Eye of the Storm
Wednesday dawned bright and clear, with a predicted high in the upper eighties. Goku was up before anyone else in the apartment, since Sanzo's college classes didn't start until nearly noon, Gojyo was lazy, and Hakkai usually stayed up most of the night working, anyway.
He made sure he had lunch today before he left, since he didn't think Beki would let him eat her food two days in a row, much as he would like to. The food she'd given him was different from Hakkai's, but just as good in its own way. Maybe she'd be willing to share today, if he could find her.
Goku's first class was Chemistry. He normally wasn't very good with science classes, but he'd discovered the benefits of a dedicated teacher with this one. There weren't many teachers more dedicated than Piper Grey.
Miss Grey was pretty, and smart. She knew everything about chemistry, and she was very patient with people like Goku who usually couldn't tell one liquid from the next unless they were different colors. Goku liked her because she never talked down to him, even when they both knew he was missing something obvious. Most of all, she made it fun to be in her class.
She still wouldn't let him eat, but it was soon enough after breakfast that he really wasn't that hungry. He could wait until second block.
Of course, second block was English, Goku's absolute worst subject out of all his classes this year, taught by the great ogress Mrs. Corbett herself. Sneaking a bite to eat in her class was more nerve-wracking than playing hopscotch in a mine field, with more dangerous potential results.
He sat through English with only half his mind on the lesson, waiting impatiently for class to end. He really didn't care much at all about some old plays from back before they had electricity, and knowing about them wasn't likely to do him any good in the future, either. So what if it was a stereotype? He'd be a dumb jock. He was going to make a living playing basketball as long as he could, then go work for Hakkai and Gojyo. Hakkai had promised him a job whenever he felt up to it, and he trusted Hakkai to keep that promise.
Long practice allowed Goku to sneak five snacks while Mrs. Corbett wasn't looking without being caught, and he escaped the class without a new detention slip to be signed. He hit the hallway with a sigh of relief. He had PE next, then free period, then lunch. If he could find Beki between free period and lunch, then-
"Goku!" Someone called enthusiastically from behind him. "Goku, wait up!"
Goku began wondering about the phrase 'that stuff only happens in movies' when he turned around to find Beki almost on top of him, smiling brightly.
"Hey, you." She said cheerfully. "Did you remember your lunch today?"
"In my locker," He assured her, returning the smile. "But hey, if you wanna share yours again, I can find some way to hide it." The offer was meant to get a laugh out of her, and it did.
"Goodness griefness, did you like my cooking that much?" She demanded, chuckling and shaking her head so that her ponytail swished from side to side. "Next thing, you'll be asking to marry me for my lasagna. Bring your lunch; we'll share 'em both, okay?"
"Sure!" Goku exclaimed, glad she'd made the offer. "Wanna meet where we ate yesterday?"
"Fine by me," Beki agreed. "I gotta run, though, or I'll be dead long before lunch ever comes around; my next class is all the way in the other building."
Beki stepped into her World History II class in a better mood than she usually did. Having Algebra I first thing in the morning was bad enough; following it up with history of any kind was sheer torture. She was terrible with numbers, however good she was with words, and she could never remember dates.
But Goku was, quite obviously, the sort of person who cheered other people up just by being around. He had a lot of energy, and anyone who complimented Beki's cooking was okay in her book. If they kept running into each other, Beki would be sure to stuff him silly on all her special dishes- steak, meatloaf, brownies, pasta salad, lasagna, maybe even her only-for-rare-special-occasions-like-a-visit-from-the-Pope spiced duck.
She took her seat and pulled out her textbook with an atypical smile, not that anyone really noticed. Since she always sat way back in the corner and read during class, most people didn't pay any attention to her at all. She was like a classroom ghost, in the middle of everything yet somehow invisible.
Her invisibility was pierced for the second day in a row, however, by a purple-eyed girl with a deep tan and blonde hair.
"Watcha reading?" The girl asked, whispering around her textbook while Mr. Miller held forth on the French Revolution from atop his desk.
"A book," Beki responded automatically, not wanting to be interrupted during the final battle or to draw the teacher's attention. Mr. Miller was retiring this year, which meant he was even crazier than he'd been last year, and might resort to violence if they messed up his class.
"Duh. Which book?"
A persistent one. Beki was doomed if she didn't stop being facetious. "It's called Phantoms, if you must know, and they're in the middle of destroying a monster that's pretending to be Satan; I'd appreciate it if you'd let me finish this chapter, at least." She neglected to mention that she was on the final chapter, which meant finishing the book.
"Okay, okay, ya don't gotta get grumpy." The other blonde pouted, resting her chin on her desk. "Man, try and make a friend, and get yer head bit off…"
"Bitten off." Beki corrected with a sigh, resigning herself to the fact that she'd just have to finish her book some other time. "Get your head bitten off. 'Bit off' is improper grammar. I'm Beki."
"Lirin," Lirin said, smiling winsomely. "Nice ta meetcha."
It didn't occur to either blonde that crouching behind their textbooks and whispering to each other was a suspicious sort of thing to do when the teacher is standing on top of his desk and speaking dramatically about food riots and summary executions; it draws attention.
"Having a nice chat, ladies?" Mr. Miller asked, not even bothering to get off his desk, since he'd just have to climb back up again when he was finished with them.
Beki immediately stopped talking, glancing sheepishly up at a man who was well into his fifties and didn't look a day of thirty. She liked and respected Mr. Miller, but she also feared him. Ever since she'd hauled off and said 'damn' back in November, she was half convinced that Mr. Miller would either feed her to the dogs or make her recite the textbook backwards, including the index, glossary, and table of contents.
