School Rumble (Broom and I)

Mei felt...slightly relieved knowing that but...she wouldn't know how relieved until she closed her eyes tonight. Even when she was sleeping with Adam, that same damn dream plagued her...his laughing...her clothes being blown off...every goddamn night it was the same thing and she hated it. "Well I suppose injured pride works in my favor but...still. I will keep in mind what is best for Turuga...not me or my mental health." Mei told as her her fist clenched in anger.
 
"...You really don't experience people like that very much, huh?" Mei murmured, glancing at her. "He's a freak of nature, that's for sure. But he's not the only one that's...like that. Turuga breeds people like that, no matter what DC will do. People who crave a fight above everything else."
 
"Those people are the ones that need to be watched carefully. Nothing wrong with people who enjoy fighting, but the ones who go too far for one...the ones that break the law just to get their fix, should be punished." Mei's voice was cold and bitter. She couldn't stop thinking about him and how much she wanted to lock him up. But...she couldn't do much right now...she did trust Jana and she did need help. She would be here herself policing Red if she had the time but...she didn't.
 
"Heh," Jana smiled. "I am one of those people, Mei." she didn't say it with any bitterness to her words, or really...anything other than a bold declaration. "Why do you think I joined the DC? I mean...yeah, this is a good way to improve myself, but secretly?" she sighed. "I wanted to see what I could get lined up against, Komoku...that crazy metal bitch Lili, those are...those are more than I have ever gotten on the streets here, and I found a purpose...something that makes me feel better than what I really am."
 
Mei was quiet for a moment as she looked at the ground while they walked. "You're not like Komoku, Jana." It was all she could really say. She wasn't even sure why they were having this conversation, she just felt...irritated. "At least you decided to fight for a good cause."
 
"Mei, stop lying to yourself," Jana murmured. "I am like Komoku, there's hundreds of kids like Komoku, the difference between Komoku and everyone else is that he doesn't give a fuck." she said, waving it off. "I spent my childhood on these streets, Mei. I didn't have parents to tell me right from wrong, I didn't have anyone to tell me anything. I just accepted whatever it was as...what I had, until I met my Master, that was it. Turuga breeds wolves, the only difference is that some of them want to be more than that. But you can't take the fangs out of a wolf, no matter what it wears over it's skin. I fight for a good cause...but that doesn't mean I forget who I am, and where I came from. That's why I gave him a second chance."
 
Mei wasn't sure what to say. Thing was, she didn't even know why Jana prided herself on something like that. However, that was just how Jana was, and for a moment, Mei wondered how she ever came to like the girl. She didn't at first. Because she thought she knew what type of person Jana was. Though the more she got to know her, the more she realized that she didn't know anything about her. She would argue further, but she didn't have the energy or patience to. She just wanted to drop this entire subject. "...How much longer do we have to go?"
 
"...Just a little longer," Jana sighed, sinking into her jacket. Yeah, that was the response she was expecting, she didn't know why she bothered opening her fat mouth. Mei was from a different world entirely, a place where you only saw what you wanted to see, not everything that you tried to ignore. But she was true to her word, at least...they came on a two story house that seemed well worn and loved, with a surprisingly large back yard with a privacy fence.

"...Well, here we are," Jana mumbled, heading up the steps. Great time to introduce her Master to someone who probably was rethinking their entire friendship.
 
There was a thick tension between the two that even Mei could sense. However, she was more used to running away from her problems rather than fixing things. Sometimes things would go over her head entirely. Mei didn't claim to be a perfect friend. Still, at least they were here and maybe they could forget this awkward conversation. She walked up the steps with Jana and then waited for her to knock on the door. She still wasn't entirely sure why Jana had invited her here, and she found herself a little nervous. She was probably meeting the closest thing to a parent that Jana had..and she wasn't sure she'd make a good impression.
 
Jana knocked lightly on the door, there wasn't an answer...but Jana knew she was inside as she nudged her head and moved to follow. The interior was...a mess, to say the least. There was a minor smell of alochol and a lived in smell that spoke of someone who probably hadn't opened their windows in a long time. Jana grimaced and sighed, moving into the living room. To be fair, it didn't seem to be a mess out of a lack of cleanliness, it just seemed to be a mess because there was so much stuff scattered around. Maps, newspaper clippings, passports settled on a nearby desk. Even a gun laid unloaded over a map of Russia. She supposed that's where she had been this time?

