//Behind the Mask//

[Mittens83]

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Shizu hummed softly as the autumn air rushed past him. Another morning, another day of school. His dark-reddish brown eyes stared contently in front of him as him feet lightly stepped on the pavement of the sidewalk. The wind playfully rustled his raven hair, causing the locks to brush into his face. Intertwined in his dark hair, two cat ears perked up to the sounds of the awakening world as his long tail swished slightly. They were as midnight as his hair and twitched slightly as the sounds touched them. His mind wandered as he walked, thinking of a certain girl that had captured his interest recently. He knew something was up with her by the way she acted, and this displeased him. He had a natural curiosity as well as a knack for trying to help those who needed it, but he couldn't quite bring himself to approach her yet. It could have been because they had never really spoken before, as high school life interferred with the majority of the students' courage to talk freely amongst the seperate groups. He smiled softly depsite this fact, he knew that someday soon he'd be able to talk to her.

He approached the gates of the school, early as usual. He walked through them, going to his usual spot underneath a large oak tree in the school yard. There were very few students at the school at the moment, but Shizu didn't mind, or care for that matter. He was usually quite, but somehow fairly popular. He never really felt the need to approach others, except for when they needed his help of course. He knew that by the time school was over, popularity wouldn't really matter, neither would the fact of who got involved the most. He leaned his back up against the cool, hard bark, closing his eyes for the last few moments of peace before the majority of the student body would show up.

After a few moments of his peace, he heard footsteps running over. His ears moved slightly towards them without opening his eyes and he knew right away who it would be.

"Hey Shizu!" Toby greeted as he slowed to a stop infront of his friend. Shizu opened his dark eyes to see the brown haired, green eyed male infront if him with his lopsided grin.

"Hey Toby, how was your weekend?" Shizu asked, a small smile on his face.

Toby shrugged. "It was okay, that party Chole had was pretty great though! You should have come along." He answered, a small look of disappointment in his eyes. Shizu shrugged.

The bell rang and just as Shizu looked to the gate, he saw her. The girl who seemed so mysterious to him, his cat eyes focused on her as she walked into the building. "Come on," he said, "We should go."

The two students entered the building along with the rest of the student population. It was a mixed kind of school, there were people like him which made him feel a bit better about the way he was. He didn't really appreciate the attention his ears and tail gave him, so he usually hid them. But unfortunately, the school uniform policy wouldn't allow hats...

He waved goodbye to Toby as he entered his homeroom, taking a seat near the back. As he sat, his eyes darted back to the door to see her enter. He wondered what she had been up to during the weekend.

 

[Monochrome]

Ah, school. Reia walked into the building as the bell rang, face straight and unassuming. She would smile and wave to those who hailed her, but right after, her face would revert to being just that. A face. Don't get her wrong, she loved people, but smiling for too long was just weird. She didn't have many she considered 'friends' but she had many acquaintances. The school was mixed, and not all were human. A lot of the humans never really liked the 'other' part of the student body. They were all neko-born -- cat-people. At first, duringher childhood, she was raised not to judge people but to keep a certain distance from the neko. Her family never mistreated them,b ut still had an invisible barrier between themselves and the others.

Reia was indifferent, however. She talked to anyone who was interested in listening and listened to anyone who wanted to talk to her. It was a given.

She turned bright gray eyes toward her homeroom. She was one of the last to file in, seeing everyone chattering excitedly about what they had done the previous weekend. Hers was just uneventful since she spent them all at home doing whatever she wanted; she drew, she read, she wrote and she ate. Hygienic routines notwithstanding. Reia smiled to those who called out to her and weaved her way to her seat near to the back of the class. She sat and bid good morning to those who sat with her, getting settled and losing herself inside her thoughts.


((sorry for lateness AND brevity but I'll do better. honest! I have proof in other Rps lol))

 

[Mittens83]

Shizu's ear's perked to her entering the room, though he tried hard not to make it noticeable. His dark eyes flicked from her to the front of the room as she drew nearer. He had never really felt any sense of insecurity, except for lately, whenever she would come near. He wondered to himself why exactly that was. She seemed to be well liked throughout the class, but he couldn't help but think there was still something hidden beneath her features.

"Good morning class!" their homeroom teacher greeted happily. He sat down in his desk and began organizing his papers as the majority of the class responded back to him.

Shizu sighed, his tail flicking subconciously. He waited for the announcements to end and stayed seated as some of the other students got up to go to their first class. He shifted, moving his torso to grab some books from his bag, his eyes looked over to Reia for a moment as he picked them up, then moved back to his original position, opening the books to their rightful page. As class began, the teacher talked about the subject, writing some notes on the board that Shizu copied down.

"So, next week I have a project that will be worth 25% of your final grade, and you have to work with at least one other person. I'll be handing out the outine on Friday."

'Damn...' Shizu thought, he didn't really like group projects, he preffered working alone, but there wasn't much choice here. She shifted once again, leaning back into his seat.

"Shizu, could you tell me what the answer to question 12 is?" the teacher asked.

"It's talking about the different forms of parenting and how the outcomes for the children could be." he answered.

