Dreams of an Absolution

"There is something I see in you

It might kill me,

I want it to be true"

Decode (Paramore)


Dreams of an Absolution

Chapter 7

XxXxX

"But it was no use! Their puny weapons could not harm the mighty Aku...I set their homes ablaze, and tore apart their armies! In no time, all of Japan had fallen to the invincible Aku," Blossom took a big bite from her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, staring up at Aku with bright eyes. He smirked and leaned back in his seat, lacing his fingers.

"And that, child, is the tale of Aku's first empire. The pitiful creatures were forced into servitude, my minions had them constructing monuments to me before nightfall," Blossom grinned and wiped her mouth delicately. She sipped her juice box and glanced out the window. Frowning she turned back to Aku.

"So how did you lose? Didn't you take over the whole world?" Aku cleared his throat and sat up, nervously shuffling the papers on his desk. He looked up at Blossom, who sat unblinking, and sighed. His flaming eyebrows narrowed into tiny flickers. Blossom giggled and floated over to his desk, sitting down in front of him. Aku turned to face her with a frown; Blossom grinned brighter.

"It was the Professor's ancestor, right? The Samurai beat you with that sword," Aku leaned back, mumbling something unintelligible. Blossom kicked her legs gently and rubbed her chin. Aku glared back at her, slowly sitting up straight.

"You are...correct. I thought I had succeeded in disposing of him, but somehow he returned to defeat me," Blossom nodded and looked up at the ceiling. That was a common problem, she had noticed. Most villains, regardless of how powerful or intelligent they were, tended to lack the necessary organizational skills needed in something as expansive as world conquest. They planned and schemed down to the tee exactly how the conquest would go. But...the moment something went awry, their plan fell apart at the seems. A single, unplanned variable burned the entire tapestry. God though he was, Aku wasn't exempt from this trend. Blossom winced and lightly touched her chest.

Frankly speaking, neither was she.

"What are you pondering, Blossom? You seldom remain silent for so long...surely you have a comment to make," Blossom grinned and turned back to Aku. Lightly kicking her legs, she cocked her head to the side.

"Well, I was just thinking about why you lost," Aku grumbled and Blossom quickly held up her hands, "No! I don't mean like that...it was just an interesting thought I had. You had almost all the cards...except the one that could beat you," Blossom took another sip of her juice box and glanced at the clock. They had time...she shrugged and smiled, setting her drink down.

"See, I would have done it differently," Aku blinked and leaned closer.

"Is that so?" Blossom nodded, finishing the last of her sandwich. Aku smirked and wiped some of the crumbs from her cheeks. Blossom blushed and giggled.

"Well...your idea was understandable. You're a god, you were invincible in the face of conventional weapons. But, in that same sense, I think it made you overconfident. You just got free and attacked immediately. That was your mistake," Aku stroked her hair, sliding his chair closer. Blossom blushed darker; he was so close now.

"Go on...tell me how you would have succeeded where Aku failed," Blossom nodded, leaning against his hand.

"I...well...okay! Alright...well if I had been in your position, I would have waited. I mean, if you're going to try something as big as taking over the world you need to make sure you know you can pull it off! People don't...usually react too well when you fail..." Blossom swallowed and laughed sheepishly, scratching her head. She cleared her throat sat up straight.

"I'd treat it like...a larger scale monster battle. Analyze the situation and identify possible weaknesses in your enemy, while also noting his strengths. If you've lost before, figure out why you lost and make sure that overcoming that is at the center of your strategy."

"So in your case...maybe start smaller, don't just bust in and take over, but work on creating a sense of discontent that you could possibly turn into a civil war of some kind. If they're busy fighting each other, they'll be that much harder pressed to stop you. The only reason you failed was because the Samurai was able to get the sword, right? You lost to the sword before, so if you had taken your time and found a way to get rid of the sword, they would have been powerless against you," Blossom blinked and leaned back on her hands, staring at the ceiling. Slowly a grin spread across her face.

"Actually, the best way to have won would be to have some other kingdom take over. The sword wouldn't make a difference against human opponents, and you'd just need to give them a little...boost. Then you could show up when they had fallen and wipe out anyone left behind. By that point, it would have been too late for them to send the prince away to train to defeat you!" Blossom beamed excitedly. Aku chuckled and patted her head, standing up and changing into Uka-sensei once again.

