Title. Downwards
Part. four
Part Title. Dial Tone.
Warnings and Disclaimers. First part.
Notes. Seeing as ff.net is down, I get to spend extra time writing.  Wonderful.  I normally wait for reviews before starting on a new chapter to any of my fics, but I went ahead and did about four parts.  Squee.  Go me.

/ thoughts /    [ dreams ]       ( flashbacks )

::*~~*::

            Tasuki had snuck back into his room easily enough.  There was a tree outside of their window that he could climb up, and Kouji, thankfully, had left the window unlocked, so he could crawl in.  Once inside, he found his roommate already asleep... oddly enough, on the floor, surrounded by papers and an open textbook.
            “Someone doesn’t know how to study well,” Tasuki mused to himself softly, not wanting to wake up his friend.  He crept into the room, soundlessly closing the window, and stuffed his guitar into its still open case.  After closing the lid, he slid it back under his bed, noticing a small box he had neglected earlier near the foot of the bed.
            Tasuki grabbed at the box, opening it quickly, not remembering what was inside.  The contents were a cell phone, a cradle, and a cord.  The red head smiled.  Kamau must’ve given it to him when he wasn’t looking, which was something she did often.  He took the phone out of the box and put it in its cradle, finding an outlet near his bed and plugging it in.  He slid it behind his bass, so as not to be seen.
            / I can guarantee, / Tasuki thought with a smirk, / she’ll call tomorrow, just to see if I’ve driven anyone insane yet.  I wonder what the minutes are on this thing? /  He shrugged it off, removing his two shirts(one long sleeve, the other short sleeve) and threw them unceremoniously at the foot of his bed.  He quickly undid his belt and got out of his pants, wearing his ‘harisen’ boxers underneath(a/n, wouldn’t that be so cute, not to mention funny?  ^-^).  He slid into bed, curling on his side.
            Before falling asleep, Tasuki mused on the events of the day.  First meeting Nuriko, then meeting Kouji and his group, followed by the ever-so-genki Chichiri, and ending with Nuriko...  He liked the atmosphere of this school.  It was personal – everyone seemed to know each other.  There were the normal cliques and groups, but that only seemed like a general label.  The groups still mingled. 
            Though still unsure how he got to this point, Tasuki was more than happy to be here.  For one, he had hated home school.  He admitted it was better than going back to Windhollow, but he only avoided that place because of the people.  Well... just two people, but it was enough to make him hate the place and not want to go back. 
            He chuckled bitterly.  “I guess some good came from you, huh, Toukii?” he asked silently, a smile on his lips.  “You bastard...”
            He nuzzled his pillow, feeling bad memories rise up.  He pushed them down, honestly not wanting to deal with them right now.  Or ever again, for that matter.  He rubbed his neck subconsciously, the feel of a blade there still fresh in his mind. 
            / It’s been a year... / he thought coldly.  / I really need to stop thinking about it so much.  People aren’t like that here... right?  Right. /
            With a hesitant nod, Tasuki pushed out any further thoughts or memories from his mind, concentrating only on a black void.  He drifted off to an uneasy sleep soon enough.

