Reckless Muse

Ch. 2: Discoveries (Part 1)

Sakura yawned as the early morning sun warmed her face. She rubbed her eye, trying to block some of the sun from her face. Below her on the field, the boys were finishing up their morning practice so she stood and grabbed her bag. Making her way down the bleachers she searched for her brother's face. Just as she found him, an annoying voice grated against her eardrums.

"Well isn't this a rare sight?" Miyuki purred coming up beside her. "Since when do you come to watch morning practices?"

"Shut up, damn four eyes. I'm not in the mood," Sakura growled, causing the catcher to flinch back. He stopped walking and stared after her, unsure whether to be impressed or scared that the normally quiet girl could sound so menacing.

Sakura nodded and greeted the few players who noticed her and she walked up to her brother. "Hey shithead, here's your notebook," she said, tossing it at him.

He fumbled to catch it and the other second years with him were shocked. They knew Sakura as a quiet and well-behaved girl. Now she looked pissed and still half asleep as she cursed at her brother. Fumiya chuckled. "It never ceases to surprise me how different you are when you're tired," he said, earning a glare from his sister.

She opened her mouth to retort but a yawn came out instead. "It's too damn early for this. You guys are all insane," she said, running her fingers through her hair. Sakura had always like the fact that she resembled her brother more than her sister. Not that she had anything against Mirai, but she always got along better with Fumiya. Their hair was the same shade and both had trouble keeping it neat. The only real difference was that while Fumiya had warm brown eyes, Sakura's were a deep blue, more like their father's eyes.

A pink-haired male chuckled. "I think you're just lazy," he said, finding amusement in Sakura's state. Fumiya held his breath.

Sakura turned her glare on Kominato Ryosuke. He was a year older than her, the same year as her brother, and he had a way of scaring everybody without ever actually doing anything. Right now, however, the only thing that registered in Sakura's mind was that he had insulted her. "I'm not lazy, I'm just on a different time schedule. It's normal for some people to be night owls," she growled, making Ryosuke's smirk grow bigger. She turned back to her brother. "Why did I have to give you this book so damn early anyway?"

"I need it for first period. I didn't want to chance you forgetting to give it to me," he said smiling at her. "I appreciate it."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You owe me food," she said before walking off towards the school. The day didn't start for another couple hours, but she decided that she could sit in her usual spot and work on the sketch that she had started last night. It seemed forever before she reached her table and she set her bag down, pulling out her sketch book and pencils. She got to work on the drawing and zoned into it. Darkening this area and lightening that one up. Adding lines here and giving more depth there. She ran her pencil over the paper continuously, every now and then switching hands to get the right angle behind her pencil. Slowly the drawing came to life.

The next thing she knew was that there was a hand shaking her awake. She groaned and swatted it off. "Fuck off, I'm tired," she mumbled into the table where her head was laying. The hand retracted quickly and it was silent for a minute. Then a familiar laugh reached her ears.

"Kusunoki-san wasn't kidding when he said you were different when you were tired."

Sakura raised her head and stared at the green-haired boy standing next to her. Her mind reeled, trying to recall what exactly she had been doing and why Kuramochi would be next to her. Realization hit her sharply and she jerked up. "Oh crap! What time is it? Did I sleep long?"