Sigma/Star

Chapter 43: Plans

Raul took in a deep breath and pressed the metal rose close to his chest. He was against one of the academy's walls, just inside a classroom, waiting for Nami to come by down the hall on her way back to her room. If he didn't give her the flower now, he feared he never would. He needed it to catch up with Chase and Ardwen, who had already gone on dates with the little girl. He needed to get the advantage on them so he could ask her to the dance. He needed love in his life after so much serious training. Raul was a romantic at heart.

The ninja heard Nami's soft steps as she approached and decided to finally step out. Time to make his move! "Nami I-" But Raul was silenced when he saw Ardwen leaning against a locker, already chatting to the stalker. He was fidgeting with his glasses in a cute, embarrassed way that made Nami giggle, a twinkle in her eyes, and Raul knew he had to interfere.

"Hey Raul," Ardwen said nervously as he saw the larger teen approach. "What are you-" A swift chop to the neck had downed the captain of the CRU in the blink of an eye. Raul did his best to smile it off in front of Nami and distract from what he had just done.

"Oh come on now Raul, we all know you're a big softy. You didn't really hurt him did you?" Nami played with a little bit of her hair, twirling it around her finger as she spoke in an effort to be as flirty as she possibly could. Milk the jealousy, she thought. Nurture it.

Raul blushed. "No he's just incapacitated for the next little bit. He'll be fine aside from a minor headache." Raul gripped the rose behind his back. "But I wanted to-"

"Nami!" Chase shouted as he walked down the hall. "Fancy running into you here."

"Chase I walk home this way every day..."

"Right." Chase nudged Raul, trying to push his way into the conversation. "Anyways I'm sure you saw my radical bowling skills today on just my first try ever at that sport. Won't be long before I'm the ringer on the team right?"

"Oh yes Chase you were..." Nami searched for the appropriate word to say that wouldn't be a total lie. "Amazing?"

"That's what I thought!" Chase pumped his fist in the air with glee at approval from his targeted girl. "So now I was thinking-" Another strike to a nerve from Raul had Chase crumpled up on the ground, unconscious. The ninja kicked the two downed boys aside to make it just himself and the female.

"Nami I want you to have-"

"Porter!" Nami cut Raul off as she spotted her love further down the hall, walking a different way. As soon as he heard the stalker's voice he froze to slowly turn his head and look down at her and Raul. And then he bolted, leaving a blazing trail behind him on the metal floor. "Get back here you!" Nami pushed past Raul and took off after her true crush.

"Love them Nami, love them!" Porter shouted over his shoulder. "I just want to go back to my room and sleep!"

Raul sighed, left alone once again with the flower in his hands. Ardwen and Chase groaned as they groggily rose back up to their feet. "What happened?" Ardwen asked as he rubbed his temples.

"Yeah what happened to my Nami?" Chase added.

"Porter happened," Raul plainly stated.

"Boys it seems we have a common enemy," Ardwen mused. "I propose we put aside our squabbling momentarily so that we can eliminate the Porter." Ardwen pulled out a chalkboard on wheels and begin scribbling mathematical equations on it. Chase and Raul put on round-rimmed glasses and nodded at the things being written.

"Right."

"Yes, quite."

"And so, by moving the 'x' value from here, and carrying the one, we will remove the 'p-factor' from our chase for Nami, which thus gives a thirty-three per cent chance to each of us at Nami, evenly, with a one per cent error rate."