Hi! I’m Lhyllith. Also Ryuiie, Lily, (and my real name, which is terrible, so I won’t say it), Ryutsu… I’m male, which is crazy what with my whole alias of Lhyllith and all, buuut. Oh well. Anyway… This is my very very very first story that I’ve ever posted anywhere. I have a book I’m writing, I have a webcomic I’m working on, and I have a hell of a lot of stories, let alone all my characters… problem is I’m incredibly shy posting stuff… so… even this is making me die a little inside. I have no idea if this is in the right place or not or… jeez, I don’t even know. But I’m very very paranoid about if this will get a warm welcome or not, so please, can you review? Lest I die and cry. ;; Even if it’s something like ‘plz update soon’ or something equally short and uncreative; just something to let me know you read this and enjoyed it:D?

Okay I’ll… let you read now. Heart Circus! Enjoy.

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Chapter one – Dry wood

1.25pm.

He sighed in contentment, watching as the clear water lapped at his ankles. He smiled in amusement as two birds fought nearby in the sky… before twirling, making a love heart in the air, and flew soaring upwards. He shivered as the coolness of a fish swam underneath his soles, tickling the bottom of his feet. The sunshine seemed to swirl, sending scattering sparkles spinning over the swinging, swaying sea. He watched as the sand by the dock was swept by the frothing waves to lower levels of the water. He turned his gaze to the clear, never ending heavens.

“Ne, ne, Hana! Don’t worry, you’ll show them.”

Eight words that had been said only an hour ago still ran deep, vibrating in Hana’s ears…

… hour?

Snapping his eyes open and brushing a few stray auburn hairs into a more comfortable position, Hana let out a high pitched whine. “Ahh! Hour!” Hurriedly, he checked his watch – oh, that was lucky. If he left now, he could still get back to class…

As he was considering the fastest route to get back from his break, a furry tongue licked the side of his cheek. Hana winced as the tongue scraped on his flesh, but sighed and picked up the affectionate creature. A small, fat rabbit sat limply in the boys arms. “Hello, Bunny.” The rabbit twitched its nose, flashed oddly large canine teeth, and swung a rather large, flower-patterned scythe in one of it’s small, cuddly hands. Hana put his pet down as he realized that if that sharp object moved any more perilously towards him, he might lose an ear…. or some hair, which is just as bad.

“You are a rather odd pet, Bunny,” Hana mumbled, as the rabbit bounced onto his master’s head, desiring to find a comfortable position. Hana sighed a little, picking him up, and shuffling him into his backpack. He swung the bag over his shoulder – giggling at the noise of delight that came from his pet – and began to run back towards the city, away from his hiding place at the docks, and struggling to put on his shoes and socks as he went.

-

1.42pm

“Jeez, Hana, way to be two minutes late.”

Hana came stumbling into his classroom – still, everyone was retrieving various items from their backpacks, be it text books, stationary, or reading material. He sighed in relief, an action that his pet rabbit mimicked, as he sat down waiting for role call. And while he was waiting… he picked at his skirt.

Yes, Hana was an odd boy. Not a normal boy, oh no, not at all. He wore the female school uniform nearly everywhere he went – with shaved legs to boot. It was a rather interesting story, how he convinced the principal of his school to allow him to wear this uniform. It took a lot of forced crying, and yelling about how he’ll sue for oppression, and… well, basically a lot of forced lies, just so he could ‘look pretty’. He tugged at the plait blue ribbon around his neck, which matched the semi-short skirt that came with the uniform, and rolled up the long white sleeves from the polyester cotton shirt. He smiled with his perfectly straight, perfectly white, perfectly perfect, shiny teeth as he noticed his knee high socks remained where they should be without the use of a garter, and felt a surge of pride as he saw his black leather shoes without one piece of dirt. Yes, he was a model student – it’s too bad everyone except for his friends thought he was a girl.

He was pulled away from his vain daydreams as roll call started. Their teacher, Rozier, began to ask for random names – Hana grinned each time someone important to him was mentioned.

“Blackbourne, Wolve.”

“Mm.”

