Come over to the sweet ones, baby. (Dom!)

[shinigami]

There was a storm comin'.

They'd been saying as much on all the weather channels. Of course, the weather'd been acting strange lately; still, there was going to be a storm. That's what the weather forecaster said, earnest as a priest in his devout belief. The kids of LVHS were dressed accordingly.

Beatrix, however. Beatrix had her back to most of the cafeteria; her back to most of the action. Beatrix was seated, demure as anything, and improbably alone, at a table nearest the stage. The cafeteria was very high so the noise sort of echoed and seemed held near the ceiling. Acoustics. Also, there were skylight windows, and through one of these windows a shaft of (...white) light was falling, and Beatrix sort of looked like she'd coalesced out of it, since she was sitting half-in and half-out of it.

The young witch had her chin resting on the palm of her hand and she was gazing at the wall. She was deep, deep in thought. She wasn't paying attention to anything immediately around her. Which is why she held her plastic bottle of berry tea up to the light, watched it blaze with shadow, and then tossed it over her shoulder at the trashcan without worrying about it.

[admin]

Domyouji was having a hell of a time at this new, American school. Already the students had begun to worship him, to fear him. His family was known throughout the world, both as formidable and vastly wealthy. Everyone here knew it, and they were already clamoring to get into his good graces. Ah, how good it was to be him!

Smiling in his superior fashion, flanked by his followers of jocks- bodyguards, if you will- he was in his element, watched and admired by all as he entered the cafeteria. But then his shirt was wet, stained by a carelessly tossed bottle of berry juice. A tick developed in his jaw as he glanced down at his once pristine, very expensive white dress shirt, and then his eyes spoke murder as he turned them on the stupid girl who had hit him.

The cafeteria went silent, activity stilled as the students waited for the blow up. They didn't have to wait long. A show was about to begin.

His new... friends... had wanted to attack for him, but he quickly waved them off, his eyes turning cold as he moved to stand in front of the sitting girl. But one could still see he was furious.

"That's an unusual greeting," he said slowly, announcing each English word perfectly. He leaned forward slightly, and with a cruel twist of his lips knocked her lunch tray to the floor. Straightening, he turned his gaze back to the girl as he removed his tie, and then angrily unbuttoned his shirt, before pulling it off so that he was left in merely a black wifebeater, hitting her in the face in the process. Everyone could see the barely contained violence in each movement, and the tick in his jaw was even more pronounced. "Do you not watch where you're throwing things?"

He paused, lifting his head to glare at the silent crowd of students, the same cruel look upon his face as he exclaimed, "Ah... I feel cold. If I catch pnuemonia," he turned his eyes back to the girl, "What will you do?" He kicked her lunch tray out of the way, and took another step towards her, towering over her in a threatening manner. "I'm the son of Domyouji-Financial which Japan relies on!" A pause, and he leaned closer, his hand slamming down on the table as he brought his face level to hers, just so she could see just how angry he was. "What do you know of the future of Japan? Eh? I asked, what do you know?!"

[shinigami]

Ah, innocent Beatrix didn't even notice that she'd hit someone. That's how lost in thought she was. Beatrix didn't even realize how close she'd come to mob food. Didn't even know that Domyouji was speaking to her at first. Then?

Then he knocked her lunch tray to the floor. Beatrix, perplexed, raised an eyebrow at the boy who -- was beginning to strip. Beatrix swivelled in her seat so that she was facing Domyouji more directly, and that's when the shirt hit her in the face. Now! Now. Beatrix? Beatrix closed her lovely, dark eyes. And her lovely, lovely jaw tightened. Maybe it was him. How angry, how impassioned, he was. Affecting her, whether or not she wants it to. Or maybe? Maybe this was a new experience.

When his face was inches from hers, she opened her eyes again. Her eyes? Really, really, really, really dark. Beatrix reached into her pocket. Pulled out her wallet. Pulled out a dollar bill. Reached for his belt. Slipped the dollar inside.

Said: "I don't care about Japan. And aren't you going to take it all off?"

[admin]

She did not just... There was just no way... She couldn't have... She didn't...

Sweet Merciful Five-Headed Monkey Man, he just did not know how to deal with female. Where was her sense of decency? Her self-preservation?

Well, fine. He'd just treat her like a man, then. "Take it all off you say?" Domyouji replied with a crazed laugh, his dark eyes shining. "I'll show you what I can take off!"

And so he picked up her chair, with her in it and all, and carried her over to the nearest open window. It was only the first story, but she'd get the meaning behind it all. "I'll take you out of this cafeteria, that's what I'll do!"

And then he tossed her, chair and all, right out the window. And just for good measure, he used his powers to turn all the nearest sprinklers on.

