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Post by Jun Seido on Jun 20, 2006 11:35:44 GMT -5
The tiger followed Jun wherever he went now and wouldn't allow itself to be kept locked inside his room. It didn't take that long before Hikou's existence was known to the public, but luckily, the administration didn't feel any aversion to the fact that Jun had smuggled a predator inside the school, much more, inside the dormitories. Jun still did not understand why they let him off the hook that easily, but he was beginning to suspect the influence that his mother might have exercised... Nah, his mother wouldn't do that. Besides, she was a secret agent, not a politician.
Problem was, Hikou can no longer live inside Jun's room. Although Jun found it easy to let go of his pet; where to let go of his pet proved to be much more difficult. During the time Hikou was used to following Jun around, he developed a taste for dozing inside the greenhouse after Jun's botany classes, forgetting to follow his owner inside the school buildings.
So now, after obtaining a part time job from the school, so then did Jun find a solution for his pet's new home. The greenhouse had the makings of a zoo, and the school agreed to make a living space for Hikou. A section of the greenhouse was now the tiger's cage; the glass of the greenhouse allowing him to be viewed from the inside and fed from the outside, where Hikou is contained in a very spacious steel cage, while the inside was designed to give the impression of a tiger's natural habitat. Only Jun had the key to the cage and was allowed to let the tiger out when he does his part time job: watering the plants.
"So, having a nice chill, eh?" Jun said absentmindedly to Hikou as the tiger dozed on the ground while Jun decided to prune a bush merely out of whim. It would be a while before the tiger would want to be back in the cage and away from Jun; the young man might as well do something to help the school plants while he's "chillin' out" with a tiger.
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Post by Mika Yukio on Jul 13, 2006 4:06:24 GMT -5
It was a sleepy day at Tama, or at least that's how she described it. Everyone was either out in the city or in, doing homework or just chilling. Only Mika was bored out of her mind, having finished with her homework, cleaned her room and exhausted poor Iko after endlessly playing with him. She was in no mood to read, or even listen to music. She wanted to move, not to just sit around, so she headed towards the Greenhouse.
Nothing interesting there, either. A bit disappointed, she decided to wander around a little; maybe she'd find something to do. Besides, that way, she'd exercise a little. Of course, walking was pretty boring, so Mika started running. It was pretty fun; the trees' roots were making it look like an obstacle race.
While she was running like this, she saw Jun watering the plants. She grinned. Finally, someone! "Hey Jun!" she said, waving. Of course, she forgot to look out for the roots while she was doing that. So the brunette tripped and fell very ungraciously in front of him. "Ow..."
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Post by Jun Seido on Jul 13, 2006 5:33:23 GMT -5
"Hey Jun!"
The sound of a voice suddenly invading his eardrums startled the silver haired boy, making him cut a fairly large part of the plant. Jun grimaced at the mistake and at his clumsiness in handling something he wasn't even supposed to touch. Wondering how would he cover up the stupid and ugly pruned part, Jun faced the direction where the voice came from.
A loud thud greeted his senses, and he saw a brunette on the ground infront of him. Familiar... could she be...
"Mika?" he asked. There was no mistake, it was Mika. What could she be doing on the ground? Tripped perhaps. he thought. Putting down the pruning shears, Jun went over and helped her up. "Are you alright?"
Jun wearily looked over to where Hikou was. He really shouldn't be out, now that Jun has company, since it would be dangerous in some way for Mika. But the tiger merely looked back at him, then at Mika, and rested his head down on the ground.
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Post by Mika Yukio on Jul 13, 2006 7:36:22 GMT -5
Cheeks red, Mika stood up with his help. Embarrassed beyond words, she brushed off what little dust her clothes had gathered. Every time she met Jun, she wasn't wearing her uniform. What an example she was setting, student advisor and without a uniform. She suddenly realized Jun was speaking.
"Oh, I'm fine," she said, her voice shaky. "Embarrassed, but fine," she chuckled, laughing at her own klutzy entrance. She blinked. He wasn't paying attention; instead, he was looking at some point around her right. Mika, too, looked to see what or who was there. "EEEP!" And that's when she saw the tiger. The brunette quickly ducked behind Jun. "I knew you had a tiger, but I always thought it was a cub!" Mika said, in a slightly higher voice. Her shortness proved to be a blessing this time, since Jun was hiding her petite frame completely. She titled her head and stared at the tiger. "Does it bite?" she whispered. Or will it eat me in a single gulp? she thought stupidly.
[OOC: Sorry for the weirdness, I'm hyper]
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Post by Jun Seido on Jul 13, 2006 12:13:06 GMT -5
Jun tried not to chuckle when Mika somewhat shrieked and hid behind him and out of sight of the tiger. If people would 'ooh' and 'aah' when they see Hikou following Jun around the school before, the owner of the once-tiger cub wouldn't really be surprised if Hikou's size startled people now. It actually made Jun proud of himself, that he was able to raise a tiger cub all on his own that it grew up to be a fierce looking predator that Hikou appears to be right now. But in truth, the tiger has lost part of its fierceness, having spent its life with a human being like Jun, and eventually learned to ignore people during the time it roamed the hallways and school grounds.
Jun stepped aside so Mika is in the line of his tiger's eyesight again, but he put an arm around her so she wouldn't feel so exposed, and that Hikou would know Mika was his friend. "Well, he was a cub at some point, but people never really saw him that way. When he started following me around, he was already huge, so people at school had a hard time getting used to him. Eventually they did get used to him... didn't you?" he asked Mika, wondering why she appears to have not yet seen Jun's pet. "Don't tell me you haven't seen him like this... where have you been hiding?" he asked with a playful smirk on his face.
