Posted on the theater door was the results from the pervious days theater auditions. Students gathered around the paper, anxious to see who got what part. A few squeals of delight escaped female lips as the list was read.
Little Mermaid:
Michiru - Mermaid Princess
Zachary - Prince Charming
Sandra - Sea Witch
Jakurin - Princess
Duncian - King Neptune
Puss in Boots:
Zachary - Puss
Blake - Puss's Owner *We'll call him Hans?*
Jeremy - Oger
Hotaru - Princess
Peter Pan:
Jakurin - Peter Pan
Hotaru - Wendy
Blake - Captian Hook
Darien - Mr. Smee
Sandra - Tiger Lily
Michiru - Tinkerbell
Kistune - Croc
Rose Petals in the Moonlight:
Jeremy - Narrator
Duncian - King
Hotaru - Queen
Sandra - Princess
Kistune - Prince
Zachary - Evil Queen
Michiru - Princess court member
Jakurin - Princess court member
Sanjouin - Prince Court member
Darien - Prince Court member
Blake - Shadow Warrior
Away from the crowd a young man sighed and bowed his head as he walked off. "I don't even have an ending for my story. And rehersal starts this afternoon. Everyone will want to read it, but it's not done." he muttered.
Nephrite watched the boy passed and listened to his words. *Excellent. His energy is growing very rapdily because of anxioty. A perfect person to drain.* he thought and started to follow. "Wait up, Misko." Nephrite called. "You've been skipping gym, is something wrong?" he asked concerned.
The boy stopped and looked back at the professor. "Yes sir. Please may I spend this class in the libray today. I have to finish this play and I can't find an ending." he pleaded.
Nephrite sighed, putting his arm around the boy and slowly flowing energy into the boy. "Son, you ahve to learn that you can't take the short way out of anything. I'll let you miss today, but I want to see improvement." he said. With teh transaction complete he smiled. *Yes, the easy way out,a nd soon your creative energy will belong to the Dark Kingdom* he thought with a chuckle.
Hotaru read the postings, she got the Princess in Puss in Boots, Wendy in Peter Pan, and the Queen in the new play! She had gotten all the parts she wanted, except she didn't have any part at all in The Little Mermaid. But, that was okay. Her part as the Queen in the new play would more then make up for it, she thought looking over the rest of the results.
Directly behind the girl came a squeal of delight, accompanied by a shot of confetti and streamers into the air. "*Whoo-hoo!*" screeched Jakurin. "*I got Peter Pan!! YESSS!*" she shouted happily as the words "I Can Fly!" tip-toed behind her in kanji. "That's not fair!" said some girl with brunette colorings. "You don't even go to this school!" Jakurin gave a mighty bow to the crowd. "Not true. I show when I have to. And now, I most definetly have to!" she posed in best 'AR-SM' stance, and said, "Here I am, Peter Pan, to bring you all to Never-Never Land!"
"Hey, Jaku-baka!" came a more famillar voice in the crowd, a male. "If you're Peter Pan, that means you have to kiss Wendy AND Tiger Lily!"
Jakurin's eyebrow twitched as her mouth fell out past her chin. "Aaaaahhhh... I wasn't aware of that..."
"I'm the Evil what?!" shouted out a flutelike voice that was almost squeaking in upset. Zoisite stared darkly at the list, daring it to still read that he was the Evil Queen. He was never going to live this down. It wasn't as if he didn't have enough males that tried to beat him up on a regular basis for looking as feminine as he did. Now this. Life was going to get soooo much harder. He wasn't even going to go into the Prince part. Him? Prince Charming? Someone must have lost their mind. Beryl-hime was going to have a field day with him, not to mention Kunzite... and Nephrite. Groaning softly, his forehead banged against the wall. What was the star king going to do to him after this one? He and Kunzite weren't in a single one except for the last, and after Nephrite's orders to stay away from the other king on promise of punishment... "Lovely," he muttered under his breath, banging his head once more for good measure.
Blake silently stood behind the flittering Jakurin, eyes looking at the list. An owner of a talking cat, Captain Hook and a shadow warrior were his roles. He shifted uncomfertably at the notice of the Captain Hook role. Could he *really* play a character who was extremely evil? He reached into his pocket and took out his watch, a sigh given. His reflection shown in it's cover and he smiled subconciously. Yeah, he thought with bitter recongnition. I *can* do it. A smirk formed on his lips as he wondered silently what the hell a shadow warrior was... he knew the other two roles.. but the last one... He stood there, in consentration, his face taking on an extremely thoughtful look.
