Flame Of Recca Fan Fiction ❯ A Broken Past ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

(This is an old ramble of mine, so I know now that some of the stuff in the ficcy is totally off from the storyline. I guess that I'll fix it if anyone really wants me too? ^.^; Though I don't know how to fix it.)
Author's Note-Okee, me know barely anything about FoR, especially about Tokiya's past. *sweatdrops* Therefore, I fiddled around with it a tiny bit. Therefore, it's OOC, most of the time..;.; not on purpose, either. FoR is copyrighted by its rightful owners. ^.^; All this junk about Tokiya's past is probably VERY inaccurate and I don't even know if Meguri Kyoza is alive or dead..don't even know if he's old or young. Just used my imagination a little. Um..and Domon's sort of portrayed dumber than he probably is..*sighs* Oh well. Enjoy..my first attempt at a FoR fic...and seems to be my last... Oh, and one last note, Raiha + Fuuko lovers are probably going to hate me for this one, but I couldn't do much with Raiha, I dunno much about him. Wonder if he's older than the others..if so, oopes. This is just based on the anime, not the manga. In other words, people who have just seen the anime have a better chance at understanding...maybe? Aiya, and this is supposed to be serious! (Mostly!) Though I might (understatement..@.@;) have done a bad job at it. *lol* 0.o;; Ja! (That was quite a long ramble.)
Japanese words used: (and translations! ...my version, though..*sweatdrops* Not good.)
are(e)? -- huh?
aho -- stupid/idiot/fool
baka -- stupid/idiot/fool
nani? -- what?
nandato? -- what did you say?
hai -- yes/okay/sure (depending on the situation)
sensei -- teacher
itadakimasu -- (something said right before eating)
ne? -- right?/yeah?/okay?
sempai -- upperclassman/(something you call an upperclassman)
sayonara -- goodbye
ja mata -- see you later/goodbye/be seeing you
saa -- come
sumanai -- sorry
ohayo -- good morning
oy -- hey
masaka -- can't be/it couldn't be
teme -- bastard
kisama -- bastard
madougu -- elemental weapon
arigato -- thank you
neichan -- sister/older woman
niichan -- brother/older man

"Aree~?" Kirisawa Fuuko brushed her hair aside with a sigh. "Recca, whaddya want? It's pretty new to see you without Yanagi-chan trailing. Hm, did your lover girl dump you already?" she teased.
She got the reaction she was hoping for. Hanabishi Recca turned a deep shade of indignant red and glared at her. "Yeah, right!" he added, "I came to tell you something, but maybe I won't even bother telling you it--"
"Telling me about what, Re~cca?" the last word, in particular, was said sugary sweet.
Recca sighed. "Before that, where's Domon? I haven't seen him around today."
With that remark, Fuuko burst out in laughter.
"Huh? Wha-?"
"And who might that be behind you?"
Recca turned and found he was face to face with some sort of demon...er, my mistake. That was Domon, not demon. @.@;
Domon eyed him suspiciously, then roared, "What's the matter, Hanabishi? I saw you talking to that Mikagami fellow and now you're talking to Fuuko?!" he widened his eyes, dramatically staggering back as though hit in the stomach. "Don't tell me that you were going to set my Fuuko up on a date with--"
Domon flew up into the air about a thousand feet, then crashed back down.
"AHO!" Fuuko glowered.
Recca rolled his eyes. "Anyways, as I was going to say, Mikagami said that he wants to have a little 'talk' among us."
"A 'talk'?!" Domon stood up, brushing himself off and rubbing at his eyes. "Mikagami? Talk to us? Underclassmen? Peh!"
"Where?" was Fuuko's reaction.
"NANI? You're actually going to bother talking to that cold-hearted son of a--"
Domon found himself flying once more. At the peak of flying, he let out a curse loud enough for the others to hear and fell back down.
"Next to the fountain." Recca replied. "In ten minutes."
*
Tokiya was standing next to the water fountain. Annoyed. He checked his watch. 3:31. ::A minute late.:: He grumbled to himself, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was doing what he least liked to. Wasting time. And time was exactly what he didn't want wasted at the moment. Another minute passed. Then another. And finally another.
