Fan Fiction ❯ We Met in a Dream ❯ Thursday, September 14 The waking world ( Chapter 5 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Darialan 
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 142 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 142 | Status: Completed
Chapter 5:
Note: I do not own Ranma ½. Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Darien slowly woke up, eyes still heavy. He threw his hand over his alarm clock, hitting the button to shut off the alarm. He yawned and stretched his arms. "Whoa! Was that for real?" he thought. This was still very odd to him, but this was the second night in a row and he felt even more that it was real.
He checked his e-mail in the morning, just before breakfast was ready. It had some of the usual spam in his box. He anxiously delete as many as he could find till he got to one from VentonValiant and CherishedDream. It was most e-mail he's had in the last few days, other than the annoying ads. He read the first one.
To:SilentSwordsman
From:VentonValiant
Date: September 14, 2001
Subject:Good Morning
Good Morning, Darien. Hey, what about last night? Pretty wild, huh? But we have a lot left to do, before we can rescue Yuki. But hey, I'll talk to you at lunch about it today, ok?
By the, since we walked home together yesterday, you know where I live. Just stop by so we can head over this morning?
Well, see you there. Bye for now.
Darien started to feel a little better. Things were starting to look up for him. He found a friend in someone and now he's starting to realize how real these dreams really were. He didn't bother writing a reply as it was a bit late already and he'd not check back till later. In fact it was getting about time for breakfast, so he didn't have time to check the e-mail from Melissa.
Darien sat down to breakfast. Mika noticed he was eating a little fast. "Slow down, you're going to be sick," she said. "What are you in such a hurry for."
Darien slowed down a bit and mumbled some words between bites, "I hafta meet Otaru before going to school."
Mika nodded, actually understanding the words he said, even though Darien was talking while eating. "So, you've got a friend? Wonderful!" she said smiling.
Darien groaned, his eyes narrowing. She was so embarrassing.
"Why don't you bring him over tonight?"
Darien shook his head as he finished and picked up his bag.
"Hmm. Well, have a good day and have fun," she said watched him walk out the door.
Darien walked down his block for only a minute. It didn't take long to get to Otaru's house. He was so close. He walked up to the door and brought his hand up to the door bell. He hesitated a moment and brought his hand back down. He started to have doubts again about himself. He did say stop by in the morning and this was the right house, wasn't it? He started to question himself and he backed away from the house just a little. He looked and made sure in his mind that this was the right place. He was certain. This was where he went after school.
He heard a muffled voice from the inside. Darien walked closer to the door to hear. "Darien, should be here soon, mom," he heard.
"Yeah, but you're supposed to get their a few minutes early today, so you can meet with your teacher about your grades," the voice of a woman replied.
"Yeah, you're right. I hope Darien will understand when I see him later," the other voice said.
Darien backed away from the door as he expected to see Otaru walk out. And that he did. "Ohh, Darien. I didn't expect to see you this early," he said.
"Well, I'm usually a bit early anyway," he answered.
Otaru nodded. "Well, I've got to get there early today. I've got a short meeting with Miss Kumashiro, so we better get moving."
"Hai," Darien nodded in reply. They started walking towards school. Darien didn't bother asking about last night, feeling a little unsure whether he should or not. He was still stuck believing that dreams were just imagination. Although there was that e-mail he got this morning.
They were a little ahead of everyone else going to school, so there weren't too many others around just yet. Otaru turned his head towards Darien. "Hey," he said.
Darien's mind was on the dream he had last night. "Yeah?" he answered.
"Why is it that you always seem to avoid people, anyway?" Otaru asked.
Darien just hung his head as they walked and was silent for a few moments.
Otaru sighed. "Is it because people give you a hard time?" he asked.
Darien nodded.
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that. Just be yourself. Trust me. The ones that truly know you will be the ones that treat you well. Besides, I figure if people give you crap, then they don't truly know you," he said looking forward.
"Do you really believe that? I mean I don't know," Darien added.
"Sure, You just need confidence in who you are and know yourself."
"Don't you ever have any doubts?"
Otaru paused a moment and stopped walking. He closed his eyes and pointed his head down. "No," is all he said.
Darien stopped just as he did. He didn't quite understand why Otaru was doing, just standing there.
Otaru snapped out of it. "Anyway, you've got to approach life like you're dreaming. A dream is whatever you make it and so is you’re life."
Darien stared at him for a second when he mentioned dreaming. He paused, but didn't say anything about it. He was, again going to ask about last night, but also didn't want to feel stupid.
Otaru looked back for a moment. "What is it? Were you going to say something?" he asked.