[shinigami]

The expression on his face was definitely worth every penny of the dollar. However, Beatrix didn't expect his reaction -- or his strength. Her hands went to either side of her seat, and her eyes widened; she bit her tongue with the jolt of it. He was carrying the chair sideways, so she was either looking at the frozen faces of her classmates or turning her head to stare at Domyouji. Guess which one?

"You - " she started to say. Then, well, her eyes widened a little more as he paused by the window. Definitely just a teenage girl, at the moment. Definitely just a teenager.

He wondered where her self-preservation was? This is how it kicks in: in the same instant Domyouji tosses the chair, Beatrix throws her arms tightly around his neck.

Which means he either comes stumbling through the window with her, because she is not letting go -- or! he's surprised by the fact that she's pretty much fallen on him and they go stumbling to the floor of the cafeteria.

Either way, the hiss of the sprinklers is eerily mundane.

[admin]

And stumble out the window he did, but he at least didn't go down alone, nor was he about to let himself hit the ground first. No. He landed on top of her as the sprinklers went haywire. In his anger, the popped out of the ground so that jets of water shot skyward.

That was when he forcibly removed her arms from his neck and backed quickly away as he turned those jets of water on her. That girl was going down!

[shinigami]

Beatrix's breath escaped her. Whoosh. When he landed on her, heavy. Boys were heavy. The shock of it made throwing her arms away surprisingly easy.

First: the jets of water. White. Froth. Rage. Arcing up, so lovely; rainbows where the light and water mingle (in some kind of alliance against her, clearly - bastards), and so much more water than should be coming out of the sprinklers.

And then the jets of water turned on Beatrix, who, at that moment, was on her knees, one hand on the earth, in the grass, soaking wet. A wet Beatrix is something to take a moment to appreciate -- her skin went paler, more wintry, and her eyelashes stick together, water droplets beading them like pearls, and her hair doesn't darken like you'd expect, but retains its luminous quality. And, yeah, she was wearing a white dress to school, so there's that.

And the fact that the water feels like needles.

And the fact that, what with the water being aimed, she could only assume the boy was supernatural. In fact, if she'd take a moment to think clearly and look at him -- she'd know. But Domyouji has a way with women: he makes 'em not think so clearly.

Beatrix runs her hands through her sopping hair, closing her eyes again, wrinkling her nose (...cute) in response to the water beating at her. And then she says: "Okay. Okay. FINE."

[admin]

"What was that?" Domyouji yelled happily, reaching a hand up to cup his ear as if he couldn't hear her. "I didn't quite catch that? Did you say your white dress was ruined, eh?" The sprinklers decided at that moment to die down as the crowd of students moved to gape out the windows at her. "Hey, look, the little girl fell in the sprinklers!"

And then he laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world, drawing any foul attention away from him as the rest of the students clamored to stare at her and then laugh and point and jeer.

[shinigami]

Finally, Beatrix was motivated. "You're not very nice," she said, quiet as smoke, looking directly at Domyouji.

Before, she hadn't seen him; now, all she saw was him. And she reached out to the dark, and she put a clenched hand over her heart so that her heartbeat would be a focus. And -- well. It wouldn't probably feel like an attack to Domyouji.

It would feel like: peace. It would feel like: calm, descending. That moment before sleep. You know that moment. That quiet enveloped-by-the-dark and aren't-the-shadows-lovely trance that happens when you're completely exhausted. It's like serenity. It's like peace. It's soft, see. Soft, gentle, quiet, lull, lullaby, lullu, lullay...

Shh, shh, shh.

[admin]

Domyouji had been about to respond, been about to show her just how not nice her was, when a feeling of peace descended upon him. A moment of swaying on his feet, of taking in the darkness... A moment spent where he almost passed out. Fell prey. And Domyouji was never, never prey to anyone.

So he fought back with another power of his own, calling on emotions to send her own peace right back at her. But peace... ah, why would he do that? No. He changed his mind halfway, decided to send another lovely emotion back at her. Fear. Fear he'd known from times in the past, but could not remember. Fear over losing loved ones, fear of death and of war. Fear of being alone. Lots and lots of fear, in little waves. He was peaceful, comfortable, but if she wanted to play games, then he'd make her just as uncomfortable as he could.

[shinigami]

"Water."

That's what she says; or maybe it's another name, an older name; a forgotten name, a secret name. They come easily to her. But maybe she's not even saying his name; maybe she's just naming this: There are tears in her eyes. They glimmer, held in check by her eyelashes; make her gaze, briefly, luminous. Beatrix presses her palms to her eyes and wipes them away, and she swallows against the fear that clutches at her heart.