Jakurin turned in her own thoughts then let out a startled breath! "Blake!" she said, not having seen the boy in school for quite some time. Reason being, she was never in this hell-hole if she could help it, so seeing Blake was as rare as seeing him around town. Still... this guy was handsome. Not as handsome as Joey, nor as smart as Ace, but she enjoyed her weird humor, and not too many people appreciated hers. ~Looks, in the end, mean nothing because everyone always gets old,~ she thought, as she pulled Blake's hand. "Hey, you and I are in the same play together-you know about Peter Pan, right?" she grinned. "Ever seen an American movie called 'Hook'? It's so funny, ha ha! Oops!" she blushed, smiling again. "Rambling on as always! Come on, I'll buy you lunch! I raided someone's wallet!" she laughed, beginning to pull Blake down the hall.
In the lunch room, Misko was writing. Writing like a man possessed by a demon. "This story will be the greatest ever." he muttered as he continued to write. He took the first few pages and tossed them into the garbage. "That stuff I wrote before is trash, this...this is the real stuff." he said and started laughing like a manic. In the corner of the lunch room Nephrite watched. "Maybe I gave him just a bit too much energy. Still, he is giving alot more than I put in and its all going towards a great cause, the Dark kingdom." he said to himself with a smile.
Michiru looked around at Zachary, who was beating his head. "Hey there, cheer up. Its not that bad." she said with a gentle smile. "Look on the bright side, you won't have me hounding you for a kiss anymore...oh wait..that's right we don't kiss in the Little Mermaid, she dies. Oh well...uummmm...at least you get to kill some people." she said hopefully. She had heard bits and pieces of the new story, but nothing was definate. "Come on, I'll buy you lunch to get your mind off this." She looked over at Hotaru. "Hey, Hotaru, wanna join us for lunch? I promise I won't poison your food, Miss Wendy." she said with a giggle. Tinkerbell was a character she could learn to love. Especially the really short dress she'd have to wear.
"Mr. Smee?!" Darien exclaimed staring at the board. He was told that there was a surprise waiting for him at Juuban, but this wasn't what he expected. "A Prince court member?! What the-? I'm not even IN high school any more. Why did I get casted for the spring plays."
"Count yourself lucky," Kitsune muttered darkly, giving Darien a dirty look. "At least you've got more lines than 'Tick, Tock' in Peter Pan." Turning to walk away, he saw Zoisite, the old familiar emotion contracting his heart painfully.
Blake's eyes immediatly lit up. "L-l-lunch? S-sure.. I guess." He wandered behind her, grinning like a madman. "What are we gonna eat?" At the promise of food, Blake's stomach growled. Err.. hopefull it was something at least... eatable...
"Food? Pizza?" It was once said that the fastest way to a man's heart was through his stomache. Zoisite would have disagreed that the quickest way was through the ribcage, but feeding him was a good second way. Parting his lips to agree to Michiru's plan, his gaze was captured by Kitsune's. His heart broke at seeing the other king even in his mortal guise and not getting to flee into his arms. Staring miserably at him, he was tugged away by Michiru's inviting of yet *another* girl. Nodding dumbly, he glanced one last time to Kitsune. ~I miss you~
~And I miss you,~ Kitsune replied coming over to the group. "Hello everyone. I take it you all got parts too. Maybe we should sit down and talk about it."
Hotaru tunred at the mention of her name, "Why thank you Tinkerbell!" she replied "Lunch sounds great!" She glanced over at the other people around Michiru. While Hotaru had seen some of them around school, she hadn't actually met them. *Well, lunch is as good a place as any.* she thought, walking towards their group.
Michiru smiled and nodded to Hotaru. "This is going to be the best. I've heard alot of things about this new play that's being written. A tragic love story about two lovers caught between a thrid party. Oh how romantic." she said with dreamy eyes. "Hey love, why so down? Join the party..we're all going out to lunch to talk about the new plays." she said with a smile.
Misko stood up in the middle of the room. "Finished..finally finished!" he shouted. the entrie room stopped and looked at him. "Where is the costume mistress, and the set designer. I must meet with them at once to discuss these plans I have." he said looking around the room. "You, Brandi, you're to be the costume designer. You have the quickest needle in the school." he said pointing to a girl with red hair sitting in front of him. She just looked shocked, but nodded her head in agreement.
Zoisite nearly fainted with pleasure as Kunzite's voice spoke up from his side, accompanying the mental whisper like a beloved melody. Turning his eyes up to the older man, he remained Michi's captive somewhat... she had said food after all... but his heart went to the ice king. "I don't have any problems with you joining us, Kitsune-sama. Michi? Darien? Ummm," he eyes Hotaru, trying to remember her name, "Wendy?" And Nephrite was nowhere in sight to stop them.
