As Simple As Cloud Watching

Haggis took in a deep breath, savoring the smell of the fresh field air. His nose detected a plethora of scents from all around him. Sweet hay from the stables. Herbs from the garden. He could just detect the scent of cool, salty ocean air from the ocean that surrounded Lillegard Castle. All of the wonderful scents made his tail twitch and his mouth water. The mere prospect of such things made him eager. This school had some amazing places the students could hang around. What a great way to spend the end of Summer!

With a small smile, Haggis fell backwards into the soft grass of the field, placing his hands behind his head and resting on them, careful to avoid hitting his horns. He lifted up one knee and kept the other leg straight, getting into a comfortable position. His eyes scanned the blue sky, watching all the clouds float by. Haggis chuckled a bit as he made out some amusing shapes in them. The cool summer breeze pushed the clouds fairly fast. It was pretty, comfortable, and simple. Watching the clouds was always fun. His ears twitched a bit, however, when her heard a noise somewhere behind him. He wasn't sure what it was, and he bit back the urge to look behind him. Instead, he stuck with the simple deed of watching the clouds.

Rachael was exploring the island now. Part of her wished she could go back to the garden where she'd first gone after arriving at Lillegard, but since the event with Yuuki, she now avoided that place as if it were the plague. She couldn't even make herself go to the stable and see the horses, because to get there she had to pass right by the garden. So instead, she settled for the feild, placing a hand on her side where Yuuki had stabbed her. She still didn't understand why she'd done it.

The feild was vast and open, and a gentle breeze blew threw it making the grass roll and shine. It looked almost like waves, and it smelled amazing. She allowed herself to think that she could settle for this place, and it brought a smile to her face. She let her hand fall from her side, pushing the memory out of mind so she could actually enjoy herself.

The clouds moved in such a way the sun was now able to shine through them again and Rachael had to sheild her eyes. It was a beautiful day. The sky was filled with the kind of cotton clouds that she always loved to see on her way home from school everyday. It always peaked her mood.

Then she saw a boy laying back in the feild, looking up at the sky. Well at least he looks peaceful, she thought. She'd only met two people since arriving at Lillegard and already one had tried to kill her. She wondered if she should even approach the boy. She shook her head.

"Umm, hello," she said a bit quietly, hoping she wasn't disturbing him.

Haggis was surprised to hear a voice behind him. He stayed quiet for a moment before allowing curiosity to over take him. Haggis pulled himself reluctantly out of his comfortable position just till he was sitting up enough to rotate one half of his body.His hands gripped the ground to make sure he didn't ricochet back around into his previous position. It was a rather awkward and uncomfortable state, but he could at least see who had been talking to him. Some of his hair fell into his eyes, making his vision blur a bit.

Though once he blew his hair awkwardly out of the way, he could finally see the other person. A girl was watching him. Haggis tilted his head a bit at her, his tail swishing back and forth, cutting the air, though it was drowned out by a sudden gust of wind that passed through the field. Haggis let out a small, rather nervous smile towards her. No use in being rude now was there?

"H-Hello..." He managed out, though having no use of his arms at the moment Haggis could only give a polite nod towards her. He was a little unsure of what to say. His eyes scanned the floor for a moment before looking back up, the smile dissipated and a nervous look replaced it. "Um...d-did you want to watch the clouds too?" He tried awkwardly. An odd smell hit his nose shortly after though, making him perk up and eye her side. It smelt....dirty. He squinted a bit more and couldn't help but suggest in a small whisper, "Y-You're hurt maybe...?"

Rachael felt a bit sorry for saying anything now. She felt she had disturbed him after all. But she took his question as invitation and sat, cross-legged, beside him, mostly so he wouldn't have to turn in such an awkward position to talk to her. At least he was polite.

At the last statemnet, she reached involentarily to the spot where she'd been injured. She thought it had mostly healed but...

She tried to smile to stop him from worrying, the real reason being that she didn't even want to think about what had happened. "It's fine," she excused, "It's all healed up now." Then she tried to change the subject, "What's your name? I'm Rachael."

She looked back up to the sky seeing a snowflake made of cotton. Her expression changed to one of distaste for a little while, but she quickly replaced her smile and looked back at the boy.

Haggis let out a small sight of releif as his spine uncoiled from its previous locked position. He couldn't help flash a small look of concern towards the girl as her hand reached for her side. "If you're sure." He agreed. It must have been uncomfortable to talk about, so he left it alone, biting back his worried comments about washing the wound. Instead he focused on the clouds once more, smiling as she told him her name.

"That's a pretty name," He commented quietly, "I'm Haggis." He faced Rachael again, eying her rather nervously. She seemed quiet enough, and that was good. Haggis liked quiet. But he learned at this school that people were not always what they seemed. For better or for worse he'd learn through more time with them.

