Wavering Feeling (Mitsuki Park)

["Unfettered"]

One Final... One More Shot
Theme Song: ParagonX9 - Chaoz Fantasy by ParagonX9

Cold, clamoring hands.

Just laying there, on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was 5:45 A.M. And he'd overslept by about fifteen minutes. But he could not forget that time on the ship. Or that time on the train. Or that time with... 'her'. Dammit. Always about her, wasn't it? Groaning, his right hand went as a fist over his forehead, closing his eyes, the sweat only now beginning to cool.

Just another nightmare that he couldn't even remember what he was afraid of. Silly bastard. Ugh. Awake again, back to reality. Back to the fact that his restaurant was closed and under repairs. Back to the fact that he was still just as far from his goals... all of them. Back to the fact that thus far, he'd failed, failed, failed. Almost like that silly show, that 'Pokemon's' Team Rocket. Blasting off again.. every time. But, reality-wise... they still had each other, didn't they? A secondary family.

What did he have?

There was nothing to do. A saturday morning. Not even his employees had been coming for a while. Like this dream had crashed. Like he had let everything else. Still weak. All but backstabbed... 'Miss Scorn'. Having to deal with some random gang-bust in that closes down his restaurant due to damages. A lack of support from everyone. And the enforcers still encroaching the school.

..Stepping into the shower, he remembered one more ache in his side. Literally. Looking down, he looked at his rather bruised chest. That fight with Leon. Still tender, too.. So many things to worry about. So many things to analyze. He never saw that 'nerd' again. Never learned the name of that mysterious man on the beach he'd met so long ago.

No. There was no more time to think of regrets. No time to think of all the failures. Had to press onward, press forward. Become someone, turn his life around. Today. Starting today.. He'd do it. Aye. A plan he'd been intending to have. A final confirmation. Which was why he was applying a very light 'Polo' cologne to himself. Good deodorant, slicking his hair back with a gel. Prepping himself up...

Hoo. His hair had grown quite long.. it was already reaching down to the neck. Due for a trim, sometime soon.

...

Fifteen minutes later, of just laying around, contemplating things, somewhat forcibly telling himself what he needed to do.. he was laying again, on his bed. Arms stretched to both sides. Pair of jeans on, but shirtless. Lazy. Tired. But..

..His finger crept towards the phone..

Dialing in a number.

At this point, however, he'd realized what he'd done, and was sitting up, waiting for someone to answer on the other end. Hunched over it, his eye staring straight ahead, seeing nothing, the usual eye-patch already in place.

"..C'mon, Park. Pick up."

8:00 A.M.

He was hoping she was a morning person.

[Mitsuki Park]

Before she even looked at the caller ID, she knew who it was. There were only two people, specifically, who knew her number that excluded family, and family had their own special ring tone. Andrew was one, Thrush the other. Thrush being her slave at one time was put under a rather annoying ring tone because of his...nickname for her. A mistake on her part; she forgot to change it after she had let him go, even though she told herself countless of times before that she should. But what reason would he have to call? So she left it. Now look at her, staring at the phone as it vibrated and rung annoyingly across her desk, taken back a bit, unsure if she should answer it or not...

Hair was wet, as she got out of the shower possible ten or so minutes prior to the ringing. Nevertheless, she picked up the small device and slid it open, pressing the phone beside her ear.

"...yes?"

["Unfettered"]

Meeting Up... Is That A---?

"Its me." he said, trying to make his German accent more than a little prominent. Maybe even make his voice sound a bit deeper. He was standing now, stepping down the stairs of his restaurant. Sort of out of habit.

"Free today? I'd like to meet up." A pause. Sort of staring at the ruins of his place. His face sharing in the same neutral tone of his voice.

"Zere's something I have to talk vith you about."

'Something I have to ask you.'

..Granted, he wasn't quite ready to walk down the streets of L.A., but then, this was L.A.... not Long Beach. Yet.

[Mitsuki Park]

She was staring at the calender in the kitchen, the words, 'RECITAL @ 4' glaring back at her. It was only eight in the morning, she had eight hours to kill, so meeting up with him would be no problem. Except for the fact that she was having mixed feelings. He had something to ask her, some topic, and it must have been relatively important since he just had to meet up instead of going it over on the phone.

