Love is Psychotic

A/N: Now edited by MangaMan3000. Thank you!

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"Remember, no leaving the house until Sothe gets here and knows what you're doing," Tonas called from somewhere in his room as he hurriedly packed his clothes into a suitcase. Really, why did she need Sothe's okay? Micaiah was eighteen years old for Ashera's sake!

"Micaiah, I want you to stay close to Sothe as much as possible while I'm gone. He's the only one of your friends I actually trust. I don't like those other kids you hang out with." Her lecturing father appeared, his receding hair rather messed up from his frantic, last minute packing.

"Yes, father," the eighteen-year-old said glumly, twirling a lock of silver hair on her finger. Tonas hesitated, looking at his daughter with concern.

"Sweetie, I just want you to be careful, okay?" The man wasn't a bad person, far from it; he just would get slightly overwhelming with his fretting over her. He had been like that ever since his wife, Misaha, had died of a car accident.

"I know, father. I'll be careful." She sighed, looking up at him with an exasperated expression that soon melted into reluctant understanding. He didn't want to lose Micaiah too.

Tonas smiled happily, bending down slightly to wrap his arms around her to give her a loving embrace; she returned the favor.

"That's my girl." He let go and looked at his watch. "All right, I have to get going. Don't want to be late for my flight."

He grabbed his luggage in a flash and sped towards the front door in record time. Before he even opened the door, he turned and quickly said one final message for his daughter.

"Don't forget to touch up on your studies! We wouldn't want you to be completely dull for college when it comes up." With that, he quickly opened the door and left, leaving his daughter alone.

Micaiah sighed as soon as he was gone. She left the hallway and entered the living room, plopping wearily down on the sofa. Finally, some time alone where no one would be babying her and worrying about her 'safety.'

The silver-haired beauty looked around, located the remote and turned on the television. She gagged at the political debate that was going on; seriously, who would want to watch that on a weekend, and during summer no less?

She switched it to the history channel, immediately taking a liking to the special on Egyptian architecture. Micaiah settled down into the leather couch, vaguely noting that the furniture would be so much nicer if it was softer. A little step away from modern couldn't hurt, right?

These thoughts were getting lighter and lighter as she got more into the show, taking in just how different the past was from now. She had just gotten to the part about a Pharaoh's tombs and the many layers and security measures when the doorbell rang.

Micaiah sighed, not wanting to get up, and continued sitting still until it rang again. There was a soft growl in her throat and she jumped up, stomping over to the door and pulling it open to reveal Sothe. There was a slight flutter in her heart, and immediately her cheeks lit up. It may not have been as extreme as three years ago, but she had to admit that she still had a tiny crush on her childhood friend.

She looked at him, and blinked. Why did he look so . . . doubtful?

"Hey, Micaiah," said Sothe, making a grimace. Micaiah blinked again, confused. "Um, you're not going to like it but, well, there's been a change of plans." Sothe gave her a wary look and she sighed in exasperation.

"You're acting like I'm a bomb, Sothe. Come on, let's talk about this inside." The young adult turned on her heel and strode back into the living area, regretfully turning off her beloved channel and taking a seat on the couch again. She beckoned for her best friend to join her.

"We haven't seen each other in a while," started Sothe. Micaiah nodded, giving him a slight glare. "Well, last year in college I made some new friends, and well . . . I want to hang out with them this summer."

Sothe broke off and scratched his head nervously. The woman felt her hear sink and she frowned, biting her lip to try and hide her disappointment.

"Oh."

"And since your father doesn't trust any of your other friends, I've arranged somewhere different for you to go." If he had looked nervous before, this was down right on the verge of an anxiety attack. Micaiah almost didn't want to ask, but she had to know.

"Who am I staying with?"

He let out a sigh, took another deep breath and said, "You're staying with Ike." Micaiah's eyes widened and she let out a shriek of horror.

"What?! No! You've got to be kidding me!" The silver haired girl screamed and stood up in fury. "You know I don't like him, Sothe! He's always teased me, ever since we were in grade school. There is no way I'm living with him for the whole summer!"

"Not the whole summer, just three weeks . . . " the twenty-year-old put in weakly.

"Oh, three weeks, that's so much better!" Micaiah put in sarcastically. "Why him, Sothe? Why him?" She was desperate; there was no way she was going to put up with that jerk for three weeks. He always found something to tease her about.

"Aw, come on, he's not a bad person. What do you have against him?"

"Everything! He's so rude and blunt!"

"I thought you liked outright frankness."

"That--he's so dumb!"

"Now you're just being ridiculous. He's in his last year of bloody college. Ike is not dumb."

"He " Micaiah cut off, running out of things to accuse him of. "He always teases me."

Sothe gave an exasperated sigh. "Micaiah, I tease you and you never complain." He gave her another sigh. Then, a thought came to him. "If Ike's so horrible, why does it matter so much? It's like you're looking for his praise."

The green-haired man gave a smirk of triumph when a great look of horror crossed his friend's face. The girl plopped back down on the couch with nothing further to say.

"All right. Now come on, it's not that bad. Anyway, I need to get going in about . . ." There was a honk from outside and he grinned. ". . . Now. You better get packing. Ike's picking you up in an hour."

Micaiah let out a gasp. "All right, I'm going to put this note down in case your father comes home early for some odd reason and needs to contact you." Another honk sounded and he gave a pat on her back, rushing out the door afterwards.