"Uh, no. Not really," he answered.
"No-no. What were you going to say. You were just staring at me, like I said something weird," Otaru added.
Darien decided to ask what he was going to ask him. Like Otaru said, he shouldn't worry what other think of him and if he said that, then he shouldn't worry about how Otaru would react. "Well, you said something about a dream being what you make it." Darien paused a second and continued, "Otaru, I had this weird dream last night."
Otaru interrupted Darien by laughing. "Darien, we were sharing the same dream world last night," he said out loud.
Darien looked around him to make sure that there was noone else around that heard him say that. "Otaru! What if someone heard that?" Darien asked looking at him, a little agitated.
"Geez, Darien. Don't act like it matters if anyone heard me. It's not that big a deal," Otaru said still laughing a little bit.
"People will think we're weird or something," Darien continued with an annoyed look on his face.
Otaru sighed, "Ok, ok. Sorry." By then they had made it into the school. "Well, I've got to get to Miss Kumashiro's office. I'll see you at lunch," he said with a smile.
Darien mumble under his breath, "Yeah, whatever." As he walked in the opposite direction to the empty homeroom. He was still a bit steamed at Otaru for saying that so loudly. It was bad enough that Darien got picked on about being afraid of having bad dreams. He didn't like the attention. Sometimes he wished people would just leave him alone. But, then there are the times when he feels alone. He sighs, thinking about this as he sits down quietly at his desk.
Miss Kumashiro wasn't in the room as usual, but that was because she was busy with Otaru in her office. Otaru said something about his grades. Darien never had to worry about his grades. He always studied. He was a fairly average student as far as grades were concerned. Minutes passed and Otaru and Sensei-Kumashiro entered the room with the other students not long after and class begun and class went as usual till lunch.
Darien sat below a nearby cherry tree with his lunch. Otaru ran up. "Hey, I thought we were going to eat together," he called.
Darien groaned a little, still upset with him about this morning.
Otaru could tell he was still mad by the look on his face. "Hey, sorry about this morning. I promise to keep it quiet from now on, ok?"
Darien nodded as Otaru sat down next to him. Otaru looked up from his lunch and could see Megumi in the distance. "Megumi!" he called. "Over here with us!"
Megumi was sitting alone on a bench. She had just opened her lunch. She acted as if she didn't hear Otaru calling her.
Otaru thought he wasn't heard. "I'll be right back, Darien. I'm going to ask Megumi, if she wants to sit with us," he said as he turned his head to darien.
Darien just nodded again as he bit into some sushi.
Darien started to smile again. He started to realize again that he may actually have some friends. But it was a bit frightening. It seemed to be happening a bit fast. He was still a bit quiet.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Hey, Megumi!" Otaru called out as he rushed towards her. He stopped in front of her. "Hey."
Megumi slowly looked up at Otaru. She recognized him from her dream last night. She didn't want to acknowledge him. It was, too weird, what happened last night and she still didn't believe that it was more than just a dream, so she acted as if she'd never met him. "Excuse me. Do I know you?" she asked in a polite voice.
"Uh, of course you do. Otaru. From last night," he said.
"Last night?" Megumi asked slowly in a quiet voice.
Like before school with Darien, he didn't care who heard him. He added, "You know from the dream last night."
This time Megumi realized that it was more than just a dream that she had. She looked around to see if anyone was listening. She became very nervous about what others might think about this. She wasn't going to take any chance that anyone heard what he said. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about," she continued, sheepishly.
Otaru sighed. "Fine, then," he groaned. "You know, you could sit with me and Darien, if you wanted, but if you want to be stuck up, then that's your problem." Otaru turned around and walked off, back towards where Darien was still sitting.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Darien couldn't tell what they were saying from the distance. But he could tell from Megumi's head pointing in every direction at one moment, that he said something she didn't want anyone to hear.
Otaru sat down next to Darien, once again.
Darien looked over at Otaru. "What'd you say?" he asked.
Otaru sighed. "I said hello and she just acts like she doesn't know me! How rude!" he said a bit discouraged.
"Oh," Darien said and he dug into his lunch box for more of his lunch.
"It's ok. We'll just sit by ourselves," he said as he finally got into his lunch. "I even mentioned last night and she just blew me off!"
Darien sighed. "Would you just forget about last night! Someone might hear us!" Darien said, groaning.
"What's the big deal?!" Otaru scoffed.
"People will think we're crazy!" Darien growled back.
"Fine, fine, but come on. We've gotta talk about it here in the real world, too. So why don't we get together after school someplace private. Ok?" Otaru replied lowering his voice.
