She walked with her head down, her eyes trained carefully on the floor. She had on her summer school uniform, her skin modestly hidden despite the heat of the dying summer. It had been uneventful, to say the least;Anzu had gone home to spend time with her father and stepmother, and it had been the exact same as usual. She didnt know what she had expected; her stepmother had never bothered to try to get close to her before, and her father had never had time for her from the begining. Yet, despite the rational voice in her head that told her that this is exactly what she had expected, Anzu felt hurt. 

Anzu walked through the courtyard, headed towards the strawberry dorms, when she noticed a group of girls ahead; her heart rate quickened as she recognized them, a group of students who had been giving her trouble in her classes. Knocking her books out of her hands, pushing her into the lockers in the hallway. Anzu had been trying her hardest to ignore the taunting and increasingly physical behavior; she had her reputation to keep, after all. She couldnt let others know when something bothered her. She couldnt make it known how much it really bothered her.

As she walked past them, the girl turned and smirked at her and walked towards her. Anzu slowed to a halt as she found herself surrounded by her and her two friends.

"Hey, Anzu- chan." She said tauntingly. "Heard you left us for the summer. How was your mom?"

Anzu's eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of her deceased mother; she didnt know how it had gotten out, but it had. "Shut up, Kurosawa- san." she said, clenching her teeth to keep her emotions under control. The girl glared and reached forward, knocking Anzu's books out of her hands and sending them clattering to the ground, then stepping dangerously close to her.

"Or what?"

You know, it had been fairly quiet around here. Classes were just kind of coming and going, not much reason or motivation. Thankfully, this was commonplace, and June was able to lose herself in the music she always had with her. Today's Choice was based on the fact that she had just completed a reasonable number of her personal goals much faster than normal. Her weight was in check, her technique was without flaw, and her mind felt clear for once. What had changed? Why had so much gotten done?

Regardless, it wasn't long before her musical trance was broken. A strange sight, no less, which would probably be something she avoided had she not recognized the girl at the center of it all. And she was being mistreated. Hmm... Heroics weren't really her thing, but this time could be fun. Besides, maybe she'd get reported. And if she got reported, she could get suspended or worse- And she could visit home and yell at them for not contacting her.

Heart set, she donned a smirk and cracked her neck, then pulled her headphones to around her neck and took a deep breath. She thankfully had good timing, and heard "or what" from the bully.

"Well..." she strolled forward, hands behind her back, until she was right at the girl who spoke so she could rest a hand on her shoulder. "I believe that's my cue."

Her leg swooped below the other girl, and she forced the hand on her shoulder down, making sure the girl hit her back and not her head by allowing the trip to take effect first. This would prevent serious damage. However, once she had hit the ground, June's eyes met one of the other girls.

"You can run now." and then the other. "But you're going to tend to your friend here." and finally, she knelled down and ran the back of her hand along the main girl's cheek so she would look up and into June's eyes. "But you. You get the honor of apologizing to her, and thanking me for not actually trying. Oh, and while you're down there, might as well enjoy the weather today. Relax, take a load off, and think next time you decide to taunt someone, because now I know your face and let me tell you, I never forget a face. I'll know the instant you cause more trouble."

she smiled and stood up.

"We always meet up in the weirdest ways, don't we?

Anzus heartrate had sped up, her jaw set; she didnt like this. Didnt like this at all. She clenched her fists at her sides and just as she had reserved herself to trying to run and escape the situation, a familiar face appeared behind the girl who had threatened her.

She watched with widened eyes as June placed her hand on the girls shoulder and forced her to the ground. She had known, after the time spent with the girl, that she was involved with martial arts but had never had never seen her in action. She looked as surprised as the girls companions, who at Junes suggestion turned tail and ran.

The girl on the ground was surprised; never had her attempts to torture the girl been interupted, by her or anyone else. She muttered a quick "sorry" before stumbling up and taking off, shooting one last dirty look at Anzu; this wasnt over.

The purple haired girl in question blinked once as she watched her go; she watched as June stood and turned to her, smiling. But Anzu didnt.

Why? Why would she have involved herself? She bit her lower lip and furrowed her brow as though in serious thought. "Yes, we do."

"June- san... thank you. But, you didnt have top... I mean, I dont..." Anzu's normally cool- headed persona had gone missing. she shook her head, a light blush staining her cheeks. She was thankful, that she couldnt deny; she would never have faught back, though she may have not have had a reason that made sense to anyone else. She simply couldnt let herself get upset over things like that. Had June heard what the girl said about her mother? Was she wondering why she had simply resigned herself to the mistreatment?

"I know. I didn't have to." she shrugged. "But if you were in my shoes and knew you could stop something like that, wouldn't you?" Not really entirely sure how to react to the sudden introverted Anzu, June opted to maintain what she was already presenting. She kept a cool head and didn't pry. Everyone's got something they hide. Reasons aren't a factor to anyone but the person hiding. A fact June knew all too well, and wouldn't be keen to try anything that would break her own rules just for her curiosity.

