Pissed.
There's something WRONG with FF.NET lately. It's been fooling with my fic format. I suppose that would be alright, but the thing is, it's DESTROYING my fics' perfectly good formatting. I mean it. If you check out my fics (all of them), some parts seriously lack much-needed paragraph breaks, and Obsessive Compulsive little me HATES that. I truly do.

But like, HELLO? I'm not about to waste my precious time reformatting and uploading and re-uploading my previous fics just to comply with ff.net's stripping policy. But I really hate seeing my fics in that state. I like them to look good, as well as be good when it's read. And I mean, I hate reading fics with crappy formatting! Now it's happening to me.

I am pissed.

To console myself, here's a little mini-fic that I've cooked up long ago. It's supposed to be a part of Navy and Azure, but it didn't fit anywhere, so...here.

***

Ren glared at Horo-horo. Horo-horo glared at Ren.

Silence reigned at the dining hall of the Asakura household as the two of them regarded each other steely for a good couple of minutes.

Everyone's eyes were on them. Right across the table from Horo-horo, Asakura Yoh was trying very hard to restrain his wife, who was in danger of bursting at any moment. It should be noted that as of current, Asakura Anna was five months pregnant, and even in her state, it was obvious that she would not hesitate to disembowel both Ren and Horo-horo and throw them unceremoniously out of the house if they get too annoying, regardless if it was the Ainu young man's eighteenth birthday (as, incidentally, it was). Anyway, the current tension between the two young men was annoying Anna to bits and pieces. If you were smart, then you would know that it is not safe at all to get a pregnant woman annoyed.

Especially if the pregnant woman happens to be the infamous Ice Queen Asakura Anna.

Getting her annoyed was like planning one's own suicide, especially if you are a man...as Horo and Ren evidently are. But obviously, neither of the two had any plans whatsoever of backing down from their glares. What exactly are they fighting about, anyway?

"That's MY cheesecake." Ren.

"It's MY birthday!" Horo-horo.

"So? You've already had TWO WHOLE pies. I haven't eaten any yet. This is MINE."

"I saw it FIRST!"

"No you DIDN'T! -I- saw it FIRST!"

"Well I TOUCHED it FIRST!"

"TOUCH it? Yeah right." A sarcastic laugh. "How could you have touched it first when it's right in FRONT of ME?"

"Right in front of YOU? It's right in front of ME!"

"No it's NOT!" Ren tapped the table. "It's on MY side of the table, LOOK!"

"How can it be on YOUR side of the table when it's right in the CENTER?"

"It's NOT! Three-fourths of it is on MY side!"

Meanwhile, at Horo-horo's right side, Pilica exchanged a look with Tao Jun beside her and sighed helplessly. "This could go on forever..."

"It could." Jun agreed cheerfully. "But it won't...not if we have anything to say about it."

Pilica sighed again. "I'm tired of this," she muttered. "Tamao-san...isn't there any more blueberry cheesecake left?"

"I'm sorry, that's...that's the last of it," Tamao replied hesitantly. "I guess maybe I should have baked half a dozen instead of just three pies..." A frown. "I didn't think that your brother would end up eating MOST of it."

"It's not your fault, it's Oniichan's," Pilica assured her. "He's a cheesecake monster and--" she paused abruptly as her brother stood up. "Oniichan, what are you--"

"YOU WANNA SETTLE THIS IN A DUEL?!?"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Ren stood up from the table and flashed Horo a challenging look. "...You'll never win against me. I'll get that cheesecake for sure!"

"NO YOU WON'T! IT'S MINE!" Horo yelled.

"I'm refereeing!" Hao, who had been sitting across from Ren at the table chirped cheerfully as he stood up and skipped towards the two fighting young men. "Let's do it!"

"Oniichan..." Yoh gave his twin a pleading look. "Stop encouraging them." He glanced furtively at his wife, who now had a dark, foreboding aura surrounding her whole being. He winced. He flashed the other three women a pleading look as well. "Please, do something."

Jun sighed with resignation and reluctantly stood up. "Ren, could you please--"

"NEESAN!" Ren called out to his sister. "Do NOT let that cheesecake out of your SIGHT! It's MINE!"

"PILICA! GUARD THAT CHEESECAKE WITH YOUR LIFE!" Horo shouted.

"Oniichan!" Pilica rolled her eyes to the ceiling. She looked over at the solitary slice of blueberry cheesecake that was left on the pie plate...and suddenly had an idea.

"Okay!" Hao clapped his hands together gleefully. "Let the fighting begin!" He produced a whistle from out of nowhere and blew it. "Ready...GO!"

"KURORO...IN...IKUPASU!"

"BASON...IN...HOU RAI KEN!"