Sandra smiled inwardly to herself, Tiger Lily, the Sea Witch, and a Princess. All were quite acceptable roles, and ones she would find quiet easy to full fill. All was perfect, and with a careful sly smile here and there she could possibly get a great deal of energy from the occasion.
Jeremy flexed his gloved hand evenly and stood silently in the corner of the cafeteria. One reason and one reason only for being in the plays, the Negaverse would surely strike out there somehow. An ugly monster and a narrator, both were sufficent roles that he could handle with no difficulty.
"Tomoe Hotaru," she supplied at Zachary's questions look. Hotaru glanced to Kitsune, "As far as I'm concered, I don't have any problem's with him coming either," Hotaru said, not really sure who he was, but willing to find out. "...umm....I'm afraid I don't know your name either..."
Michiru giggled. "You obviously haven't had history yet. Thats the history teacher, Kitsune. History teachers aren't suppose to look THAT good." she whispered.
"The name's Shibbaan Kitsune to be precise," he replied with a smile. "And I wonder if anyone knows what the surprise play is suppose to be about? I'm dying of curiousity." ~Shh, patience Zoi. We'll get through this soon.~
Darien wandered over and drapped an arm on Michiru's shoulders. "Hello, beautiful. Is this the surprise you were talking about? Was getting me into them your idea? Don't worry, I'm not mad, just curious."
Michiru smiled back. "Well, the writer is right over there..the guy doing the really evil laugh. What's up with him, he never acts that way?" she said.
Nephrite smiled as his engery built up to its maxium peek. But it was too soon. He needed to wait until the play was in full swing. He backed off a bit and Mesko. Mesko, started to cal down, slightly, but was still laughing like a hyenia. Students started moving away from his table.
Michiru looked at the group. "Should we go talk to him?" she asked.
"Tomoe Hotaru..." Zoisite repeated, commiting the name to memory. Offering the dark haired girl a smile, he knew he to keep asking as if he and Kunzite/Kitsune were nothing more than student and teacher. "I'm Sanjouin Zachery. Unfortunately, you probably know my older brother, Coach Sanjouin. He's the one you usually see screaming at everyone in the gym. "Oi..." he murmured, shaking his head ruefully. Glancing up at Darien, he kept the smile on his lips, a glint of mischief racing across his jaden gaze before they turned back up to Kunzite. "I have no objections to you joining us. What parts did you get? I ended up as Puss in Boots, Prince Charming for the Little Mermaid, and the evil Queen for the last one. Does anyone know what the last one is even going to be about?" A hasty blush touched his cheeks as he mentioned the Prince Charming one. He'd never heard of the story, so he had to rely on Michiru's claim that he didn't have to kiss her. The evil Queen one brought a growl to his lips. "I think Masato had something to do with me getting that part." Turning his attention to the student laughing manically, he frowned. Accusing eyes shifted to Nephrite. Things weren't right, and even Zoisite could sense it. The star king must be losing his touch for such a public display. Taking a step closer to Kunzite, his gaze remained locked on Nephrite' sice blue ones. ~Kunzite-sama, I don't like this. What's Neffy-okami up to this time?~
Nephrite noticed Zoisite and Kunzite across the room. He smiled, turned and walked out. The student started calming down. He frantically picked up his papers and headed for the exit as well.
Michiru watched him go. "Hey wait a minute. Mesto we wanna talk to you about the play." she called. He turned for a second. "Later, I have to finish these custom designs and set designs. If you want to help you can come, but if you're going to just be in the way then forget it." he said and hurried out.
Michiru turned back to the group. "This is so weird, he's normally really shy and sweet in a way." she said with a shrug.
Hotaru watched Mesto with the rest of the group, "Yea," she answered Michiru, "He does seem a little off, but it's probably just the stress of writing that new play, and having to get everything ready. He must feel alot of pressure to get the play, the set, the characters, and everything else right." She returned her gaze back to the group, smiling confindetly, "I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self once the plays are over with."
Still being drug down the halls by Jakurin, Blake grinned. "So, what are we eating?" Again with the curiosity thing... and he rather liked being led around.. at least by her. And.. He shuddered mid thought. At least Jakurin was better than that Asuka-san..
Michiru turned to Hotaru and smiled. "You know, you're probley right. Some people just can't handle stress. Maybe we should all try to help him out. I know I would love to take part in making the costumes." she said with a smile.