After what seemed like an eternity to him, and happened to be an agonizing five minutes or so, he sensed a presence behind him. And there they were. He glared daggers at Recca. "Hanabishi." he directed to whom he considered the leader of the 'monkey clan,' "You're late."
To which Recca reacted by whining, "But I'm not the only one!" ::Picks on me too much...:: "Seriously, though. What do you want anyways, Mikagami? It isn't usual for you to actually call to us for talks."
"Humph! Don't be mistaken, who said I wanted to talk to you?" Tokiya muttered softly, barely loud enough for the others to hear. Then he paused, took a breath, and continued. "My teacher wanted to meet you. He told me to invite you to 'his place.' I think he has to tell you something."
"You met with him? Did you ask about your sister's--" Domon began eagerly. This caused him to yet again become a temporary star in the sky.
"Baka!" Fuuko called up. "Don't you have any concern for other people's feelings?!"
When Domon landed, he wept. "What would you be talking about? You just hit me three times in the last ten minutes..."
"That's different."
Domon sulked.
That was when Tokiya showed them his teacher's letter to him, signifying that he had not directly spoken to Meguri Kyoza but had only received a letter from him.
Recca glanced at the serious looking upperclassman. "So, when are we meeting him?"
Tokiya handed him the letter silently. Recca skimmed through it, then noted the time. "Six thirty P.M., the day you receive this letter...?! Today!?"
"It's not far."
"But what in the world would he want to meet us for?"
"How should I know?" Tokiya took a deep breath, then let it out. "Anyways, besides telling you about the 'invitation,' I wanted to say one more thing."
"Yeah? What is it?"
Tokiya looked away from Recca and towards the direction of the two others. Fuuko was busily choking Domon and it was clear that neither was listening.
"Pay attention!" the ensui wielder called out, annoyance clear on his face.
"Ha~i?" Fuuko immediately dropped Domon and was alert.
Domon was too busy regaining his air to listen. Either that or he was pretending so he wouldn't have to listen.
Tokiya sighed. This was why he didn't want the others to come. "The one other thing. Don't do anything embarrassing. Or else." he turned away, sweatdropping slightly as he thought of what Meguri Kyoza would do when he was introduced to a bunch of monkeys.
*
6:30 Sharp:
"Welcome!" a homely looking woman called out as the group entered the building. "Please hold on, the room is being set for you.
Recca sighed. "Out of all places, a restaurant? Weren't we going to his house?"
Tokiya rolled his eyes. "I don't remember ever saying that we were going to a house." he snapped.
"It's a pretty place though." Yanagi exclaimed excitedly.
"If you say so." Fuuko shrugged her shoulders. "Looks pretty dull to me."
"Ah, Tokiya. Been a while, has it not?" a slightly elderly looking man entered the room. It immediately grew quiet. "Now now, what's with the cold faces?"
"Meguri..Kyoza. No, sensei." Tokiya said on instinct, then frowned. If what Kai had said was true, the man before him was responsible of the murdering of his sister. ::Revenge..:: his mind whispered, but he kept quiet and still. He would have to ask Kyoza about it. And soon. Before he lost his cool.
"That's Mi-chan's teacher?" Fuuko whispered.
"Seems so," Domon whispered back. "Looks like some ordinary guy, though."
"Who were you expecting?" she questioned dryly. "Superman?"
"Um, not exactly. More like Batman."
"Well then, introduce me to your friends, Tokiya." Kyoza's eyes held a light gleam in them.
Not only did Tokiya catch the gleam, he caught the word "friends" in the sentence. Again, almost as instinct, he began, "Sensei, they aren't my frie--"
"Introduce them!"
Tokiya felt anger boil up in him, and lowered his eyes. "Hai." he muttered. "This is Hanabishi Recca, Sakoshita Yanagi, Kirisawa Fuuko, and Ishijima Domon." without raising his eyes, he mumbled to them, "My sensei, Meguri Kyoza."
"Um...nice to meet you!" Yanagi said automatically, bowing deeply.
"Pleased." Kyoza said in a not-so-very-pleased tone of voice. He stood suddenly. "Why don't you all order your food? I have something to discuss with my student here. Don't worry, we'll be quick." he turned to the pleasant looking woman who had escorted the others in. "I'll have what I usually do. Make that two." he said as he eyed Tokiya.
