What the Ring Finger Knows

CHAPTER TWO

Narumi heard them coming for a long time before he actually saw the light, and an even longer time before he actually saw them. Narumi looked up from where he was sitting. In the light of their flashlights, Narumi could make out the shadowy outlines of his two sempai. He gaped in disbelief. "Yuka-sempai? Shiki?"

"Narumi!" Yuka gasped. She flung herself against the bars, clutching onto them so hard it made her knuckles turn white. "You're really here after all."

At the moment, they were in the basement below the elementary school. Most people had never been down there, so they wouldn't know of the few scattered prison cells that the elementary school principal kept handy. Narumi had been waiting in one for hours now. It was dark and damp, and the only thing inside was a stone bench.

Narumi pushed himself to his feet slowly and walked over to the bars. Everything felt surreal, as if he was in a dream. No, not a dream. Never a dream. A nightmare. "I can't believe you two found me," Narumi said.

"Shiki-san helped me find you. He's running his barrier Alice around us so that we don't get found," Yuka explained with a nod in Shiki's direction.

Shiki was standing back aways. It appeared as though he was keeping watch. Narumi didn't mind in the slightest. It would give him and Yuka a little alone time.

"Narumi, what happened?!" Yuka demanded, her voice low but slightly shrill. Her pale face looked so frantic.

Narumi turned sullen. "I punched the principal a couple of times," he admitted, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

"What?!?"

"Okay . . . maybe it was more than a couple of times," Narumi hedged.

"Narumi!" Yuka groaned. She tried to reach out to him, but she couldn't. The bars were criss-crossed too tightly. There wasn't enough space in between them to fit her hand. Seeing this, Narumi moved a little closer to the bars, and Yuka managed to brush the tips of her fingers across a slowly developing black eye. "Are you hurt?" she asked worriedly.

Narumi grinned like a dog. "Naw, Principal Kuonji didn't fight back much. He's a bit of a coward, incidentally. Or maybe he was trying to save his image by not hitting a student."

"What's going to happen now?"

Narumi sobered up, but he was still wearing a small smile. He didn't want Yuka to look so concerned. "He said he's going to detain me for 48 hours, I'm going to receive extra chores for about two weeks as punishment, and I'm supposed to wear these earring things for the rest of my life now." He pointed to his new earrings. "Apparently they shock you or something when you do things the principal doesn't like." Narumi's smile faltered slightly. "Although, I'm surprised he let me off this easily. He seemed pretty furious. I bet he wanted to do more, but he didn't want to get in trouble with the school. But just watch. One of these days, Principal Kuonji's going to send me on a mission that's going to be too tough for me, and he's going to expect me to die in action. I figure that that's going to be the way he gets rid of me."

Yuka groaned again.

It was then that Narumi noticed the hand Yuka was touching him with. He didn't see a ring on her finger. Narumi threw Yuka a confused glance that held a seed of hope inside.

But Yuka understood what he was thinking, and her hand dropped from his face. "I still have it. It's just hiding," she explained, averting her eyes guiltily. "After your reaction, I figured it would be best to keep it a secret. The principal will just have to deal with us not going by tradition for a while."

Us. Narumi didn't like the way Yuka said "us." The word "us" was never meant to encompass and join the two souls of Yuka and ESP together. Trying to suppress his scowl of disgust, Narumi jerked his chin towards Shiki. "Does he know?"

The guilt written on Yuka's face grew even more pronounced. "No. And I'm not planning on telling him anytime soon."

"Well you should. He has a right to know. I'm sure he would help you out too."

"I don't want him to, and I don't want you to either." Yuka's eyes flashed with anger and worry. "Narumi, why did you do something so stupid?!"

"Because I couldn't stand it!" Narumi admitted in a whisper, leaning against the bars even closer. He intertwined his fingers with Yuka's. "I don't want you to marry the elementary school principal. I've told you already, haven't I? That I . . . I love you."

"Narumi," Yuka said warningly as he bent down closer to her face.

