Watching the world go by

[Fell]

Raven had just gotten out of his hour and a half long 2:30 calligraphy class. It was an experimental class that was being tested for interest levels at the moment, and Raven desparately hoped that enough people cared. Of course, there were plenty of people in his class so he needn\'t worry much, but he still fretted a little.

Sindri had been the one to find out about the class, probably from one of his college friends, and he had signed Raven up almost immediately. Raven was glad he did, too - he wasn\'t sure if he would have been able to call the unfamiliar school and go through the outside application process, a process he didn\'t understand anyway.

The little blue-haired Skvader smiled shyly as he walked towards the school\'s outdoor seating area. Raven usually ate there after his class as it was a generally quiet, nice place and the people rarely bothered him. In fact, people rarely crowded the place at all. It was nice.

Raven scaled the steps, seating himself in one of the high corners and looking down on the green through large, long-lashed brown-green eyes with just a hint of anxiety in them. The hare-turned-human quietly removed a small brown bag from his larger shoulder bag, then opened it up and began nibbling on the avacado-and-tomato sandwich inside. Yummy! Raven thought, his inner bubbliness surfacing for a moment in a large grin and cute little kick-back with his legs. Thank you Sindri! he continued with gratitude. His friend had made him the sandwich before running out, and the blue-haired boy appreciated it greatly.

Eating his sandwich slowly, Raven surveyed the surroundings with a shy sort of observance. The way people acted fascinated him, even if he found it frightening to deal with head-on. Raven smiled shyly again, just watching the world go by.

[Sakura Akaega]

Meanwhile, on the lawn below, a group of guys and a girl were lounging around underneath the shade of a nearby palm tree, arguing loudly over who was to take the container of curry rice that one of the guys had brought for lunch. Among the quarreling teens, the girl was the loudest and most passionate of all.

"Come on, you know I\'m starving!! My guardians never bring me any good food, and besides, you guys all know I\'d DIE for curry..." she whined, shaking her head vigorously and making mewling noises.

As she fixed her crimson-red eyes on the boy who was currently in possession of the coveted curry, she thought to herself, if only it was evening already. I would be able to seduce that curry out of him in no time. She sighed inwardly. It would be so easy- just let her dark side take over, and she would be able to get anything out of any guy. But best to be discreet, she decided. Nobody here knows about my other side, and I don\'t want to lose my reputation as being a shy, modest person.

As it was, she ended up merely watching as a random guy came up and took the curry calmly from his hand.

[Fell]

Raven winced a little bit at the swell of voices coming from underneath a palm tree in the courtyard. It looked like a bunch of people were fighting over something. That made Raven a little nervous... He hated fighting, and sometimes people who fought and lost would be angry and mean to other people later - usually people like him, it sometimes seemed. Raven drew his long legs up in front of him, wrapping one arm around his knees to keep them in place and holding his sandwich with the other.

I hope they stop soon... he thought quietly as he took another small bite. That would be really nice... Raven looked on as someone came by and took the box they\'d all been yelling about. He could practically see the group deflate as the triumphant boy walked off. Raven couldn\'t help but think that they should have just shared. Still, at least it was a little quieter now. That was good, right?

Raven nibbled his sandwich some more, brow furrowing just a bit in the middle. He hoped it was good. What if it wasn\'t good? Were people supposed to be loud? Maybe they were... They were very often... So maybe it *wasn\'t* good. Only... It made Raven happy. Did that make it good?

Raven worried quietly about this dilemma, working on his sandwich the whole time.

[Sakura Akaega]

Torn from her precious curry rice, the girl finally just sat down on the ground and lolled around, listening to the conversations around her. It was a nice sunny day, and she found herself staring up at the turquoise expanse above her. Her vision wandered, and she found herself staring right into the eyes of a youngish-looking boy above her. Who the heck--? She started, and half-sat up, staring at the odd stranger that sat above the lawn on a corner of the flight of stairs leading up to a seating area. She had never seen this boy before, and yet he seemed to act as if he was perfectly at home on the campus. She watched as he nibbled on his sandwich-Doesn\'t seem like a curry sandwich, she thought-, then sighed and rolled over onto her stomach, kicking her buckled black boots against the ground.

A few seconds later, she found herself rolling back over to stare at the boy, who was still eating his sandwich delicately. Why he attracted her attention so easily, she didn\'t know. Must be his blue hair. I\'ve never seen hair like that. He\'s not a human, is he? She reluctantly pulled her gaze away, not wanting to seem rude by staring at him so blatantly, but a few moments later, she found her line of sight slowly migrating in his general direction again. Fed up by her insatiable curiosity, she finally got up, springing up in one graceful movement while straightening out her black, lacy blouse and short layered (also lacy) skirt. She stalked off towards the boy, all the while wondering why the heck she was even bothering to find out who he was.

