White Sakura Foundation Interlude - by Melissa Koh: safyre@jade-court.darkgod.net - - website: http://safyre.tsx.org - ---------- It's not what others do to you; it's what _you_ do to others that counts. ---------- Part One: Crisis "You jerk ~!" "Oh, the pot calling the kettle black!" "Says you! You were the one who had to screw up the entire thing!" "Like who was the one who was so engrossed in her manga that she forgot about the mission?!" "Who was the idiot, I _emphasize_, idiot, who had to go around seducing the girls and screw the entire mission?" Astraia glared at her supposed-partner, her apparent contempt for him barely concealed in her fury. Her amber eyes flashed, threatening to scathe anyone who dared to cross her path at that very moment. Not that anyone dared; even an idiot could see that she was in no mood to laugh off a joke directed at her. Or supposedly directed at her. Her eyes promised death in the fieriest fashion should anyone try anything out of the ordinary, especially with her. "I did not screw up. _You_ and your manga, did," said Gavin coolly, smoothing back his waist-length silver hair. The likeness between the two was remarkable. If it weren't for Gavin's perfect blue-eyes, the colour of a cloudless sky, and Astraia's amber eyes, the two might have been twins. Heck, they even sounded like rivalling siblings with their arguments. "You and you manga did," mimicked Astraia in her best cutesy voice, her eyes never leaving Gavin an inch. She tossed back her molten silver hair, shorter than Gavin's by two palms, and scowled unpleasantly. "You're always blaming others when it's so obvious that you're the one who's seducing all the girls and screwing up the damned mission!" "I do _not_ seduce girls. I _don't_ need to, unlike some people." He passed her a superior look, which did nothing except increase her already boiling temper. "Jerk! Obnoxious jerk!!!" screamed the girl, completely losing her cool. If she had any in the first place. "Moron, psycho, twit...JERK!" "Astraia, if you continue screaming at this rate, you'll scare off anyone who has interest in you despite your temper," said the older of the two. The superior smirk was still firmly fixed on his face. She cast him a dirty look. "Low down creep. Nutcase...jerk...why am I stuck with the biggest jerk in the whole wide world?" Gavin blinked innocently. "Because you're the biggest airhead in the world." "And that'll make you the biggest bimbo in the world, wouldn't it?" she fired back. "Bimbo isn't exactly the word that describes me." "It sure fits you. After all, who's the one who brushes his hair a thousand times each day until he's almost going bald?" Astraia demanded nastily. Gavin reddened a little at the accusation. It was true that he took extra care of his hair; after all, it was his best feature...heck, everything about him were his best features...who else had the biggest, most alluring eyes? Who else had his _beauty_ and _grace_? No one, of course, because he was the one and only Gavin, agent of White Sakura Foundation. It was Astraia's good luck that he was willing to be her partner initially, even if she was his senior. But ranks hardly mattered to them; he was still the more beautiful, more composed of the two. He had the grace she lacked. But she didn't have to make him sound so vain in front of an audience of at least thirty, did she? The crowd that had begun to gather around them began snickering, finding the current situation amusing, to say the least. "I. AM. NOT. GOING. BALD," Gavin whispered tightly, straining to stop himself from growling at her. Astraia smiled smugly at him. "Oh, really?" Narrowed eyes stared at her speculatively. "What? You're jealous?" Astraia whooped with laughter. "Don't joke! Me? Jealous of you? Dream on!" She paused, then added as an afterthought, "For all your lifetimes." "True. You'll never be able to compare yourself to me for all your lifetimes," he agreed readily. "Why you ~" began Astraia. "Don't start," he warned. "You'll never be able to win me in these arguments." "Oh _really_?" There was a slight trill in her voice, but Gavin hardly noticed. Then again, he had never been particularly observant of his partner's moods, even after a year of partnership with her. Others might have taken note of her mood swings, particularly when her voice started having trills. If Gavin had taken more notice, he would have realised that the trill would never mean anything good and that she would be doing something drastic, i.e. flinging a book---a manga, her precious manga---in his direction. Apparently, her thirst for vengeance was far more important than her book. He would have to take note of it and keep that in mind until next time. If there ever was a next time. Everything began playing at slow motion, at least in his eyes, as he took a step backwards. The manga was aimed at his face as it connected to his nose. Strangely, he felt nothing, except a sort of numbness replacing the pain that should have been there. He felt himself lose his footing due to the unexpected impact and watched himself fall with detached interest. He saw a peculiarly shaped object on the ground, and instinctively, willed it to move before his head connected it. That stunt added with loss of concentration, however, only increased his precarious situation. "Gavin ~! You idiot!" screamed Astraia, a horrified look on her face. "ARRRGH ~!" screamed Hypertia as she leapt from her seat to save her ceramics pot, before it bounced off the desk like the rest of her stationery. It was one of her early projects when she was a ceramics student and she had spent quite an amount of time and effort on it. To see it ruined would break her heart, if she had a glass