"We will continue this discussion some other time...take your seat, Blossom. The others will be returning shortly," Blossom nodded and cleaned up her lunch, sitting down at her seat, grinning from ear to ear. The other students piled in, their peals of laughter and raucous discussion snipping off into silence the moment they crossed the threshold. Uka-sensei sat at his desk, fingers laced, watching them with an intense glare. Blossom noticed a few odd looks thrown her way, but did her best to ignore them.

"You have returned...yes, all present and accounted for, very good," Uka-sensei climbed to his feet and strode to the whiteboard. He sighed, flipping through the history book in his hand, stroking his beard.

"Hm, it would seem that we have at last reached chapter 3...pass your homework forward," Uka-sensei glanced over the top of the book, "And those of you who insist on finishing your assignments at this time...do not bother, your score has already been determined," There were a few moans, and some mumbled insults, but soon all the papers were passed forward. Uka-sensei snatched them up, pausing at Blossom for just a fraction of a second longer. Blossom shivered and flashed a subtle grin his way. Dropping the papers on his desk, Uka-sensei cleared his throat.

"Very good, everything is in order. Now, we shall press forward with chapter 4. Turn in your books to page..." Uka-sensei paused, turning to the door. A few seconds later there came an abrupt, no-nonsense knock on the door. Uka-sensei glared, tossing his book down and yanking the door open. There was a moment of muffled whispering before Uka-sensei turned to the class.

"Begin reading the assigned section, I shall return shortly. Do not let me hear even a whisper out of you in my absence," Blossom leaned forward, trying to look passed Uka-sensei. She managed to get a glimpse of blonde hair, but the door was angrily shut before she could get a good look. Blossom frowned and turned to her reading. She'd already finished the textbook-history had proven to be one of her favorite subjects-so there was no real reason to read it again...Blossom looked up, her eyes glowing light pink. She clenched her jaw and suddenly the sounds in the classroom faded away, instead she could now hear a conversation as the wall melted away to show her the hallway.

"-of getting complaints. I understand you come from an...interesting background, Mr. Uka, but I am the one in charge here, and I won't have some pompous man disrespecting my school," The woman was eerily familiar; it took a moment, but Blossom recognized her as Femme Fatale! She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Uka-sensei. Her teacher looked incredibly irate. Femme Fatale's cheeks were bright red, she was absolutely furious. It was odd seeing her dressed to the nines in a business skirt...just what was she doing here?

"The students were given Uka's rules on the first day; those who choose to disobey me shall suffer my punishment," Uka-sensei crossed his arms and kept his glare leveled with Femme Fatale's. For her part, the ex-villain wasn't fazed in the least by Uka-sensei's intimidating demeanor.

"Mr. Uka, I appreciate that you demand respect. You are certainly a highly-qualified individual; however, just as the students are to follow your rules, you are to follow mine: monster or not," Uka-sensei narrowed his eyes, but relented.

"Very well...I shall 'lighten up' as you put it," Femme Fatale nodded and lowered her voice. Blossom strained her ears more, training in on her voice.

"Good, but Mr. Uka there is one last thing we must discuss. I have received numerous reports that you have been spending a lot of time with Blossom Utonium-" Uka-sensei's fiery demeanor vanished. He grinned broadly and stroked his beard, glancing back at the classroom. Blossom blushed and smiled when he looked right at her.

"Yes, the Red Child is most spectacular, is she not? Her intellect seems to know no bounds and she is most enthusiastic in class," Femme Fatale cleared her throat, jerking Uka-sensei from his wild praise.

"Mr. Uka, you may not be familiar with both American and Human customs, but here in this country is is considered very inappropriate for a teacher to spend so much time with a student. Blossom is a child, she needs to have lunch with her peers and have recess with the others. It is both damaging to Blossom's interactions with her peers and it is harmful to the other students. Now, I understand that having a favorite student is unavoidable, but you cannot be so blatant about it. It is discriminatory and unfair to the others," Uka-sensei turned to Femme Fatale with a vicious glare.

"Is that so? Perhaps if they tried harder to live up to her example-" Femme Fatale merely crossed her arms.

"No more lunch with your student Mr. Uka. If I get one more report on you, I'll be forced to take more drastic measures," Uka-sensei rolled his eyes and turned away from Femme Fatale. Blossom noticed that his eyebrows had become smoldering embers.

