Summary: Cell phones are considered wonderful inventions…but alas, there is an evil to every good. Especially when a mischievous vice-president is involved. Perhaps Yuki should stick to postage stamps and e-mail.

Disclaimer: Still not mine. And I still don't own Power Rangers. Or is it Super Sentai? Curse my lack of Japanese knowledge! (is American)

Cell Phone Chaos

Yuki hated cell phones.

He didn't always, of course; in the beginning, he found them to be quite useful. But that was before he'd suffered their curse. Or rather, before he gave Kakeru his number.

"Only use it for emergencies," Yuki reminded him as Kakeru handed him back the phone. "Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, got it, Yun-Yun," the vice-president replied half-heartedly. "Hey, did you know you can personalize the ring for each person on your caller list?"

"Well—"

"Don't worry, Yun-Yun, I already did it for you," Kakeru winked. "I gave myself the coolest ring-tone ever; if you want, I can change everyone else's, too."

Yuki blinked. "How…did you do that?" he asked, a feeling of dread looming over him. "Actually, better question: how do you fix it?"

"Fix it?!" Kakeru exclaimed. "Yun-Yun, I upgraded your boring phone with cool special features and you want to change them?! That's cold."

"At least tell me what ring you chose," Yuki persisted. "Don't tell me that it's…not appropriate?"

"No worries," Kakeru grinned. "You'll love it, Yun-Yun. Just wait and see."

And unfortunately, that was all he could do.

As the day wore on, however, Yuki soon forgot about the incident; homework and student council duties both ate up his time. When things finally slowed down, Yuki was gathered at the dinner table with Tohru, Kyo, and Shigure. The only thing on his mind was how delicious Tohru's shougayaki smelled, and the cell phone crisis was completely forgotten.

That is, until the phone in his pocket began ringing.

"Go, go, Power-Rangers!"

Everyone paused, and Yuki's face paled as he searched his pockets fervently for the blasted thing.

"Go, go, Power-Rangers!"

"What the heck was that?" Kyo exclaimed, voicing everyone's feelings rather bluntly.

Yuki's fingers finally clasped the phone's sleek surface and opened it hurriedly. "Hello?" he answered, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Yun-Yun!" the voice on the other end shouted. "How do you like your awesome ring-tone?"

"Kakeru…this isn't the best time," Yuki sighed as Shigure went "tsk tsk" from across the table. "And why did you give me such a weird ring-tone…?"

"Whaa? Weird?! But isn't it cool, like a ninja?" Kakeru insisted.

"A—a ninja?" Yuki repeated into the phone. "If a ninja had a theme song, wouldn't he get caught?"

"Oh, good call. Actually, Yun-Yun, I'm about to have dinner, and I can't really talk then. That'd be rude to talk while having dinner, ya know."

"No kidding," Yuki seethed, while Kyo shot him death glares.

"See ya, Yun-Yun!"

beep

Yuki closed the phone, and looked up to see Shigure, Tohru, and Kyo all staring at him.

"Ninjas?" Kyo repeated. "What the hell?"

"I'm surprised at you, Yuki," Shigure sighed. "And to think our wonderful Tohru slaved over this meal, and you were rude enough to talk on the phone while we were supposed to partake in its delicious splendor."

Tohru blushed. "I—I don't mind. Really. It wasn't too hard to cook…"

"Don't let that rat walk all over you!" Kyo snapped. "Thinks he's better than everyone else, so he can be as rude as he wants—"

"That's not true," Yuki interrupted, turning to Tohru. "Honda-san, I really am sorry that my phone rang—"

"Oh, no! Don't be!" she insisted. "If it was something important, then I understand. I wouldn't want to intrude."

"But he can intrude on you?" Kyo retorted, glaring at Yuki. "And I don't think there's anything important about ninjas. And Power Rangers? What the hell?"

"Really, Yuki," Shigure tut-tutted, "if you must have a cell phone, use it properly. You should apologize to Tohru—"

"I did!" Yuki exasperated, but his outburst only served to make Shigure shake his head.

"Must you get so worked up? Honestly, you're beginning to act like Kyo—"

"Hey!" the orange-top called. "What's that supposed to mean?! Don't compare me to that rat!"

And with a sigh, Yuki resumed eating shougayaki. Tomorrow would be a new day, and he could recover from this embarrassing incident.

Or not.

"Where is that stupid woman?"

Yuki blinked sleepily; why Hiro and Kisa had decided to show up this early in the morning was beyond him. If he had any say in the matter, the rat knew he'd still be sleeping soundly in his bed.

Too bad a certain loud sheep woke him up.