Jakurin smiled at Blake. "Lets go off campus. Nobody will know." she said and skipped down the halls towards the exit. "There's a great little burger joint right around the conrner. We can skip all our other classes and get back in time for rehersal. Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and running out the door at full speed. Behind the two was just a trail of dust.
Jeremy stood calmly as he overheard the concern over the writer and shook his head, *They're losing their touch. Of course even I would have missed the possible connection if the others weren't talking so loudly of the strange behavior. The only flaw of not getting to know the people of the school is that you can't tell when their personalities alter.*
Trying to keep his thoughts straight, Blake laughed maniacly as they spun around the corner. The burger joint was... slightly unapealing on the outside, but the scent that had errupted from inside of it made his stomach triple-flip. "I wanna get a huge burger dripping with everything! And some greasy ass fries!"
Jarukin smiled. "Yeah, and I'll have adouble of what he ordered!" she said excitedly.
Nephrite entered the theater where Mesko was working, very franticly. "I want more light..more light. My actors will be here this evening for rehersal and I want things done. More light on center stage for the Little Mermaid. And give me a green special on stage right for Peter Pan. A rainbow for Puss. And I want pure white light with a hint of yellow for my production..yes..the lighting is everything." he said as workers got to work with settign up the lights.
Michiru grabbed Darien, Zoisite, and Hotaru's arms. "Come one everyone, lets go skip class and help out." she said with a giggle. That caused the Dean to turn his head to her and give her a cold stare. "What, you want the drama department to flop and then not make any money for its fund raiser. Then you'll be the one paying for it all." she said with a smile as the Dean sighed and turned his head. If he didn't see it, it didn't happen.
"If you insist," Darien said with a laugh, slipping free of her grip with a wiggle and taking the lead. "I can use some time getting in touch with my inner child."
Kitsune smiled slightly at the Dean, ice in his eyes, before hurrying to catch up with the students. "Count me in, especailly if it can keep me away from grading those papers for another day or two."
Hotaru followed after Darien, with Michiru and Zoisite. "Maybe we can even help make our own costunmes! I wonder what the Queen would wear, and I bet we could make the Little Mermaid's costume really pretty."
Carefully ballancing the two trays [of course Blake would have to try to be the perfect gentlemen!] he found a seat for the two of them and grinned at her. After placing her tray before her, he sat down, a hulking chunk taken out of his burger. "Ya know," after carefully chewing and swallowing his food, "this play may be a bit of fun. Everyone seems real excited about it... And I love the idea of playing Captin Hook. Yeah, so he's a little evil..." Smirking a bit, he stuffed a fry into his mouth. "What do you think about your roles?"
Getting dragged along with Michiru, Zoisite slid an arm through Kitsune's. "Help with costumes? Why do I have to be the Evil Queen? Who made that decision? " he asked plaintively, evidentally not wanting to be any sort of female role. Zoisite's gaze briefly found Darien, studying the young man's eyes with a feline intensity. There was something about him, a duplicity of sorts that left the sakura completely confused yet intrigued. For now, he let it go, but he'd find out later... perhaps in another trap at Kunzite's club. Flashing Hotaru one of his trademark 'I'm So Kawaii and You Must Love Me' grins, he shrugged softly. "Lead on, and I'll drag Kitsune-sensei for our skipping class excuse."
Dunican walked around the stage and watched as the others were talking about the up coming plays. Dunican saw the list of who was going to play who and he was surprised he was going to play a king in two plays; The Little Mermaid and Rose Petals in the Moonlight. When he got to the section where the customers were located he looked through them for what he was going to use. His eye browl started to twitch when he realized what he had to wear for the part of the King in the Little Mermaid. "This is it?" he said as he looked over the custome. *I know where this is going to lead to.* he thought.
Michiru smiled to the group behind her. She opened the door to the stage area and saw people busy at work. "Hey Duncian!" she cried as she saw him by a rack of costumes. "Oh they're already done..I can't wait to see mine!" she said excitedly and ran over to the rack. "Where's mine?" she asked and started sorting through them. All the costumes except the ones for the Roses play where there. "Hey!! I am NOT wearing this!" she said holding up a sea shell bra. "This looks too small and way too uncomfortable. I'll go on topless!" she said tossing it aside.
Dunican eye browl was still twitching as Michiru talked about her custome. "I think it is advised that you do wear that. I don't think the Little Mermaid went around topless," he said and put his custome away. "I wonder where the customes for Roses play are at," he said to no one.
Darien shrugged and wrapped an arm around Michiru's waist and leaned close to whisper in her ear. "I think you'll look great in it. Besides, you could just bring it home and try it on first for size. We could always make another one if it doesn't."