Darien nodded. "Thank you," he said with a sigh of relief.
"And don't worry about Megumi. I have a hunch she knew exactly what I was talking about," he said and paused before adding, "I've got tutoring after school, so I'll talk to her then."
Darien nods and they both finish lunch before the bell rang again. The two walked back in after everyone else. They got part way down the hall to their room when another student ran into the back of Darien and fell to the floor, scattering mangas.
Darien turned around saying, "what the?"
Otaru turned around, too. "What's this?" he said just after.
The student shut his eyes tight and rubbed his head, saying, "kuso."
Otaru was about to help him up when he quickly stood up, picked up all his mangas. He bowed to Darien saying, "Gomen nasai." And ran on his way.
"What a weird kid," Otaru said and turned around, back on his way to class.
Darien stood there and blinked a couple of times, staring where the other student had stood. On the floor was one of the mangas he missed. He turned around and called, "Hey, you forgot..." But it was too late, the boy was gone. Darien picked it up, leafed through it and laughed as a boy turned into a girl with a simple splash of water. He closed it and looked at his watch. His eyes grew. "I'm late!" he said, panicked. He put the manga in his bag with the intent to return it later and hurried to class.
He walked into the class room and shut the door. Miss Kumashiro looked up from her book she was reading aloud from. "D-Darien? You're late. That's unusual. Didn't you hear the bell?" she asked, sounding a little surprised.
"Gomen," he said bowing his head.
"Ok. I'm excusing you this time, since it's so unusual," she answered.
Darien quickly got to his seat and the class went on as usual.
Classes finally ended and the students started to leave their seats and go out the door. Otaru walked up to Darien's desk just as he started to get up. "Hey, I'll see you online later, ok? Since I hafta stay after and all."
Darien nodded.
"Um, Sensei, who am I tutoring this afternoon?" Megumi asked as she finally collected all her books.
"That would be me," Otaru spoke up as he turned his attention away from Darien and to Megumi.
Megumi looked over to him and sighed and gave a look that seemed to say, "why me?"
Megumi and Otaru went to the back of the room and pushed a couple of desks together for the tutoring session.
"Oh, Darien. What happened to you earlier?" Miss Kumashiro asked.
"Huh?" Darien said as he looked to the teacher.
"The reason you were late," she said.
Darien had taken one too many seconds paging through that kid's manga before he looked at his watch. It wasn't at all like Darien to lie, so he told her, "Well, this kid ran into me in the hall and dropped his comics."
Miss Kumashiro sighed and said, "Akito," under her breath, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "Uh, I'm sorry go on," she said, sorry she interrupted.
Darien pulled a Ranma ½ comic out of his bag and continued, "Well, he forgot to pick this one up." His voice sped up a little as he finish, "And I took a moment to look through it. I'm sorry."
Misato took the comic from his hands. "Don't worry about it. I'll see he gets this after school tomorrow," she said turning around and putting it in her desk drawer. She sighed, mumbling, "And I'm going to hafta talk to his parents again." She turned around towards Darien again. "Oh, I'm sorry. You may go."
Darien nodded and left the classroom and headed home.
On the way home Darien paused a moment and took notice of a kid sitting on a bench, shuffling through his book bag. It was the one from earlier, with the mangas. He seemed to be looking for something frantically, mumbling, "Ugh! Where is it? I know I brought it with me. Arg! I bet I forgot it when I dropped them earlier. Why me?"
The kid looked up from the bench, noting that someone was watching him. He must have recognize Darien, because he called out, "Hey! Excuse me! Are you the guy I ran into earlier?"
Darien stuttered a little, saying, "Uh-uh yeah."
The kid ran up to him and quickly stopped in front of Darien, squealing his shoes as if he was a car slamming the brakes. "Where is it?! Wh-where is my Ranma manga?!" he frantically asked shaking his arms all about.
Darien backed up. This guy was very strange. He continued to back up a few steps. But the kid crept closer continuing to ask about his missing manga. "I, uh..gave it to Sensei-Kumashiro," Darien said, slowly still backing away, an arm out front as if he was ready to defend himself or something.
"You what?!?!" he yelled, still shaking his arms all around. He stopped and put his hands on his face. He lowered his voice. "Great. Just great. She's probably going to talk to my parents again," he said turning around back to the bench. He picked up his bag and started off down the street, hanging his head down as he walked.
Darien's right eye jerked as he saw him sulk down the road. That guy was very strange.
Darien finally made his way home. As soon as Mika heard the door shut, she immediately came to see Darien. "Good afternoon, Darien. You're father had to work late again," she said.