Micaiah rushed after him and reached the door just in time to see a convertible driven by a gorgeous black-haired woman drive away. That sent a jolt into the silver-haired woman's heart and stared after the retreating vehicle. Who was that . . .? The woman had a horrible feeling that she didn't want to know.

Micaiah felt light tears prick at her eyes and she slowly moved back into the house, deflated. She trudged into the main hallway, turning to the left and opening the door to her room; it was decorated in old maps and poster boards with highlights of memorable times and notes.

Micaiah found her heart put itself into further misery, realizing that she would be leaving her favorite pastime behind to go and live with Ike for three weeks. Suddenly, just like that, the sadness went away, only to be replaced by anger.

"Why does everyone around make my decisions for me?! It's like I'm a delicate doll that needs to be kept in perfect condition otherwise I'll rip and tear!" she snapped.

Micaiah let out an angry cry and started going on a rampage, tearing her suitcase out under from her otherwise empty bed and stuffing it full of clothing. Nicely tailored shirts and jeans soon lined the bottom of her trunk, but also her favorite type of clothing: comfortable clothing, two large t shirts, and gym shorts. She added a jean skirt, a fancier violet one, and then stopped.

Something in her closet had caught her eye. It was a pale pink silk dress that reached down to her knees with a light blue hem on the bottom. The sleeves reached above her elbows slightly and then flared delicately out.

Micaiah bit her lip remembering why she had gotten this outfit. Sothe had surprisingly invited her to the high school weekend dance and the theme had been 'elegant', whatever that specifically meant. It had struck her as what she thought would be elegant; it also struck her as beautiful, and many of the other women in the dressing room had gasped and whispered amongst themselves about how gorgeous Micaiah looked in the dress.

That's what she wanted this special date to be, wonderful. Micaiah remembered her excitement at Sothe's invitation and bought the expensive dress in thought that they were finally going to start dating.

On the day of the dance however, Sothe was late and Micaiah was left waiting at her door until 8:00 pm before he even called her, and it was to let her know he had taken someone else.

"No hard feelings, right? We were just going as friends anyway."

The silver-haired beauty had barely managed to let out a somewhat steady "okay" before she hung up the phone and started to wail, running blindly through the hall, into her room and down on her bed; she cried for the rest of the night. Her dad had been away that week, and no one had even seen the bloody dress!

Micaiah could feel her eyes tearing up and angrily wiped them away. She carefully folded the dress and packed it into her suitcase; if she had spent all that money, by the goddess, she was going to wear it! Maybe she could manage to go out with her friends away from Ike's apartment.

Micaiah sighed. Ike's apartment; there was nothing good about that, absolutely nothing. The woman sighed again and continued packing her necessities. Near the end she saw that there was still room for a little more. She looked around and immediately fell to her history books; there would be enough room for a couple of them. She would find some way to make the time at Ike's a little better.

Suddenly, as if thinking of Ike called him, there was a ringing at the door and Micaiah's heart skipped a beat. He was here; she would be living with the man she hated for three weeks, and then there would be thoughts of the woman who was driving the black convertible running through her mind.

She straightened, walked towards the entrance of the house and opened the door. Ike was standing there, hovering in the doorway with one arm resting on the frame and the rest of his body leaning against his arm. A rather relaxed pose that defined him rather well, Micaiah thought. Relaxed, and with not a care in the world.

He was wearing a simple white shirt, toned muscles easily visible. His jeans rode low on his hips and, to Micaiah's horror, she found herself blushing. The man was handsome, she had to admit, but it didn't change the fact that he was a jerk! Ike's sparkling blue eyes looked down at her and he gave a small smirk.

"What?!" she snapped. He raised a blue eyebrow and his smirk widened very slightly. There was something else in his eyes, but she couldn't define it, and personally, didn't really care.

"Where's your stuff? I hadn't known you one to wear one outfit for three weeks straight," Ike playfully teased. Micaiah glared and spun around on her heel, stomping into her room and slamming the door shut; she didn't want Ike to see inside.

The silver-haired girl grabbed her suitcase, put some history books inside and zipped it shut. After that was done, she opened the door slightly, just enough to let her and her luggage through before she shut it again. To her annoyance, Ike was standing in her hallway, looking at something with curiosity. She ignored that and stalked up to him.

"Did I invite you in here?" Micaiah asked in a cold tone. Once again, that annoying smirk and simple cock of the eyebrow was seen on his face.

"Pretty ungrateful for someone who just got graciously invited into someone's own home," Ike replied.

"For your information, I didn't want to live with you! Sothe made me!" Micaiah replied indignantly, crossing her arms and looking up at him with irritated golden brown eyes.

"Last time I checked, he wasn't your father." She huffed at that. ". . . or your brother." She shuddered at that. "Besides being best friends, you guys don't have any relationship of the sort."

Micaiah cringed despite herself and bit her lip, looking down at the ground. She didn't catch the look of concern he gave her.

"Er, sorry."

The silver-haired beauty blinked. Did Ike just say sorry? Micaiah shook that thought from her head; he probably wasn't even serious. The little tears that had started to leak out of her eyes were wiped away and she looked up at him with a glare.

"Whatever." She brushed past him, luggage in tow, and stopped in the kitchen to grab the house keys. She gave a start when the suitcase was tugged out of her hands, spinning around just in time to see Ike put the trunk on his shoulder. "Show off," Micaiah said bitterly.

Ike just gave her a sideways glance before walking past her, through the front door and out into the sunny day. Micaiah took one last longing look around her home before she too stepped out. She took the key and locked the door mournfully. It would be too long before she would get to see it again; much too long.