83Disclaimer: I, the humble writer called Canagg, have no claim over the characters or the actual, original story of Maria-Holic.
Chapter 1
Dear Mother in Heaven, something is… wrong.
"Ehh…" I tilt my head to one side. "Mariya-mon, you seem different."
The demon in boy's skin, which is then wrapped in girl's clothing, before me crosses his arms over his chest. "I don't need to hear about how I've changed from some yuri pig like you."
"You are correct, Kanako-sama," Matsurika inserts.
"I'll kill you, Matsurika" he mutters with a small smile.
I blink, staring at him, sitting on his bed in our room like he had been since I've walked in. It's been a while since I've seen him last since we've had our break, as I'd somehow managed to get good enough grades to be allowed to go visit my family, and I've been enjoying every second away from him that I can. And now I'm a third year while he's a second year. Still his senpai, still being called a pig. Nothing changes.
Nothing except…
"Stand up," I finally say, acting on a small gut feeling.
Mariya glares at me. "Are you, a rodent not worthy to carry the dust in my mansion, trying to tell me, an angel sent from heaven, what to do?!"
"Ah-ha!" I grin, feeling rebellious. "So your great and glorious mansion has dust, does it? So you really are a filthy boy despite how you try to act! Haha!"
His eyes gleam red, causing me to flinch. Obviously I have forgotten his punishments over the long break. I'm about to fall to the ground saying, 'Forgive me', when the rebel in me leaps up.
"And now," I continue, "you're too scared to even do something as simple as standing up! Ahahahaha!" I thoughtfully rub my chin, my smile growing wider by the second. "I believe I can think of many useful ways I can use this to my advantage. Ohohoho, yes. Many, many ideas."
"You disgusting female pig." Mariya's leg reaches out and kick my legs out from underneath me, causing me to fall face-first before him. "What ever gave you the idea that you could talk to me in that way?" He asks as his foot pushes my head further and further into the flooring.
"Em tewwiblee sowweh." I'm trying to say, 'I'm terribly sorry," but words don't come out too well when your face is being squished into the floor.
"Matsurika, do you think it will be possible to imbed a female pig in the floor without any tools?"
"I don't think it would be wise," says the maid. "Her blood will then be able to flow into all of the carpet until it becomes quite dirty."
Mariya scoffs. "It was already dirty the second she touched it." He finally lifts his foot off of me and I sit up, rubbing the back of my head. He and Matsurika continue debating on the best way to make me into a part of the flooring without too much trouble and danger of my often nosebleeds.
I look up at them, glancing between Mariya and Matsurika. Yes, without a doubt, something has changed. But I, in all of my stupidity which I have no choice but to admit to because of my terrible grades, cannot quite name it. I can feel my heart pounding inside of my chest as if it's trying to speak to me in Morse code, trying to warn me…
Mariya notices my gaze and he abruptly ends his conversation with Matsurika. "What is it?" He asks me.
I stand up and take a few steps away from him. "No… nothing. I think."
"You think?" He sneers. "Of course, it's not as if I expect some perverted cow like you to actually know something. Something useful, that is."
"I know plenty of useful things!" I object hotly. "Like whenever Sachi-san bends over, the top of her blouse falls down just a little bit more than the others, giving me just enough room to let me see a bit…" My nose grows warm as I blissfully recall happy memories. "Just enough…"
His face scrunches up in disgust. "You are absolutely revolting."
"Hehehe… peek-a-boo…"
"Excuse me," Matsurika says suddenly, startling me out of my daydreams just enough to notice that she's now standing by the door, "but I have to leave now."
"Huh?" Mariya blinks. "Where the heck could you have to go to?"
"God is calling me to watch that show which airs at 5:30 on Sundays with her."
"Ah…" He nods. "Go on, then. We wouldn't want to upset God."
"Indeed not." And with that, she's gone. Literally. She doesn't open the door or anything, she's just… poof! Almost as if God had gotten impatient and summoned the maid to her side…
The two of us sit in silence, simply staring at the door, until I clear my throat. "Ah… are you ready for school to start up again tomorrow, Mariya-mon? Now you'll be a second year." I grin slyly. "I wonder if you're smart enough to keep up with all of the new things you'll have to learn."
A vein in his forehead bulges.
"After all," I keep on going anyways, "this is an all-girls school. I bet that a stupid boy like you won't understand the things they have to teach us girls in the upper levels of high school."
With a darkened face, Mariya stands up and starts to slowly walk over to me while muttering, "You… insolent female pig… with your bags of fat… you dare to speak to me like that…"
It's only when he's standing right in front of me do I finally realize what has changed over the break.
