Disclaimer: I do not own. Yes.

Warnings: AU, possible OOC-ness, general insanity, 'fangirling'.

A/N: Well, nothing too amazing here, to be honest. Stuff happens and the characters act a little odd, while Karin loses her mind… or something. The Kirika-thing gets thrown around in this story (so yes, spoilers if you haven't read the entire series). And characters from chu/the sequel run around as well.

CarolzofBellz, fallenxfate, Kountry101, Nakima-chan and Tears like Crystals: Much thanks and hopefully you'll enjoy future chapters, yeah? (And no, I'm still not telling you what the pairings will be. Just, uh... assume what you will) XD

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Collision

Chapter 02

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"My name's Nishikiori Michiru," he seemed to want to offer her a hand with the introduction, but could not in his current position, "Nice to meet you."

A moment of quick analysis and she felt more than willing to give a reply (he had only come to stop the fighting, after all), "Hanazono Karin."

Even as she said that, a part of her mind took in the fact that he held a slight accent; not one blatantly obvious, but still there, at the ends of his words when he spoke. Although that might not have had him stand out in a crowd of students, his eyes were definitely something to remember – mismatching shades of violet and azure. Is that natural…?

"Karin-chan," Himeka had stepped away from the bed and currently clung onto the disgruntled blonde's arm, "this is my cousin, Kujyou Kazune."

Her eyes fell on him, and something seemed to click in her mind and she leapt up from her seated position to point an accusatory finger at Kazune. "You're that chauvinistic brat from the gate!"

The blonde raised an eyebrow, as if the statement meant nothing to him. "And you're that loud, violent girl," he replied calmly.

Karin's arm twitched and she curled her hand into a fist. He still sported the bruise she had just given him less than an hour before – there, on the right side of his face – and she wondered if it was really alright to want to hit him again right in front of her new dorm mate: his cousin.

It wouldn't leave a good first impression, she was certain of that.

For a moment, Karin struggled with herself, but managed to fight back the urge of inflicting more violence; they were students here, so there was always a chance somewhere in the shadows.

Yes. She would punch him later.

"Thanks for the description," she huffed, arms crossed, "but that's a little rude, don't you think?"

Kazune didn't even bother to look in her direction and shrugged, while Himeka glanced between the two of them, confusion evident on her face. Michiru and the other boy watched on as well; more amused than anything else as Karin silently fumed at the blonde's attitude.

"Well, I was wondering where you'd received that nice-looking bruise," the black-haired boy smirked as he brushed Michiru off him – it seemed to take a bit of effort, but since the fighting had been stopped, there was no more threat – and then turned to Karin.

As soon as she caught sight of his face, there was no need for an introduction, as Karin all but shrieked – only to later berate herself for sounding so squeal-y and… fangirlish – "You're Kuga Jin!"

"Ah, so you know me already," he seemed amused by her reaction and, without warning, stepped up before her and took her hand. "I feel so honoured."

Kazune snorted, "Yeah, right. Like no girl has heard of the famous teen idol Jin before. And it isn't like you don't flaunt that position in class, or lunch, or when you're just freaking walking around campus…"

"Kazune-chan," Himeka said, and he cut his rant short.

Jin didn't seem to hear what the blonde had just said, and Karin's mind only registered it happening; the words made no sense to her. She seemed to be caught up in some sort of sparkly land that didn't seem real at all.

Jin… the idol Jin! Wait, he goes to this school? Since when?

"Nice to meet you, Karin."

Karin snapped out of her daze, in time to realise he had just kissed her hand and her face burned – at the attention? The fact it was Jin? Because he had just called her by her given name? Or just because another boy had just… just… - mouth opening and closing, though no sound came out.

"Ah, now look what you've done, Jin-kun," Michiru chuckled as he gave the idol a pat on the head, "You've completely charmed poor Hanazono-san, not giving any other boy a chance to win her heart."

Although she knew that there were still people in the room, Karin's mind had flown off elsewhere, as if to try and make sense out of what had just happened. Kazune merely look disgusted while Himeka seemed far too used to the situation, while Jin kept a hold of her hand and Michiru had decided to continue to ruffle Jin's hair, as if bored.

"Not like you have any problem with girls and boys swooning over you," Jin retorted calmly as he shot a sideways glance. "Someone will eventually take advantage of you if you keep up the insanely innocent act. And don't mess up my hair."

Michiru didn't look the least surprised when Jin's free hand shot up to catch his own to prevent further hair-ruffling. "Whatever are you talking about? I don't have 'girls and boys swooning over me', the last time I checked."

"That's because you're too thick to see it as it is."

"And you're both going to argue that case for hours if we allow it," Kazune growled out, "so I think I'll be going now. Don't forget tonight; my room, seven-thirty, Nishikiori. Sakurai might have the patience of a saint, but I want this project done as soon as possible."

Without waiting for an affirmative reply, the blonde spun around and stomped out of the room. The door slammed shut as Himeka waved his back goodbye.

"Pft, Kujyou has screaming girls after him all the time. What was with that response?" Jin huffed, before he turned back to the still-shocked Karin. "I'm hoping that we'll get a chance to know each other during the year, Karin. Wouldn't you agree?"

Karin struggled against her mind – oh my god oh my god oh my god this can't be happening – and managed to stammer a response, "Y-y-yeah…"

With a smile, the idol finally let go of her hand and stepped back as she continued to gape at him. Her attention was drawn back, however, when Michiru held out his own hand to shake hers.

"If you ever need any help getting anywhere or just want someone to talk to, I'm always around as well, okay?"

The obvious sincerity in his voice made Karin smile. "Sure."

