Disclaimer: I don't own Kodocha

Delusional

Chapter Six:

Autumn Pie and Hazy Dreams

By Ame Kuroi

( Problem 1: find the zeros for the following quadratic equation… )

Sana twirled her pencil nervously as she reread the problem.

( Problem 1: Find the zeros for the following quadratic equation… quadratic?)

She rolled the pencil eraser over he lip as she strained to think.

( quadratic… quadratic?… quadratic…)

And suddenly, somewhere in the great expanses of space in Sana's mind, something clicked.

"QUARDRAPENDS!!!" She shouted aloud in a class of suffocating silence. Everyone, except Kosaka Sensei looked up at Sana. Most of their faces were those of shock, but for the few in the classroom that had the privilege/curse of knowing Kurata more personally, just looked at her in half annoyance and half amusement. For Hayama, however, he just stared at the back of her head thoroughly aggravated.

"Hee Hee…" Sana laughed nervously before slumping back down in her seat and barely mumbling an apology. At this point, everyone returned to their papers and the examination continued.

Hayama tapped his pencil impatiently on the desk. He had finished his test over half an hour ago and was all too eager to get out of this godforsaken seat. Unfortunately, when he had attempted that earlier, Kosaka Sensei had rushed him, red pen shaking threateningly, mumbling something in a strange language that resembled a cross between Japanese and Martian. Thoroughly frightened for his sanity, Hayama quickly returned to his seat where he had remained. Sleep was out of the question; he had already gotten 12 hours – last night and today in biology combined. Kurata was thoroughly un-amusing… in fact, she actually looked like she was doing well, this being due to the fact that besides the first outburst of "quadrupeds" she had been completely silent. And so he was reduced to tapping his pencil on the desk in an attempt to entertain himself.

The kid in front of him turned around, rather abruptly, and put his index finger to his lips. "Shh!"

Hayama glared at him. The boy glared back, his finger still at his lips. Hayama glared. The boy cringed slightly. Hayama glared and leaned forward. The boy jerked backwards and quickly turned back around in his seat. Hayama, still unbearable bored and now quite irritated, rested his head down on his desk. He tucked his arms around his face and closed his eyes…

:: (Sana…) ::

He felt eyes on his back. Hayama opened his eyes with a snap and lifted his head, scanning the room for the guilty party. His eyes lighted on a girl who for a brief second shared his gaze before turning away shyly, her eyes dropping into her lap. Hayama had never spoken to her before… at least, not that he recalled.

:: (Nomiya… that was her name, Nomiya-san. Timid little thing.) ::

She looked back at him, this time holding his gaze.

"Nomiya Katsuko! Eyes to yourself!" Kosaka Sensei shouted over to her. Katsuko-san quickly reverted back into her seat as the rest of the class turned to look. Hayama rested his head back on the desk only to be jerked awake again.

"TIME!" Kosaka Sensei virtually screamed from his corner. Kurata jumped nearly six inches off her seat, touching down again with the violent thud. Kosaka Sensei shot her a puckered glare, or at least she thought it was supposed to be puckered… maybe he had meant to be intimidating. She shrugged.

"I will never understand men." She said aloud to herself.

"I could have told you that." Hayama appeared at her side, looking particularly sarcastic and cynical.

"Shut up, Hayama! Men and the Autumn Pie are alike!" Kurata huffed as she passed her paper to the front. (AN: see Japanese Proverbs at bottom of page)

"It's sky, not pie." Hayama stated flatly and continued by her desk. She sizzled with cute little wispy steam floating from the top of her head in a rather scary fashion.

"Hayama…" She growled angrily but Hayama had already escaped the classroom in hopes of evading Sana's inevitable wrath. "Hayama! Get back here!" Kurata grabbed her things and rushed out into the hallway. "Hayama!"

Hayama, halfway around the corner glanced over his shoulder only to see a charging Kurata heading straight for him. Needless to say, he picked up the pace.

"Hayama! Come back here, NOW!!!" She rounded the corner, only 6 feet behind.

"No!" Hayama called as he sprinted out the doors "accidentally" knocking over some freshman in the process. Unfortunately, this just cleared the path for Kurata. She tackled him full out, sending both of them flying face first into the ground… actually only Hayama went head first, Kurata conveniently tucked her head against his back as she screamed in fear.

THUD

"Ite…" Hayama murmured into the grass. Kurata was still clutching to Hayama, breathing heavily, recovering from her first, involuntary, flying lesson.

:: ( She should think these things through in more detail next time. ) ::

"You're brilliant." Hayama said with his face pulled out of the grass.

Even in her state of shock, Kurata didn't miss his thick sarcasm. "Shut up, Hayama!" She brought out her Chibi Mallet and hit him across the head.

"Ite!" Hayama squirmed trying to pull himself out off her grip and, ultimately, out of her line of fire. Kurata hit him again. "Ite!!!"

"Eh? Sana-chan! Hayama-kun!" Aya noticed the two not 10 feet off from the rest of the group. "Um… what are you doing?" Unfortunately the pair was far too occupied with either destroying or escaping the other to hear Aya's soft voice.

"It serves you right!" She proceeded in hitting him mercilessly. "Hold still!"

"Like Hell!" Hayama tried to pry Kurata's hands off his shirt front but that proved futile so he tried a different method of freeing himself and saving the remainder of his brain cells.

Hayama rolled over in hopes of crushing her a little with his back so he could be freed from her fatal grip. Somehow in the split second between the time he began to roll over and his final position, physics worked against him. Hayama, underestimating his strength or overestimating Kurata's, propelled himself too much. Both him and Kurata rolled over, as planned, but Hayama also did a half turn in the process placing them both in a very suggestive arrangement. Hayama supported his weight with hands on either side of Kurata, spread-eagle beneath him, her eyes widened in surprise.