Darien sighed. "As usual," he thought.
"Um, you didn't invite your friend home?" she said looking at the door.
Darien shook his head. "He's got tutoring," Darien said silently as he started for his room.
"Um, Darien?" Mika asked quietly.
Darien stopped. "Hm?"
"Make sure to ask him over tomorrow. Ok?" she asked in a gentle voice, smiling.
Darien just lightly mmhmmed and went to his room to work on his homework before, dinner. He spent the time doing this and eating dinner till he noticed a message from Otaru on his computer screen.
VentonValiant: Hey. Well it was tough, but I managed to get Megumi's IM name.
Darien rushed to the computer.
SilentSwordsman: Heya. What's her name?
VentonValiant: Meg99
SilentSwordsman: =/ wow.
VentonValiant: Yeah, some ppl don't have much imagination.
SilentSwordsman: I guess not.
Darien added Meg99 to his IM list and she came on.
SilentSwordsman: She's on. Let's get her into chat.
VentonValiant: Ok, Melissa's online, too.
Dreams Chat - IM Chartroom
Meg99: Hello
CherishedDream: Hi hi
Meg99: You must be Otaru's girlfriend. Am I right?
VentonValiant: That she is. :D
Meg99: Hey, I'm sorry about earlier today, VV.
VentonValiant: Well, that's ok. Darien helped me to understand a little.
VentonValiant: But I still don't understand why anyone would care what ppl think of them.
CherishedDream: Well, ppl can be very judgmental. It's hard to find friends when you think ppl automatically thing wrong of you in some way.
Meg99: btw, where is Darien?
VentonValiant: He's SilentSwordsman.
VentonValiant: Hey Darien. What's the problem?
(outside chat, in IM window)
SilentSwordsman: I know her from school and I've never talked to her.
VentonValiant: =/ She doesn't bite. We're all the same online.
VentonValiant: Just say hi.
Dreams Chat - IM Chatroom
SilentSwordsman: Hi.
Meg99: Hello, Darien
CherishedDream: There he is. How's it going, Dar? :-)
SilentSwordsman: Ok, I guess. =/
VentonValiant: Ok, let's get down to business. Darien has girl in the dream world that was kidnapped and we need to help her out.
SilentSwordsman: Uh, well, she's not my girl.
VentonValiant: Sure you do. ;-) Yuki!
VentonValiant: I'm sure she will be when YOU rescue her. ;-)
SilentSwordsman: ME rescue her?
Meg99: Yuki. Hmmm. That name sounds familiar. Why?
VentonValiant: Yeah, she's your girl after all. ;-)
VentonValiant: She was the one that was taken to the hospital the other day. She's very a very quiet person. Just like Darien. Perfect match. ;-)
SilentSwordsman: >.o;; I barely know her, guys.
VentonValiant: I think Melissa went to bed already. =/
Meg99: Who is Melissa?
CherishedDream: That's me. Sorry I was reading some fanfics. =/
Meg99: So, anyway. Yuki, huh.
VentonValiant: Yeah. Nice looking girl, long brown hair, always looks a little sad. =/
Meg99: Ok, I think I've seen her before.
CherishedDream: Sad?
VentonValiant: Yeah, she always looks so sad.
CherishedDream: I wonder why. =/
Meg99: Bad dreams?
VentonValiant: Could be. =/
Meg99: Well, I should get to bed. I have a big day tomorrow.
CherishedDream: Why's that?
Meg99: I've got to tutor a student that's...well he's hard to tutor. He just doesn't pay attention. >.< He's always staring off into space or reading mangas when he's supposed to be paying attention in class.
Meg99: Either of you know Akito Takahashi?
VentonValiant: nope.
CherishedDream: I'm from another school, so no. =p
Meg99: How about you, Darien. Know him?
SilentSwordsman: No, but I saw this weird kid earlier today. He acted like he was on some kind of sugar high. He dropped his manga after bumping into me today and I gave it to Miss Kumashiro.
Meg99: That's Akito, no doubt. >.<;;
Meg99: Well, I'm off to bed. Goodnight.
VentonValiant: night
CherishedDream: night. I better go, too. It's getting late.
(Meg99 has logged off)
VentonValiant: Night love.
CherishedDream: night night
(CherishedDream has logged off)
VentonValiant: Night Darien
SilentSwordsman: goodnight
Darien logged off for the night and went to bed. When he bumped into Akito that day, he felt that he was another dream, but he didn't say anything to anyone else. He didn't want to feel like an idiot, if he wasn't. But yet he couldn't shake it. Maybe he'd find out tonight after he went to sleep. Darien finally nodded off.