Towel was still sitting on her head, wondering if she should go or not. Of course, she already knew what she was going to do, but might as well take some time to contemplate it, no?

"Where?"

["Unfettered"]

Simple.

"Petsmart." Like that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"..Meet you there in an hour... sound good?"

...?

[Mitsuki Park]

...

Petsmart?

What the hell does he have to say to her at a store for pets?

"...right."

She hung up after that word and tossed the phone onto her bed. Stared at herself in the mirror, hands ruffling the towel against her hair to get all the access water out, then off to the bathroom to blowdry. She was dressed, dark blue jeans and an off the shoulder top, a lolipop in her mouth. After drying her hair, she brushed through it once, put in her contacts, grabbed her sweater, car keys, phone and wallet, and off she went.

Where?

...look at the first word of this post. As the narrator, I have all rights not to type that word again.

["Unfettered"]

Satisfaction

..Heh. He definetely got it. She sounded a bit 'put off', but he didn't expect her to be exactly 'overly joyous'.

He rushed upstairs.. Grinning.

* * * * * * One Hour Later... (Give Or Take 3 Minutes) * * * * * *

Lets keep it simple. The place was huge. The walls were so thick that you couldn't even hear the animals riling up---If they ever did. As ever, Petsmart had been spreading across California for a while.

..But there was a guy, who pulled up at the front, in a Taxi.

He had his long hair combed down, a large bit of it over his left missing eye. Oddly, he wasn't wearing his usual heavy overcoat, or that large scarf... he was dressed rather ]casually. Blue jeans, white long-sleeved shirt, with buttons and a collar, white undershirt underneath. Yeah. Almost as if he was going on a... oh, nevermind.

His one eye glazed around, a rather neutral look on his face, as he kept his hands in his pocket. Heck, 'wasn't even sure if she'd come or no---No. She'd come. That was her personality, 'innit?

She'd...

[Mitsuki Park]

One thing Mitsuki liked about California? It was rarely ever cold. She drove in the nice car her brother had won for her at a race; it was brand spankin' new, not to mention rather show-y. She loved the car now; getting to places were much more convienant since now she didn't have to ask her brother for rides. Did she have her license? No, but it's not like cops are going to stop her.

She turned into the parking lot of that one mart for pets, parking her car before pulling out her keys and getting out of the car, locking it shut. Eyes looked up ahead and saw him there, waiting, and she moved toward him, hands slipping into the pockets of her sweater.

["Unfettered"]

Subtle

She'd...

..Arrived on.. oh whatever. She was here, and, for the most part, that's all he was concerned about. Just barely catching sight of her, he'd give her a quick nod. Step forward a little, but not go all the way. He was already at the store.

"Hey." when she'd finally arrived. Sort of nodding again, keeping his eye on her. Both hands pocketed... that'd look weird. He took his hands out, and began swinging them, 'though not in an average length. "Let's go inside, Captain."

Inside, where there will be more people, inside where we may see classmates, but inside where the noise was higher... and the risk to overhear me, less.

Again, nothing strange on his face. Completely neutral, but there was a strange emphasis, and even in the mentioning of her rank outright. He'd slide inside, wait for her if he needed to, waiting for her curiosities to either pop up, or wait again before he started.

[Mitsuki Park]

She gave no greeting, but instead, stopped at the entrace of the store. Captain? Since when did he ever formally call her that? She stood staring at him, almost caustiously, as if he were going to lead her into some trap. Like a threat, maybe? It was almost sad, in her opinion, that she even had a mere thought to be cautious around him.

She pulled her eyes away from him and went inside, stepping through the automatic doors, feet silent when they hit against the shiney tiles.

Now what?

["Unfettered"]

"...And Now What?"

..Now..?

He leaned on her. And continued walking. And let out a grin. His usual 'cocky' grin, but, there was a point to this. ...Some reasons more personal than others, however.

"...You're stronger zen me. Ja?"