heart in the first place. Jennifier Ding rose from her seat unsteadily and glanced around their shared office furtively. "What's going on? An earthquake? In WSF?" Managing to save her pot at the last possible moment, Hypertia sank to the floor, weak-kneed with an overdose of adrenaline, but not so much that she couldn't glare at her friend. "You're the geography student; you figure it out. I'm the history student and I'll figure out the events _after_ it has occurred." Jennifier placed her hands on her hips and glared daggers at Hypertia. "I was just explaining the---" "Spare me the details," Hypertia interrupted, clutching the pot close to her chest. "I'm just happy that my precious pot is still in one piece." Jennifier rolled her eyes. Typical Hypertia, to be concerned over one minute thing, but couldn't give a damn to listen to explanations. It was a miracle that anyone could stand her for more than five minutes. "What the freaking hell happened anyway?!" demanded the older girl, slowly rising to her feet, swaying slightly from the aftershocks. Jennifier shrugged. "As if I would know." "No, you wouldn't," Hypertia retorted, with more than just a touch of sarcasm. Jennifier practically ignored her; she was too immune to her friend's sarcasm already. If there was the meanest person title, Hypertia would be in line for the award. The Man came in at that moment. His face was flushed, his breathing heavy, as though he had ran all the way to their office. He probably did, taking his job as their secretary _that_ seriously. Though Jennifier couldn't help wondering how he managed to keep his balance while the ground moaned and groaned its unhappiness for the world to share, even if the world didn't care to share its sentiments. "Is everyone all right?" he asked, sweeping the room with a glance, observing the extent of the damage. Jennifier managed a brief nod. "What the hell happened?" The Man coughed uncomfortably. "Someone shifted a ward. The ward crashed and..." Hypertia's dark eyes lit up with undisguised fury. "I'm going to _kill_ someone..." "Do I have to ask who?" Jennifier threw her a bored look. Hypertia was always saying that she was going to kill someone, but truly had yet to shed some blood. Then again, the rate she went about torturing people, it more than made up for her threats. "Why? You want to help?" Jennifier shrugged. "Depends on what _you_ have in mind." Hypertia twirled a loose lock of brown hair around her finger, her eyes thoughtful. "Screaming. Yelling. Torture. Not necessarily in that order. As long as _I_ get my revenge." A sadistic smile lit up her face. Jennifier sighed. It was going to be a long day. "I can't believe you did this to us!" said Hypertia in her best wailing voice. The duo before her cringed visibly. Hypertia shot a grin in Jennifier's direction. "Told you so," she whispered, smirking. Jennifier rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, _whatever_." Hypertia stuck out her tongue before turning her attention to the two. "Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost us? To repair the damages, the cracked walls and the ward?!" she demanded, her voice getting higher by the moment until it was no more than a shriek. Everyone in the office winced. Hypertia was good at shrieking; it was probably an inborn talent she cultivated from young. Astraia sneaked a glare at Gavin. "It's all your fault!" she hissed. "Mine?! Who was the one who threw her manga at me thus ruining my perfect image?!" Gavin fired back indignantly. He rubbed his nose, wincing briefly at the soreness and deeper at the thought of the purplish bruise that would mar his face. "Your perfect image?! Don't be an idiot!" "You're the idiot without taste if you can't see the beauty _I_ possess." "Oh, drop dead." "Same to you." "Jerk." "You too." "Idiot." "The same to you." "Think of something original, will you?!" "Fine! You're a twerp," snapped Gavin. Astraia shook her head. "Not original enough." "Hag. Crone," muttered the bishounen under his breath. For a moment, there was absolute silence except for heavy breathing. Hypertia and Jennifer exchanged looks as if to say, "Shit! Now we're in for it." Astraia took in a couple of calming breaths while Gavin stood still, awaiting her reaction. He wasn't disappointed when she reached for the Department Heads' cheesecake and--- Hypertia's expression quickly twisted into one of pure horror. "_Not_ my cheesecake!" Astraia smashed the plate of rich, creamy, _New York_ cheesecake into Gavin's face. It was the just the beginning, when Gavin calmly reached for Jennifier's plate and threw it at Astraia. Jennifier screamed as the cheesecake veered off course and headed for her computer. Then an all-out cheesecake fight broke out, with Hypertia screaming blue murder over the loss of her favourite snack, Jennifier furious about the cheesecake on her computer... The inevitable chose to happen. Someone threw a piece of cheesecake without proper aiming. The engaged warriors paused long enough to follow the cake as it sailed through air in a beautiful arc, before landing splat on Hypertia's pot, neatly toppling it over the edge of her desk and crashing against the floor with a thick layer of cream. Jennifier and the Man began inching their way out of the office, before- -- "Not _my _ pot ~!" wailed Hypertia. They were grounded and that was it. No question about it. Hypertia was less than pleased over the vandalism that took place in the office, and was near tearing down the foundation when they ruined her precious pot. She had not only grounded them, but suspended them from all activities until they kissed and made up. Of course, they would be able to fake niceties to each other, if it weren't for the fact that they were under surveillance by the Man. He had tried his best to be nice about it, even smiling cheerfully for their sake. "It won't be long before she calms down," he offered helpfully, only to earn himself a baleful glare from Astraia. That shut him up for good. "You and your pathetic aiming," said Gavin, sitting cross-legged on the couch and hugging his pillow. "Why didn't you take note of where you should be throwing?" "Like the hell it's my fault!" exclaimed Astraia, only pausing to gulp down a glass of water. She swallowed and turned to regard Gavin. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this state." "Bull shit," said Gavin fiercely. "You started it first!" "The hell I did. If you didn't screw up the mission in the first place, this wouldn't have happened!" "If you didn't smash the cheesecake into my face, I wouldn't have retaliated!" "Those are two different matters!" said Astraia hotly. The Man groaned. He had hoped for at least a couple hours of peace but they _had_ to burst his bubble. They were barely back in their apartment for fifteen minutes and they were ready to bite each other's heads off. They hadn't learnt their lesson, obviously. They were never going to learn, he thought in despair. They were forever going to make war with each other, and woe betide anyone who tried to interfere. But being their chaperone, he had a duty to make sure they at least maintain peace. "Erm..." Both of them turned to him, fire flickering in their eyes as they yelled spontaneously: "Shut up ~!" The Man cowered and whimpered pitifully. This was simply not his day. "You know, I just had a bad idea," said Hypertia, barely looking up from her badly-glued pot. She frowned and reached for a rag, carefully wiping off the excess glue, and leaned back, observing the pot with a critical eye. "It looks like a badly glazed pot. Jenni, what do you think?" Jennifier glanced at her friend. "Not bad. What idea? Nothing perverted, I hope." Hypertia gave her an offended look. "That's fanfictions. We're talking about WSF over here. I don't want to throw them in a yaoi-yuri web. Gavin will scream." Jennifier raised a sceptical eyebrow and continued cleaning her computer. "You're still siding with him even after he ruined your pot?" Shrugging, Hypertia replaced the pot on her desk. "Anyway, I just thought of something. We're going to regroup the teams under the Social Department, so why not arrange them into groups of four? Gavin, Astraia and two others. Maybe that'll reduce the tension." "But their relationship is quite strained, you realise? If anything happens, we're going to have a number of debts up our sleeves." "Oh, don't worry about that. I've taken care of it already," Hypertia replied flippantly. Jennifier gazed at her suspiciously. "What? Getting them to pay for it isn't going to help much. After repairing the marble and the rest of WSF, we're going to be seriously short of funds. Even with our recycling projects." Hypertia smiled blissfully. "You do realise that WSF is insured, don't you? We don't have to worry about those funds. Not at the moment, at least." "Since when did we have them insured?" "Ever since I realised that the agents were going to tear WSF bit by bit." "Why did we ever hire them in the first place?" Jennifier moaned, burying her face in her hands. Hypertia shot her a quick grin. "For the kick of it, what else? Anyway, back to what I was saying, I'm thinking of grouping them with Mitsuru and the Man." "Mitsuru? I thought she hated Gavin's guts?" "Hai, but that's not the point. She _can_ humble him to a point until he's bearable, along with Astraia." "Your protege. Yeah, yeah, we know." Jennifier looked up, and frowned. "God, I don't want to imagine the damage the four of them can cause..." "Then don't," said Hypertia crisply. "Think of the ways they can stop each other. The Man and Astraia are senior agents; they know what to expect thus, they can provide the training Gavin and Mitsuru need. I don't want another earthquake to happen," she reminded. Jennifier gave her a hard look. "No one wants to and I still think you're crazy to suggest that." "I'll take that as a compliment. Think of it as neutralising both effects. And hopefully, they won't cause big trouble." "Your version of small is my version of big." Hypertia smiled. "Isn't it great to be a genius?" The other girl groaned aloud. "God forbid. You're getting as bad as Gavin." "I know. It's just my nature to be mean. Gotta laugh, or you'd cry." She giggled. "Well?" "Well what?" "The grouping. Do we go ahead with the plan or do we not?" Jennifier polished the monitor screen thoughtfully. "Might as well. After all, we're _insured_." -------------------------------------------- Part One: Crisis ~ End Author's notes: White Sakura Foundation [WSF], concept and characters are the property of Hypertia Tsuyu and Jennifier Ding. This is an original work with the creators shamelessly tossed into it, in more ways than one. The setting is technically _before_ Eva's appearance. It's been sometime since I wrote in third person, and I'm really interested to know the reviews with this current style. I've never edited this piece, so pardon me for the mistakes. But I did run through spell check, just for the record. This is the fifth draft, redrafted continuously ever since September. Funny thing, it's nothing like the original... Thanks to Sionna Klassen's fics for dragging me back into third person P.O.V. Also to the screen writing books I've been reading for the past few months; they've really helped me to organise a couple of things other than messing with my writing style. Completed on: 21.12.1998 - End Part - Copyright (c) Melissa Koh 1998. All Rights Reserved.