Otaku Love 8

I walked over to where my friends were sitting before school, "Neito kun! Arika chan! Ohayo!" I hugged Nate and sat down next to him, "Sup, Shrimp chan?"

Alex looked up from the notebook he was reading, "I'm taller than you!"

I laughed, "Whatcha reading?"

"Delia's story..." Alex continued reading.

I leaned back, "I've already read everything's she's written so far." I put an arm around Nate, who gave me an odd look in return.

"Aww! You two are so cute!" Arica teased.

"Maybe if I didn't already have a boyfriend," I remarked.

Delia walked up with a breakfast tray and a small pancake hanging out of her mouth, "You're here!" she pointed at me and muttered around the pancake

"Yup, I am," I smiled, "I'm back from the dead." I pushed Nate over to make room for Delia.

"Ah, you're welcome..." Nate grinned.

"I don't pity you," I remarked and gave him a hug in apology. I glanced across the lunchroom and saw David walking in with his brother and Kyle not far behind him. "Tatsu sama!" I declared and climbed over Delia, "Bye bye, guys!" I took off after him. "Incoming!" I shouted.

"What?" David glanced over his shoulder and I jumped on his back. He paused to balance himself and slowly continued walking with me still on his back.

"Good morning, Tatsu sama," I ran a hand through his hair and held myself up with the other.

"Hey, Kirei chan," David replied.

"You're feeling better, I see," Kyle remarked.

"Yup!" I hugged David as he carefully started up the stairs, "Woa! Hey! I don't feel safe!"

"Don't worry, I got you," David assured me.

"I most certainly hope so," I replied cautiously. David took me to his locker, where I jumped down, "So, how are you?"

David looked over at me. It was only now that I noticed he had a large bruise across his cheek. He smiled, "Glad to be here."

I blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things before I accidentally insulted him. The bruise was still there when I opened my eyes. I put a hand on my mouth, "What happened to your face?!" Looking back on it, I could have kept out the "to your face" part and it wouldn't have sounded quite as profound.

"Hm?" David pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side in question. He suddenly seemed to realize what I was talking about, "Oh, you mean this?" he pointed to his cheek, "It's funny you ask-"

"What did she shout about?" Kyle asked as he walked up. Now I was realizing all sorts of cuts and bruises all over both of them. There were definitely fewer bruises on Kyle than David, though.

"What did you guys DO?!" I looked at the both of them.

Kyle was giving his best poker face as he looked over at David, as though allowing him to divulge whatever information he wanted. David smiled warmly from one of us to the other, "This is nothing. We've got three teenage boys living under one roof. Dylan and I had a little fight that got a little out of control and Kyle took a couple blows while trying to break us up."

Kyle nodded in agreement to David's words. I raised an eyebrow, "Your little brother gave you that bruise on your face?"

"Nah," David pointed to his bruise, "This is actually from Kyle. He punched me to get me to stop fighting and knock some sense into me. After all, it was my little brother."

I was still confused about the scenario. They seemed like they might have their arguments, but it didn't seem like anything that would lead to a full-on fist fight. They seemed too close to actually do anything that would hurt the other. I just wasn't convinced, "What were you arguing about?"

David chuckled, "Man stuff," he patted me on the head, "I think he'd be uncomfortable with me telling you."

"Maybe I'll ask your brother..." I remarked and started walking away.

"I'll come with you," David replied.

"Don't you need something from your locker?" I asked over my shoulder.

"I can get it later."

I skipped through the halls until I found Dylan in the freshman hallway, "Hey, Mini David!" I greeted him as I skipped up.

Dylan gave me a dirty look, "What?" he had a black eye, and he didn't seem to like having his conversation with his friends interrupted. Dylan was also covered in bruises, but he was obviously the most beaten up out of the three of them. I stopped in my tracks. He just looked terrible! What the heck had happened yesterday when David left my house in such a hurry?

David nudged me closer to Dylan, who was still too far away to have a normal conversation with, "Don't stare, it's rude," he whispered and called to his brother, "Dylan, get over here."

Dylan rolled his eyes and excused himself from his friends, "What do you want?" he asked grumpily as he walked over. He was limping.

"She wants to know what happened yesterday," David smiled.

"Why can't you tell her?"

"I already have."

"Then I don't need to tell her, she already knows."

"She doesn't believe me, so she wants to hear your side of the story to see if they match up," David replied calmly, still smiling pleasantly.

Dylan's hateful gaze traveled to me, "You don't trust him?"

"I just don't understand his story," I answered, "He's leaving out details that he won't tell me because he doesn't think you'll be comfortable with him telling me."

"You want to know what we were arguing about?" Dylan and David had the same story.

"Yeah," I said, "If you don't mind."

"I DO mind, actually," Dylan replied and turned to walk away.

"Dylan," David said sternly, "Manners."

"No," Dylan replied without turning around.

David sighed, "Kids these days..." I was still somewhat confused about what had just happened. The bell rang. David patted me on the head, "I'll see you later, Kirei!" he kissed the top of my head and headed to his locker.

I walked over to my own locker, still trying to figure it out. What could have happened at that house that would bang all of them up like that? The fighting story made sense, but the way David delivered the message almost seemed like he was covering something up. But what would he want to cover up that would make him say he actually was the one to beat up his little brother that badly? I decided I was probably just being paranoid. They were 3 teenage boys, after all. That much testosterone under one roof was bound to give them problems. Besides, even if David was covering something up, he obviously didn't want to tell me. Trying to figure it out would only cause them problems. I just couldn't help but turn the facts over in my mind. My natural curiosity dominated my logical senses and made me want to know. What the heck happened yesterday?!