"Bullies are usually easy picking. It's the people with a grudge you've gotta be careful of. If someone's out for blood they'll get it, one way or another. Just depends on if it's yours or theirs they get. But for people like that, they aren't used to losing." she turned to make sure they were gone, "And people who aren't used to losing make really sore losers. But, for right now, they also make incredibly huge cowards when someone actually confronts them. Won't work forever but for now, it's all they needed to see to back off, at least for a while."

Randomly, the thought came to hug Anzu and reassure her that everything was okay, so she did.

"You're fine for now, alright? If that happens again, let me know."

Anzu opened her mouth to answer Junes inquiry, but she really didnt know what to say; would she have stepped in in Junes position? "Yeah, I guess I would." SHe said with a shrug. She would hate to see someone else go through what she just had experienced, but what could she do? It's not like she knew how to put people on the ground like that.

She was thankfully distracted by June speaking again, and she nodded in response to her words. it's not like Anzu had never experienced bullying before. After her home life fell apart she had distanced herself from all of her friends, and had earned a lot of negative emotions from those "friends".

But she was interrupted by June... hugging her? She was surprised as she felt the other girls arms around her, her muscles stiffening instinctively; when was the last time someone had hugged her? Or had any kind of affectionate contact? Her cheeks burned as she awkwardly tried to return the hug, but she was sure June could tell how out of place she felt.

Still, it felt nice; despite the foreign feeling of the situation, she... enjoyed it? Which was weird and a bit scary to Anzu. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be alright. And... I will. Thank you."

Now, the very nature of some moments fringes on key words and noteworthy body language. What would Anzu think of what had just happened maybe a day or two from now? A week? Who knows. The important thing here was that her friend was okay.

"There are some sick people out there, getting off on the average person's pain. I'm not much for the whole "an eye for an eye" thing, especially after Ar-our family had a bit of a tiff and some of them came out with some scars, but I figure if it's for you, I can throw a punch or two." She released Anzu finally, knowing the situation probably seemed awkward but taking a bit of personal satisfaction out of being able to hug someone. "One condition though. You gotta be you with me." She stepped back a bit. "What I saw today, that's you isn't it? I appreciate the way you treat me, and I wanna make sure I'm not forcing you to be someone you're not. Alright?"

Speaking of pivotal ways to phrase things and how they can permanently affect moments...

It was a weird feeling, to be sure; for so long Anzu had restricted herself from having any sort of relationship with anyone. Allowing yourself to have that meant exposing yourself to risk, risk that she just hadn't been willing to take. Not again.

Yet here she was, grinning like an idiot. A part of her loved that June had stood up for her, was willing to do so again. And it felt good to be held after so long. But there was no denying that sick feeling of fear inside.

Her eyes widened almost to the point of pain at Junes request. Be her? Her cheeks again stained red as her thoughts raced; had she figured out how much Anzu hid away? Yes, the girl who refused to fight back to defend herself was her.

"I..." She looked downward, embarrassed. Could she really be herself after all this time?

"I... Will try." She said, glancing back up to her friend. And she would try.

"I'm no good at this whole friendship thing. So I'm gonna need you to tell me if anything I just did or said made sense. Not now, but later." She opted for that moment to relax a little more herself. It wasn't exactly a tense situation but it was also not the most calm either. And she had no experience consoling someone or doing much of anything except hitting things, so that's what she did. Her part of this equation was over. The things that needed to be hit we're hit. Everyone got to keep their secrets. Everyone got out without any harm- well, permanent harm.

So what was it that kept her talking, even when she had clearly run out of things to say?

"I dunno, maybe you're just different. I don't go around beating people up for everyone. Did you cast any black magic on me?" She brushed it off as quickly as she said it. "Nah, that would be cliche. Still, maybe we should hang out more. I'm curious about why we keep meeting up like this and I'd like to just, you know, sit down and talk sometime. Maybe learn a bit about each other?"

She wasn't good at the "friendship thing"? Hah! Anzu couldn't help but crack a smile. It had been so long since she had actually considered someone a friend that she wasn't sure she remembered how exactly it was supposed to be done. She supposed being honest with June about herself would be a start: she had just promised to try and be herself, after all. But what if she didn't really like that? What if Anzu really did let her guard down, let June see the scared, nervous girl she hid away and she didn't like her? The girls heart ached at the thought.

But she had to try. Maybe it was time to let someone in, let them see who was hidden beneath the careless, humorous shell she had built. She chuckled lightly at Junes question. "No magic from me." though really she wondered what else could have possibly made her catch the Russians attention. She wasn't especially pretty, not a good athlete. She wasn't exceptionally talented. In fact, she had for the longest time lived her life on being unnoticed.

She nodded as June asked to actually hang out with her. "I'd like that, June- kun." She couldn't help but worry about what would happen when she found out all the things she kept hidden. Would she treat her differently? Would she leave? At this point, it was a risk she was, miraculously, willing to take.