Converting /tmp/phppWa3zy to /dev/stdout
Note: I do not own Ranma ½. Ranma ½ is the property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Darien slowly woke up, eyes still heavy. He threw his hand over his alarm clock, hitting the button to shut off the alarm. He yawned and stretched his arms. "Whoa! Was that for real?" he thought. This was still very odd to him, but this was the second night in a row and he felt even more that it was real.
He checked his e-mail in the morning, just before breakfast was ready. It had some of the usual spam in his box. He anxiously delete as many as he could find till he got to one from VentonValiant and CherishedDream. It was most e-mail he's had in the last few days, other than the annoying ads. He read the first one.
To:SilentSwordsman
From:VentonValiant
Date: September 14, 2001
Subject:Good Morning
Good Morning, Darien. Hey, what about last night? Pretty wild, huh? But we have a lot left to do, before we can rescue Yuki. But hey, I'll talk to you at lunch about it today, ok?
By the, since we walked home together yesterday, you know where I live. Just stop by so we can head over this morning?
Well, see you there. Bye for now.
Darien started to feel a little better. Things were starting to look up for him. He found a friend in someone and now he's starting to realize how real these dreams really were. He didn't bother writing a reply as it was a bit late already and he'd not check back till later. In fact it was getting about time for breakfast, so he didn't have time to check the e-mail from Melissa.
Darien sat down to breakfast. Mika noticed he was eating a little fast. "Slow down, you're going to be sick," she said. "What are you in such a hurry for."
Darien slowed down a bit and mumbled some words between bites, "I hafta meet Otaru before going to school."
Mika nodded, actually understanding the words he said, even though Darien was talking while eating. "So, you've got a friend? Wonderful!" she said smiling.
Darien groaned, his eyes narrowing. She was so embarrassing.
"Why don't you bring him over tonight?"
Darien shook his head as he finished and picked up his bag.
"Hmm. Well, have a good day and have fun," she said watched him walk out the door.
Darien walked down his block for only a minute. It didn't take long to get to Otaru's house. He was so close. He walked up to the door and brought his hand up to the door bell. He hesitated a moment and brought his hand back down. He started to have doubts again about himself. He did say stop by in the morning and this was the right house, wasn't it? He started to question himself and he backed away from the house just a little. He looked and made sure in his mind that this was the right place. He was certain. This was where he went after school.
He heard a muffled voice from the inside. Darien walked closer to the door to hear. "Darien, should be here soon, mom," he heard.
"Yeah, but you're supposed to get their a few minutes early today, so you can meet with your teacher about your grades," the voice of a woman replied.
"Yeah, you're right. I hope Darien will understand when I see him later," the other voice said.
Darien backed away from the door as he expected to see Otaru walk out. And that he did. "Ohh, Darien. I didn't expect to see you this early," he said.
"Well, I'm usually a bit early anyway," he answered.
Otaru nodded. "Well, I've got to get there early today. I've got a short meeting with Miss Kumashiro, so we better get moving."
"Hai," Darien nodded in reply. They started walking towards school. Darien didn't bother asking about last night, feeling a little unsure whether he should or not. He was still stuck believing that dreams were just imagination. Although there was that e-mail he got this morning.
They were a little ahead of everyone else going to school, so there weren't too many others around just yet. Otaru turned his head towards Darien. "Hey," he said.
Darien's mind was on the dream he had last night. "Yeah?" he answered.
"Why is it that you always seem to avoid people, anyway?" Otaru asked.
Darien just hung his head as they walked and was silent for a few moments.
Otaru sighed. "Is it because people give you a hard time?" he asked.
Darien nodded.
"Ah, you don't need to worry about that. Just be yourself. Trust me. The ones that truly know you will be the ones that treat you well. Besides, I figure if people give you crap, then they don't truly know you," he said looking forward.
"Do you really believe that? I mean I don't know," Darien added.
"Sure, You just need confidence in who you are and know yourself."
"Don't you ever have any doubts?"
Otaru paused a moment and stopped walking. He closed his eyes and pointed his head down. "No," is all he said.
Darien stopped just as he did. He didn't quite understand why Otaru was doing, just standing there.
Otaru snapped out of it. "Anyway, you've got to approach life like you're dreaming. A dream is whatever you make it and so is you’re life."
Darien stared at him for a second when he mentioned dreaming. He paused, but didn't say anything about it. He was, again going to ask about last night, but also didn't want to feel stupid.
Otaru looked back for a moment. "What is it? Were you going to say something?" he asked.
"Uh, no. Not really," he answered.