Dear Mother in Heaven, send your little Kanako your blessings. She'll need a miracle to survive the next few seconds, so she'll need an army of angels to help her live through the next year.
Mariya is standing close enough to me that I can feel his body heat gently pulsing against my skin. And, more than that, I can feel him. Before, he had a rather small, feminine presence. But now… now he towers over me by several inches, forcing me to have to look up to try to match his heated gaze. His warm breath comes in shorts puffs on my face, making me flush.
"You…" I swallow. "You grew…"
"Yes!" He shouts in my face. "Yes, I grew! How am I supposed to keep up with the appearance of a small, innocent high school girl if I'm taller than you, Ms. Eiffel Tower?!"
"That much… how did you… tall… grew so much…" I can feel a strange tightening in my chest as his hot breath continues to flow over me, proof that he's fuming mad.
He squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them. When he does, I can tell that he's calmer. "This is going to be harder," he says, walking over to his desk. "People will wonder how I grew so much over such a short period of time. Perhaps I can say that I take after you, my 'beloved senpai'…"
I can hear his words, but my head's spinning too much to really process them. "So… tall… the devil…" A hysterical giggle escapes my lips. "I didn't know the devil could grow…"
Mariya turns to face me again, and when he does, there's a malicious smirk dancing across his lips. "Then again, I can see some obvious advantages to this new size."
I finally start to re-join reality. "Advantages?"
"Let me demonstrate." He only needs to take a step forward to be a few feet away from me.
Reaching out his now-longer arm, he brushes the tips of his fingers against my cheek. A shiver goes down my spine, bringing a wave of hives with it, as well as an unfamiliar tingle that feels almost, almost… pleasant. His smile widens at my reaction and he gently traces his fingers along the edge of my jaw line until he reaches my chin, where he grabs me and forces my face close to his.
"Advantages such as this," he whispers, his face less than an inch away from mine. "Now it'll be all the easier to grab and devour you, Little Red Riding Hood." He runs his thumb along my lower lip, his eyelids closing halfway. "Now do you see what I mean?" His voice is low and husky in a way that I've never heard anyone sound before. It makes my heart speed up so fast I'm surprised it doesn't fly right out of my chest.
I gulp, too engulfed in his warmth and voice to even think about moving away. "I…" Before I can finish, his eyes look downwards, and he frowns. Next thing I know, he's let go of me and is back on his side of the room.
"Whatever." Mariya waves a hand in the air as if shooing away a fly. "I don't feel like playing with you right now."
He might be across the room, now facing away from me, but I can still feel his hand cupping my chin, his thumb playing with my lip… And it feels better than if I'd accidentally caught Yuzulu undressing. I glance down at my wrists. The hives are there, sure enough, so it's not really Shizu pretending to be Mariya, either.
Wait… The hives. They're not nearly as bad as before when I was touched by a man. Actually, I can barely feel them at all. And they're already getting better, even though I still have the feel of his skin on mine. I rub my wrists and jaw, almost as if I'm willing the hives to get worse. Nothing like this has ever happened before…
Dear Mother in Heaven, please save your little Kanako from the wolf that's planning to eat her, yet making her feel like this at the same time.
Warning: I am not sure where I am going with this. Romance, yes. Other than that, I'm totally blank. *-* I know some authors are all like, 'Ohhh! Plan ahead! He will do this and she will...' etc., and I'm not trying to say that's bad. Actually, that's probably better than what I do, which is write and hope something comes to me as I'm writing it out. It's all about perspective, I suppose. Just wanted to warn you guys.
And also, it seems I am getting banned from my computer at home a lot because my sister sneaks on it at night, and my mom just takes the whole frikkin computer away. -.- Anyways, the point of that is I am planning to write this story at home, then take it to library on USB flash drive(I haz no internet. ;_;), but I can't do dat if I don't haz computer. GAHHH! Time to bring out the sweet talking. XD
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sorry if some of you guys don't like reading stories with the character's having honorifics. (Ex: Mariya-mon, Sachi-san, etc.) But I watched the subbed anime(since there is no dubbed as far as I know) and I also read the manga(as far as I can, at least) and they both have honorifics, so it just comes naturally to me. I still hope you can enjoy this story, wherever it may go! ^-^
R&R! Everyone have a Merry Summer! Please do not attempt to kill me if you hate this(notice the 'attempt')! Just live with it and don't go onto the next chapter. XDXDXD