Wolve Blackbourne was an internationally famous celebrity. He continued to go to school because he believed that above all, he needed an education. He never spoke to many people, he wasn’t exactly … social. However, he was – on the advice of his manager – doing a “win a date” scenario, right now. Hana couldn’t help but smirk. He, for one, knew all about that more then anybody.

“Evans, Bridget.”

“Present!”

Bridget Evans was Hana’s closest friend. Every boy wanted her – and so did some girls. And every girl wanted to be her. … And so did some boys. She was skinny, and had a rather large bust. Hana always glared at her from behind, though. She had the most softest, adorable hair. It cascaded far down low, which, Hana thought irritably, if I ever tried to get my hair that long, it would probably curl out and die. She was often thought of as “gothic” because of her black-as-night hair, even though she never wore clothes to fit that stereotype. And even with her slightly frightening appearance, she was actually exceedingly friendly.

“Everard, Ruth.”

“Present.”

Ruth was the sporty one. She was the scary one, too. Hana was jealous of her strong will, her perfectly straight posture, and her many, many collections of guns. Ruth was the type of person that’d never take a gift in the fear that there was anthrax or a bomb inside it. Though despite her paranoia, she did have an almost scary affection for her collection of weaponry or spiders. She used to be the “cute” one of the group, too. Sparkling blue eyes and semi-long blonde hair, she used to always smile and obsess over treats. But, Hana mused, some people do just change like that.

“Ezura, Atsumaru.”

“Hai! … Oh, I mean, here!”

Atsumaru, or Maru-kun, was an odd one. He moved to the Island sometime in the past year. And… he apparently had an almost stalker obsession with Wolve. Hana giggled, but covered his mouth with his hand. It was nice to have someone of Japanese heritage in the same place as him, admittedly, even if he never exactly spoke to Maru. Maru had probably entered the “win a date with Wolve” competition… he loved him that much, so Hana mused that it was most possible. Hana grinned from ear to ear, oh how he would adore for his brother to end up having a date with THAT creature… well, Wolve wasn’t technically Hana’s brother. Hana was adopted at the age of eleven or twelve, when his parents had died. But, his family he had now was much more like the one he had always wanted.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Hanaharu… bie... awa… um…”

“Uhm, yeah, I’m here!”

Hana had an extremely long name. No, scratch that. He had an EXTREMELY, extremely, extremely long name.

“Can you actually pronounce your name?”

“Yes, Mr. Rozier.”

“… well?”

… Hana sighed, tapping his long nails on the polished wooden surface of his desk.

“Maruhanayukigumoriyuuyakeodorikazahana Hatsuhihatsuzorahatsunagi Hanaharubieawayukimizunurumutsumikusahinamatsurikaikoyamabukinatsuyakurunijitakihanabikanokokajikaaogiriakisawayakakirihanazonokakashishikatonbokaedefuyuitsuyumizorekooritakibimizutoriwatamushikarehasu.”

“… what?”

“YOU HEARD ME.”

Hana growled and crossed his arms. This is why people called him Hana. It was either Maru, Hana, Yuki, Hatsu, or Haru. And he liked Hana. It sounded girliest, right?! And that’s what he wanted to be! Girly! For whatever strange reason that was, anyway.

“… right. Rockwell, Dante.”

“Yeah? … Oh. Here.”

Dante… was the most irresponsible, rebellious teenage stereotype one could exist without being an entire lie. He had a motorbike, he smoked, he stole, he drank, and he probably slept around and had as many STDs known to man. What’s worse, he had a crush on Ruth. He had for a long, long time. And he wouldn’t give up. Ever. No matter how many times Ruth said no, Dante just wasn’t going to listen. And… he hated his name. “Dante”. He thought it sounded too good or something. Hana rolled his eyes. Dante? A name representing something that’s ‘good’? Clearly, Rockwell would only accept his name being something like… “Badass King of the Awesome.” A small noise of distaste came from Hana’s bag. Bunny didn’t like Dante either.

“Rockwell, Lily.”

Lily, however, was Dante’s little sister. Fraternal twins. Lily was like the yin to Dante’s yang. Feminine and passive, that explained Lily quite well. She would much rather be seen hanging out in a tree, just absorbing the nice scents and sounds, instead of following Dante to the shooting range, so he can practice nearby Ruth. She seemed to pretty much have ADD a lot of the time, too.