Hiro put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Really, we come all the way here, and she doesn't even show up. Is she stuck-up or something? Too good to see a couple of kids? I hate snobby people. And to think we chose to come here and watch the newest Mogeta anime with her, and she doesn't even bother to say hello. Talk about conceited."

"I…I'm sure she's coming, Hiro-chan," Kisa assured him softly. "Onee-chan wouldn't do something like that."

"Then why isn't she here?"

"What are you two doing here?" Yuki murmured, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Then the word 'Mogeta' clicked in his mind, and he sighed. Figured. Just another reason to avoid watching poorly scripted anime.

The patter of footsteps reached their ears, as a loud cry of, "Sorry I'm late!" sounded from a very anxious, very penitent Tohru. She waved the DVD in her hands and, panting, approached the two children. "I'm truly sorry, Kisa-chan. I—I couldn't find the movie somehow, and I didn't mean to keep you waiting—!"

"Well, you did!" Hiro huffed. "Honestly, how does someone lose a new DVD? I bet you're one of those people who never organizes anything, just leaves things lying around and never thinks to put anything where it belongs. Like a slob. I hate lazy people."

Tohru released another flurry of apologies, and Yuki stiffened; that description fit him better than he would have liked. Then Kisa interceded, and with her quiet voice, Hiro was convinced to mumble out an insincere apology, and so the trio finally popped in their movie.

"Yuki-kun, you can watch it with us, if you'd like," Tohru offered, scooting to make room on the couch. Yuki smiled, and figured, why not? The couch was as good a place to sit as any. Besides, going back to bed wouldn't help him wake up at all, and the last thing he needed was to get even drowsier.

Unfortunately, he did.

Eventually, all the not-so-witty lines, the occasional gasps of Tohru and Kisa, and the deadpan commentary complimentary of Hiro blended together into an unorthodox lullaby, and Yuki felt his head sink deeper in the cushions of the couch. It was soft…he'd have to ask Shigure what fabric this was…it would only be five minutes of sleep…

"Go, go, Power Rangers!"

"AHH!"

With a deafening thud, Yuki fell to ground, and the phone in his pocket continued to buzz and sing at an even more obnoxious volume than before.

"Yuki-kun, are you alright?!" Tohru exclaimed, helping him up as he picked up the phone, muttering something that sounded like, "Stupid, stupid, stupid Kakeru!"

"Um, Yuki, are you--?"

He flipped open the phone and growled, "Hello?"

"Sup, el presidente?"

"You didn't turn off your phone?" Hiro gawked. "Aren't you supposed to be the president at your school? What kind of responsible president goes around leaving his cell phone on during a movie?"

"What is it now?" Yuki barked, ignoring the sheep's bleating. "It had better be important."

"Chill, Yun-Yun, chill! Of course it is. You see, I'm going on this date with Komaki, and—"

"Why do you need my help about going on a date?" he exasperated.

"I mean, come on, that's like the rudest thing a person can do!" Hiro continued. "Having their cell phone on during a concert, or a movie, or a show is just plain disrespectful. At least have it on silent! And what kind of adolescent ringtone is that? Power Rangers?!"

"So, since you're the girly one and all, I was wondering if I could have a few suggestions on what to look for at the mall."

Yuki groaned. "You want me to help suggest clothes for you to buy?"

"No, Yun-Yun! For Komaki!"

He blinked, mildly interested. "For Komaki?"

"Of course! You'd think I'd ask you for advice on guy's clothes?!"

He stared, speechless, and let his fingers promptly shut the phone closed. Yuki moaned, rubbing his temples and letting himself sink deeper into the couch than he had before. He needed sleep so bad right now—who cared about waking up before noon anymore?

"Well, finally! I thought you'd never turn that thing off," the young boy exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how stupidly immature it is to leave your phone on? And with a little kid's ringtone! Aren't you in high school? Don't you know better? I hate irresponsible people."

"Hiro."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." And he snuggled even closer to the cushions.

"Class, who can tell me about last week's assignment?" Mayuko-sensei eyed her students expectantly, and found to her disappointment the same batch of half-sleep students she had seen last week. Why, even that silver-haired Sohma-boy couldn't keep his eyes open. Normally, he was the brightest of the bunch.

"How about you, Hanajima?" she asked, grasping at straws.

The girl blinked, looking up from her book blankly. She let one pale finger play with her braid as she stared into space thoughtfully, a flicker of intelligence sparkling in her dark eyes. "I," she announced finally, "have no idea."

Great. Another face to look forward to seeing in summer school.

"Lemme help you out, Hana," Arisa offered, leaning back in her seat. "We had to read some more of that novel, right? The one about the girl and the guy and…you know, stuff happened."

"Could you be more specific?" Mayuko asked—begged.