[Fell]

Raven had been too wrapped up in his inner arguement to notice at first, but the second time around it hit him. T-that girl is staring at me...? the little skvader thought, eyes widening a little in anxiety. She soon turned away, though, which was nice... Still, why had she been looking? Did he have something on his face?

Raven pawed a little at his cheeks, but he couldn\'t feel anything. Oh well... She was probably done no- Or not... She was looking at him again. Raven took a nervous bite of his sandwitch, looking at her askew. Then she got up and started walking - no, stalking really - towads him.

Raven\'s freeze response kicked in. His ears, tucked dutifully under his bandanna even as the were, stiffened and his legs locked. His large, pretty forest coloured eyes widened significantly. S-she looks mad...! the blue-haired boy thought, his voice a squeak even in his head. Raven wished he could close his eyes, but they stayed wide open, watching as she got closer. Raven swallowed hard, wondering if he\'d done something to offend the pretty girl.

He hoped not...

[Sakura Akaega]

As the girl made her way towards the small, petite boy, she wondered what she would say to him once she actually got there. \'Hi, nice to meet you, I\'m Saki and your sandwich looks yummy!\' Umm... no. \'Hey, wassup dude, your hairstyle looks awesome man.\' Too cheesy. I\'d better just stick to a friendly, normal greeting. Like a simple \'hi\' or something.

She nervously patted her skirt down as she climbed the marble staircase. Now that she was closer and could see the boy more clearly, she noticed that he looked purely terrified, with his eyes stretched wide open, focused blindingly on her, and his sandwich nearly falling from his shaking hand. Taking a deep breath herself, she approached him and sat down on the railing next to him.

"Hey there, I\'m Sakura. I just happened to see you when I was down there with my friends.. and I got sort of curious...." she uttered in a soft, high-pitched voice.

Dammit, that was pure CHEESY! she thought as the words came out of her mouth. And why the heck does my voice sound like a ten-year-old\'s? Oh, why did I even come to talk to him in the first place? I\'m making a fool out of myself! Infuriated, she blushed in embarrassment and humiliation and stared down at the ground, waiting for the boy\'s reply.

[Fell]

Raven looked at her, eyes still wide, as she sat next to him. He was sure she was going to start yelling at him or something. She opened her mouth... He tensed for it...

"Hey there, I\'m Sakura. I just happened to see you when I was down there with my friends.. and I got sort of curious...." Raven opened his eyes again, slowly, looking at her first with one, then turning his head so he could see her with both. She\'d used a soft voice... Maybe she wasn\'t mad at him. Raven swallowed again, but less loudly and nervously this time. Maybe she didn\'t mean harm...?

"H-hi..." Raven said, stuttering a little even as he attempted a shy smile. "I\'m R-raven..." he continued in his clearly Icelandic accent, looking up at her with dewey eyes through long, feminine lashes. Her words had been comforting, a little, and though he was still by no means comortable in the situation, he no longer looked as though he were about to have a heart attack.

Raven still wasn\'t sure whether or not his legs would work, though. That remained to be seen.

[Sakura Akaega]

Sakura felt herself melt the second their eyes met.

"H-hi..." he had replied, "I\'m R-raven..."

His voice was so shy and quiet, yet unbelievably cute as well with that accent. And those eyes... those foresty, lush irises... Sakura gulped. Well, at least he\'s relatively friendly. And cute. God, he\'s so adorable, it\'s taking me all my willpower to not tackle him right here,  knock him to the floor and then cuddle him.

"Raven... that\'s such a pretty name! Do you live around here? Or do you stay in the dorms?" she responded still shyly, not being able to muster up her usual bold hyperness.

Why she was so affected by this small, young boy, she didn\'t know. She had never met any guy she couldn\'t deal with or charm, and she was almost always in control of herself. Nobody had ever intimidated her to the point of being almost speechless, not even the hottest guys at this school... and here was a kid that was nearly scared out of his socks, somehow making her fidget uncomfortably and not know what to do.

Saki looked at him, tucked a strand of her raven-black hair behind her ear, and smiled nervously but sweetly at him.

[Fell]

She seemed like she was shy too... That comforted Raven a little more. He gave her a (very unsure) smile, but a smile nonetheless. He swallowed a little again, then answered her. Though his voice still shook, it wasn\'t quite as bad as it had been before.

"Ah-I live s-sort of close... N-not on the campus though!" he added quickly, not wanting to seem like he was lying to her. "I-I live with Sindri... It\'s within w-walking distance," Raven continued, looking up at her timidly. He\'d managed to draw his knees to his chest sometime while they were speaking and he now wrapped an arm around them, resting as casually as he could at the moment. Still... At least Sakura was nice. Raven flashed another small smile at her, gaze darting nervously away right after.