Still, it wasn't hard to find her. Melanie Tachibana was resting on the couch, wearing little more than a pair of panties with her hands behind her head. She was a goregous woman, miles and miles of toned, nicked skin and a pair of shapely, heavy breasts. Her tattoos were all along her arms, shoulders, and trailed down her ribs and stomach before dipping along her hip bones. Jana didn't know what to say as Mel's eyes flickered open. Despite her lazy, casual aura...her posture, even resting...was one of supreme confidence. Her gaze was sharp and unrelenting as she stared at her pupil and the girl behind her before she sat up, scratching her brown mane with a sultry smile.

"Hey, Jan...nice to see you." Her voice was husky and low, but it seemed to be her natural voice. Jana didn't know what to say before her eyes exploded in unshead, happy tears as she flung herself over her master and sobbed uncontrollably. Melanine blinked a little in surprise, hand on the back of Jana's head as she hugged her so tight, Mel thought she was going to get squeezed to death as she stared at Mei almost incredulously. The edge in her eyes was clear, however...whoever had made Jana cry would probably get fucked up in the worst way imaginable.

What in the hell had happened to her while she was gone?
 
Mei wasn't sure if she had ever seen any place so messy and dirty, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she followed Jana. The house seemed to be nice, if it wasn't for all the stuff piled around everywhere. When they finally found the woman in the living room, Mei had to avert her eyes almost instantly...she wasn't decent. This was why Mei always waited for someone to answer the door rather than barge in somewhere but...Jana probably had that relationship with her teacher. Again...it reminded her of a relationship a daughter would have with her mother, especially when Jana threw herself at the woman. Even Mei had never done such a thing with her mother, not since she was a little girl.

She could feel the woman's eyes on her when Jana began to cry. She looked into her eyes for only a moment before looking away. Jana must have still been hurting over Justin, and stupid Mei hadn't even noticed until now. She sighed softly and stood their awkwardly, not wanting to say or do anything to interrupt this moment. Maybe she was also so happy to see her master that she was crying too? But no..these were tears of hurt, not joy. At least that's what they seemed like to Mei.
 
"Hey, come on, Jan...easy," Mel said tenderly as he pulled her away. Jana sniffled heavily, wiping at her eyes.

"Um, Master...this is Mei," she decided to introduce first as Jana waved her over. "...She is...she's my best friend, and...and I'm sorry, your swords you gave me broke and..." She was a mess, she hadn't seen Mel in so long, it was so hard for everything she wanted to tell her to come out right and...and Justin, and what she and Mei just talked about, she just...she couldn't even begin to think normal.

"Jana," Mel sighed, ruffling her hair. "Go get us some tea, sweetheart. You remember where the set is, don't you?"

"Yeah..." Jana mumbled, wiping her face a moment as Mel plucked one of her blouses off the chair and slid it on. It at least covered her breasts, but left everything else exposed as she regarded Mei with the eyes of a proud mother lion. This was her 'best friend'? Hm...shy looking thing, had a nice pair of eyes on her that spoke of some serious anger issues.
 
Mei watched as Jana went off to get tea. She wanted to follow but honestly she wasn't sure what to do. Was it this awkward for Jana whenever she met her parents? Or maybe it just had to with the fact that Mel was staring at her. Not sizing her up but just..it was like she was trying to discern what type of person she was. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink before she cleared her throat. At least she was wearing a shirt now. "Hello..it's nice to meet you...Jana has mentioned you a few times and speaks highly of you." This woman reminded her of her father..she must have been really strong.
 
"I'm sure she has," Mel chuckled, sitting up properly as she leaned forward. "Come on, I don't bite unless people bite first...sorry about the mess, I'm not home too much, that might change, though...especially if Jana is acting like this." she murmured. "So...you must be who they assigned her with when she got onto DC? How's that going for her?" she asked.
 
"Well..actually she assigned herself to me. It's going well..even after everything that happened. She's working hard to help me restore order with Central and the Disciplinary Committee. I would probably be lost without her," Mei admitted. It was true...she doubted without Jana's help she'd be able to bring together so many volunteers. She would have never thought to ask anyone from red to help at all.
 
"She always did like problems," Mel sighed faintly, propping her feet up on her coffee table with a curl of her toes. "Didn't figure someone like you would would associate with gutter trash like us, you got the look in your eye of a rich girl...Blue?" she guessed idly, grinning in amusement. "You look like you're trying to hide the urge to vomit, kid." That was Jana for you, she always found the weirdest people to get along with, but 'best friend'? That was a new one. A good thing, definitely...but not the kind of person she was expecting.
 
Mei grimaced, trying to find the proper words to say. This woman was intimidating in her own way. "To be perfectly honest, ma'am..before I met Jana I didn't want to associate myself with anyone. Not my fellow students at Blue, nor my fellow students at Central. For a long time I thought I was too good for anyone, and also I felt like I wasn't good enough at the same time. Jana changed that about me and that's why she is my best friend. It doesn't matter where she's from, and I certainly don't view her as trash." She wondered if that was a little too much, but she couldn't stop the words from coming out. Mei really loved Jana and viewed her as her best friend too.
 
