Peach Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Skin Deep ❯ Missing Momo ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Skin Deep
A Peach Girl Fanfiction
Version 2.0
(Because 1.0 is now gibberish)
By Azurite
azurite_moon@yahoo.com
YAHOO! Is REALLY starting to suck, with their
charging for using Outlook Express, fewer
webspace, and automatically signing up for
crap... GRR... I need to get a moonromance.com
or fanfiction.net email now...
http://www.geocities.com/azurite_moon/peachgirl.html
WAHOOOOOOO! I finally have ALL 12 volumes of Peach Girl!
Now all I have left is the artbooks. ^^ Yatta!
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Kiley Okayasu distractedly tapped his mechanical pencil
from side to side, making a soft 'click-clacking' noise
on his desk. He'd long since finished the in-class
assignment, and whatever the teacher was saying was like
the incessant drone of a bee.
He glanced -or rather, stared- at the empty desk beside him.
Momo's desk. It had been a week and a half since school
started up again, and he was finally in the same class with
Momo. Unfortunately, so was Sae, and worse, so was Toji.
Kako, Sae's reformed-lackey, was also in the class, but sat
on the other end of the room, and rarely ever talked with
Kiley to begin with.

Since Sae had been humilated the day before school ended earlier
in the year, she sat in the rear of the class, quiet and alone.
Everyone knew they were better off for it-- it meant Sae wouldn't
try to destroy their lives for her own amusement. However, since
Momo -as their "celebrated heroine" wasn't back either, it was
a bit unnerving.

When lunch finally arrived, Kiley nibbled out of his bentou box
while leaning on a window sill. He was barely aware of the other
students in the room, as all he could think about was Momo. He
hadn't seen her all summer, despite his calls. He wondered if
he had gotten ahold of the "blonde bombshell" that was Momo, would
she have kept the promise to him to go to the beach...?

When Kiley tried to conjure up an image of the fair-haired and
dark skinned maiden that had... well, captured his thoughts, he
found himself drawing a blank, a fact that scared him. The only
memory of Momo that remained from the previous school year three
months before was a faceless dummy, with tan skin and blonde hair.

So surprised at this was he that Kiley looked up from the window,
bewildered. His hearing slowly came back into focus, and he
heard the snippets of a nearby conversation:

"...seen Momo, Kako?"
"..." Kiley turned around and saw Toji not far away, talking to Kako,
Sae's former-lackey. After Momo had saved the girl's life, Kako
treated Momo more and more like a friend, and Momo had repeated the
gesture in kind. However, it seemed as though she too, knew nothing
more than the rest of the class about where Momo was.
"You know where Momo is, Kako?" Kiley asked, striding up to the pair,
a grim expression on his face. For some reason, he had a bad feeling
in the pit of his stomach-- and where Momo was concerned, he was
worried that such a feeling might come true.

"...I really shouldn't say..." Kako began in a soft voice, turning
away from the intense stares of both boys. Toji and Kiley exchanged
a brief glance, and turned back to Kako.
"So you *do* know?" Toji demanded.
"..."
"Dammit Kako, we wouldn't be so worried if we didn't care!" Kiley
yelled, slamming his hand on the table. He effectively got the
attention of Kako, as well as the few other students in the class.
Upon seeing Kiley's enraged expression, they pretended not to stare
and soon went back to their own conversations.

"...She told me not to say anything, though..." Kako murmured, grabbing
her arm and looking at her feet. If she told them... what would they
think? What if Sae found out, and...
'I couldn't let Sae exploit Momo in her condition... But Kiley and
Toji *really* care...'
Kako was at war with herself, wondering if she should really tell
the two boys with obvious affections for the school's black sheep
and new swimming champ about what she knew.

For a moment, she looked at their expressions -so sincere, full
of worry, affection for their missing classmate, and...
'Fear...?' Kako noted the sheer worry mixed with the latter emotion
on Kiley's face. Of all people to care so deeply about Momo, it
didn't make sense that Kiley was one. But... he did.

"...she's in the hospital." Kako said after a moment, and waited
for the boy's reactions. She studied Kiley, then Toji's face carefully,
and without surprise, noted how they both blanched white. However, they
were silent in the face of this information, and so Kako swallowed hard
and continued.

"...she's dying."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soo... what does everyone think?
I know, Peach Girl and DRAMA? Has it not been done before? ^^; I think
yohko's "Utagaibukai" does a great job, and so does Megan's "On a
Starry Night." But I seriously want to try the multi-chapter, realistic
side of PG. Okay, maybe I've stretched facts a LITTLE, but not too
much.
Do review!