:: (Oops…) ::

"SANA-CHAN! HAYAMA-KUN!" Aya's hands flew up to cover her gaping mouth. The rest of the group turned and basically mimicked Aya's reaction.

"Sa- Sana...!" Fuka was, for once, at a loss for words.

"Akito-kun! What are you doing?!" Tsuyoshi-kun looked like he was either going to cry or faint, it wasn't quite clear which yet.

During the array of reactions being put on display by everyone in a 15 foot radius, Kurata had gotten over her shock and was thoroughly angered.

"HAYAMA NO HENTAI!!!"

Hayama never had a chance. He had only just looked down at Kurata when he saw her giant mallet descending upon his head…

… darkness.

"Hmm… maybe I hit him a bit too hard…" Sana said aloud to herself. She shrugged. "Oh, well," and walked off to join the others, leaving Hayama lying there in the grass.

"Sana!!! What...?! What were you...?!" Fuka staggered through her words still trying to grasp what had happened.

Sana, conveniently for her, didn't hear any of it as she was deeply engrossed in her lunch.

"SANA?!" Fuka's short patience was close to the zero marker... again.

Sana jerked her head up in attention, her mouth pouching on one side. "Nani?"

"What were you and Aki doing?!" Fuka looked as though she would explode any second.

Sana's gaze darkened as though the topic mentioned was sacrilegious and as quickly as it came she smiled, amused by something no one knew. She finally returned to her lunch without a word.

No one bothered to ask her what went through her mind. The explanation probably wouldn't make any sense besides, and prodding her might just sentence the prosecutor to share Hayama's same fate.

Meanwhile, Hayama lay yet unconscious on the grass not far away, dreaming:

Haze... that's all there was... haze... how irritating.

Wait... there's something up ahead... what is it?... damn this fog shit, I can't see a thing!

Sana... the haze moves away and there she stands in a frail light... encased in that annoying fog only made her stunning... she's turned away, her eyes locked on nowhere... Today.... Today she will know.

She will know that I love her...

I walk to her... slowly... she looks like an angel, but I know better... devil in disguise.... and I love her for it.

I take her hand... turn her to me... "Hayama?"... She looks utterly confused, as usual.

Suddenly... she looks more agitated than confused... "Hayama! Nani?!"... She jerks her hand from me.

I'm thoroughly annoyed now... why is she angry?!... The moment shatters... "Be quiet, opinionated woman!"... What moment?

Her eye twitches in anger... the haze is closing in... "Opinionated woman?!"... The mallet came down... "Hayama no Baka!"

I caught it... no pain... Kami, I love dreams... Sana's face frozen in shock... I can barely see her now, god damn this fog.

Her wrist is still caught in my grasp... her expression is that of obstinate determination... she's beautiful.

"Urasai..." I breathe into her hair.

Her eyes soften... she lifts her chin... "Aishimasu... baka." I whisper as I lower my face to hers... we are swallowed in the haze.

I can feel her breath... gently blowing against my lips... my arm circles her waist... I pull her close and...

"AKITO-KUN!!!" Hayama was shaken awake at a rather inconvenient time. He blinked the haze from his eyes and brought his gaze to focus on Tsuyoshi.

:: ( Mental note: Pummel Tsuyoshi for his horrible timing...) ::

Hayama sat up, quite determined to give his best friend what was coming to him for interrupting his dream, but then the world started spinning before his eyes. He had forgotten the reason he had been knocked unconscious in the first place and was now painfully reminded by the throbbing from within his skull.

"Akito-kun, the bell rang. We've gotta get to class!"

Hayama looked up at Tsuyoshi as though he was out of his mind. "No." He said bluntly as he went to lay back down. "My head hurts."

Tsuyoshi grabbed Hayama's hand and jerked him upright again. "C'mon, we're gonna be late." Hayama glared at him but allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and dragged off to his next class. The desktops make more comfortable pillows than that prickly grass anyways.

The rest of the day passed with a general annoyance. Although the second half was significantly better than the first as that torturous subject they called 'algebra' was done and over with. Sana pondered over the test, or rather obsessed over it. How had she done? When would she get back her scores? What was a Quadruped?! She sat in Home Economics class fidgeting with fret. Fortunately for her, Sana's new partner was diligently taking notes. Her plain brown hair fell slightly in front of her face as her dark eyes flitted from her paper to the blackboard. Sana regarded the girl for a moment, then, upon deciding she much resembled a timid bee, returned to her stressful thoughts on the Alge… cough study of evils test.

Her very important thought process was again interrupted when she caught sight of Hayama passing the open door on his way to the bathroom. He had hesitated for a moment, smirked at her, and continued on. Sana fumed!

( How rude! How dare he! I ought to…!)

Sana was suddenly aware of the stillness of her partner's pencil. The girl was staring at the empty doorway and seemed to off in her own little world somewhere. Sana, reluctant to take any notes of her own, tried to send telepathic messages: willing her to take to her notes again. Nomiya Katsuko took no notice.

Friendly Neighborhood Dictionary:

Chibi - small/short

Hayama no hentai – Hayama you pervert

Urasai - annoying

Aishimasu – I love you

Japanese Proverb:

Otoko gokoro to aki no sora – Men and the autumn sky are alike.

English equivalence: women and weather are not to be trusted (except inverted)

AN: thanx to everyone who has been so impatient with me and forced me to finally write this. I really have no excuse to have taken this long to have posted and for that I apologize. Although, I am very proud of this chapter (disregarding the tremendous procrastinating involved), and I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. J Happy NEW YEAR'S!