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The Maze
or
Necessity is the Mother of Creativity
A ficlet by Ami-chan
*snap*
Akane looked up from her homework at the small sound, a look of resignation and sympathy softening her eyes. Ryouga sat on the floor, the remains of another pencil clutched in his hand. His face was redefining frustration.
"Ryouga, again?" Akane sighed. Ryouga nodded grimly.
"I'm sorry, Akane-san," he said, tossing the former pencil over his shoulder; the pieces landed with a clatter squarely in the already-half full wastebasket of the things. "It's just so . . . argh!"
Akane smiled encouragingly at the Lost Boy as she walked over with another pencil. "I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later . . ."
Then she saw Ryouga's paper and sweatdropped. The simple child's maze was covered in dark pencil lines. One went in. Nothing came out.
Then again, maybe not . . .
==========
Akane sighed and handed the fuming boy a clean copy of the maze. "Now, Ryouga, just calm down, and try again." Ryouga nodded and settled down, pencil in hand and a determined expression fixed on his face.
Akane crumpled up attempt number . . . number . . . well, it didn't matter; and tossed it into the other overflowing wastebasket. At this rate, they were going to be spending more of their already-strained budget on paper and pencils than repairs.
And that was saying a lot.
==========
Ryouga grit his teeth as he struggled to keep his pencil tip from either snapping or crossing one of those baka black lines. Personally, he didn't see the point of the maze, but Akane said this might help to improve his sorely lacking directional skills, and if Akane said so . . . Ryouga firmed his resolve of completing the stupid thing properly—just as his pencil crossed a line.
ARGH!
Ryouga stared at the offending line of ink in anger, growling deep in his throat. If he went "through" another wall—
Hey, waitaminute . . .
Ryouga started to smile as the beginnings of an idea started to sprout in his mind. Grinning, he went back to work, muttering softly as he came to each wall.
==========
Some time later, Akane heard Ryouga get up and turned to see him, paper in hand, walk into her closet.
"Hold it, Ryouga!"
"Akane?" Ryouga's voice was slightly muffled by the layers of fabric between him and her. "How'd you get over there?"
Akane rolled her eyes as she dragged Ryouga out of the closet, one of her shirts draped gracefully over his head. "I didn't, Ryouga, you did." She lifted the shirt up past his face, to reveal an embarrassed, but still proud smile.
"I did it, Akane! I got through it!" He thrust the paper at her. \par Akane's face lit up. "That's great, Ryouga! Let me see . . ." Her voice trailed off as her eyes registered what she was seeing.
A pencil line swerved crazily between the boundaries, before crossing a wall. Then that line extended all the way to the edge of the maze. Wherever it crossed another wall, there were tiny characters penciled in. Akane peered at one such series of letters.
"Bakusai Tenketsu?"
*sweatdrop*
~owari~
Notes: *shakes her head* Typical Ryo-kun, ne? Well . . . maybe I'm underplaying his intelligence a bit here. *shrugs* This little quickie was spawned when a couple of my friends and I were reading a You Know You're Obsessed With Ryouga list. Shala discovered the one pertaining to mazes . . . the rest, they say, is history. ^^