Lirin, apparently, had no such fear, for she just smiled sweetly. "Yup!" She said. "Me'n Beki were just talking about how the same situation would play out in America's economy today, and we got a bit wrapped up."
Since they'd been talking about how ridiculous the court dresses in the textbook pictures looked, Beki was hard-put to keep from choking on such a blatant lie.
"Well, save it for your free period, or after school." Mr. Miller said. "This is History, not Politics, and I'd appreciate it if you'd remember the distinction."
"Yessir," Beki said, saluting; she was somehow not surprised when Lirin echoed the gesture.
Sometimes, Nikki had to wonder why some people were allowed to live past the age of ten. If someone had pushed Ni Jienyi off a cliff a long time ago, the world would be a better place for everyone.
Nikki wasn't normally violent, and she was not by nature vindictive. But Professor Ni was just about the worst man she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting, with the possible exception of- no, never mind, Professor Ni was the absolute worst on the planet, man or woman, human or youkai, period. There was no one quite like him, which was a good thing, since he was a perverted evil genius legally allowed to hang around the campus and leer at people.
"Look, Professor," She said, interrupting him and hoping he'd take the hint and leave her alone. "I'm sure you're an excellent tutor, and I'm positive you could help bring my grades up, but there are other people who need the help way more than I do, and I'd like to try and overcome this slump on my own before I look for outside help."
"Are you sure?" Ni pressed, the subtle seductive purr in his voice making her faintly nauseous. "I promise, I won't charge you."
"No, I seriously think I'll pass." She said. "I've gotta go, okay? I've got a lecture soon, and I don't want to miss it." She slipped around him and out of the lecture hall before he had a chance to object.
"Gosh, Nikki, I was about to come rescue you." Nikki's best friend Emily was waiting right outside, the determined set of her shoulders and the tilt of her baseball cap testifying that she really had been about to do that. "What was he on you about?"
"My grades again," Nikki told her as they set off down the hall. Nikki didn't really have a lecture, but she didn't plan on staying anywhere near Professor Ni. Hell, she just might go find a random lecture to sit in on in order to keep him away from her. "He pulled the whole 'private tutor' thing. I swear, he's such a perv."
"My gosh!" Emily's nickname was Gosh, after her favorite word in the entirety of the English language. "He's, like, so utterly gross! My skin crawls whenever I get near him. I don't know how you can stand taking his classes. My gosh,"
"Give him this, he's a frakkin' genius." Nikki said, guilt at her earlier homicidal thoughts compelling her to defend one of Ni's few good points. "If he'd just chase tail somewhere other than the student body, I'd have no problem with him at all; as it is, I can tolerate him."
"Gosh, Nikki, you're like a saint or something, you're so forgiving and stuff." Emily sighed. "He's a total scumbag, and you still find something nice to say about him."
"I have my moments." Nikki admitted modestly, nodding to herself. She could just imagine Beki's reaction that that observation; she'd probably kill herself laughing at mere thought of 'Saint Nikki'.
The campus at UTA was a bit crowded for daydreaming, however, and Nikki was jerked back to reality by the simple expedient of running into someone. She bounced off his back and they both stumbled a step or two, but neither one of them fell or dropped anything.
"Shit, I'm sorry!" She exclaimed apologetically. "You okay?"
The guy she'd run into glanced over his shoulder at her. His eyes were a mesmerizing shade of deep blue-violet, and his hair was a thick mop of golden blonde. What she could see of his face was damned pretty.
"Watch where the hell you're going."
Pretty face, rotten personality. His tone got Nikki's back up, and after her near-brush with Ni's perversion, she was in no mood to be charitable to some rude-ass stranger.
"I apologized, didn't I?" She demanded. "You don't have to be an asshole about it. It's not like I killed your fucking dog." That apparently caught him by surprise. "Why not yank that stick out of your ass, buddy?" Now he was starting to get angry. Short temper, that one. "Why must the pretty ones always be assholes? C'mon, Em, let's light out and leave this guy to yell at walls or something."
"Look, bitch-"
Beki was waiting at their table when Goku showed up. At least, it was their table insomuch as anyone can lay claim to a table after eating there only once. Someone else probably usually sat there, but being the star of the basketball team had its perks; no one with any sense was going to try and make Goku move.
Beki had packed more than she usually did, since she'd sort of figured Goku might track her down for food again, but Goku's lunch was still twice as big as hers, and it looked sort of like the kind of lunch one might put together at a buffet table in China.
"Damn, that's a lot of food." She commented, surveying their combined feast. "Do you usually bring this much?"
"Yup," Goku said, as if unaware that the amount of food before them could easily feed a round dozen people.
"And… someone named Hakkai makes all this for you?"
"Yup. Hey, didja bring that book you had yesterday? I wanna finish it."
"I think it's still in my bag somewhere…" Beki said, pulling her heavy book bag into her lap and rifling through it. "I'm sort of surprised you're so interested in it, to tell you the truth; criminal forensics doesn't strike me as your burning passion. Here it is!" She pulled it out and passed it across the table to him. "Be warned, though; if anything happens to that book, I'm afraid I'll have to murderize you."
Goku just smiled and nodded, slipping Corpse into his own bag. "Let's eat."
"Let's. What animal did this used to be?"
End Chapter Two.
Eye of the Storm is a song by Cruxshadows. A friend and I have dubbed it the ultimate war song. Like all Cruxshadows songs, it's got a good, deep message. I chose it because the first few chapters are all going to be akin to the calm before the storm; it won't be long now before we see blood in the streets, so enjoy the peace while you can.
There is no love untouched by hate
No unity without discord
There is no courage without fear
There is no peace without a war
There is no wisdom without regret
No admiration without scorn
There is strife within the tempest
And there is calm in the eye of the storm