Provided she hadn't pushed him off him at this time, he would've let his arm continue unfold and go and pull her up to him. Almost as if to talk down to her---Or maybe to treat her like a specific type of an old buddy or something... A.K.A. a guy.

They passed by some huskies... where he stopped. But his face wasn't looking at her anymore. Nor would his arm be around her, if even given the chance in the first place.

"Zo. Vy haven't you taken over ze school yet?"

A million questions, screaming to break out.

[Mitsuki Park]

He leaned on her. Eyes narrowed, but didn't do anything, walked forward--...arm went around her, she turned her head to look at his arm, slightly uncomfortable, then over at him, before placing some distance between them. Why? She had her own reasons, similar to the reasons why she let him go.

She figured his first question was rhetorical, so again, she remained silent. Second question? She arched a brown, turning to face him, eyes lingering on the huskies for a moment. Cute creatures, also rather dangerous if trained correctly...

"I'm not power hungry."

She would answer without looking at him, then turn her eyes to meet his gaze, blinking once before pulling out her hands and letting them rest beside her.

"I don't see any benefits on my part from taking over the school either."

["Unfettered"]

Finally...

*SLAP*

Or, at least he'd try to.

"AND ZAT IS PRECISELY VY OUR SCHOOL IS IN SUCH A TERRIBLE STATE."

Was it anger that contorted on his face? Actually, it remained smooth. More rather, it was like... a bark, a spit of shame... but upon the final word, his head fell, the hair draping over his face.

"..You have ze respect of your classmates. You are strong, maybe ze strongest. Yet you do not know how to lead, or choose not to. Zat is vat a captain does, zo, ja? If ze latter, zen shame on you."

His voice seemed almost... shaky.

You could almost feel the hurricane that was blowing in him now.

[Mitsuki Park]

She saw it coming, but she didn't do anything. Her head was whipped across to the side, right hand slowly coming up to lightly rub her jaw. She saw it coming. She did, but she didn't think he'd actually follow through with it. Didn't think that he'd actually slap her. Mouth was slightly parted as she cracked her jaw. She didn't have her mask on, she just realized, as she felt the bottom of her mouth..must have slipped her mind.

Head slowly turned toward him as she brushed her hair out of her face. Some people who were nearby stopped and stared, before returning about to their business. Attention? Unwanted attention. But that wasn't the point.

The point?

He slapped her.

She stared at him silently. Was this all he had to say? Or was there more?

She waited.

["Unfettered"]

"Wake Up... Miss Park... WAke UP... Get uP aNd smELl tHE ASHeS."

He did not step any closer.

But you could see some sort of unyielding rage and anger that was boiling in his right-remaining eye.

'She doesn't even strike back at me...'

"Not power hungry? Since ven did being power hungry have anyzing to do vith zis?" Acid. But his voice had dropped... in light of the fact that his eye had flicked around to notice some people. But then, Californians took care of themselves. They were probably looked at as some problematic couple that'd break up soon or something.

...Hahahahaha.

That's amusing.

"..You have a responsibility. To obtain order. To obtain respect. Even if zat means doing things you do not want to do. Zat is your role. Ze school needs a leader, but vat sort of message do you zink it sets ven ze School Captain is fighting 'only because she has to'? Are you so uncaring? So dispassionate? If not for your strength, I'd suggest zat you step down immediately."

So many things he wanted to say, really.

So many things.

'Do you even care for this school?'

'Don't you know that the people need a leader to keep them in line?'

'Why haven't you established order among the ranks yet?'

'Are you aware of how ze uzzer schools must look down on us, needing ze enforcers?'

No. This wasn't so much a dispute for power. It was an enraged argument for pride. A pride that 259 did not feel. A pride that did not protect them, nor instill any will to fight back against the transfers that bombarded them, nearly a year ago. A pride to rise up against their own teachers who abused and harassed them. A pride, a sense of duty, to look upon each other as brothers and sisters in a community...

A sense of 'drive'. That was lacking in everyone.

...That was lacking in this damned California Public High School #259.

Unbeknown, even to himself... he'd stepped forward. Three feet distance. He was in range. But...