"Good, now for your homework, class, do questions 14-20 and read through the rest of the chapter." he said, just as the bell was about to go.

Some of the students groaned quietly, but left the class talking happily amongst themselves, a few going over to Reia. Shizu looked back over to them, the majority of the group gave him that look, the one that made him wish his ears and tail weren't so prominent. He sighed, grabbing his bag and making his way to the next class. He didn't blame them, there wasn't too many like him, but still enough to make some students treat so of them differently.

[[OOC: No problem haha ^^ I can usually work with whatever, just as long as its not a one-liner x.x]]

 

[Monochrome]

Reia blinked and frowned slightly at the project rule. Working with someone in class wasn't an issue. But when her grade was on the line and she had to rely on others to do a certain part of the project, it became a little....uncomfortable.

"Hey, Reia!" The sound of her name being called by multiple voices had her looking up and around as she put her things away. They all asked if she preferred to work with any of them. She declined politely enough, claiming that she wanted to think about it. The project wasn't due for some time and so that gave her a lot of time to do research on her own and come up with the project. She wasn't selfish by any means. Heavens, no. It was just that she was independent in her thoughts and it spread through to anything the called for some measure of creativity. She noticed everyone turning their attention to something in front of her and she followed their gaze. The neko-boy, Shizu, if she recalled correctly, his ears seemed to retreat as if wanting to hide from the rest of society.

Reia frowned and resisted the urge to glare at the rest of the students. Shizu had no control over what he was born as. He had as much free thought and conscience like everyone else. She took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it as the group dispersed.

'If you don't have a partner by the end of the day, look me up.' She folded the note and got up. Precariously holding the bag so as to close it, she made her way quickly toward the exit. She spotted familiar dark ears and trekked with a purpose after them. Swinging her book bag over her shoulder, she held the note between two fingers and as she walked by, she slipped the note into his pocket. Her first finger brushed against his leg and she silently cursed herself for not being careful. However, she kept her poker face and continued on to math class.

 

[Mittens83]

Shizu's ears shifted to the sounds of the busy hallway, kids catching up with their friends and the like. Shizu's dark eyes glided over their faces, wondering what their story was, or if they even had one. His thoughts were interrupted suddenly when he felt a soft touch on his leg. His ears perked to it as he looked down to find to source but only seeing two fingers disappear as they drifted ahead of him. He paused for a minute, following the fingers up to where the girl's head was.

'Reia?' he wondered tilting his head slightly as he blinked, reaching down to his pocket and grabbing the note, reading it quickly before putting it back and looking at her as she turned a corner. A small half-grin appeared on his skin, continuing down the hall to Geology. He entered the room to go sit next to Toby, placing his bag on the desk before sitting down.

"What's with that smile?" Toby asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "You don't smile like that unless you smell sushi!" he added, grinning at his little joke.

Shizu rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly. "It's nothing." he replied, getting out his notebook, "What are you doing later?" he asked his friend.

Toby gave him a look that doubted the neko, then shrugged, ''I don't know. Probably just going to play videogames after school."

Shizu nodded, as the teacher entered, "I see." he replied, wondering what exactly he was going to do about this Reia girl. He knew if he told Toby he had....some sort of interest in her, he'd bust his balls and probably make things worse for him. He sighed, resting his head in his hand as his mind continued its inner conflicts.

[[OOC: Sorry for suddenly dying on you there o.o super busy weekend!]]

 

[Monochrome]

[I APOLPGIZE D:]


Reia plopped down into her chair, thoughts idling around what she had just did while rummaging through her bag for her books. She never thought it was right for humans to act all high and mighty over the neko-kind. If anything, they should appreciate the skills of the cat people and promote it. They had heightened senses, and their natural curiosity led them to be skillful in whatever they decided to take as tasks. Shizu, Reia recalled, had been around for a while. But she never took it upon herself to sit down and have an entire conversation with him. Sure, she'd said 'good morning' and what not. But then that was her: she had manners drilled into her at a very young age. She even took offense sometimes when greetings weren't returned.

Reia sat up, setting her materials atop her desk and let out a breath.

"What's with that?"

She turned to her left to see Hiroki, one of her closer acquaintances at school. Hiroki was a mousy girl, wearing glasses that were all too big for her face and rounded cheeks that made her look like a munchkin, much to Hiroki's ire.

"What's with what?" Reia asked, blinking.

"That." Hiroki answered, mimicking Reia's earlier sigh.

"Getting rid of the yawn before class starts," she quipped, smirking at the other girl. Math with Mr. Jin was boring beyond belief. The first class she had with him, she actually fell asleep within the first fifteen minutes. She'd never live it down because that piece of sleep was so good, she had binder lines all over the right side of her face.

Hiroki rolled her eyes at the joke but smiled back, understanding. "I'd yawn, anyway," she said, making Reia laugh quietly. Reia was someone with quiet reactions. She laughed quietly, yawned quietly, cursed quietly and on the rare occasion, cried quietly. She couldn't scream, really, either. Not on purpose, in any case. But she never worried much about it.

She watched as Mr. Jin walked into class and fought the urge to let her head fall heavily onto her desk. This was torture.