Ohiyo everyone! After a burst of inspiration, I finally got chapter nine up!

I'd just like to thank you all for your reviews, and also to Karl Starhl: Whoops! I didn't realise they said the Angels name instead of the persons! Thanks for telling me.

Incidentally, I'm glad everyone liked Chosachi and Shirushi (I can't believe how many times I spelt her name wrong last chapter...)

Anyway, enjoy!

The scissors glinted in the sunny bathroom, making silver darts as Rin snipped and snipped, large tufts of over-dyed hair falling into the sink like feathers,
the sound of the blades clicking together and the drip of the faucet oddly relaxing. Rin stifled a slightly manic giggle as she pulled up clumps of her hair, feeling a strange notion of release as she severed it.

After she had finished, Rin put the scissors down, a few strands of black hair stuck to the metal blades. Straightening up, Rin caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.

Her hair looked a real mess. The bangs that usually hung in front of her ears fell to her chest, and were much longer then the rest of her hair. Her fringe was sticking to her forehead with sweat. And the back was short and raggedy-looking, sticking up somewhat at the back, although Rin's hair was so thick that there was still enough to reach the base of her neck, the strands rough and uneven. Rin ran a hand through it, surprised at the softness of it.

She smiled as she drank it all in.

Strands of ebony hair stuck to her cheeks and were scattered on her chest and shoulders. Rin brushed them off with a sweep of her hand, her nails looking chipped and bitten.

Rin returned her attention to her reflection. The bathroom mirror was slightly clouded with steam, but it was fairly big, and Rin begin looking herself over, not just at her hair but also the rest of her.

Pale limbs. Short-ish forearms, slightly fleshy upperarms. High cheekbones.

Rin twisted to the side, looking at herself from different angles, suddenly finding herself fascinated by her own body.

Perky boobs, she noted, feeling rather pleased with that observation. Chalky legs. Narrow waist. Ass like an apple- small, round and hard. Pointy elbows. Rin poked at her not-completely-flat stomach.

Blowing her fringe out of her face, Rin remembered when she was little, she used to have hair the colour of cocoa, like Yukiko's. But when she was about nine, Rin's hair had gradually turned black.
Rin had thought when she first noticed this that Kura would be disappointed- She often liked to run her fingers through Rin's hair, watching it shine in the light.

Kura didn't seem pleased, that was certain, but it was more...wistful, then anything else. Sometimes Rin caught Kura staring at her with an oddly sad expression. As she got older, Rin figured it must have something to do with her dad. With her hair, she looked more like him then ever.

Kura used to joke that Rin's tastes changed along with her hair. That was when Rin had starting changing, becoming more like a pre-teen and less like a child.

Rin remembered going through a stage when she was about twelve where she wore nothing but black, and kept buying cheap, metallic jewellery and buying band T-shirts she'd never even heard of. A twelve-year-old Goth.

Rin snorted with disdain at the memory. She stared almost absently at her face in the mirror as her mind shifted back to more recently- Back when all she ever seemed to do was change her hair, whether it was colour, style or length, and argue with Kura.
That was when Rin had grown bitchy and sarcastic, whereas Kura became defensive and irritable. Yukiko, who always seemed to be stuck in the middle of it, began acting whiny and demanding. Rin's eyes glazed over a little as she remembered when she was a happy, cocoa-haired child, before she had become moody and awkward and cold.

Rin leered at her reflection now, her eyes becoming green slits. She twisted this was and that, her head swimming with the memories of when she was younger, of her alien, teenaged body, thinking of how she had changed. How everything had changed.

Of how much she hated it.

When Rin finally came downstairs, with loud, galloping steps, Kata was surprised.

"Rin! What have you done with your hair?"

"I felt like it." shrugged Rin, pulling open the fridge door. Finding a bunch of cheese-slices, Rin took them out, then returned to the living room and flopping down on the sofa, popping the slice of cheese into her mouth.
Yukiko was parked in front of Kata's silver TV, staring at a singer of some kind, apparently absorbed in it. Occasionally she'd giggle or repeat what someone said.