As soon as the two left – with a quiet click from the door – Karin turned back to Himeka, who had taken a seat on her own bed.

"Are… are they…" she swallowed, "Are they always like that?"

"Oh, yes, but you get used to it. It's kind of funny, because Kazune-chan and Jin-kun don't get along and always compete. At least, when it comes to grades," Himeka pulled at a stuffed bunny that had been sitting by her side and squeezed it, "Socially, they're complete opposites."

Karin huffed, "I'll say."

Personal experience had shown Kazune to be completely socially retarded – it was only her view of their encounter, but she didn't care that it was completely biased – and Jin… well, he was an idol and got along very well with his fans. And from what she had just witnessed firsthand…

Her face burned once again and she was sure that her heart fluttered at the memory. No, not good. Stop thinking about that. Stop it now, Karin!

"Nishikiori-kun seems nice as well," Karin said, in an attempt to get her mind to focus on something else.

"Oh yes, he's a lot of fun to hang around with. Although a good part of the time he has his hands full making sure that Kazune-chan and Jin-kun don't end up killing each other," Himeka frowned at the thought, but seemed to shake it away easily as she continued, "And you'll meet Sakurai-kun during class as well, I'm sure; he's Kazune-chan's dorm mate this year."

Karin inclined her head, "Eeh… so that means…"

"Yes. Michiru-kun and Jin-kun share a room. But enough of that," the dark-haired girl scooted back so that she could lean against the wall, still looking at Karin, "What were you and Kazune-chan talking about before?"

Focusing her gaze on the window, Karin laughed nervously; it was a topic she didn't feel ready to talk about. "Ahaha… no, it's nothing, really. We just didn't agree on something, that's all." And all she had asked was for directions.

She heard Himeka shift on her bed. "Ah, well, Kazune-chan is like that to everyone, so you shouldn't let it bother you too much."

"Yeah, well," she huffed indignantly, "I don't think it's really polite to be rude to a complete stranger when all they're asking is for some help."

As Himeka contemplated what she had just said, Karin turned to her suitcase and snapped it open. It seemed that most of her possessions had already been sent in – the desk on her side of the room already held her books – and the rest, she suspected, would end up as mail when her aunt dug them out of her room.

Karin tilted the photo in her hands and sighed, a slight wave of homesickness pooling in the pit of her stomach. In reality, she was ecstatic at the chance of going to such a prestigious boarding school – who wouldn't be? – but it also meant moving away from where she had been brought up, as well as the resting place of her pet.

Shi-chan. The cat had been with her for as long as she could remember, and the sudden passing had happened only a month before she had received the acceptance letter and had to move. In all honesty, Karin suspected that her aunt had wanted her out of the house as soon as possible; it wasn't like she was much use in the house, and her grades seemed to go from good to bad to worse…

Which lead, naturally, to the question: how had Karin managed to get into such a school halfway through the first semester?

In answer to such a question: she really didn't know.

To her, it seemed to be a gift from the gods. In between her mourning for her poor grades and, later, the death of the only creature who loved her unconditionally, Karin couldn't even remember when she had taken the exam to transfer, if she had at all.

Perhaps, she reasoned, it was the meddling of aliens, if the god-theory was proven wrong. Either they wanted to make fun of her, or had really given her a chance to start again, but it didn't matter for now. Now she had to focus on not making a fool of herself in front of a whole school.

Karin already felt nauseous.

As she pounded angrily at her pillow, there was a light rap on the door and Himeka moved to open it. When the brunette glanced back up, the worry of her reputation was thrown out the window; the ability to breathe gone for the second time that day (and in less than half an hour).

"Ah, you must be Hanazono-san," the guest smiled and offered a hand in greeting, "I'm Karasuma Kirika, a tenth grader. I supervise the dorms with a couple of other older students and my brother, Kirio. Nice to meet you."

As her mind went into overdrive, Karin accepted the hand and shook it, only to realise that she had been staring at Kirika without actually saying anything. She screamed at herself to pull it together and managed to find her voice.

"I'm Hanazono Karin. Nice to meet you, Karasuma-senpai."

"Oh, you don't need to be so formal, you know," Kirika smiled, "and remember if you have any problems, you can always talk to me or the other supervisors, who I'm sure you'll get to know soon enough."

Karin watched as he turned to face Himeka, "By the way, did I just hear Kujyou-kun and Kuga-kun fighting in your room again?"

"Yes, but Michiru-kun managed to break that up before they began disturbing the others."

"Still, I wish they'd keep to their side of the building, rather than running off and disturbing the rest of us." With a sigh, Kirika waved them goodbye, "I need to check up on my brother, so I'll be going now."

Once the door closed and Himeka had made her way back to her bed, Karin could only splutter incoherently for a moment and – turning red as the confused look her dorm mate was sending her – finally managed the question that had stuck itself in the back of her mind.

"A-a-a-are they all like this?"

"All like what?" The blank look on Himeka's face made Karin want to shake her; how could she be so used to it all?

"Just… so… kind and friendly-like," not counting Kazune, she corrected herself, "and why is Jin here?"

This merely resulted in a smile with the reply, "Well, I don't know what you mean by 'kind and friendly-like' exactly, as everyone is just like that. As for Jin-kun, he has to go to school somewhere, right?"

Happy with her answer, Himeka moved so that she could start her homework – Karin assumed so, in any case – while the brunette felt like hitting her head against the wall as long as she could until she blacked out.

Glad that she had arrived during the weekend, Karin couldn't help but fear what the future would bring to her in a new school. She was away from everything she had grown up with and had to start anew.

She decided to ask Himeka where the bathroom was located, just in case.