"What? It's not like you can stop me," Narumi murmured. If pheromones didn't work, he would just have to settle with using his best seductive voice. "You can't stop me from having feelings about you. To be honest, I would punch out the principal a thousand times if it meant that you would be mine."

"But I'm not yours, and I never will be," Yuka said, almost sounding stern in her resoluteness. "I'm—"

"Engaged, yeah," Narumi interrupted. "But you're not married. Not yet, anyway. Which means I can still do this."

Before Yuka could move, Narumi leaned in and kissed her through the bars. Yuka was too surprised to do anything but accept it. It was gentle and surprisingly chaste for Narumi—then again, it wasn't like he could do much with the bars firmly standing in between them. Narumi pressed as close to the bars as possible, wanting so much to sweep Yuka in his arms and crush her body against his. But he knew if that happened, he probably wouldn't be able to let her go. Heck, he would probably still be kissing and holding her straight through the wedding, causing her to miss the ceremony. That would solve all of their problems, in Narumi's opinion.

As usual, Yuka broke off from the kiss as soon as the shock wore off. Narumi wished that he could grab her and pull her right back. Curse the bars for being too small! However, Narumi did feel a spring of satisfaction at the sight of Yuka's flushed cheeks and the way she touched her lips with wide eyes.

"Yuka," Shiki said, interrupting the moment. "We should probably head back up. I don't know if it's safe to stay much longer."

Yuka hesitated at the bars, her face torn with indecision. Then she looked back at Shiki with imploring eyes and asked, "Can we come back?"

Shiki paused, and then he shook his head. "I don't think we should risk it. Don't worry, he'll only be in there for two days."

"But . . ." Yuka trailed off, staring at Narumi helplessly.

Narumi gave her a reassuring smile. "He's right. I'll be fine." And then, in a lower voice so that Shiki couldn't hear, he added suggestively, "And once I get out of here, we can have a little continuation of that moment, if you wanted."

Yuka blushed heavily again, and she frowned. "Not happening, Narumi," she replied sternly.

Narumi shrugged, smirking. "Hey, it was worth a shot, wasn't it?"

Yuka reluctantly pried her hands away from the bars and returned to Shiki's side. Before they could leave, Narumi called out to her again in desperation. "Yuka-sempai! Please. Promise me you won't do anything stupid!"

Yuka threw Narumi a look over her shoulder. "You mean like the stupid thing you just did?" she replied dryly.

"No, like the stupid thing you're planning on doing."

"I don't see why I should have to make any promises when you're being just as stupid."

"I'm allowed to do stupid things because I am stupid," Narumi stated with a roll of his eyes. "But you're not stupid. You're too good for this." Narumi knew Shiki was probably utterly confused at the conversation, but he didn't care. His stoic sempai could stand to look a little bewildered from time to time. Narumi tightened his grip against the bars. "You shouldn't have to resort to this."

"Being stupid isn't an excuse," Yuka said. She walked away with Shiki.

"Yuka-sempai!" Narumi called. When he didn't respond he tried again. "Yuka!" he exclaimed, using just her name for the first time.

It worked. Yuka froze.

"Then how about this excuse, Yuka? People do stupid things when they're in love," Narumi shouted at her. "Just . . . just remember, you have options. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, or if you're scared."

Yuka threw him a pained look. She bit her lip.

Narumi reached out as far as his hand could fit in the bars. "I could protect you," he said, repeating what he had said that afternoon.

After a moment of hesitation, Yuka shook her head. "I don't need you to protect me," she responded.

"But you want me to."

Her face was completely devoid of expression, just like Shiki's. "I don't."

And then they disappeared. Teleported back into the light. Narumi sighed and collapsed back on the stone bench. But it didn't matter. He would find Yuka again after 48 hours were done with taking their sweet time and dragging by. Then she would be back in his arms, safe. Narumi would stop at nothing to find a way to break the marriage.

A/N: srry it took so long to update. just started back at school, and they've already slammed us. i'm kind of winging this story a bit. i still don't know exactly how long i want to make this. in actuality, i could just end it here, but i guess that depends on what the reviewers think, hmm? so if you like, then review, otherwise i won't continue. and that's a promise.