            In the morning, Kouji woke up Tasuki for breakfast. 
            “I don’t eat breakfast,” Tasuki informed the blue-haired teen, rolling over to block the sun from getting into his eyes.
            “How can you not eat breakfast?” Kouji asked, eyebrow raised.  “Aren’t you hungry?  Doesn’t your stomach eat itself before you get to lunch?”
            “For me, it doesn’t,” Tasuki informed him simply, wanting to go back to sleep.  “I work fine on an empty stomach.  ‘Sides, I’m still tired.  Let me go back to sleep.”
            “But you have so many more people to meet, Tasuki!” Kouji chirped, poking the lazy youth in the side.  “How can you get settled in ‘ere if you don’t converse?”
            Tasuki swatted at Kouji’s hand.  “Lunch.”
            “Wha’ time did you come back in?”
            “About... midnight?  I don’t know.  I didn’t check the clock.”
            “Two hours playin’?” Kouji asked curiously.
            “Yeah, yeah... Can I go back to sleep now?”  Tasuki was starting to get irritated.
            “All right.  Just come on down when you’re up, okay?”
            “Fine, whatever, just let me get back to sleep.”
            Kouji got off his friend’s bed and left the room, leaving Tasuki alone to his treacherous thoughts.  His mind had been wondering back to their depressing topic from the night before throughout his dreams.  He just wanted some sleep, a decent amount.  Was that really too much to ask for?
            He rolled over again, only to be blinded by the morning sun.  “Augh,” he groaned, sitting up.  “I guess I should go down anyway, if only to entertain the group.  What are you supposed to do on Saturday at a school, anyway?”
            He shrugged, stepping out of the bed.  He put his jeans on quickly enough, but had to dig through his organized drawers for shirts.  Oh, how he hated organization.  He would have to let entropy to take its place before he could ever feel comfortable in any place.
            Tasuki headed down to the mass hall(after once more losing his way and having to go back several times) and approached the table of the Mountain Pack calmly, already feeling at place with the group.  He pulled up a seat next to Kouji and sat down, straddling it.
            “Look who joined us,” Eiken greeted with a smirk on his fat lips.
            “I thought you didn’t eat breakfast?” Kouji asked in an amused tone.
            “I don’t,” Tasuki answer, crossing his arms on the table and laying his head on them.  “Just got bored of sleepin’.”  He closed his eyes, yawning audibly.
            “You’d better be awake for tonight,” Eiken warned, biting into a piece of ham.
            Without looking up, Tasuki asked, “Why should I be awake for tonight?”
            “I’ve got your initiation all thought up.  You just have to be ‘ere for dinner.”
            “Fine, whatever, I’ll be here.  If I don’t die of boredom.  What do you guys do on the weekends?”  He raised his head a little, so his eyes were looking out on the group.
            “Whatever we feel like,” Kouji supplied.
            “Sounds like a lot of fun,” Tasuki said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
            “Unfortunately, I need to study,” Kouji said in a disappointed tone.
            “It’s only a week into school, why do you need to study?”
            The blue-haired bandit sighed.  “’Cause I suck at math.  And Tanaka-san isn’t exactly all that friendly.  I have a huge test on Monday!”
            “What math you in?” Tasuki asked.
            Kouji blushed and muttered something under his breath.
            “What was that?”
            “’E’s in Algebra 1,” Eiken informed him, grinning.
            “Whoa, you must really suck,” Tasuki said bluntly.  He patted Kouji on the shoulder.  “Don’t worry, though, I can help you, if you want.”
            “Are you good at math?” Kouji asked, looking somewhat hopeful.
            “Good enough to be in Trig.”
            Kouji smiled.  “I’d appreciate the help, honestly.  Anything, to make sure I pass the class this year.”
            “Right, right,” Tasuki commented with a shrug.  “Just don’t study at midnight anymore, got it?  It really doesn’t do anything to study when you’re about to fall asleep.”
            Eiken raised an eyebrow.  “Really into the school thin’, aren’t you, Tasuki?”
            “Not really.  My sister is, though.  She burned a lot of her habits into me when I was home schooled.”
            The rest of the meal went by with normal conversations, Tasuki drifting in and out of consciousness throughout the time.  When breakfast was over, Kouji retreated back to their room, while Tasuki went to find the music storage room again.
            When he got there, he scouted out the place, trying to see if they had any spare strings for guitars.  He didn’t know if anyone even played guitar in the school band, but it was worth a shot.
            “Oh, morning, Tasuki, no da!” a familiar voice chirped from behind.  Tasuki turned around to face the school paper’s chief editor, Chichiri.
            “Mornin’, Chichiri,” he replied before resuming his search.
            “What are you looking for, no da?”  Chichiri stood behind the red-head, peering over his shoulder while Tasuki went through some drawers.
            “Trying to find some strings,” Tasuki informed, not stopping in his search.  “I think I broke my g-string coming back into my room last night.”
            There was a pause and then they both snickered at the comment.
            “Why are you here, Chichiri?”
            “Oh, just looking for the band members, no da.  I wanted to know who was trying out for first chairs this year, no da.”
            “On a Saturday?” Tasuki asked, eyebrow cocked.  “Aha!” he exclaimed, finally finding a drawer full of strings.
            Chichiri shrugged.  “The really dedicated people come in no matter what day, no da.”
            Tasuki stood up straight, holding a nylon g-string in his hand, smiling to himself.  He turned to Chichiri, smirking.  “In other words, no new news, and you’re bored out of your mind?”
            Chichiri grinned.  “That’s about right, no da.”
            “Are Saturdays always this boring around here?”
            “The mornings are, no da.  It gets better during the day, no da.”
            Tasuki stuffed the string into his pocket.  He then considered what he was doing.  “Er, you’re not going to tell ‘em about the string, are you?”
            Chichiri shook his head.  “Don’t worry, no da.  No one will probably even notice it’s gone, no da.”
            “Thanks.”  The red-head patted the editor on the shoulder, stepping by him towards the door.
            “Say, Tasuki,” Chichiri chirped.
            Tasuki looked over his shoulder.
            “Seeing as we’re both bored, no da, let’s go find someone to entertain us.  What do you say, no da?”
            Tasuki looked as though considering it.  “You mean, bug the living shit out of someone, right?”  Chichiri nodded.  “I’m all for it!”