Rin was wondering vaguely if Yukiko's hair would change colour when she got older when she suddenly remembered that there was another set of matches on tomorrow.

"Ooh! It's Ringo Seto!" squealed Yukiko in excitement, as the previous singer exited the stage.

She had also seemed surprised at Rin's new hair, but had gotten over it pretty quickly. She was used to Rin popping up with a completely different look, and the TV was much more interesting, apparently.

"I don't know why you like that stupid bimbo." Rin snorted, wondering whether she should leave the room. But she'd just got comfy, so she stayed where she was.

"She's not stupid!" protested Yukiko indignantly, her ponytail bobbing as she talked, "She's one of the bestest singers ever!"
"Bestest isn't a word." Rin reminded Yukiko, stretching out her foot and poking Yukiko in the forehead with her toe, "And I bet she just lip-synchs."

Yukiko pouted. Then she suddenly thought of something, because she said proudly,

"She IS too a good singer! And she plays Angelic Layer!"

Rin raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, so? How does that affect the fact she's a showboating, lip-synching bimboid?"

"You play Angelic Layer." summed up Yukiko, somewhat redundantly, in Rin's opinion. Rin rolled her eyes, then leant forwards, sticking her index finger up to demonstrate her point.

"Okay, number ONE- I don't play Angelic Layer because I like it, I play because it's a matter of pride and I still owe somebody a favour, and number TWO- Just because Ringo Bimboid plays it too doesn't mean she's NOT a stupid Barbie-doll. I mean, is she even any good?"

"Yes, she is!" Yukiko piped up, almost falling off the red cushion she was sat on. Rin just shook her head, giving Yukiko's forehead a poke. Yukiko clutched it.

"Hey, hey, if you're going to fight, go do it outside." Kata said, smiling, as she drifted into the living room, looking breezy and elegant, as usual. "Anyway, if either of you want some, dinner's ready."

"What is it?" Rin asked immediately, her eyebrows going up with suspicion. Kata's smile grew playful.

"Oh, just some zucchini with ricotta cheese, maybe with some asparagus and chopped mushrooms-"

"Yay!" giggled Yukiko, springing up towards the kitchen.

"Eww." groaned Rin.

The next day, Rin left the house with a half-hearted, "See ya." before JUST managing to catch the bus. She had discovered a bus that wasn't too far from Kata's place that went to rather odd places around the City, one of them being the Arena.

Rin wasn't going to go, but she had found out after searching a list on the Internet that both Shirushi and Leiko Jubi's friend Sorako had a fight on today. Rin wanted to see them in action.

Entering through the automatic doors, Rin immediately began scanning the area for Shirushi. Checking Iolanthe was safetly inside, Rin hoisted her small bronze bag onto her back before heading off to go look for Shirushi.

A few people glanced at her as they walked past: Today, it was a sleeveless blue jacket, bright cherry-coloured vest top and neon green armbands. Plus, camouflage khakis and white-and-blue trainers.

Rin had to admit- Living with aunt Kata meant Rin had a limitless supply of weird clothes, since she and Kata were close in size. Rin had also shoved on a beige baseball-cap with a huge, jewelled butterfly on it. A ribbon was tied around her wrist.

Rin had just exited the canteen-like area and bought herself a couple of slices of pizza, when a voice called out, as Rin swallowed her first slice,

"You know, Furishineh, there's this wonderful invention called a mirror-"
Rin turned to see the sight of Kado Yatsukoji, who had his hands shoved in the pockets of his black pants and wearing an amused expression, looking scruffy and cute. Rin didn't seem to think so as tilted her chin up and sneered,

"Have you been hanging around Leiko Jubi too much, loser? 'Cuz that's the kind of cliché' I'd expect her to choke out."
"Speaking of Leiko Jubi, thanks for adding that extra entertainment before the match. It's not often people have cat-fights in Angelic Layer."

"Yeah, bet it's the biggest disappointment of your life, missing that. I bet you lie awake every night thinking about it." Rin smirked, her mouth twitching suggestively.