"Don't worry, he hasn't killed anyone... yet," he reassured her. "And yes, he does bite, but not people,... I mean, not people that I know," he added.
"So, what's up?"
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Post by Mika Yukio on Jul 13, 2006 12:44:05 GMT -5
When Jun stepped aside, she tried to hide again, but his had sort of made that difficult. So she just stood there, blushing, while he was practically holding her in front of the tiger. She looked shyly at Hikou and almost shouted again when the tiger returned the stare boredly and yawned. Sharp teeth made Mika jump. That was so uncalled for...
"I never saw him, end of sentence," she said dryly. But chuckled the next moment. "I was hiding from him!" She stuck her tongue out playfully.
"...He hasn't killed anyone..."
At that, she breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little.
"...yet"
"Yeah, he's probably waiting for me," she said, already tense. "Lucky you know me," her tone was a tad ironic, but she laughed and snuggled further in his half-hug. "Or rather, lucky I know you," she winked.
"Aside for Hikou scaring me to death? Just kidding, Tama is suffocating me lately so I had to get out and breathe some fresh air... What about you?"
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Post by Jun Seido on Jul 13, 2006 13:08:11 GMT -5
Jun laughed this time, as he could feel how tensed Mika is. "Oh yes, I shall protect you and keep you away from all my tiger's predatory harm!" he said in a bad imitation of a medieval knight, and then made a face at his own stupid joke. "So relax while I'm here," he continued, giving her a light rub on the back to calm her down, "although I must admit I'm breaking rules here, letting my tiger free while you're around. I was told to keep him in his cage all the time and let him out only when I'm alone," he explained.
"But hey, I don't think he'll eat you, knowing that he's full of meat right now. Apparently I had given him his lunch already, so I don't think he'll be interested in taking a bite out of you." With that, Jun released Mika and instead capturing a wrist and pulling her nearer to Hikou. But he wasn't about to shove her towards the tiger; they were actually going towards the table where the pruned shrub was.
"Apart from hanging out with my favorite predator, I was doing my job, until I decided mind this plant's business," he said in an answer to her last question. "I'm supposed to only water the plants, not prune them but... yeah. I messed this up," he ended lamely, getting a string and tying the pruned part back to where it was connected before.
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Post by Mika Yukio on Jul 13, 2006 13:28:29 GMT -5
Mika laughed at the mushiness of it all, but relaxed, trusting him. "I shall forever be grateful, Sir," she said, playing along. "Oooh, you're breaking the rules! I should give you detention," she said mockingly, but when she was about to say what the detention would be, he let go of her shoulders and grabbed her wrist. "Maybe he's full now, but later on, who knows?" again, her voice was slightly higher. She breathed a sigh of relief as Jun showed her what he was working on. The poor plant wasn't pruned, it was cut. She looked at it and frowned, sympathy kicking in.
"Poor plant!" She just watched as he put it back, but couldn't help but ask. "Can I help you? I used to have some house plants...," she trailed off, remembering how that had ended up. Apparently, Iko disliked plants when they weren't outside and disliked them even more if they were given more attention than Iko deemed them worth of.
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Post by Jun Seido on Jul 13, 2006 13:42:07 GMT -5
Jun was more than glad to hand over the reins of fixing the plant to someone who'd know better. True he could try and do it himself, but if Hikou suddenly sprang up and attacked (highly unlikely, of course) and Jun was busy with the plant, Mika could lose a limb. The thought was ridiculously funny, but Jun decided to follow that instinct and relieve himself of the stress. And perhaps he could prod his tiger to go back in the cage while Mika is at it.
"Of course!" he replied, a little louder than he should, but it was mere relief that made him raise his voice slightly. Sighing, he stepped aside so Mika can have a better look. "Actually, I was doing a fine job until you called me," he said in mock defense of his pruning abilities, playfully sticking a tongue out at the brunette.
"I should go and try convince Hikou that his cage needs him," he said after a few moments. And with that, Jun approached the animal that was staring at them for a while. He gave the tiger a tender pat on the back, trying to make him stand up. "Up, up and back in, dude."
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Post by Mika Yukio on Jul 13, 2006 14:22:07 GMT -5
Mika grinned and took over the situation. She put on some gloves and grabbed the shears as soon as Jun let her. She first examined the plant and then started cutting here, chopping there and generally trying to fix it. She smiled distractedly at Jun when he mock-blamed her for the disaster. "Sorry, plant," she whispered to the plant, "I didn't know I could cause you trouble with just my presence," she added, knowing Jun would hear. She chuckled and cut a small branch that looked out of place.
After a while, she put down the shears and pulled her gloves off. "Done!" she said, more to herself as Jun was busy with Hikou. She examined her handy work and smiled, happy she hadn't forgot her few garnering lessons. After deciding the plant was fine, she glanced back at Jun and his tiger. He was trying to get him inside the cage, but Hikou didn't look too convinced. She took a deep breath and started walking towards them. "I hope he doesn't bite, I hope it doesn't bite, I hope it doesn't bite...," she repeated it like a mantra under her breath while stepping closer to the duo. When she finally got there, she looked over to Jun and gave him a shaky smile. "Introduce me, I don't think he likes strangers," she stuttered, glancing at Hikou.
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