autorejoin | Memory Writeups for AFD

That startled a laugh out of Kira. "Damn! Not even a please to that? Pretty ballsy for a kid who just got his ass handed to him." In spite of the laughter and in spite of the taunting words, though, Kira tossed the lighter back to him.

"There. Thanks for the light."

He blew another stack of smoke and then, with both hands shoved deep in his pockets, turned on his heel and sauntered off to retrieve his book from where he'd left it propped open on the windowsill. At that moment, one of the sliding doors slammed open, and a teacher stuck their head out.

"Kira Sakuya! Are you smoking again? You--"

"Go shove it up your ass, teach," Kira said, shooting him the bird without even turning to look him in the eye. The flummoxed adult to sputtered in vain, trying to regain some semblance of control as the giggles of nervous and amused students tittered inside the full classroom.

"You, there," the adult called down the hallway, spotting Katou. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Only then did Kira's eyes slide away from the words on the page of his book, casting curiously toward Katou, amused gaze connecting with his.

(Sakuya, it's Kira Sakuya. Right, that's what it was.)

Katou couldn't help but let out an amused snort of his own at Kira's response to the teacher. Shit, maybe he'd misjudged the nerd. Kid's got a mouth on him, something Katou can definitely respect. He was definitely more interesting than Katou'd given him credit for.

"Ditching class!" was Katou's response to the teacher, bright and cheerful. "What the fuck does it look like?"

If you're gonna go for it, might as well go all the way, right? His wrist hurts like a bitch and he's bleeding from the mouth, but he still manages to pull out a twisted grin.

More giggles chorused out from behind the windows of the classroom, and one of them started to slide back so that the audience of thirty some-odd onlookers could get a better view.

The teacher ducked his head back inside. "Fujisaki! Leave that window alone and go sit down! All of you--get back to reading!" More nervous giggles followed, but the noise levels were dropping again, indicating that authority had indeed managed to corral most of the sheep back into their pen.

That left just Kira snickering into his book, and Katou cheerfully sitting out in the hallway, until the teacher poked his head out again. Not that there was much more than he could do than bluster ineffectually at that point, face red like he'd had a target painted on it. "Well, go back to yours and stop disrupting mine!"

He slammed the door shut.

Katou flipped off the door as it shut, his grin still twisted and wide and bright. (With the good hand, not the one attached to the throbbing wrist.) He then turns to face Kira, his grin still wild and unflickering.

"Hate to run after getting my ass handed to me, but I've got a nurse's office to visit," he drawled, amusement dripping from every word. "Have fun with your book!"

With those chipper words, he turns on his heel and starts heading down the hallway.

Kira just shook his head as Katou retreated. People never seem to fail to prove just how strange they are. At least that one was entertaining, though, he thinks, before slipping entirely back into his book.

It didn't take much effort the next day to figure out which class Kira Sakuya was supposed to be in. You mention the name, and there's kids shuddering and muttering the word "monster." Fuck, that just makes the guy more interesting. Altogether, he managed to figure it out well before class even kicked into gear. Wouldn't you know it, he's actually in the class right next to his?

So anyway, Katou's standing outside the classroom with his wrist bandaged and a black eye that did not come from his fight with Kira the day before. It may or may not come as a disappointment to Kira that Katou didn't report who'd kicked his ass. "I fell," was the sardonic retort Katou would give anyone who'd asked him what happened.

Yeah, his dad hadn't been too impressed with that, either.

Shit, he's not even sure how often this Kira kid shows up to his class— Katou sure has been ditching his own with more frequency of late. But he didn't know how else to find the kid, and he wanted to talk.

Kira for his part is unmarked. Even when his dad does get the reports, he rarely hits him. And even though no one else tattled on him, he did try to goad his father into it by bragging about his exploits yesterday over dinner. It was a no-go; for all his troubles, he only got a pained look.

Suppose it shouldn't be a surprise. Seven years and we still haven't managed it... Talk about your Herculean tasks, he thinks to himself after he's shoved his shoes in the getabako and heads for class. He figures today he'll actually attend, unless he starts to get too bored--it's not like he has anything better to do, and--

He stops short of the door to go in as he realizes that there is a familiar face waiting for him--but not one of his own classmates. It's pretty easy to assess that the punk kid from yesterday fell into somebody else's fist a few times. (He bets a few, anyway; a mark in an open spot usually means a few more where you can't see em.)

Kira moves out of the way, letting a few girls pass inside the doorway he'd been blocking. There are whispers and looks as the kids follow inside, but if Kira minds, it doesn't show. (He's used to it by now.)

"You back already for a rematch? I think you should give it a couple days there, sport." He doesn't bother asking who or why; it is, as usual, none of his business. But--"There's no way you're gonna be any good at throwing punches, not with that eye." His depth perception and field of vision will be all off, and while Kira doesn't care about fair fights, he does at least want them to be good ones.

Kira's not wrong in his guess— There's several sore spots that his school uniform covers very well, and thank fuck for that. While it would be easy enough to pass it off to Youji and the others as all being part of the fight he got into earlier, he hated having to explain away his bruises. The excuses tasted bitter on his tongue.

(Though he'd still take that over the looks people might give him if they knew the truth—

Poor, pathetic Yue.)

"I'm not here to fight," he tells Kira, and that's the truth. His black eye's throwing off his aim a little, he thinks. "You owe me a cigarette."

It was a ballsy call and he knew it, trying to blame this guy for his cigarette getting stomped in their fight. But hell, was he supposed to open up with, "You're interesting, let's be friends?" There's no way that shit would work.