Haggis faced back to the clouds, watching them pass by like fluffy cotton balls. As his eyes searched the skies, he spotted one that looked like two rabbits and chuckled lightly to himself. He sort of felt like a girl, seeing such things in clouds. Then again, he was mistaken enough for one.

Rachael laughed a bit as he introduced himself and immediatly regretted it. She didn't want him to think she was laughing at his name, especially after he'd complimented hers, though she was fairly certain that Haggis was the name of some kind of Scottish food.

"Thanks," she said in response to the compliment then gave another laugh, this time a lighter one, "What do you see in the clouds?"

She hesitated to look back up at the sky, afraid her mind's eye may show her something she didn't want to see. She saw a tiger lily and smiled. Her mom grew tiger lillies in the garden in front of her house and they were her favorites. Of course, there was no way to tell if the cloud in the sky was supposed to be a tiger lily as opposed to any other kind of lily, being colorless.

Then the cloud shifted shape. The anthers inside became elongated and some of the petals thinned a bit. Now it looked more like a spider lily. Leon's sister grew them outside their house. They were creepy but seemed to suit the family.

Haggis felt a small pang of hurt in his heart. His self esteem shot down a little bit as she laughed at his name. Then again, most people seemed to do that when they first hear it. It should have been no big deal, but it still hurt his feelings every time someone did so. He ignored it for then though. A single comment might ruin the calmess that had come over the area, and that would be such a pity.

Instead, Haggis thought about Rachael's question for a moment. His eyes scanned the clouds. As his mind wandered, the clouds seemed to wander with it. "...Animals, mostly." Haggis finally replied, watching the cloud of rabbits change to a cheetah. He shivered a bit. Flashes of Ndale came into his mind. The cheetah king who seemed intent on chasing him around. "Then again," He began again, "I suppose...whatever you think of, the cloud becomes. It's like clay your mind molds." Reaching up, Haggis absently put his hands up in a picture-frame style to the sky, framing one cloud with his hands, "I do wish I could reach up and just mold them myself."

Rachaels eyebrows furrowed. If her mind was controlling what she saw in the sky then why did it keep showing her stupid things? She lay back now as the sun hid behind another cloud. Her hair spread out over the grass.

She wanted to see something nice in the clouds not things that reminded her of people she didn't want to think of, though she had no problem with Leon's sister. She just she was creepy.

After staring one particular cloud for a good 5 minutes she recognized that it had taken the shape of her pendant, two wings overlapping eachother with a black gemstone in the middle shaped like a spade. Though, the clouds were missing the spade.

She reached up for the pendant hanging around her neck and held in her hands. It had been a gift from her real mother, whom she'd never met. It always brought her comfort.

Now she looked back to Haggis. She thought he absolutely adorable for the last sentance he'd said. She remembered at her old school that it had been difficult, if not impossible, to find boys like him. It gave her hope yet for the school. "How long have you been at Lillegard?"

Haggis placed his hands on either side of his body and leaned back on them. A butterfly flew through the field, circling around him. He watched in minor amusement as the little yellow insect eagerly flew around his horns in a figure 8 position, weaving in and out of them before landing on his nose. Haggis felt his face scrunch up in surprise as he became eye to antennae with the butterfly. It flapped its winds a couple times before Haggis shook his head lightly and it flew above him.

"Oh, um..." Haggis searched his mind for a moment, trying to remember his first day at the school. His mind wandered for a bit from date to date, each having some important significance. The day he met Roy, when he met Ndale, the fireworks and getting drunk...

"...I honestly don't remember." He finally stated, laughing nervously, "maybe a few weeks ago?" His mind wandered through the events and he added as an afterthought, "Sure, it has it's up and downs. And some people may not...get along with each other but...out of all the places I've been to this is the nic-oh."

Haggis stopped as he looked up. Three more butterflies had joined the first one and all decided to take refuge on his horns. Two were on each of them like small yellow clips. He didn't move, watching them crawl around for a minute before laughing a little bit, not moving his head. The butterflies deserved a spot to rest, flying around like that all day.

Rachael frowned. It had its ups and downs? She hadn't even been there a week yet and someone had already stabbed and poisoned her. At this rate, she'd be lucky to survive in this school. She closed her eyes in exhasperation. She couldn't believe her luck. She was a nice person, right? A lot of people said she was a sweet person. So why...? She didn't know what nic-oh was either, though from context clues she assumed it was a good thing.

Rachael opened her agains, letting out a light sigh. She wasn't a bad person. The thought that someone had hurt her physically was really more depressing than painful. She looked back at Haggis and laughed. Two butterflies had taken refuge on each of his horns. It was one of those moments where she becaome by the same thought, unable to even stop herself from thinking it. He was just so cute.