"Very well...Principal Derry," Blossom blinked and her X-Ray vision clipped off. Femme Fatale was the principal? How in the world...the door opened and a very irate Uka-sensei stomped into the room. He waited for a moment at his desk, then cleared his throat and picked up his book.

"Henderson, what is the answer to the first review question?" Marcus Henderson sat upright with a gasp. He swallowed and flipped through his book.

"Uh...um...I'm not done reading, Uka-s-sensei," Uka-sensei narrowed his eyes. Blossom bit her lip. Try as she might, Uka-sensei wouldn't look her in the eye.

XxXxX

The rest of the day seemed to drag painfully...Uka-sensei was clearly in a bad mood, and seemed to be keeping a distance from Blossom. When the last bell rang, he didn't even give her a subtle smile like he usually did. Though she knew the reason, Blossom couldn't help feeling just a little hurt that he would just instantly become so cold. Then again, he was prone to overreacting.

"Hey! Blossom...um..." Blossom blinked and snapped out of her train of thought. She laughed sheepishly and turned to Boomer. Her blond buddy was concerned, and maybe more than a little confused.

"Sorry, Boomer, I was just thinking about school today. Were you saying something?" Boomer shrugged.

"I don't remember, so what happened? You look sad," Blossom sighed. Boomer wasn't very intelligent, but he just had to share Bubbles' sometimes infuriating perception-not quite to the same degree, though. She glanced to the side then shrugged as well.

"Well, it's just, I guess I got my teacher in trouble," Boomer blinked and cocked his head. She couldn't help laughing at his look of deep thought.

"What? How did you do that?" He asked. Blossom looked down at his worksheet and started jotting down some notes. Sure, they weren't in class together anymore, but they still met at the library after school so she could help him with his homework. Blossom smirked and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Wow, Boomer, you're doing really good so far," Boomer giggled and scratched his head. He was blushing more often, she noticed.

"Thanks...but really what did you do?" He asked again. Blossom groaned in frustration. She had been hoping he'd forget about the issue.

"Well...it's just, I really like him. So I've been...staying in at recess and eating lunch with him," Boomer blinked and narrowed his eyes. He gasped and sat up right, thrusting his mitt toward her.

"That's where you've been! I thought you were hiding! I kept trying to find you every day!" Boomer blinked again and frowned, "Wait, so we weren't playing Hide and Seek? I thought you were just really good..." Blossom frowned and shook her head.

"No sorry. But, I'm not allowed to stay inside anymore, so we can play Hide and Seek next week if you want to," Boomer grinned broadly.

"Alright! That'll be awesome! Wait, can I hide first? I've been It every day..." Blossom giggled and nodded. Boomer grinned and the two started to work on their homework again. After what felt like an eternity of comfortable silence and mild scribbling

"...So are you happy?" Blossom paused and bit her lip.

"What do you mean?" She heard him set his pencil down. She could practically feel his eyes on her.

"Like...are you really happy? Cause you haven't been...you in a long time, but you are now so I just wanna know if you...um...uh..." Blossom giggled and glanced at him. He'd confused himself again.

"Yes...I'm really happy right now, Boomer," She paused, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek, "Thanks for asking," Boomer turned three shades of pink and touched his cheek. Blossom giggled; Boomer's face warmed up.

XxXxX

The moment Blossom closed the door to her bedroom, the dark corner of the room near her bed shifted and the Master of Masters stepped out of the shadows. Blossom dropped her backpack down by the door and floated up to him. Aku sighed and crossed his arms, glaring at the window.

"I apologize for my cold demeanor...I did not want to tempt that vindictive mortal," Blossom shook her head and sat down on the edge of her bed. Aku joined her-he sat so rigid next to her. Blossom laid her head against his arm and closed her eyes. She imagined she could hear crackling flames, that she could smell burning ash. Aku's arm snaked around her waist. Blossom smiled and snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms as far as they would go around him.

"It's okay...I know why you did it. But, um..." Blossom took another deep breath and sat up. When she looked up, she met his gaze. With a sheepish smile, she lightly caressed his warm, fluffy beard.

"I don't think you have to completely ignore me...I'll just go outside for recess, okay?" Aku nodded and moved to stroke his beard. Instead he caught her hand in his. There was a brief moment where his chest pulsed deep red. Blossom scarcely noticed.

"Yes, that would be for the best..." Blossom only nodded.