"Uh…" She laughed. "Got me. I'm bad at names."

Man, did Mayuko hate the first days of the week. A bunch of braindead students meant she'd have to explain everything, and to be honest, she wished that she was the one who could sleep on top of her desk.

"Can anyone, anyone at all, tell me the name of the book we're reading?" she exasperated.

Silence. And then:

"Go, go, Power Rangers!"

Faces turned from one to the other—"Is that your cell phone?" "Mine's off." "Is it hers?"—while meanwhile poor Yuki Sohma tumbled from his desk to the ground in surprise.

Spitting out a stream of expletives, he reached into his backpack and brought out the stupid, annoying, shiny little thing. "What now?!" he screamed into the speaker.

"…Is this a bad time?"

"Yes!" Yuki shouted; lack of sleep and acute embarrassment were slowly but surely causing his patience to wane. "They're all bad times! I'm in class, Kakeru! Class!"

"So…I guess I'll talk to you later about how that date went?"

"Later would be good. Never would be better."

"Harsh much? You'll get wrinkles if you keep getting worked up like that. Look, my bad, I'll let you go. See you later, okay? Sheesh."

beep

"Sohma, that's your phone?" Mayuko exclaimed, honestly surprised.

"Heh, whaddaya know, the Prince likes Power Rangers!" Arisa grinned. "And I thought I had you nailed as a closet Hello Kitty fan."

"It would seem that even Yuki Sohma has an inner child," Hanajima drawled, still absorbed in her novel—one of Shigure's latest.

Mayuko plucked the phone from Yuki's tight fist. "You know what this means, Sohma. Detention after school. My room. Three o'clock. Understood?"

He nodded meekly, and prepared himself for his first detention. Ever.

Yuki was beginning to hate cell phones. And Kakeru Manabe. Very, very much.

Yuki stared lazily at the plain school walls of the empty classroom, counting the amount of cracks in the plaster for the eighteenth time. School had ended about a half-hour ago, and he'd forced himself to do his homework, and read some more of that novel (Jane Eyre, apparently) that Mayuko had assigned until he had nothing more to do. Mayuko sat at her desk, occasionally glancing up from her computer to see Yuki sitting there obediently, and finally stood up.

"Alright, Sohma, you've done your time. You can go free."

Thank God. Yuki got up, a little giddy yet a little irate, and gathered his belongings. Of course the worst would be yet to come; Shigure would get onto him about it, Kyo would gloat, and Hiro would make some scathing comment (from the looks of things, he'd be coming with Kisa again).

So when Mayuko handed him his cell phone, Yuki forced a smile and spoke, "Thank you," in a cold, tense voice as he held it in his hands.

Maybe he could throw it away, he thought as he walked down the hallway. Certainly he'd never have to deal with it again if he chucked it into a school dumpster. But no, no: this phone deserved greater torture than that. He could boil it, but no, too dangerous. Crush it to tiny pieces, perhaps? Blend it? Hurl it as far away as humanly possible?

"Go, go, Power Rangers!"

The muscles in Yuki's body tensed. No, he was thinking about this all wrong. The phone didn't deserve punishment; it was his stupid, meddling, sentai-obsessed vice president's fault.

"Go, go, Power Rangers!"

"What is it now?!" Yuki snapped, his voice rising. "I don't care anymore, okay?! I don't care if you want to go on a date, or if you just want to talk, or if you're even trapped in a burning building! I. Don't. Care. And I don't care if I'm harsh. You know what I've been through because of you? I've embarrassed myself in front of my friends and family, I've lost sleep, and I've wound up in detention! I have never been in detention in my life, okay?! So you are the last person I want to hear from right now, and I don't care if you never call me again. In fact, don't. I won't answer. Understand?"

A long, drawn-out silence lasted on the other side until a quiet voice murmured, "Um…okay. Kakeru told me to call and tell you we'd canceled today's Student Council meeting. So, now you know."

Something hot burned in Yuki's cheeks as his face turned from one shade of red to another. "W-wait—Machi, that is—"

"And one more thing. Press # on your phone and hold it."

He blinked. "Why?"

"Silent mode." A small giggle, or something like it, sounded through the static. "I think you need it."

And Yuki, speechless with thanks, held onto the phone as Machi—that kind, heaven-sent angel whose beautiful news had delivered him from insanity—hung up and went to go deliver a very, very long message to her brother.

End Note: Really, when Yuki got a cell phone, I thought, "Oh no, Kakeru's gonna make his life miserable." For some reason in the manga, he didn't. But it makes for good fanfiction plots though, eh? Anyway, I got to stick Hiro in there! Yes! It's fun to stick in non-Student Council characters.