"No-no. What were you going to say. You were just staring at me, like I said something weird," Otaru added.
Darien decided to ask what he was going to ask him. Like Otaru said, he shouldn't worry what other think of him and if he said that, then he shouldn't worry about how Otaru would react. "Well, you said something about a dream being what you make it." Darien paused a second and continued, "Otaru, I had this weird dream last night."
Otaru interrupted Darien by laughing. "Darien, we were sharing the same dream world last night," he said out loud.
Darien looked around him to make sure that there was noone else around that heard him say that. "Otaru! What if someone heard that?" Darien asked looking at him, a little agitated.
"Geez, Darien. Don't act like it matters if anyone heard me. It's not that big a deal," Otaru said still laughing a little bit.
"People will think we're weird or something," Darien continued with an annoyed look on his face.
Otaru sighed, "Ok, ok. Sorry." By then they had made it into the school. "Well, I've got to get to Miss Kumashiro's office. I'll see you at lunch," he said with a smile.
Darien mumble under his breath, "Yeah, whatever." As he walked in the opposite direction to the empty homeroom. He was still a bit steamed at Otaru for saying that so loudly. It was bad enough that Darien got picked on about being afraid of having bad dreams. He didn't like the attention. Sometimes he wished people would just leave him alone. But, then there are the times when he feels alone. He sighs, thinking about this as he sits down quietly at his desk.
Miss Kumashiro wasn't in the room as usual, but that was because she was busy with Otaru in her office. Otaru said something about his grades. Darien never had to worry about his grades. He always studied. He was a fairly average student as far as grades were concerned. Minutes passed and Otaru and Sensei-Kumashiro entered the room with the other students not long after and class begun and class went as usual till lunch.
Darien sat below a nearby cherry tree with his lunch. Otaru ran up. "Hey, I thought we were going to eat together," he called.
Darien groaned a little, still upset with him about this morning.
Otaru could tell he was still mad by the look on his face. "Hey, sorry about this morning. I promise to keep it quiet from now on, ok?"
Darien nodded as Otaru sat down next to him. Otaru looked up from his lunch and could see Megumi in the distance. "Megumi!" he called. "Over here with us!"
Megumi was sitting alone on a bench. She had just opened her lunch. She acted as if she didn't hear Otaru calling her.
Otaru thought he wasn't heard. "I'll be right back, Darien. I'm going to ask Megumi, if she wants to sit with us," he said as he turned his head to darien.
Darien just nodded again as he bit into some sushi.
Darien started to smile again. He started to realize again that he may actually have some friends. But it was a bit frightening. It seemed to be happening a bit fast. He was still a bit quiet.
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"Hey, Megumi!" Otaru called out as he rushed towards her. He stopped in front of her. "Hey."
Megumi slowly looked up at Otaru. She recognized him from her dream last night. She didn't want to acknowledge him. It was, too weird, what happened last night and she still didn't believe that it was more than just a dream, so she acted as if she'd never met him. "Excuse me. Do I know you?" she asked in a polite voice.
"Uh, of course you do. Otaru. From last night," he said.
"Last night?" Megumi asked slowly in a quiet voice.
Like before school with Darien, he didn't care who heard him. He added, "You know from the dream last night."
This time Megumi realized that it was more than just a dream that she had. She looked around to see if anyone was listening. She became very nervous about what others might think about this. She wasn't going to take any chance that anyone heard what he said. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about," she continued, sheepishly.
Otaru sighed. "Fine, then," he groaned. "You know, you could sit with me and Darien, if you wanted, but if you want to be stuck up, then that's your problem." Otaru turned around and walked off, back towards where Darien was still sitting.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Darien couldn't tell what they were saying from the distance. But he could tell from Megumi's head pointing in every direction at one moment, that he said something she didn't want anyone to hear.
Otaru sat down next to Darien, once again.
Darien looked over at Otaru. "What'd you say?" he asked.
Otaru sighed. "I said hello and she just acts like she doesn't know me! How rude!" he said a bit discouraged.
"Oh," Darien said and he dug into his lunch box for more of his lunch.
"It's ok. We'll just sit by ourselves," he said as he finally got into his lunch. "I even mentioned last night and she just blew me off!"
Darien sighed. "Would you just forget about last night! Someone might hear us!" Darien said, groaning.
"What's the big deal?!" Otaru scoffed.
"People will think we're crazy!" Darien growled back.
"Fine, fine, but come on. We've gotta talk about it here in the real world, too. So why don't we get together after school someplace private. Ok?" Otaru replied lowering his voice.
Darien nodded. "Thank you," he said with a sigh of relief.