            Back in their room, Kouji sat on the floor, staring at the papers he held in his right hand, nervously tapping a pen in his left.  He had to finish this paper before he could even think about studying for math.  He was lucky enough he got the extension on it, though he was supposed to have had it done by the end of summer break.
            During his time of peace and quiet, however, an electric melody went off, sounding similar to Fuga.  Kouji put down his papers, looking around the room for the source of the noise.  He stood up from his bed finally, trying to track it down. 
            He was led to Tasuki’s bed.  He kneeled down and he could already hear the song get louder.  He reached underneath and his hand hit something that wasn’t large and solid like the two guitar cases, but metallic.  Kouji dragged the small object from under the bed to discover it was a phone.
            Wondering briefly why Tasuki had it, he clicked the ‘send’ button and put the receiver to his head.  “Hello?”
            There was a brief silence.  “...Genrou-chan, how long has your voice been that high?”

            After a quick round of tormenting football players with snide comments and Chichiri’s continuous picture-taking, the two headed back to Tasuki’s room to just hang out before lunch.
            When Tasuki opened the door, he heard Kouji chattering away with someone, his back to them while he sat on the floor.  When the door closed, he turned around, not stopping in his conversation with whoever it was, smirking at Tasuki and Chichiri, Tasuki’s cell phone firmly planted to the side of his head.
            “...he just came in, actually,” he said to whoever was on the other line.  “You want me to put ‘im on?”
            The was a pause before Kouji held out his hand, offering the device to its true owner.  “Here you go, Genrou-chan, it’s your sister.”
            Tasuki snatched the phone from Kouji and held it to his ear.  “Hey?”
            “About time, little brother.  Do you know how long I’ve been talking to that friend of yours?”
            “Aww, Kouji’s not that bad, sis,” Tasuki said, sitting down on his bed.  He turned his gaze to the other two occupants in the room, smirking at Kouji’s confused look at the use of his name.
            “I didn’t say he was,­” she stated.  “It’s just that I called to talk to you, and you kept me waiting for an hour.”
            “An hour?” Tasuki replied in a surprised tone.  “Dear god, how many minutes does this thing have?”
            Chichiri tapped Kouji on the shoulder and nodded to him, exiting the room.  Kouji looked to Tasuki and then shrugged, following the cat-like editor out the room.
            “Free weekend minutes, Genrou-chan.  Which is good, ‘cause any other minutes come out of your wallet.”
            “I don’t think they could come out of mom’s, anyway.  After paying for this, and all...”
            “Paying for what?”
            Tasuki raised an eyebrow at such an obvious question.  “For this school, sis.  How in the hell could she afford it at all?”
            “She couldn’t.”
            Tasuki felt confused.  “Then why am I here...?”
            “Scholarship.  Full scholarship.”
            “Wait a second, how the fuck did I get a scholarship to some place like this?  I suck at academics, and I’m a slacker.  Even at home, I still sucked!  What the fuck?”
            “Don’t ask me, little brother.  We just got the later in the mail near the end of the summer that you could go.  You think mom would pass up a chance to get your sorry ass out of the house?”
            “That’s not very friendly,” Tasuki whined in mock-hurt.  “But still, don’t you find it the least bit suspicious?”
            “I can see why you’re paranoid about it, little brother.  But don’t be – Tasitsukun is the one who sent the letter.”
            “Who’s that?”
            “The principal, idiot.”
            “Oh.”
            “So, how’s it going so far?  Met some good kids?  Kouji seems nice...”
            “He is.”  Tasuki laid down.  “No one I’ve met so far seems like a pain in the ass.”  Pause.  “Yet.”
            “Then you more than obviously haven’t met enough people yet,” Kamau said with a snicker.  “Seen any cute guys, yet?”
            Tasuki coughed, glad his friends had already left the room.  “No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t.”
            “Aww, that’s too bad.  It’s been so long since you last brought a presentable guy home...”
            Tasuki let out an exasperated sigh.
            Kamau laughed.  “I take it you’ve seen no cute girls, either?”
            “You wish.”
            “No, mom wishes.  I couldn’t care less.”
            “I’m missing lunch,” Tasuki said impatiently.
            “Fine, fine.  I just wanted to see if you got in all right and how you were.  And one more thing, Genrou-chan...”  Her voice took on a sudden serious tone.
            “Yeah, Kamau?”
            “I’ll be there to visit you next Saturday, around one or so.  Any particular place you could meet me?”
            “Umm...”  Tasuki paused to think.  He still didn’t know the school too well, and needed a generic place that they could both find easily.  “Library?”  He would know where it was by next week, right?
            “Sounds good to me.  Take care, Genrou-chan.”
            “Yeah, you, too.  See you on Saturday.”
            Tasuki waited for the ‘click’ before turning off the phone.  He looked down at the silver object absent mindedly, wondering why his sister sounded so serious at the last bit of their conversation.  And then he wondered how much Kamau had told Kouji.”
            “Aw, damnit, sis...”  With an aggravated groan, Tasuki got off his bed and put the phone back in its cradle.  He then turned towards the door, his stomach growling a little, and made his way out to find his friends before lunch.