10.24am

Trowa decided on skipping classes for the rest of the day. He just didn't have the mood to attend classes after that fight. Besides, lessons bored him... All he ever did during classes was to lie on the table and snooze. There was an attempt to pay attention in history class once, but the only words Trowa remembered hearing was 'After colony 195' before shutting off completely and floating on to the land of dreams. He detested biology class the most and always made sure he never attended a lesson. The first lesson he attended had him dissect a white mouse. Of course, he couldn't bear to and slipped the little rodent into his pocket and brought it back home. [ example of Trowa's weird habit ] For that first and last lesson of Biology he attended, he set all the white mice in the laboratory free and caused quite an uproar during school that day. He swore he'll never attend another Biology class in his life again.

Trowa headed off to his only favourite spot in the school - the garden. He fell in love with the place ever since he first set eyes on it. It was the perfect hiding place too, who would ever find him among the trees?

He made his way to one of the trees, climbed up and settled down on a branch. The squirrels there welcomed him warmly. In fact they love his presence. He had a special gift with animals, making them like him in every way. There, he put on his headphone and started listening to his Discman, at the same time accompanied by a few squirrels. The bell rang, indicating that recess was over. One of the squirrels crawled up his arm and stayed on his shoulder. Trowa just sat there as calm as ever. Who would ever find him? This wasn't his first time here and he has never been found out yet.
 

10.35am, classroom 1-4

"Today's art lesson... Nature." The Art teacher, Lady Une spoke to the  class of 1-4. Chatter could still be heard among the students. Quatre sat there as usual, attentive. "Nature, now that shouldn't be a problem... " he was deep in thought until someone patted him on his shoulder. "C'mon! We're heading for the garden today!" his partner exclaimed in excitement. Quatre smiled and nodded in agreement and he took the necessary equipment along with him. He was going to enjoy today's art lesson alot.

10.41am, school garden

As soon as he arrived at his destination, Quatre left on his own to explore the place, also in search of something he was fond of to draw. He had always loved the garden as it was one of the only places where the wonders of Mother Nature could be seen and appreciated. He bent down to observe one of the flowers that had grown out of the garden floor. Just as he was about to pick up his pencil and start sketching, he heard a funny sound coming from ahead. "Now what was that?" Curiosity filled him. He neglected the flower for he was eager to find out what was up ahead... for now.

As he got closer, the sound got louder. "Music?" he wondered, confused. All he got to was a tree. There was really nothing special about it, just that it played... music? Now that was weird. "I never knew trees played music." he said softly. "Wait..." he looked up. To his surprise, he saw a boy on a tree branch with his eyes closed listening to a Discman on his lap. A squirrel crawled around happily. So that was where the music came from. Wasn't this boy supposed to be having lessons now?

"Excuse me." Quatre started, hoping that the boy would hear him somehow but he guessed the music he was listening to was a little too loud. Much TOO loud.

"Er... excuse me?" Quatre repeated. Still no response. Quatre sighed. He looked up once again. The squirrel was staring down at him from the boy's lap. Guess the squirrel had even taken notice of him before the boy himself. Quatre smiled as he looked at the rodent. He wondered how it got along so well with the boy.

"How did you find me?" A voice came from above as Quatre noticed that the latter had finally realized his presence. He had taken off his headphone.

"Your music... Don't you think it's a little... too loud?" Quatre replied, his eyes fixed on the unusually long and spiky forelock of the boy.

"Oh really?" the mysterious lad shrugged. "I'm used to it."

"It's amazing you aren't deaf after listening to music THAT loud."

"......" Trowa patted the squirrel on his shoulder.

Quatre sighed. "Never mind. Forget I said anything." This guy's pretty deaf after all. "By the way, what are you doing here? Aren't you having lessons now?" Quatre raised his voice and spoke a little louder. He inquired politely, making sure he didn't sound too rude.

"I just don't feel like attending it now." Trowa replied casually. The squirrel crawled up to his head and settled in between his hair.

"Er.. okay..... they seem to like you alot."

"Animals won't fear you if you're not their enemy. They're very frank."

Upon saying that, another squirrel scampered its way down the tree and approached Quatre. It stood in front of him, as if inviting him to come forward to stroke it. Quatre walked over and bent down to touch it. He was surprised to find how tame this creature was. Quatre had never been this close to a squirrel before for they always run away and was out of sight whenever anyone approached. He gingerly picked up the squirrel with both hands and cuddled it closely to him.

"So, may I ask, what's yo..." Quatre's words were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Quatre, who are you talking to?" Lady Une asked Quatre gently in a sweet tone. She wondered why Quatre was talking to a tree. The boy must be getting sick!

Quatre jumped a little when he heard her voice. Anyone would. He was quite startled to see her here as he expected her to be with the rest of the class. The squirrel hopped off Quatre's arms and scampered up the tree.

"Well?" she began to walk towards Quatre. Every step she took made Quatre's heart race faster. His heart pounded in beat to her steps. He tried hard to think of what to say to her.

"I... er... I was talking to the squirrel!"

"Squirrels can't talk. I'm positive I heard a familiar voice somewhere." She stopped under the tree and looked up. Trowa looked down at her but didn't say a thing.

"What's this? Trowa Barton?! Get down here this instance!" Lady Une whipped out a walkie-talkie. "I have located Trowa Barton and his hideout. Location is the garden tree northeast of the shed."

Trowa did a flip and landed on the ground. It was amazing that the squirrel managed to stay on his head. He wondered how Lady Une managed to change her personality so fast.
 
Lady Une was the school discipline mistress. She worked closely next to principal Treize and was always seen to be somewhere around him. Before her career as a teacher, she was serving in the army as a military commander. Rumours had it that the Arabian boy, Quatre Raberba Winner was her favourite and her 'pet' among the entire school community. She faced problems trying to track down the notorious school gymnast, Trowa Barton as he was often nowhere to be found. This may be the reasons as to why she was like a mirror, possessing split personalities. Striking fear into the hearts of the school population, she is therefore known as 'The mobile detention room.'

"You're busted! Trowa Barton! I'm going to start patrolling the garden to make sure you don't skip classes again!" A wide triumphant smile formed on her lips. "March off to detention! And take that squirrel off your head!"

Trowa gently took the squirrel off his head and placed it on a branch. "Wait here for me, I'll take you home after school today." [ Another example of Trowa's weird habit ] He walked off back to school with Lady Une trailing him at the back. She wasn't going to let him out of her sight.

Quatre watched quietly as the two disappeared into the distance.

"Trowa Barton.... so that's his name....."

On to Chapter 6...

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