But secretly, she was getting pretty pissed off. It was Kado, after all, who told her Leiko was going to cheat, then he criticises her for getting annoyed over it?

"Been wondering what I do at night, hm? Well, I guess even you must have more then just one mood setting all the time."
Rin's left fist clenched, since her right one was still holding her second pizza slice.

"What's IS it with you, anyway?" Rin suddenly burst out, wanting very much to punch Kado in the jaw. "Why do you keep following me around all the time?! What's it to you if Leiko was gonna cheat? Why do you care about how I dress?"

Kado stared at Rin in a patronising way, and glared back, trying to will him to stop being such a condescending prick and answer her goddamn question, when Kado replied, scathingly,

"Maybe you're just fun to piss off."

That pretty much did it. Rin, without thinking about it, suddenly lunged forward, grabbed Kado by the upper arm and smashed her pizza into his face, managing to grind it in a bit before he managed to shove her off.

"It's a good look for you, asshole." Rin yelled, before wheeling around and storming off, feeling like her knuckles would burst out of her skin if she didn't release her hold on them.

"Man." a voice said, and Kado turned to see his friends heading up to him, the speaker wearing a half-amused, half-exasperated expression. "Did Furishineh do that?"

"Yeah, she did." replied Kado casually, picking a slice of pepperoni off his cheek and popping it into his mouth. His friend let out a low whistle.

"I told you." he said, shaking his head. "That chick's crazy."
"Yeah, Kado, Arata’s got a point.” Put in a second boy, looking at the upside-down pizza slice on the floor. “Why do you like her? I mean, alright, she’s not bad looking, but she dresses like she raided a costume store. And she’s a complete psycho!”

Kado grinned.

“Yeah, I guess.”

He glanced down the corridor where Rin had departed.

“But she has a fantastic ass.”

“Shirushi!”
“Hello, Rin. You look awfully flushed.”
“Long story.” Rin shrugged. Shirushi nodded, and didn’t ask any further.

Rin smiled to herself as she followed Shirushi into the waiting room. This was something she liked about Shirushi- She didn’t get all up in your face, asking too many questions. She’d let you talk when you felt like it.

Shirushi, by contrast to Rin, had a similar outfit she had one yesterday- A white, button-up shirt, stylish black jacket over it and a short skirt, plus dark leggings and pointy boots. Rin’s eyes flicked over Shirushi, conceding that she looked like a twenty-something model who just happened to have come into the Arena, except for a small blonde head poking out of Shirushi's jacket pocket.

Rin had been a little disgruntled to learn she had missed Sorako's fight (she blamed that prick Kado Yatsukoji) and that Sorako had won. But Shirushi had pointed out that apparently Leiko had pretty much bullied Aimi into playing Angelic Layer, but Sorako had actually been playing for a while, and had been the one to introduce it to Leiko.

"Who’re you up against, anyway?” Rin asked casually, flopping onto one of the squashy yellow seats and staring up at Shirushi.

“His name is Makoto Kukenime.” Replied Shirushi. “His angel is named Rafe, apparently.”
“That’s a weird name.” Rin muttered, tossing her head to get her fringe out of her face. Shirushi looked over at Rin.

“You cut your hair, I see.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Rin had forgotten her DIY hair-treatment. She fingered on of her bangs self-consciously, but Shirushi’s gaze seemed merely interested then confused or scornful.

“I like the length.” Shirushi suddenly said, surprising Rin. “It makes your cheekbones stand out.”
“Thanks.” Rin replied, feeling pleased with herself. Then the speakers suddenly came to life.
“Could Makoto Kukenime and Shirushi Watakonabe pleased enter the stage!”

“Well, kick some ass for me.” Rin called to Shirushi as the people in the waiting room filed out. Shirushi just smiled her mysterious smile.

"I will."

I know, I know, I've done it again! I ended the chapter before writing a fight! I didn't mean to, but I just seem to find it easier to section them off. Oh well!

Just as a note, Makoto's last name is pronounced Kook-eh-nee-meh. I wonder if you can guess who he is? (Prolly not, since my hints aren't that good.)

Anyway, I'll be back...with the next chapter!