A harsh laugh erupts from Kira's mouth.

"I owe you? A cigarette?" For what, bumming a light? The cigarette had been his own.

"Man, fuck you," Kira said, giving him the middle finger as he did. Interestingly, though, there's no anger or aggression to the words: he's smiling even. This is the first time in a long time anyone's had the guts to demand anything from Kira, teachers and parents aside, and... well, honestly, it's entertaining.

Maybe that's why he issues him a challenge; because it's the first bit of anything interesting that's happened in so long. Well, anything interesting that didn't pertain to Setsuna, anyway. It's okay to have just a little bit of fun unrelated to his duties. Right?

"You can have one of my cigarettes when you can take it from me," Kira said before following his classmates inside. Moments later, before he'd even made it to his desk, the bell would chime. Which left Katou with the big question: what was he going to do next?

What he does is follow this Kira brat into the guy's classroom. Fuck the bell sounding, fuck that he's now late to his own class, he's not leaving until he gets what he's coming for.

(Or get what's coming to him, ha ha.)

"It's your fault I lost mine, and now I want payback," he informs Kira as he follows in his footsteps. "Gimme."

Kira takes his seat and gets his book--science--out of his desk. The other students are staring and whispering, and even the teacher looks a bit distressed by this turn of events. Hesitantly, the class president stands up and calls the class to order, resulting in everyone uniformly rising to stand, bow, and sit again. Kira does it as well, and then returns to his school book.

Class still hasn't started, though--Kira might not be looking at their interloper, but everyone else sure is.

"Excuse me, young man? You need to go to your own class," the teacher says from behind her podium at the front.

On the other hand, there's an empty seat right next to Kira.

Katou cheerfully flips off the teacher.

"Screw you, I'm not done talking to this guy," he says, not even bothering to glance in the woman's direction. "And speaking of which—"

He pokes Kira in the chest. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

It sure doesn't seem like he is. Instead of looking up at Katou, he takes out a pencil and starts taking notes in the margin of his workbook.

"I said no," he replies mildly, still not making eye contact.

Katou glances back at the teacher, decides not to push his luck too hard. "We'll try this again after class," he informs Kira before sauntering out. Might as well get to his own class, Katou figures, though there was a vanishingly small chance he'd even pay any attention at all.

Kira doesn't lift his head, but his eyes do track Katou to the door, and then the shadow of his body moving outside the glazed windows down the hall. Will he honestly be back? Time will tell, he supposes.

In any case, he doesn't leave the classroom after the bell rings. Almost like he's testing to see if it was a lie.

Class was every bit as boring as Katou had known it would be. Annoying, too, with getting in trouble for showing up late. Whatever, at least he'd shown up this time. You'd think he'd get at least some credit for it. Teachers! Who understood them?

Anyway, he had not forgotten his promise— threat? nah, more like a promise— to go back to Kira this morning. So he walks right back over to the classroom, and is... actually pretty surprised the guy stuck around. Huh. Didn't he have any activities?

"So," Katou says from the doorway. "How about that cigarette?"

Kira sets down the book he's been reading as Katou marches into the doorway, asking about a cigarette. Kids look up from their respective circles in groups of twos and threes. At least he's not the only one curious.

I'll be damned. Whoever heard of a golden-haired shadow?

"Depends. How about you give me something first."

Katou raises an eyebrow at the comment. "You got anything in mind?"

He's kind of curious where this kid's going with this. At least he's interesting. He'd halfway expected that either Kira would ignore him, or else he'd beat him up again.

"You could start with a name, dummy."

Considering that, you know. He only knows him as The Punk with the Lighter.

Katou lets out an honest laugh at that. Somehow, he hadn't been expecting that request.

"The name's Katou," The Punk with the Lighter informs Kira. He considers throwing his given name in there for only a brief moment before pushing the idea aside. It's not like he ever uses the damned thing, anyway.

Even from a young age, Kira was an uncannily perceptive child, and it doesn't skip his notice that "Katou" has only given him his family name, and not given one. He taps his pencil against his desk, using his index finger to see-saw it over his middle, as he considers bribing Katou for it: the cigarette for his first name. But that's a pretty cheap trade. He can do better than that.

"This is a little much for just a cigarette, don't you think? You were the one who dropped it, after all, Katou-kun. Why should I replace it?"

The hilarious thing is, Katou wouldn't have taken that trade. Not that it's difficult to find it out, it's not like no one in the school knows it, but— he hates it so much.

"Because I wouldn't have dropped it in the first place if it weren't for you," comes the response. Honestly, Katou's not even dead set on it— he wants the cigarette, sure, but he's more interested in the guy he's trying to get it from.

Kira is not convinced at all by that answer, or by the tough-guy persona Katou's trying to wear. But this is interesting. He can play along a little, for a distraction.

"All right. You want your cigarette so bad... meet me after lunch, during break. Behind the bike racks."

Katou tilts his head to the side for a moment, considering that. "You've got yourself a deal."

He has no idea what Kira's planning. If it's a beatdown, it seems like a pretty elaborate way to do it. Shit, maybe he'll actually give him the cigarette.

"See you then!" And then he's sauntering out of the classroom again.

It's not a beat down. Kira is sitting in the shade of the covered bike racks on an empty space on top of the parallel bar people chain their bikes to. His chin rests in a hand propped up by his elbow on his knee; the other hand idly flicks his zippo lighter open, closed, open, closed.

"You're late," he says as he catches sight of Katou. There's an unlit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

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