"IS that all I am to you?" Kitsune teased the students, waatching them scatter to look at the costumes. ~Maybe we can get some energy from this travisity.~
Jarukin smiled as she took a bit of her burger. "Oh I love them. I can't wait to fly around on stage. But I'm not sure if I like being a princess. I'd hate it if I had to kiss someone." she said and took another bit. "Hey! This isn't greasy enough. I want my money back!" she cried.
Michiru gave Darien a very sly smile. "And what about your costumes." she asked with a giggle.
Mesto came up behind the group. "So you are the actors,..good...good..." he said with a laugh. "I want to talk to the Narrator of the roses story alone for a minute. The rest of you..get to work. We have about two weeks till opening night. You'll find your scripts over there." he said with another laugh.
Michiru leaned into Darien. "This guy gives me the creeps." she whispered.
Zoisite blinked at the boy as he came slinking over to them, something in him reacting badly to Mesto. Involuntarily taking a step back from the other student, the sakura's sharp jade eyes settled on him, sensing Nephrite's hand in this. ~Kunzite... I don't think I want to do this play. Nephrite is planning something in all of this, and I don't like it.~
Nearly choking on his burger, Blake's eyes bulged out a little as he laughed. "Jakurin-sama!" He quickly looked around, his face exclaiming so much without even a word... I don't know her, he thought with anouther laugh and took a bite out of a fry. "They never make them greasy enough anyway... Ew!" Spitting out the fry he just put in his mouth, Blake made a face. "What the hell is an onion doing in my fry?!"
Hotaru dashed over to the scripts, not giving Mesto's strange behavior another thought. Huridly, she searched the pile and came up with the script for "Rose Petals in the Moonlight" that was marked for the part of the Queen. "Hey!" she called out to Michiru, Darien, and the others, while opening to the first page, "The scripts for the new play are here!" She eagerly read over the intorduction to the play, elated to finally learn what the play was about and what her character did in it.
~Neither do I, but we should at least appear to go along with it,~ Kunzite replied, wrinkling his nose at his costumes. "Tinfoil armor? And a badly painted shield? Please tell me I can make it look better."
"Don't worry," Darien replied, sticking out his chest in a heroic fashion. "I'll protect you!"
Jeremy's even voice simply cut from over Metso's shoulder, "What do you want to talk about?"
Mesto walked over to Jeremy. "I just want to make sure you understand the importance of your role. You see, you will be the only speaker in that entire story. Everyone will hang on your every word and the actors will responde to whatever you say. This is a tragic story, so I hope you can get that across well." he said with a smile.
Michiru sprinted over to the stack of scripts with Darien in tow. "Oh I can't wait. I hope I get to kiss someone." she muttered as she flipped though the pages. Nothing really caught her eye until the last page. Her face went white as she read from the Narrator's part aloud. "And the Queen watched in horror as the Prince protected her dauther with his own life and fell to the ground. The Princess cried in grief. In an instant she had taken his sword and plunged it into her own heart. A pool of blood covered the young lovers as the Evil Queen stood over their bodies with mocking laughter. Now there was nothing to stop her from taking over the universe. Nothing stood in the way of Evil. Evil shall rein because Good is weak and love..." she said and couldn't finish. Tears were streaming down her eyes.
Jarukin finished off her burgers and fries. "Lets go get some ice cream or something. I'm still hungry. Unless you want to head to the theater and get our scripts. Hey we could practice our fighting scenes. I'm so excited. Too excited to eat now, lets go." she said grabbing his hand and once again draging him down the street.
Zoisite picked up a script, sliding onto one of the tables as he flipped through the pages. A sick feeling washed over him as he read silently. He knew this, knew it all too well. A mortal couldn't have thought of this all alone. There was no way. Clutching the pages tightly in one hand, the other rose to tug gently at the choker that wrapped about his throat, careful not to disturb it overly. As light touched on the blackened crystal that sat at the heart of it, a million stars seemed to swirl in its depths before the sakura slid the collar of his shirt back over it. "Kitsune-sensei?" he asked in a ill tone. "Have you seen the script yet? Your part is... interesting." Sliding a copy to the ice king, Zoisite slid off of the table, wanting to find Nephrite. If the star king was at the bottom of this all, things were going to get interesting in a hurry. Shifting his gaze to Darien, he paused for a moment. Two small scars dotted his shoulder... one from the Guardian's blue rose, the other from Darien's black. He hadn't forgotten about that, nor did he mark it up to bad chance. Something was wrong with that man, something that made Zoisite feel worse just looking at him. ~Nephrite... where are you?~ he asked silently.