Description: Enjoying a lunch outside, Karin encounters Shinobu for the first time. The savant fighter's own brand of wackiness meets Karin's pompous bourgeoise nature head to head. The result? Dare I say, hilarity ensues, and Karin goes home with a terrific headache.
Ah, the refreshing atmosphere of Seijyun Girls' Academy. Even with classes out for the summer, the boarding school policy (and the fact that many students, like Zaki, simply have nowhere else to go as their parents are overseas) means that there's still plenty to do on campus until the beginning of the fall semester. That said, the watchful eye of the faculty-in-residence is keeping things from becoming too 'Animal House'.
It is in this pastoral setting that we find one Miss Karin Kanzuki, currently sitting on a bench in the courtyard and flipping through a book whilst eating some rice cakes. Pretty mundane activity, but with all the running around she's had to do lately -- especially to Taiyo High -- the breather is a good respite.
Her portly butler Ishizaki, whose job is currently to stand there and hold the tray of rice cakes and bottled water for Karin's consumption, is probably wishing he'd decided to go to college after all.
And, in stark contrast to Karin's sensible respectability is... Shinobu. She comes charging out of a small set of bushes suddenly, apparently on a mad dash of one sort or another. And that puts her directly on a crash course with Ishizaki. But then, what is a butler for, if not random slapstick. Time slows out a bit as she moves in midair, a shocked look in her face, knowing there's little she can do at some point.
While we're awaiting a moment of pain, how about a little background? She's not exactly the class clown - that would imply some deliberately humorous quality to her actions - Shinobu Ootsuka definitely falls under the category of 'why hasn't she been thrown out yet?'. Living on the razor's edge of school discipline, she definitely makes the teaching staff work for their money. Even more troubling about her troublemaking is that she doesn't /seem/ the troublemaker - things just seem to end up that way around her!
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled disaster.
No matter what complaints are ever made about Shinobu, never let a single one be about her comic timing. Shortly before the collision (which we will soon cover in slow-motion Kanzukivision[tm]), Karin had just taken another rice cake and was about to bite into it. "Ishizaki, is a platter of onigiri really the best you could do on short notice? Honestly." She takes a bite as Shinobu draws ever nearer.
5 seconds to impact: "I mean, when you cooked for Sakura..." Karin asks...
4 seconds to impact: "You came up with tacos, soup..." she continues...
3 second to impact: "I'm sorry, Miss Karin, but..." Ishizaki attempts to defend himself.
2 seconds to impact: Karin sighs, closing her eyes and taking another bite. "At least for your sake they're *good* onigiri, but I expect better next time."
1 second to impact: Sighing, Ishizaki bows his head, preparing to leave with the empty tray. "Yes, Miss Karin."
And then he turns. *BAM*.
There's a brief pause, before Karin, eyes still shut, asks: "Ishizaki? Leave the water." There's a pause, and getting no response, she opens her eyes and looks around for her butler. "Ishizaki? Ish... oh."
Shinobu winces, sitting up as she rubs up her. "Atatatata...", she mumbles, and then notices who she's sitting up. She springs up, looking back and forth with wide eyes as if to say 'How'd I get on the ground?' As her mind puts the pieces together, she says down to Ishizaki. "Man, you shouldn't just stand there like that...", as if it's somehow his fault. She looks to the spilled rice cakes for a long moment.
Ironically, she doesn't even seem to have noticed Karin as she looks back and forth, apparently still trying to get some of those bearings other people have. As for manners? Apparently not included on this model of Shinobu.
Sighing with the patience of the long-suffering employer of the lower castes, Karin gingerly puts down her book and her rice cake, then gets up and walks over to the tangle of people and food, looking down at it with a grim expression. "Honestly, I have never seen such a ridiculous display of gross incompetence, clumsiness, and overall stupidity in all my life, and I've spent most of the week at bloody Taiyo High School." Good thing Benimaru isn't here to hear that. She glances down at the figures on the ground. "Well? Don't you have anything you want to SAY?"
Ishizaki, for his part, actually looks ridiculously hopeful, cheered beyond belief that Karin is actually standing up for him when it's clearly not his fault, and he wears that expression right up to the words "Ishizaki! Apologize to that young woman!"
Shinobu slowly turns to Karin as she finishes the diatribe. She cocks her head a little, as if trying to make sense of some something puzzling before her. And then, she finally does have something to say for herself. "Eh? What did you just say?", she asks, apparently only having tuned in around the time of 'bloody', 'well', and 'say', and not exactly having the best reception even then.
But as Karin berates Ishiyaki, Shinobu does actually seem to have her attention front and center at this point. She frowns a little, and the forces a smile, waving a hand. "That's okay, that's okay! It's all good.", she says with forced politeness, but clearly a little bothered.