"Hai." the lady bowed slightly, then wandered over to the others so they could begin to order their own food.
*
"First of all," Tokiya began as soon as Kyoza and he had been led to another room and left alone. "Was what Kai said correct?" his eyes narrowed. "Did you kill my sister!? Or are you going to deny it again!?"
Kyoza sighed and sat, motioning for the other to sit also. Tokiya slowly obeyed, keeping his eyes on his teacher. "Well, it's like you not to waste time, isn't it." Kyoza finally said, taking a sip of his tea. "I haven't come to deny anything. That's exactly what I wanted to speak to you about. It's interesting that you believe in Kai more than me, though."
"I have no reason to doubt him!"
Kyoza raised his eyes to see his student. "There, there. Loosen up. Loosen up and listen, for this may be the most important thing you've heard since your sister's death."
With that, Meguri Kyoza began. "When you were young, barely a year after you were born, to be exact, your family passed away and you were left with your sister to take care of you. Your sister died at age sixteen, when you were only ten. All you would remember was that she was very kind and gentle to you, and that she was killed for your sake. She saved you. She told you to protect that ensui." Kyoza studied his student's face. No change. Of course, he wasn't really expecting a reaction so soon anyways. Not from Tokiya.
"What would you do if I told you that you're sister never did die?"
That caused Tokiya to flinch involuntarily. "That can't be possible." he said flatly. "My sister died in front of my face. There was blood, there was--" his voice grew softer. "--nothing I could do about it."
"Now then, since I got your reaction on that one, what would you do I told you that you never had a sister in your whole life?"
"Are you trying to anger me on purpose?!" Tokiya demanded, his hand slamming on the floor as he made an attempt to stand.
"Now, now. I told you not to get worked up." Kyoza snickered, then motioned for Tokiya to take his seat. The silver-haired boy obeyed, but only after an extended silence.
"Anyways," Kyoza resumed speaking, "It's no good for you to kill me now. I'm going to die soon anyways," he said lightly. "I've caught some sort of incurable disease."
"What?!" Tokiya seemed fairly surprised. "You look healthy.."

"Look. But that's about it. I barely feel healthy." Kyoza informed. Then he made a face. "You're wasting time. I know you hate that. I came here to tell you something and I'm not planning on leaving until I do. You may want to kill me, heck you may actually kill me by the end of this conversation, but its important, and I want you to hear it, all right?" he lowered his gaze to reach Tokiya's cool one. He nodded. "I will continue. What I said before was what you've known, am I correct?"
"Hai."
"I will now tell you something else. Do not interrupt me, and listen carefully."
Slight hesitation, then, "Hai."
Kyoza took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "The most important point. You do not have a sister. And you never had one. Do you want to know why? Because you are an only child."
*
Tokiya opened his mouth to complain about the inaccuracy when he remembered his teacher's words. He shut it, reluctantly, and decided to listen to what his teacher had to say.
"Yes, your parents had died soon after you were born. That piece of information left in your brain is true. What you didn't know is this. Before your parents passed away, they went to an orphanage to adopt a baby girl. The girl lived in the house for a mere month, and your parents finally refused to adopt. They died soon after.
"The girl in the orphanage, Mifuyu, finally found someone related to her. Still, she had grown a little bit fond of the little baby the Mikagami's had left. In other words, you.
"Her aunt finally agreed to take care of you, but she also didn't want the hassle of adoption. When Mifuyu was ten, her aunt passed away as well. She was without parents, all alone with the exception of you. Now who could see such a poor sight without wanting to help her? I took care of her, secretly, so no one but she knew. She would take food back to you, she would have money, clean clothes, a house, but no one knew how or why. Or where she got it from." he paused, then continued. "One day she showed me it. Her family's elemental weapon. The Ensui. She told me that she didn't know what is was and I told her that it was left from her family. She accepted that, but of course, she never knew how to use it. I tested it out myself a few times, then had a brilliant idea. That baby that she was taking care of may live to become a great swordsman.