Oh! he thought suddenly, I-I should ask back... Right? Raven looked at her quickly, shyly, before asking. "W-what about you?" he asked, voice a little more tense now than it had been when he was answering her question. Raven felt a small burst of pride at asking so quickly, making him smile a little more before he remembered he was being watched and clamed up a little again.

[Sakura Akaega]

Sakura was taken aback slightly by his question, as she did not expect him to ask one back, but she smiled warmly at him, happy that he seemed to be opening up a little more. She tilted her head a bit and looked at him from the corner of her eye, observing his somewhat relaxed position and the quick upturn of his lips as he glanced at her.

"Well, I..." She brushed a finger across her lower lip slowly in thought and continued hesitantly but warmly, "I... live with a guardian. He\'s okay, but sort of controlling and..."

Sakura broke off, realizing that she was straying off-topic. She took a quick glance at Raven, but couldn\'t read his expression.

"Well anyways, I live with a guardian, and he lives nearby as well," she amended quickly, in a tone of voice that was perhaps too harsh and final.

God, I don\'t want him to know about my guardian.. if he knows, he might ask about why I\'m living with him, and even I can\'t answer that question then! Augh.. then I might have to explain to him my whole dark side, since that\'s the reason why my guardian is controlling and strict... No matter what, I don\'t want people at this school to figure out my history.

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura realized too late that she had been too rude with her answer, and attempted to correct whatever bad impression Raven may have formed about her from that abrupt reply.

"I mean... well, sorry if that sounded a bit rude, but ... my guardian\'s a bit.... um, how should I say this," she faltered, and started over. "What I mean is, our relationship is rather complicated, and it would take a long time to explain, and even I don\'t know parts of our history. I\'ve suffered some severe memory loss, and all memories from before I was thirteen have been erased. So... any questions having to do with my guardian gets me a bit riled up. Sorry. I, ... I hope I\'m not majorly confusing you."

Sakura paused for a second or two, then added, "I know you only asked me where I lived. Sorry if I told you too much stuff you don\'t want to know about."

She looked down at the ground, fidgeting with the frilly hem of her blouse, refusing to meet his eyes.

[Fell]

Raven had just been beginning to get comfortable when Sakura\'s harsh tone came in. Flinching, he looked down slightly. I-I shouldn\'t have asked... he thought worridly, glancing up at her a little to find... Not the mean expression he might have expected but a kind of surprised an apologetic one. Raven raised his head a little more, then smiled shyly at her. She hadn\'t meant to be mean after all! That made Raven happy, and he listened with avid interest as she continued, even if she did break the story sometimes.

Her guardian sounds *really* mean... Raven thought, his eyes widening the more she spoke, especially when she got to memory loss. When she finished, Raven just gave her a little bit of a smile. "N-no! Raven exclaimed softly, holding up a hand in a friendly gesture of pacification. "I... I liked hearing about you...." he continued, sounding perhaps more nervous than before. Raven didn\'t usally express his opinions to a complete stranger unasked, but... Sakrua was nice and Raven was starting to open up to her a little.

Raven started sympathy-fidgeting. Watching her, he just felt like he should fidget as well, so he started pawing at the hem of his pants, playing with it a little. "Umm..." Raven said quietly before glancing upwards at her. "I-I\'m sorry y-your guardian is m-mean..." he said, blinking (though with his eyelashes, it looked more like he was batting them at her) nervously. It seemed like the right thing to do, offer sympathy, and so that\'s what Raven did. That, and, more importantly, he really did feel bad for her... Mean people weren\'t very fun. They made Raven anxious.

[Sakura Akaega]

"I\'m... I\'m glad you don\'t think I\'m being too presumptious by telling you all this stuff about me... " Sakura said quietly, smiling at him sincerely.

Wow. Raven is pretty nice...

She looked at him again, smiling happily.

"You know... maybe you can just come over sometime, like afterschool today maybe. I don\'t think my guardian will be around at that time, since he\'s got work.

"He tends to get home in the evenings and get himself drunk," she added with a laugh. "Better off that way, since when he\'s drunk, he usually doesn\'t bother me very much."

Sakura looked back at Raven with a half-grin on her face.

"So, wanna come over?"

[Fell]

Raven was happy when she talked to him, but a little taken aback when she suggested that he come over. He froze for a moment, then nodded slowly. "O-okay..." he said, giving a feeble grin. He was a little nervous, in truth, but he didn\'t mind following along. Plus, he wouldn\'t want to say no and offend... A-and she\'s nice! I mean... She seems nice... Raven thought, convincing himself.

"Y-yeah!" the blue-haired boy said, more emphatic this time (though still kind of quiet). He smiled. "That s-sounds good..." Raven finished, seeming a little embarrassed about his previous outburst. He\'d just... been happy. Raven wasn\'t sure what one did at someone else\'s house, but he assumed getting invited was a good thing! ...Right?