“… Lily. Rockwell, Lily. Is there no Lily today?”

“… she’s right here.”

“… Lily!”
“… hm? … oh, present”

“… alright then. Wakefield, Hariette.”

“HERE HERE YAY!”

Hariette was exceedingly hyperactive. She often wore some sort of cat bell around her neck, twitching her robotic cat ears she made herself, flicking her ever-wobbly tail that, once again, she made herself. Hariette adored mechanics or technology of any kind, and she was very advanced in knowledge when it came to making anything with a computer. A somewhat ‘child genius’ is what she would be, if she actually had the attention span to do anything except for look up extremely abstract pornography on the computer to send to people just to hear their reactions of “AUGH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”. She had rather pale skin which contrasted with her short, pigtailed slate-grey hair.

“Uh-huh. Jeez, this class is weird. Wintervale, Ashley.”

“Here.”

Ashley was the only real male of Hana’s small circle of friends. Lily, Ruth, Bridget, Hariette, Ashley, and herself. Ashley was a rather masculine, short haired male. His hair was a rather light brown, and he was often caught trying to mess it up to make it look more… boyish. Having Hana around really threatened his masculinity a lot, he surely felt. Being the only heterosexual male in a group of mostly females certainly gave him a large amount of popularity, however. “Hey, Ashley,” people often asked him. “Could you ask Bridget out for me?” or, “Hey, Ashley, could you ask Lily if she wants to go to the dance with me this Saturday?” “Hey, Ashley, could you see if Hana wants to—” “Hana is a boy.” “UH, WHAT?” Yes, Ashley was the most easily approachable out of the group, which is why he was classified as ‘secretary’. That and to make him feel more like a girl.

“Okay, so, as you know, it’s test time.”

“AHH, WHAT?”

Sigh. Again, it seemed that Hariette had forgotten to study for the test that Rozier had been telling everybody about for weeks. Geography was, luckily, an easy topic for Hana. Especially because he spent most of the time roaming around the island where they live. Hana rolled his eyes once more, shaking his head in exasperation as Rozier started handing out the test papers.

“Okay… turn it over, and begin.”

Name: Hana 3

Grade, age: Grade seven, age sixteen.

I still think the grading system here is crazy, thought Hana with a sigh. Here, children start school at age ten or eleven, after learning basics of writing, reading, and numbers for a couple of years beforehand. The island believed that family should spend as much time with each other before school – which is why they start at an elder age, so family can witness more moments with their children… and, as there are ten real years of study after learning basics, the money that the government give each family so they don’t have to work for eight years can also be saved to send their children away from the island to the mainland to Universities. But, nobody chooses to do that anymore. A university is soon being built, and the island that they live at is paradise. Who would send anybody away from paradise?

Question one: we live where?

Answer: Catena Archipelago.

Question two: what island are we on?

Answer: Seventeenth Island!

Question three…

The questions were pretty basic – even Hariette should be getting it right. Geography was really quite an easy subject, because the questions rarely changed each year. But when they did…

Question seventy five: Our home is in the center of the North Atlantic Ocean. True?

Hana twitched. Center? No idea. He knew where they were… They were just away from the Faroe Islands, somewhere between Iceland and the UK. But how was he supposed to know if that was the CENTER?! He sighed in defeat, deciding to skip that question, and go back to the easy ones.

Question fifty nine: How many islands are in the Archipelago, and what makes the one we live on so special?

Answer: There are seventeen islands in our Catena chain. We are on the seventeenth – the largest. Ours is also the most oddly shaped one. The island is shaped like a crescent moon:3 There’s lots of shiny fresh water, and it’s where all the people come to do shopping 3 But ours is also furthest away from Mainland, and there’s an underwater sand bridge between Sixteen and Seventeen to make it easy to travel. There’s one great city with a huge marketplace, there’s a small town on the north edge for fishing, and then a medium sized town where we are now that works in education! … And ours is great because Rozier is here!