Karin's laser glare shifts a few centimeters to Shinobu for a moment, before she hmphs and crosses her arms over her chest. "If you don't keep employees in line they'll walk all over you. First rule of good administration." Which is to say that Karin rules the zaibatsu like a third world dictator. "Still, since nobody seems to be grievously injured I suppose I can overlook it this once." Which is to say, Ishizaki won't be dipped in boiling oil when he gets back to the manor.
For his part, Ishizaki looks truly sorry and he bows before Shinobu as he gets up, recovering his things. "Uh, sorry, Miss," he finishes, bowing a couple more times and then getting himself out of the shot.
Watching him go, Karin sighs. "He's so useful. If only he weren't such an uproarious clod. It's like being trapped in an old British sitcom." A beat, and then she turns back to Shinobu. "...have we met?"
Shinobu says, "Employees?", waving goodbye to Ishizaki, scratching her cheek. Her eyes widen. "Oh! You're a teacher? I didn't think you looked that old, but maybe...", she says, trailing off as she ponders that. After all, why would a student need employees? No reason, obviously! Then, the matter of Karin's query gets addressed. "Karin Kanzuki, age 17, blood type B..." Another hint of the gears turning over in her head, and then she replies plaintly, "Nope." How does she know blood type? Ignorance is bliss. Or, at least, less worrisome.
She furrows her brow, though, an older train of thought still chugging along in her head. "You really shouldn't talk about him like that.", she states mildly, more like she's making an observation than an outright judgementl.
...oh, that's bad. Karin seemed about to question the blood type thing when she's interrupted by that last part, and her expression darkens. Return fire! "I shall treat my employees however I wish!" she snaps. "Ishizaki is a grown man. He's welcome to seek alternative employment any time he wishes, but he hasn't for many years... primarily because serving the great Kanzuki family is an honor people twice his station can only dream of."
Flipping a few golden ringlets over her shoulder, Karin closes her eyes and regains her typical expression of distant bemusement. "That aside, I am no teacher... and while I am curious as to someone I don't recognize knows my blood type, I can only surmise that it is the great fame of Karin Kanzuki that brings you such stalker-esque knowledge of my inner workings."
Flashback to one of Shinobu's many visits to the nursing office. A glance at a ledger. Facts left behind and jumbled up. But not actually forgotten. They then proceed to bounce around in her head aimlessly for a year. Until now. Truth is, not even Shinobu knows how. But then, she isn't wondering.
She frowns a little, looking away. "That's still not right.", she protests softly, and then looks up to Karin, her frown fading. Then, her jaw hangs open as she jabs a finger towards Karin Kanzuki suddenly. "Ehhhhh?! You're famous?!", she says, as if amazed by that. She folds her arms, looking up as if trying to scour her brain. A famous cook? Maybe she's an idol singer? Or an elite gangster! Raising her hands, she looks suddenly panicked, but then totally switches gears as she discards the notion, giggling nervously and rubbing behind her head.
[OOC] Karin says, "You are crazy. It's a fun crazy. But crazy."
[OOC] Shinobu laughs. "I try. Thanks."
Any righteous indignation or suspicion Karin had has been completely erased by Shinobu's absolutely, X-Files-esque inexplicable behavior. "You didn't... hit your head or anything, did you?" she asks after an extended pause, and with at least some amount of genuine concern. "No matter. I am the great Karin Kanzuki, heir to the worldwide Kanzuki zaibatsu and general mover/shaker," she explains, in the same tone people reserve for "Yes, the sky is blue".
First, Shinobu's oft-clueless expression. Second, a faint nod of faint understanding, Third, she puts up a fist, and declares. "I'm the strongest fighter in the world!..." She giggles and adds, "... is what they're gonna say about me some day." Mind, she hasn't actually used her name in her introduction. She folds her arms behind her head, smiling. "Maybe you could sponsor me! I need an in-fight cook...", she says dreamily, her gaze drifting away from Karin.
Oh, well. No, she didn't hit her head; rather, she's just a lunatic. "I'm sure you will be," Karin condescends. She stretches, giving Shinobu the once-over briefly... while she might not look it, Karin's powers of evaluation when it comes to fighters are actually fairly decent. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to notice that: "You certainly don't look like a fighter, however... of course, neither did that ridiculous fop I ran into yesterday, and he put a passable effort..."
Shinobu wrinkles her nose, looking huffy, "Well, what do you know?", she hmphs out, and then narrows her eyes a little. She then shakes her head, starting to turn around and walk away, though - oddly enough - it doesn't seem to be a snit. It's just more like her attention just got switched to 'off', and she's looking for the next butterfly to chase. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Karin just... *eyes* Shinobu walking away with an expression of bewilderment. Congratulations! You've managed to make Karin Kanzuki completely speechless! Even if it doesn't last long. "This is all that Kazama girl's fault, I'm sure," she mutters to herself. "She shows up here and suddenly the campus is full of lunatics." Knitting her brow and trying desperately, in a 'if it weren't for my horse' sort of way, to figure out what the heck just happened as she retrieves her book and sits down on the bench again.
Log created by Karin, and last modified on 03:31:28 08/14/2005.