl's face irritably. “Oh, Christ - pull yourself together! So he was an insensitive jerk; guys in love are just like that. You made the big mistake. It was okay to tell him how you felt - but it sounds like you really put him on the spot, by expecting him to return those feelings when you knew he liked someone else. Were you just in denial?” She scoffed. “I would've run too.”

 

Kurai gawked at her some more, shocked right out of crying. “You - how dare-” she stuttered. But Alexiel interrupted her, by brushing Kurai's damp hair off her face with a smile.

 

“But, you know... Setsuna seems like a nice guy. I bet he won't hold it against you... You could probably still go back to being just friends pretty comfortably, if that's something you want.” Kurai was wide-eyed and silent.

 

Alexiel glanced up at the clock over her shoulder, and cussed. “Now look what you've done! You made us fifteen minutes late!” She scrambled to her feet, and grabbed Kurai's hand in a strong grip on the way up.

 

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That afternoon, Kira and Alexiel ate lunch with Rosiel and Katan for a second time. From the expression on Kira's face, it was clear whose idea it had been. He sat to Alexiel's right, and Rosiel to her left; Katan sat across the table from Kira, watching silently. Kira was about as silent as he was, if more obviously brooding; Rosiel had completely monopolized his sister's attention with ease.

 

Alexiel - because she was busy eating ravenously and trying to make it look like she wasn't - probably didn't notice, but Katan's dull eyes took it all in from across the table. The way he kept brushing her hand with his hand, brushing her shoulder with his shoulder. The shine in his eyes, which spent half their time looking at her body and half their time looking at her face and therefore had no time left to look anywhere else. The wide smile... He couldn't decide whether to pity her, or hate her.

 

“Ah... I was wondering,” Rosiel said pleasantly, “do you have any plans for Saturday night?”

 

She blinked at him, and swallowed hurriedly to answer. “Not really... You want to go somewhere?”

 

He nodded. “If you'd like. I was thinking that we could go get dinner somewhere, and just catch up.” And he smiled, and Kira scowled, and Katan's face was as blank as ever...

 

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AN: (deep bow) Sorry for the shortness! It's even shorter than the first one... The next one will be longer, promise... And yes, in case anyone's wondering, I am aware that poor Katan hasn't had a single line yet -.-;; Next chapter, really! Uh, probably...