Title: From Across The Room
Part 2: High School Encounter
Rating: PG-13
Author: Alse
E-mail: alsepang@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: 1. DNA tests prove that I am not Naoko
                        Takeuchi.
            2. Nor am I Toei Animation or some 
               corporate entity who owns BSSM rights.
            3. Duh. Is the conclusion not obvious?


This chapter is dedicated to Sake-chan, for reasons 
mentioned in part 1 of the story.

*  *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

NINE YEARS LATER

       I saw him from across the room.

       He was a tall boy and all six foot three 
(and probably more) of him was uncomfortably coiled
on the chair outside the principal's office. His eyes 
were closed, dark lashes sweeping the killer cheekbones,
and there was a devil-may-care expression on his handsome 
face. I knew who he was right away, although I had only
arrived just two weeks ago. He was the resident school 
troublemaker, genius and heartbreaker. He apparently 
got into fisticuffs every week on a regular basis and 
had few, if any, friends. His bad-boy repute and the 
fact that he was arguably the hottest male around made
him absolutely irresistible to the girls here. Rumour had 
it that he had a different girl with him every week, 
but...I had seen him all of two times so far and he was
a loner. If anything, he rebuffed the advances of anyone 
who so much as walked within five feet of him. I think 
that while he *could* have had a girl every week, he
never *had*, which was unusual, because most boys 
in his position would have jumped at the chance. 

      The boy was an anomaly. At seventeen, almost
eighteen and a senior, he was a brilliant student and 
despite his less than exemplary disciplinary record, he 
consistently scored straight As and his GPA was never less 
than a 4.0, said the school grapevines. He took advanced 
placement classes (college courses too, some said) and sailed
through them with an ease greatly envied by the rest of the 
school. Teachers didn't know what to make of him and 
students were half-fascinated, half-fearful of him.

     I had been on my way out of the school office, having 
picked up a stack of school stuff for my transfer here,
when I saw him. I had to stop and take a second 
look, since I would never have the chance to study him 
at such close quarters again. Raven-black hair fell 
into his closed eyes and streaked untidily across his 
forehead. I had a sudden, irrational urge to push the 
soft hair out of his eyes and gently smooth the worry 
from his face. He looked so much like a tired little 
boy who needed comfort. Colouring slightly, I hurriedly
pushed the thought aside and tilted my head with a 
slightly puzzled frown. 

      This boy, who was two years older than me...
he was not quite what he had been made out to be. In
spite of the aforementioned devil-may-care look, he 
appeared almost despairing, as if he were  weary of
something. You could see it in the dejected slump 
of his broad shoulders and the grimness of an oddly
sensual mouth that didn't look as if it had smiled 
for decades. Why hadn't anyone mentioned that before, 
amidst whispers about his looks, his brains and 
his supposed escapades? An old memory suddenly 
flitted into my mind and I acted on impulse. Placing 
the school books and supplies on a chair, I rummaged 
hastily in my bag for a little while before finding
what I was looking for. Then I set to work.

        When I strolled out of the office three
minutes later, my lips curving upwards into a 
small smile, I had left in the crook of a napping 
stranger's arm a little rose-scented piece of 
notepaper. On it was the sketch of a crimson 
rose (the colouring provided by my coloured pens)
in full bloom and below it, in my upright cursive, 
were the words "For you. Chin up!" I hadn't signed
my name, but instead drew a little caricature of a 
smiling bunny, which was my own little trademark 
signature. I would never know if he understood or
accepted my note, but that hadn't stopped me. 
Something deep inside me had echoed Nike's famous 
slogan "Just Do It" over and over again. And so 
I had. As I turned round the corner and walked 
down the hallway, a stray thought popped into my 
head from nowhere in particular: did he by perchance
have dark blue eyes?


(C) 2001 copyright original storyline by Alsepang

Did you know?

Once, hundred of years ago, the Chinese, Mongolian 
and Korean armies combined to attack Japan. Of 
course, they had to sail across to Japan. They 
tried do so twice, but were felled by heavy winds 
and storms both times. Typhoons, or tsunami, perhaps. 
In Chinese, they are the 'shen feng', or 'heavenly/
godly winds'-- sent by the heavens, which did not
want Japan invaded. Or so I've been told...