"And don't worry about Megumi. I have a hunch she knew exactly what I was talking about," he said and paused before adding, "I've got tutoring after school, so I'll talk to her then."
Darien nods and they both finish lunch before the bell rang again. The two walked back in after everyone else. They got part way down the hall to their room when another student ran into the back of Darien and fell to the floor, scattering mangas.
Darien turned around saying, "what the?"
Otaru turned around, too. "What's this?" he said just after.
The student shut his eyes tight and rubbed his head, saying, "kuso."
Otaru was about to help him up when he quickly stood up, picked up all his mangas. He bowed to Darien saying, "Gomen nasai." And ran on his way.
"What a weird kid," Otaru said and turned around, back on his way to class.
Darien stood there and blinked a couple of times, staring where the other student had stood. On the floor was one of the mangas he missed. He turned around and called, "Hey, you forgot..." But it was too late, the boy was gone. Darien picked it up, leafed through it and laughed as a boy turned into a girl with a simple splash of water. He closed it and looked at his watch. His eyes grew. "I'm late!" he said, panicked. He put the manga in his bag with the intent to return it later and hurried to class.
He walked into the class room and shut the door. Miss Kumashiro looked up from her book she was reading aloud from. "D-Darien? You're late. That's unusual. Didn't you hear the bell?" she asked, sounding a little surprised.
"Gomen," he said bowing his head.
"Ok. I'm excusing you this time, since it's so unusual," she answered.
Darien quickly got to his seat and the class went on as usual.
Classes finally ended and the students started to leave their seats and go out the door. Otaru walked up to Darien's desk just as he started to get up. "Hey, I'll see you online later, ok? Since I hafta stay after and all."
Darien nodded.
"Um, Sensei, who am I tutoring this afternoon?" Megumi asked as she finally collected all her books.
"That would be me," Otaru spoke up as he turned his attention away from Darien and to Megumi.
Megumi looked over to him and sighed and gave a look that seemed to say, "why me?"
Megumi and Otaru went to the back of the room and pushed a couple of desks together for the tutoring session.
"Oh, Darien. What happened to you earlier?" Miss Kumashiro asked.
"Huh?" Darien said as he looked to the teacher.
"The reason you were late," she said.
Darien had taken one too many seconds paging through that kid's manga before he looked at his watch. It wasn't at all like Darien to lie, so he told her, "Well, this kid ran into me in the hall and dropped his comics."
Miss Kumashiro sighed and said, "Akito," under her breath, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "Uh, I'm sorry go on," she said, sorry she interrupted.
Darien pulled a Ranma ½ comic out of his bag and continued, "Well, he forgot to pick this one up." His voice sped up a little as he finish, "And I took a moment to look through it. I'm sorry."
Misato took the comic from his hands. "Don't worry about it. I'll see he gets this after school tomorrow," she said turning around and putting it in her desk drawer. She sighed, mumbling, "And I'm going to hafta talk to his parents again." She turned around towards Darien again. "Oh, I'm sorry. You may go."
Darien nodded and left the classroom and headed home.
On the way home Darien paused a moment and took notice of a kid sitting on a bench, shuffling through his book bag. It was the one from earlier, with the mangas. He seemed to be looking for something frantically, mumbling, "Ugh! Where is it? I know I brought it with me. Arg! I bet I forgot it when I dropped them earlier. Why me?"
The kid looked up from the bench, noting that someone was watching him. He must have recognize Darien, because he called out, "Hey! Excuse me! Are you the guy I ran into earlier?"
Darien stuttered a little, saying, "Uh-uh yeah."
The kid ran up to him and quickly stopped in front of Darien, squealing his shoes as if he was a car slamming the brakes. "Where is it?! Wh-where is my Ranma manga?!" he frantically asked shaking his arms all about.
Darien backed up. This guy was very strange. He continued to back up a few steps. But the kid crept closer continuing to ask about his missing manga. "I, uh..gave it to Sensei-Kumashiro," Darien said, slowly still backing away, an arm out front as if he was ready to defend himself or something.
"You what?!?!" he yelled, still shaking his arms all around. He stopped and put his hands on his face. He lowered his voice. "Great. Just great. She's probably going to talk to my parents again," he said turning around back to the bench. He picked up his bag and started off down the street, hanging his head down as he walked.
Darien's right eye jerked as he saw him sulk down the road. That guy was very strange.
Darien finally made his way home. As soon as Mika heard the door shut, she immediately came to see Darien. "Good afternoon, Darien. You're father had to work late again," she said.
Darien sighed. "As usual," he thought.