Haggis continued to smile up at the butterflies for a little bit, but frowned when his ears heard Rachael's sigh. He shifted his eyes to her, then turned his whole head in her direction. The startled butterflies flew frantically around his horns again before fluttering off with the breeze. His eyes couldn't help but soften as he stared back at her for a moment. Nervously, he bit his lip. Haggis wondered for a bit if he should inquire as to what had happened. His mind disagreed. It would be rude! But...it still seemed to bug her.

Well, he had to take the chance, or they wouldn't get anywhere. "Um...is something wrong?" He tried quietly, "Er, did something bad happen? Y-You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" He stopped quickly, holding up his hands and waving them a bit, smiling nervously, "I mean, it's your life and we sorta just met and I don't want to put any pressure on you it's just that you seemed a bit down and I don't like seeing people sad and yes so I'll just be quiet."

With that Haggis looked away, biting his lip again. He felt embarrassment weigh heavy in his heart. Smooth, Haggis. Real smooth.

Rachael reached back for the wound again, biting her lower lip. Looking in the distance she could see the clouds were begining to merge. The ones that were being blown their way now looked like they were carrying water.

She could use this to change the subject? But Haggis seemed genuinely concerned. "I don't think I like this place very much," she answered simply. Then she looked back at Haggis. "I haven't even been here a week yet and someone tried to hurt me." She paused a second, "Well, tried, and succeeded."

Haggis' eyes widened considerably as his eyes trailed to her side. Someone had really done that? He couldn't believe such a thing. Normally this school was peaceful. Or at least he had always assumed it was for the few weeks he had been there. "Th-That can't be right..." He murmured, shaking his head a little bit in disbelief to Rachael's claim. "I-I-I mean....s-s-sure some of the st-students are...u-unruly but....n-no ones ever g-g-otten hurt...." He fully faced Rachael now, his green eyes glued earnestly to her face.


After a moment, of shock, his mind slowly contemplated the idea. Sure, some of the students were nice. But he had never met ALL of the students. What if some did have murderous tendencies? (He wouldn't know, his best friend was a boy that was obsessed with rainbows) If that was the case....then perhaps she made a point.

"I...I'm sorry." He managed out, clearing his throat a bit nervously, "I shouldn't have...I...Sorry." He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for, but he assumed it was good. "I don't know everyone here," He whispered out, "So I can't v-vouche for anyone...I'm sorry someone hurt you...." He couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment...

Rachael's voice became solemn. Haggis was kind. He was an all around nice boy, and at this point she felt that she could consider him a friend. She found herself concerned about how... trusting he was. She'd considered Yuuki a friend too. She'd trusted her and look where that had gotten her. Though more than anything, she felt concerned about the boy as opposed to mistrustful.

"I haven't met a lot of people either, but I thought she was my friend. The girl that did it. I don't even know why she did it." A tone of seriousness entered her voice and she looked Haggis in the eyes, "Be careful who you trust here."

Rachael knew that she herself was pretty trustful. She didn't even know that the person she trusted more than anyone else had really only been interested in her because she was an angel, and that fact could benefit him. She was completely ignorant of that. It was almost hypocritical for her to be saying those words to Haggis.

Haggis stared at Rachael for a moment, taking her words into quiet consideration. After so many years on his own, you'd figure he would be aware of that fact. That he would simply say 'yes I know'. But he didn't. Instead he thought about it hard, unwrapping every meaning that he could possibly achieve from the words. Unraveling each tendril of possibilities from that one sentence, and it didn't take that long.

"...I suppose I am." He finally decided, looking up at Rachael again. His face didn't change. He was careful. It's why he only had about two friends. It was still contemplative as ever. "Some people aren't nice here, I must admit. B-But there are a lot of nice people. People who won't attack you, or hurt you...on purpose anyways." His mind jolted a little bit towards some memories of Roy, constantly tugging on his horns. The Scotsmen didn't know his own strength after all....

"And...I won't hurt you." He finally finished awkwardly, "...I-I promise." His tail swished behind him a bit in uneasiness. The atmosphere seemed heavier all of a sudden. Much more serious than he was used to. Though normally calm, he wasn't friends with many serious people. It was actually a fairly nice change of pace, but the subject was rather morbid...

((LatereplyislateandcrappyI'msorry>.<))

Rachael looked up at the boy and smiled, however there seemed to be the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes as she so. Maybe her pessimistic side was telling her that it wouldn't matter how many nice people there may have been in the school if she didn't live long enough to meet them. She was glad she'd met Haggis though, and as she thought this the sadness left her eyes and her smile widened a bit.

She nodded in gratitude then watched his tail and decided to change the subject. "What are you anyway?" She looked from his tail to his horns then back to his face. "I'm an angel."

((no problem ^^ and I don't think its crappy lol))