Hana giggled a little. Surely, if he flattered his teacher a little, he’ll get higher marks. Surely!

“Nice try,” a voice whispered from over Hana’s shoulder, causing him to jump a little. “A-ah. Sowwie.” He flashed a wide grin, but his unnaturally tall teacher just walked off with a shake of his head.

Scribbling frantically, Hana finished his test, beating down the embarrassed blush that was trying to burn off his face.

-

2.41pm

“Argh, he let us out like seventy five minutes late.”

Bridget shook her head and placed an arm around Hariette’s shoulder, as the group made their way to their homes. “No my dear, he let us out eleven minutes late. Well, twelve minutes, now. And it’s only because you refused to give him your paper. Hana, we’re going to your house first, right?”

“That’s not my fault!” The young girl whined, her robotic tail wrapping itself subconsciously around her leg, ignoring Hana as he tried to nod to Bridget’s question. “I hadn’t finished my drawing, and, and, he was going to take it away, and that makes me madder then a Hare in march… or a Hatter in general…”

“Rozier is a bad man, yes,” groaned Ashley. “Did you get your results back for the assignment he set us a while ago…? He gave me a C.”

“That’s because you painted the earth’s water red,” Ruth added with a sigh.

“It would be red if the apocalypse ever came.”

“Oh, you’re Christian now?”

“Guys, don’t argue,” mumbled Lily, shaking her blonde-grey hair out of her eyes. “Friends, okay? Okay.”

“Speaking of friends…” Hariette slithered over to Hana, clinging to his arm. “So my crazy, colourful, cross-dressing companion, where did you go this afternoon at break? We were waiting for you, you know,” she nudged him harshly in the ribs, and Hana winced a bit. “I was just hanging out somewhere,” he muttered, not looking Hariette in the eye. The truth was, Hana had gone out to the water to relax, and to think. His friends were nice, yes, but they were certainly loud a lot of the time. Sometimes, Hana just wanted a break. But, his break was over, and he could go back to his usual flamboyantly irritated self.

“He’s mean! He asked about the center! THE CENTER! How am I supposed to know that?!”

“Maybe because you live here you should know,” mumbled Ruth, but looked away when she was given the inevitable failed death glare that Hana called his own. “And can you put that away?” Bunny had jumped out of Hana’s bag, and was polishing his gigantic sickle on Ruth’s shoulder. “He looks like he might cut off my ear.”

“He just might,” Hana replied with a smile, “if you don’t stop being a poopoo head.”

“How am I being a… er… uh, I’m not going to say that, that’s degrading. How am I being that?”

“Because you should say that Rozier is a butt.”

“Hmm? … Wait, did you just mention Rozier’s butt? Did you hit on him in the test again?! I wondered why he was talking to you…”

“Shut up!” Hana squealed with a blush, hugging his bag close.

… nearly everybody broke out into hysterics. Everybody except Ruth, who just sighed and shook her head.

Ashley wiped a tear away from his eye and breathed out, “Hana, you have a crush on Rozier?” Even Bunny was laughing now. “That is kind of adorable. We always thought you were kidding!”

“I am!” Hana whined, shuddering at the thought. “Rozier is old and gross and icky. His name is Absinthe! I mean come on, why would I want to date someone whose old and red haired and gross and named after some alcohol?”

“Maru has red hair.”

“His hair is more orangey blonde, and we all know he likes my brother anyway.”

“That’s true…”

Hana yawned and stretched, cracking his back and neck. “Okay, I’m going to bed now,” he said, as he made his way inside.

“See you tomorrow, Hana-chaaaaan”

“You aren’t Japanese, Hariette, don’t say ‘-chan’…”

-

2.53pm

“Ahhh…”

Hana yawned as he undressed, slipping on his pajamas. He cuddled Bunny close, as the small, somewhat insane creature yawned into his shirt.

“I’m… sleepy,” Hana mumbled, laying down on his bed. It was a small bed, and he hadn’t even said hello to his family yet… But, he hadn’t slept for a couple of days, and school had been rather irritating…

“Well… nini bunny…”

The rabbit sniffled and nodded, curling up behind Hana, shoving its weaponry under the bed.