"It was an odd idea indeed, and even I knew that. But I still believed it would happen. And I decided then and there that I wouldn't let anything get in my way. Now, you may not remember or known, but Mifuyu had a greedy streak in her. I offered her an awfully large sum of money for a little girl to do one thing for me. She agreed, of course, firsthand." Kyoza paused once more, then looked towards his student. Tokiya was turning a bit pale. He shrugged and went on. "That one thing was to make you independent. And of course, mainly for you to want to learn how to use the ensui. Do you know what we did? We hired a bunch of 'assassins' to 'kill her,' actually, they were only a few of her friend's fathers. She was a marvelous actress, that she was. About a week after her death was staged in front of you, she was found by another relative and taken with them, which was better for us. That way I wouldn't have to keep her in hiding any longer. She went to America...and I heard that she had passed away a few years back, in some sort of car accident. She used to drink, too." he ceased speaking and sipped his tea quietly. When there was no response, he looked up. "Well, any reaction, Tokiya?"
Tokiya actually had begun to react by then. By turning paler and more distant every passing second.
"It's the truth, Tokiya. I can't lie to you now, it's all over and done with, and I'm an aged man. I wasn't going to tell you this because I thought it would be painful for you, heck I was almost starting to feel sorry for you, but I thought, might as well, before I passed on."
With that, Tokiya stood, then looked at his teacher, contempt written all over his handsome facial features. "You..lied to me for the past seven years?" he demanded, incredulously.
"I'm sorry to say yes, Tokiya."
"And so I spent seven whole years trying to avenge my sister's death which never even occurred? I don't even have a sister?!"
"Yes, Tokiya."
"Then what about the images in my head? Of my sister being killed in front of my face?!"
"They were planted into your mind. You must have remembered it all through these years." Meguri Kyoza stood. "I'm sorry for all of this, Tokiya." he turned.
"What do you mean that 'you're sorry about this'?!" Tokiya burst out, standing also. "Do you think that after all these years of looking for revenge on the person who killed my sister, that I could just easily say, 'Oh, really. So that's it. Thank you very much, I understand.' to all of this!? There's no way--"
"Mifuyu's last name was Sakoshita also!" Kyoza cut in sharply. "Sakoshita Yanagi's cousin. No one else in Yanagi's family knew of her, though. Can't you see the resemblance? Because of her, you've gotten stronger. She looked just like Mifuyu to you. So familiar to you." he said slowly. "I asked the Sakoshitas to move here for a reason. Though I never told them why. Of course I gave them money. And now look, their youngest daughter seems to be in love with a young man from this neighborhood. Hanabishi Recca, was it? Perfect. Now they aren't only living here for the money. The only reason I brought them here was to make you remember--"
"I don't believe you." Tokiya stated, eying his teacher with his eternally cool gaze.
"Then don't. I can't force you." Kyoza said plainly, then turned away. "Maybe it'll be better off if you don't believe it. I guess I never thought that you actually would. At least this takes the burden off of my shoulders. But I have one more thing to say. You've turned out to be very strong and I appreciate that. But don't use that strength to try to avenge death that never occurred. Let's head back, Tokiya. The others are waiting."
"..hai." his eyes lowered from his teacher's gaze and they walked back.
*
When the two returned, the room was in chaos.
"Baka Domon~!" Fuuko was in one corner, her arms crossed, while Domon was weeping in the one across from her and had a black eye.
Yanagi was curiously looking back and forth between them while Recca shook his head in a movement meant to look wise and murmured, "Grow up, you two."
Meguri Kyoza looked surprised. Tokiya just looked detached, as always. With a sigh, he went to pick up his stuff. "I'm going home." he said darkly and started for the door. Unfortunately, Domon was in the way.
"But Mikagami, you haven't even eaten!" Domon said, gesturing to the food which had just been brought in, in its good timing. If it had been served any earlier, there would probably have been one major food fight.
"I'll eat at home." Tokiya was out of the room before anything further could be said.
The room went silent. Something was wrong.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Yanagi clapped her hands together and said, "Let's eat!"
Domon and Recca had already begun gulping down their food.
::No wonder they were quiet...:: Yanagi mused sheepishly. Fuuko was sweatdropping at the guys' ignorance.
Kyoza watched them disapprovingly at first, but then began eating, himself, before the food went cold. Yanagi sat there with a smile on her pretty face and helped everyone reach what they needed to. She also began to fuss over Recca's food smudged face.
