Excerpt from "untitled" 2, a fanfic by Raberba girl

o.o.o

"Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you; I got the map!"

"We...we can't work on that anymore."

"Don't say that! They're not splitting us up! We're best friends, remember?"

"I'm sorry, Lea," Isa whispered.

Now Lea was the one staring.

"That's enough," Takahiro said. "Isa, go to your room."

Isa obeyed silently, not looking at anyone.

"Don't give up, Isa!" Lea yelled after him.

Takahiro started ushering them toward the door. "Good night, and farewell."

That was not the end, however. About a week later, Lea's and Isa's parents had a meeting with their teachers, the school principal, and a counselor. The boys sat in the waiting room, Isa pretending to be unaware of Lea's existence, and Lea doing his best to get some kind of response out of Isa.

"Fine, then if I'm just non-existent to you, I guess you won't laugh if I say that the picture hanging on the wall over your head looks like an elephant sat on a pie; or that if you were a pony, your name would be Moonwolf Crescent- Oh look there's a super-cute puppy, HA HA HA made you look, I know you can hear me!"

Meanwhile, in the conference room, Takahiro was looking very displeased. "As I have said, the decision was not made hastily. I have long felt that the relationship has not been good for my son, and this latest incident gave me opportunity to sever it. I expect Isa to do well from now on."

"But he already has been doing well," Lea's teacher protested. "Let me tell all of you something - both boys are very intelligent, gifted, wonderful children. Much of the trouble they get into is because they're so bright. They do have very different personalities, and I think this very much enhances their relationship."

"Lea's always had a mouth on him," his mother chuckled, "but good Lord, the things he says now, I should smack him but I keep just wanting to laugh, he didn't even know half those words before he met Isa..."

"Isa's such a lone wolf," his mother murmured, "it made me so happy to see him find a friend he likes and will play with."

"Isa does seem to be pretty introverted, while Lea is a natural extrovert. Lea attracts people like flies and makes friends easily, yet he's also always getting into fights, and I think he's had trouble strengthening all those connections. Isa is the only friend of his whom I've seen a good measure of consistency from. Isa seems to understand him and won't take offense like the other children do; even all the times they're arguing, they never abandon or ignore each other, and they'll spring to support each other the minute any external force seems to threaten one of them. They're both protective of each other, each in his own way."

Takahiro muttered something about Isa being unduly attached.

"I will say," spoke up Isa's new teacher, "that Isa doesn't seem to be thriving in my class... It's only been about a week, but still, he hasn't been forming relationships with any of the other children. He is well-behaved and does excellent work on his assignments, but he never seems happy except at recess, where he can play with Lea. I didn't even know how verbally eloquent he could be until I heard the two of them arguing on the playground for ten minutes straight."

"They argued for ten minutes straight?" Lea father said in surprise.

"Yes, and very skillfully - we were standing there listening to the whole thing, and didn't want to interrupt because it was so entertaining. Then suddenly they went off together and somehow built an entire miniature fort in the last five minutes of recess, using wood chips, rocks, and a shoelace. It was impressive."

"They seem to have very complementary personalities, which I suspect is why they get along so well," said the counselor. "When one partner is methodical, patient, and detail-oriented, and the other is bold, self-assured, and thinks outside the box, they can accomplish quite a lot as a team. They're both also highly intelligent and creative. I'm sure that with the proper guidance, they can do great things for their community."

"You speak as if my son is deficient in some areas," Takahiro said stiffly.

"Everyone has their unique, individual strengths and weaknesses. That's why good partnerships work so well. If both parties are micromanagers and take time to study the situation beforehand, they might not be able to make good split-second decisions or cope well with unexpected problems. If both are aggressive and focus on the main goal rather than smaller details, they might be inadequately prepared or miss important cues. No one can be perfect or good at everything, so it's wonderful when we are able to find someone who can make up for the areas in which we ourselves are lacking, and whom we can in turn strengthen with our own skills. I think that Lea and Isa embody this concept remarkably well."

"They get into so much trouble, though..."

"They are still children. It's only to be expected, and it's the brighter ones who usually have more trouble. I think it's better to deal with it now than just avoid the problem. We want them to learn, not just be resentful."

In the end, it was decided that Isa would officially return to his former classroom, and that either he or Lea would be briefly sent to the new one if they misbehaved due to their relationship. Generally satisfied, the adults came out to find the boys sitting next to each other, laughing about something.

As soon as Isa saw them emerge, he went silent and moved several seats away, as if that would convince them that he hadn't been talking to Lea.

"I'm not gonna let you take my best friend away," Lea declared, planting himself in front of Isa protectively and also preventing him from moving again.

"You don't have to worry about that," Lea's mother said warmly.

"Huh?"

"Isa's coming back to your class," Mrs. Tsukino told him with a smile. "You or he will only be taken out for an hour or two if you misbehave, so please be good, all right?"

"So I don't have to ignore Lea anymore?" Isa said hopefully.

"No, dear, you don't."

"Hey! So you were ignoring me?! When they went in the office, and at church, and when I went to your house?!"

"Yeah, stupid. I can't talk to you when we're in trouble, or we'll get into more trouble."

"When did you come to the house?" Takahiro asked sharply.

Both boys froze. "Uh...a long time ago," Lea said.

"No, Father," Isa said miserably. "He came when I was grounded, and we talked."

"We did not talk, Isa shut the window in my face and told me to get lost!"

Mrs. Tsukino smiled to see them defending each other, and hugged her son. "Isa's such a good boy, to do as he's told even when no one's watching. I'm proud of you, dear."

Though she was addressing Isa, she looked at her husband as she spoke, and he sighed dismissively. "I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"Would the three of you care to join us for lunch?" Mr. Hayes invited.

"Oooh! Say yes!" Lea insisted, and whooped when Isa's parents agreed.

o.o.o

A/N: I was re-reading these two untitled fics, and couldn't stand how awful they are. Unlike the other sites I post on, FanfictionDotNet gives me no option to limit who can see my work, so for now, I'm replacing the full stories with short excerpts. I don't know whether the removal will be temporary or permanent, which is why I'm still leaving a "placeholder;" all I know is that I'm really ashamed of writing these.