"Um, you didn't invite your friend home?" she said looking at the door.
Darien shook his head. "He's got tutoring," Darien said silently as he started for his room.
"Um, Darien?" Mika asked quietly.
Darien stopped. "Hm?"
"Make sure to ask him over tomorrow. Ok?" she asked in a gentle voice, smiling.
Darien just lightly mmhmmed and went to his room to work on his homework before, dinner. He spent the time doing this and eating dinner till he noticed a message from Otaru on his computer screen.
VentonValiant: Hey. Well it was tough, but I managed to get Megumi's IM name.
Darien rushed to the computer.
SilentSwordsman: Heya. What's her name?
VentonValiant: Meg99
SilentSwordsman: =/ wow.
VentonValiant: Yeah, some ppl don't have much imagination.
SilentSwordsman: I guess not.
Darien added Meg99 to his IM list and she came on.
SilentSwordsman: She's on. Let's get her into chat.
VentonValiant: Ok, Melissa's online, too.
Dreams Chat - IM Chartroom
Meg99: Hello
CherishedDream: Hi hi
Meg99: You must be Otaru's girlfriend. Am I right?
VentonValiant: That she is. :D
Meg99: Hey, I'm sorry about earlier today, VV.
VentonValiant: Well, that's ok. Darien helped me to understand a little.
VentonValiant: But I still don't understand why anyone would care what ppl think of them.
CherishedDream: Well, ppl can be very judgmental. It's hard to find friends when you think ppl automatically thing wrong of you in some way.
Meg99: btw, where is Darien?
VentonValiant: He's SilentSwordsman.
VentonValiant: Hey Darien. What's the problem?
(outside chat, in IM window)
SilentSwordsman: I know her from school and I've never talked to her.
VentonValiant: =/ She doesn't bite. We're all the same online.
VentonValiant: Just say hi.
Dreams Chat - IM Chatroom
SilentSwordsman: Hi.
Meg99: Hello, Darien
CherishedDream: There he is. How's it going, Dar? :-)
SilentSwordsman: Ok, I guess. =/
VentonValiant: Ok, let's get down to business. Darien has girl in the dream world that was kidnapped and we need to help her out.
SilentSwordsman: Uh, well, she's not my girl.
VentonValiant: Sure you do. ;-) Yuki!
VentonValiant: I'm sure she will be when YOU rescue her. ;-)
SilentSwordsman: ME rescue her?
Meg99: Yuki. Hmmm. That name sounds familiar. Why?
VentonValiant: Yeah, she's your girl after all. ;-)
VentonValiant: She was the one that was taken to the hospital the other day. She's very a very quiet person. Just like Darien. Perfect match. ;-)
SilentSwordsman: >.o;; I barely know her, guys.
VentonValiant: I think Melissa went to bed already. =/
Meg99: Who is Melissa?
CherishedDream: That's me. Sorry I was reading some fanfics. =/
Meg99: So, anyway. Yuki, huh.
VentonValiant: Yeah. Nice looking girl, long brown hair, always looks a little sad. =/
Meg99: Ok, I think I've seen her before.
CherishedDream: Sad?
VentonValiant: Yeah, she always looks so sad.
CherishedDream: I wonder why. =/
Meg99: Bad dreams?
VentonValiant: Could be. =/
Meg99: Well, I should get to bed. I have a big day tomorrow.
CherishedDream: Why's that?
Meg99: I've got to tutor a student that's...well he's hard to tutor. He just doesn't pay attention. >.< He's always staring off into space or reading mangas when he's supposed to be paying attention in class.
Meg99: Either of you know Akito Takahashi?
VentonValiant: nope.
CherishedDream: I'm from another school, so no. =p
Meg99: How about you, Darien. Know him?
SilentSwordsman: No, but I saw this weird kid earlier today. He acted like he was on some kind of sugar high. He dropped his manga after bumping into me today and I gave it to Miss Kumashiro.
Meg99: That's Akito, no doubt. >.<;;
Meg99: Well, I'm off to bed. Goodnight.
VentonValiant: night
CherishedDream: night. I better go, too. It's getting late.
(Meg99 has logged off)
VentonValiant: Night love.
CherishedDream: night night
(CherishedDream has logged off)
VentonValiant: Night Darien
SilentSwordsman: goodnight
Darien logged off for the night and went to bed. When he bumped into Akito that day, he felt that he was another dream, but he didn't say anything to anyone else. He didn't want to feel like an idiot, if he wasn't. But yet he couldn't shake it. Maybe he'd find out tonight after he went to sleep. Darien finally nodded off.
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