Now, Beatrix is not somebody who frightens easily. She has been afraid before. It just doesn't generally happen. Fear is afraid of Beatrix, damn it. That's just how it works. Her knuckles are white and she takes a deep, deep breath -- and Domyouji's own shadow knocks him to the ground. The shadow moves flickerfast before snapping back into its usual shackles: an unpitied mirror, a thing that diminishes and grows according to no wish of its own.

And Beatrix? By sheer willpower -- refuses, just refuses -- to actually run away; instead? Although her heartbeat hammers in her ears, and she doesn't want, oh god, oh god, oh god, doesn't want

[Yes. The lights aren't working in the classrooms; yes, the power is out. Wait, no; seems to be fine. But why won't the lights work?]

to be alone doesn't want them to be hurt and what if they do what if they are

[What the heck is happening?]

she doesn't run. She whirls on her heel, as if she was going to; then pauses, freezes in place. Whirls around again, marches over to Domyouji, who's no doubt picked himself up, grabs his ... Black wife-beater, since he's not wearing a shirt, and yells: "STOP IT."

[admin]

Though Domyouji has been knocked down he was too calm to be shocked. And the name didn't even ring a bell. He remembered nothing. He didn't want to remember anything.

"The name's Domyouji. Domyouji Tuskasa," he said, not relinquishing his control over her emotions, "And you'd do well to get it right or I'll stop nothing."

[shinigami]

Beatrix is afraid of being alone. But she knows that her fear is a lie; it isn't her own fear. But she knows the fear is not a lie; it was true. People who are shaken so -- to the very core -- with loneliness, by this sense of responsibility for disasters that will descend, reach out to other people.

The closest other person is Domyouji, who is all tangled up with what she remembers of Water, opinions of whom shall remain for the moment a mystery. Part of Beatrix wants nothing more than to curl herself into Domyouji, kiss him, kiss him speechless and breathless and heartless, until, you see, she's not alone any longer, and maybe not afraid, and maybe --

She doesn't do that.

Her knuckles go even whiter. He's lucky she didn't grab any of his skin when she grabbed his shirt. Otherwise, Beatrix looks perfectly calm now. Her gaze is opaque. Hard to tell what she's thinking; impossible, in fact.

"But why?"

[admin]

With a glare, Domyouji grabbed her wrists and twisted them until they were forced to let go of him. And then he pushed her down and stood himself. "Because I said so," he said with all his air of superiority in place. "Because I can."

He levelled her with one last glare, pulling his powers back in as he turned and climbed back through the window. The crowd around the window quickly shuffled away at his presence, staring at him with a mixture of worship and fear. A part of him, the Water part, was disgusted, ashamed by that display. It was the same looks that the more fearsome of the Old Powers had gotten in the past. But Domyouji relished in it. Enjoyed the worship. Because he was the only heir of the Domyouji fortune. He was above them, better, and far richer than any of them could ever hope to achieve.

He turned back for a moment, staring out the window at the girl... of whom he didn't care to know or remember her name. He'd find out later, and give her one of the classic F4 notes, one that would set the whole school against her. For a moment, shame was the forefront of his emotions, his eyes flashing the clearest blue, like the oceans of Mexico, so clear you could see the sealife within. That's just how light of a blue his eyes were.... Water's eyes. But as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and Domyouji was back to his normal self... if not a little surprised and confused by her.

[shinigami]

He twists her wrists. Finally, Beatrix winces. Lets go. His shadow? Doesn't knock him down again. Make note. It's a plain shadow, forced into mimicry.

The floor luckily wasn't too far; not since he was chilling on it, all calm and peacable. Her eyes were narrowed -- dreamy, not dangerous -- after Domyouji. When she picked herself up, she said, soft:

"The future of Japan -- so much for its reputation for manners."

He has stopped to look back in through the window. His shadow? Doesn't knock him down again. Make note. It's just a plaaaain shadow, forced into mimicry.

Beatrix runs her fingers through her hair; is surprised to find it still wet. She doesn't stay; people don't bother her; that's just how it goes. At the cafeteria door, she meets Dulcimer, who takes Beatrix's appearance in and says, baffled: "... Bea? Why are you ... Why are you all wet?"

To which Beatrix says: "There was water. Also, sprinklers. They were wet."
Dulcimer says: ".... okay. The power's out; well, it's NOT out, but it's not working."
Beatrix says: "Oh really."
Dulcimer says: "Did you hear about that new boy?"
Beatrix says: "Do you remember his name?"
Dulcimer says: "Domyouji Tsukasa. But I think it's the other way around."
And Dark says: "You don't remember his name."
To which Dulcimer says: "Whose name?"
Beatrix says: "I feel kind of sick."