"Yew, where's Janne?"

Yew glanced around at the other people standing in line but could not spot his bushy haired friend. The fencing master tapped his blade suspiciously. Al-Khampis didn't like latecomers, and Janne was almost never late.

Yew smiled sheepishly and said, "I'll… uh… go find him, sir."

The fencing master nodded, looking impatient, and Yew ran off.

"Of all the days…" He muttered as he ran through Al-Khampis's large school back to the dorm that both he and his friend lived in.

Carefully, he knocked on his friend's door.

"Janne…?" he said slowly. He didn't want to walk in when he was busy changing or something. "Janne, are you in there?"

No answer. Slowly, he opened the door and peered in.

The curtains were still closed and the lights off. Janne was snoring away on his bed, asleep, covered in quite a few blankets.

Janne was asleep? What? Yew thought that he had claimed he would never EVER sleep in past wake up time, and for this reason not to bother coming in to disturb him.

Yew had ended up needing to wake him once… and it wasn't an experience he relished doing again. Boy, could he get angry…

Gently, he tiptoed over to his friend's bed and said in a whisper,

"Hey Janne? Um… your… late."

He cringed, expecting a huge outburst of "WHAT?!" and probably a whack or two. But nothing happened. Janne muttered something and Yew leaned over to listen.

He started, it sounded like he was saying "Death to tyrants", and something about whipped cream...

Yew gulped and listened as Janne said something else.

"Just try me…"

Yew shook Janne's shoulder a bit. He must be having a nightmare.

"Janne? Wake up."

"But aren't you afraid of ghosts?"

Yew rolled his eyes and looked around the room for something to wake him up. If Janne knew it was he who woke him up, he was a goner. He just needed something that could get him awake without him needing been in the area…

His glance fell on the bucket of water that they washed in.

Yew didn't go into that room intending to be cheeky, but he was now. He was kind of annoyed, since all the other kids would be practicing and he wasn't. He just had to be careful…

…

Using the small lighting fixture above his bed, Yew hooked the bucket onto one of the rungs with some difficulty. Then he attached a string to the bottom and rolled it out of the room. The water in the bucket was still rather warm, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock, he thought. He would just pull it with a rope and dump it onto his bed. And subsequently, soak his sheets. You know.

Yew chuckled to himself as he walked away from the dorm. When he was far enough away that he felt safe, he pulled the string and raveled it up so that Janne wouldn't be able to find out who did it.

This done, he sauntered back over to his friend's room, acting as innocently as possible.

Yew gasped in genuine shock when he saw Janne come out.

He had meant to get his sheets wet. Just enough to annoy him. The bucket's aim had been off, and it had drenched his friend from head to toe.

No one touched Janne's hair. NO ONE. He was very particular. But now, his thick mop was dripping and drooping like a dead fish. And on top of that, he was wearing a scowl that would have scared anyone.

Particularly Yew, since he was the one who was the cause of it…

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Janne cried. In his hand he held his sword tightly.

Yew gulped and said in a not at all nervous and squeaky voice. "What… what happened, Janne?"

Janne turned his glare on him, "Some smart-alec decided it was a good idea to dump a bucket of water on my head! Where did he go?! I'll kill him!"

`Yew swallowed and pointed to his friend's clothes.

"Uh… we're late, and you're not dressed…"

Janne looked down at his pajamas and stomped back into his room, fuming. Mad enough to cook an egg on his forehead, had he not been so wet.

Yew breathed out a sigh of relief when he was gone.

"Maybe… I shouldn't play tricks on Janne anymore…"