"HEEY!" Horo-horo and Ren were about to attack each other when a loud shout stopped them. "YOU WERE FIGHTING OVER THIS, WEREN'T YOU?" Pilica smiled sweetly at the both of them and held up the dish with the slice of cheesecake in it. "WHAT IF I DO THIS..." Taking hold of a fork, she stabbed the blueberry cheesecake, raised the whole slice in the air...and popped the whole thing straight into her mouth.

"...NOOOO!!!!" Horo-horo's oversoul vanished, and he rushed back towards the table. He stared at the empty pie dish with horror. "Pilica...how COULD you do this to ME?" He moaned out, tears gushing out of his eyes. "My cheesecake...it's all GONE!" He sobbed.

Pilica rolled her eyes with exasperation and bonked her brother on the head. "Oniichan, you're overreacting," she told him, her mouth still full of cheesecake. She chewed several times, and then swallowed, before turning to the other participant of the fight. "...Ren-kun?"

"Hmph." Ren's oversoul had vanished as well, and he approached the table calmly. He glanced at the pie plate, and confirming that it was indeed, now empty, he shrugged. "Oh well..."

"Ah," Hao sighed mournfully as he settled back again on his seat. "I was really hoping for a nice little fight," he said with disappointment. "Well, at least that's a problem solved, ne, Otouto?" He grinned at his twin, then gave his sister-in-law a furtive glance. He heaved a sigh of relief upon noticing that she was starting to calm down.

"Oniichan, WHAT in the world am I going to do with you?" Yoh exhaled with exasperation. "...And you two, as well," he added, flashing a meaningful look at both Horo-horo and Ren.

"Don't talk to me," Horo-horo sniffed. He was still staring sadly at the empty pie dish. "This is the worst birthday I've ever had...and it's all because of my sister's traitorous actions and my friend's selfishness," he paused to glare darkly at Ren, then at his sister. "This is all YOUR fault. BOTH of YOU."

Ren and Pilica shrugged simultaneously. "It was the only thing I could think of doing to stop your fight," his sister said defensively.

"Hey, I WANTED that cheesecake too, you know," Ren pointed out.

"Then WHY aren't YOU complaining?" Hao inquired sweetly.

"I -am- complaining!" Ren protested. "But unlike HIM," he inclined his chin at Horo, "I do NOT overreact. And besides, it's just dessert. I can always have it some other time--"

"And since it was Pilica-chan who ate it, you don't mind at ALL, right?" Hao supplied with a wink.

"Yeah." Ren answered before he could stop himself. He could feel his face flaming at his very obvious admission. "I mean--"

"If it's any other person, you'll MIND, but if it's HER, it's fine...ne, Ren-kun?" Hao commented again with a teasing grin.

"Yeah." Ren fought the urge to rap his head on the wall as his tongue slipped...again. "I mean...STOP putting words into my mouth, dammit." He glared at the long-haired shaman.

"I'm not," Hao countered, smiling sweetly. "I am merely trying to elicit a couple of confessions from you...and it looks like I'm succeeding." He paused to smile at the young Ainu woman. "...Ne, Pilica-chan?"

"Huh? Uhm..." It was then that Ren noticed that her face was blushing beet red. His eyes followed her movements as she glanced furtively at her brother's direction. Her eyes swung around the room slowly...before they finally settled on him. For a few precious seconds, golden eyes regarded dark blue ones hesitantly and vice versa, searching for any sign of...something he couldn't quite pinpoint.

Before they could even get a chance to explore further, she looked away, and for some reason, he found himself doing the same thing. It was as if he was...afraid to explore whatever it was that was there. Afraid to find out what it was...that certain something that had always been there, but has only recently surfaced. Recently awakened by certain events, and things...weddings, garters, dances, thoughts, touches...and kisses.

What -was- it, exactly?

"Pilica-chan? You haven't answered my question," Hao's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Uhm..." Pilica looked quite confused, and she was still blushing profusely. She gave Ren a bewildered look, before she hastily stood up. "Uhm...I'll just be out back. I need to get some fresh air." Then, she rushed out and disappeared.

"Ren-kun, you should follow her," Hao suggested, smiling sweetly at the Chinese shaman. He raised an eyebrow and glanced meaningfully at Horo-horo, who was still staring sadly at the empty pie dish and did not seem to have heard anything that had just transpired.

Ren rolled his eyes and sighed, reluctantly standing up and heading towards the direction where the young Ainu woman disappeared to. Hao didn't need to tell him. He had every intention of going after her.

***

Yep. That's my only consolation. I don't wanna reformat my fics, it would take too much time. I have too many chapters uploaded. This sucks.

Current Mood: Pissed.
Current Music: Toxic (it's got great lyrics, too).