"Well, I see Jana chose properly," she purred in satisfaction. "I'm surprised...in a good way." she said, as Jana returned with what appeared to be a priceless tea-set of Japanese origin and settled it down carefully. Who knew Jana knew how to brew tea? Jana glanced at the two of them curiously a moment before pouring Mel her cup, then Mei, then herself as she sat back. She was quiet, more quiet than usual.

"So, you lost the weapons I gave you, hm?" Mel mused, sipping his tea.

"No, I..." Jana mumbled, glancing down into the cup a moment. "...No, I didn't lose them, I...lost a fight. She could bend metal, Master. I couldn't do anything about it. If I was a better student, I would have seen it coming, but...now I have nothing, and I need something to help Mei, I'll do anything to regain your trust."

Mel arched an amused brow at that, but glaced at Mei. "...Do you like the tea?" she asked. "Green Tea, nothing special...but I like to brew it myself. I got into Tea ceremony when I spent some time in Japan, thank me for not trying to do that shit in here." she chuckled. Jana felt completely embarrassed, sipping her tea in modest silence. That was it? She...she had failed and that was her reply?
 
Mei had chosen to keep silent when Jana had returned, but she was relieved that Jana's Master seem to accept her. She was still nervous, so she didn't really go to drink her tea right away. She just listened to them go back and forth a bit. She was surprised when the woman actually looked at her instead of answering Jana, and asked if she liked the tea. Mei immediately picked it up and blew on it. It was a habit, but Mei actually looked like she knew the proper way to drink tea....because she had been taught those ceremonies herself. "The tea is good. My mother is from Japan, so she made me learn a lot about our culture when I was a little girl, including tea ceremony."
 
"It's a pain in the ass," Mel chuckled. "So many things to remember, but it's relaxing, you know? A nice, easy repetition...whose your mother?" she asked, while Jana silently fumed. Why...why was she being ignored? What did she do!?
 
Mei could feel that Jana was upset, and she felt bad for stealing the spotlight and making it about her. She should have just said she liked the stupid tea. "Megumi Akira Wolfe." She answered, not really going further into the conversation. She knew Jana was still waiting for an answer to her own question.
 
"No kidding? You're Megumi's kid?" Mel blinked in surprise, okay...that knocked Jana out of her upset mood and right into immense confusion. "...You...know Mei's mother, Master?"

"Are you kidding?" she grinned. "Megumi? God, she was amazing when she was younger, there wasn't a person in Turuga that could even touch her. She drew that sword of hers and woosh, done. Everyone was just done. She was incredible, beyond incredible. Then she met that dull rock of her husband, wasted so much potential..." This...conversation went from weird to fucking weird in half a second, and Jana just gave Mel a vacant stare before glancing at Mei. That...that couldn't be right, could it?
 
Mei was genuinely surprised. She knew her mother had been strong..back before she was born. Then she sort of...just stopped fighting other than the occasional spar with Alaric. "Umm.." Mei shrugged at Jana and then looked back at the woman. "Are you...Mel Tachibana?" A name that her mother constantly threw out when recanting stories of her prime. It was always "Mel and I" this and "Mel and I" did that. Mei had always blocked it out, but if she could recall her own name had something to do with her mother's best friend. Mei and Mel did seem similar, even though Mel was likely a shortened form of her real name. Still, this was..awkward.
 
"You bet," Mel grinned. "I was her girlfriend for the longest time, then she met that dud of a father of yours," she sighed. "Oh well, young love, right?" she said, leaning back to recline. "No wonder I like you, Mei...you got the same look that your mother had," she smirked. "Your Mom...she's a lion, don't ever think of her otherwise. There used to be a time when Megumi's name alone would meant more than the DC's ever did. That always pissed off Pitor," she smirked. "God, she was the hottest fucking thing back then...I should go visit, say hi. It's been forever."

Jana tried not to think about that, for once...that was somewhere she wasn't sure she wanted to think. Mel was literally her mother in every sense of the word, and...well...you didn't think about your Mom like that.
 
The sound of a tea cup clattering on it's saucer was heard after it was revealed that Mel was Megumi's ex girlfriend. Mei had a completely horrified look on her face. As if she truly...wanted to know anything like that about her mother. They were...ex lovers? She shuddered and the put the tea cup down and looked away. What the hell..she could have gone her entire life without knowing that. She would have been fine. She would have been more than fine.

"...she doesn't...ever get visitors...so maybe...she'd like that." Mei said slowly, though she wasn't sure if she could ever get over what she just heard.
 
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