Fuuko left her corner to pick at her own food. Usually, she ate almost as quickly as the guys, but she had apparently lost her appetite a while back, so she took the time to watch the others. ::Look at Yanagi-chan, she'd be a great wife, she does so many things.:: she sighed. ::Unlike tomboyish me on the other hand.:: she fingered a strand of her hair. :: I even have a boyish haircut.:: she stole a glance at Meguri Kyoza. :: So he was Ice Man's teacher, eh?:: she thought to herself with interest. ::I wonder what they talked about back there. Mi-chan seemed overly moody afterwards..well then again, this is Mi-chan I'm talking about here..:: after a few more minutes of absently picking at her food, she stood up, to the surprise of the others. She grabbed her purse, bowed at Meguri Kyoza and announced her leave. She wanted to check up on Mi-chan.
Domon was still blocking the door. He did the same thing as he did before, this time, with his mouth full. "But Fuutto, you habent eatan yept." he motioned towards her plate.
"Watch your table manners, dope." Fuuko muttered and shoved past him. "And don't even think about following me, you'll just be in the way!" she warned, then disappeared out of the door.
As soon as she had left ear shot, Recca grinned. "Aw, how sweet. Our little tomboy's going to check up on how the Ice Man himself is. And not only that, but she says not to follow because we'll get in the way."
"Nandato?!" Domon glowered at Recca. "Whaddid you say about a tomboy? Eh!?" he picked Recca up by the collar, mentally making a note to be sure to check up on Fuuko after dinner.
Yanagi sweatdropped there, and begged him to let Recca down while Recca himself threatened the bigger boy with a bunch of firecrackers. Meguri Kyoza was too busy eating to notice this commotion. Lucky for him.
*
"Now where in the world did he go off to?" Fuuko muttered to herself. "Home, perhaps." Wait. Did she even know where Tokiya lived? Nope. She sighed. Maybe it was pointless to go outside to look for him. She could still go back to the others...maybe she was just searching in vain.
Fuuko cursed. She was having the worst luck. She turned to walk back, when she saw a park entrance. ::Eh? There was an entrance here too? Never saw it before. Oh well..:: she sighed. ::Nothing better to do, I guess. I'm not really hungry anyways..:: the girl wandered in, then sat down on a swing. She looked around. "I wonder." she thought aloud, "Is this place just..empty? What a park." she groaned. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to look for him in the first place. It's getting dark, too.." and that was when she spotted him. A lone figure standing on the edge of the basketball court, the side away from the grass. ::A-ha!:: she sprung off of the swing, landed easily, and wandered over to where he was located.
With a bright smile on her face, she tiptoed towards him, planning on scaring him for once in his entire life, then jumped as she heard, "Why did you come here?"
"Well, I was looking for you, that's for one." Fuuko stated, halting while twisting a lock of purplish hair on a finger. "And I was bored, too. They (Domon & Recca) were making a fuss in front of your sensei." she said.
"Oh."
"So..whaddya guys talk about?"
"My past." he said dryly.
"So did he actually kill--" she shut her mouth, turning away. "Ne--nevermind. Sorry." she said gruffly, never used to apologizing. Then she sheepishly added, "Fuuko-chan's so impolite!"
She received no answer.
"Mi-chan?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
To her surprise, she received a mild chuckle. "Humph. Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be? Don't worry about me."
Fuuko's first instinct was to say, 'Oh, but I wasn't worried..' but she held the words back. There was no way that he would fall for such words anyways. Considering who it was. ::Fake.:: she thought disapprovingly of his words. ::Too fake of an answer..but then again, he's that kind of guy. Still, it would have been better if he hadn't answered. Now I'm getting more worried. Great.:: she rolled her eyes.
"Is that all?"
"Maybe. Maybe not." Fuuko ventured, trying to sound a bit mysterious for some odd reason. She sighed. ::Gods, we must look dumb.:: was the thought that crossed her mind. ::Two people talking to each other but from afar and both facing in opposite directions.:: she wanted to turn, but talking to any wall was better than to a turned backside. Well, so she thought.
But to her surprise, she heard a footstep behind her, then a warm hand enclose hers. With widened eyes, she turned, and her gaze met his. ::Ice.:: her mind whispered to her, and she looked away quickly. It was true that the young man's eyes looked as cold as ice. She just didn't want to acknowledge it.
With a small movement, he gave her something, wrapped her fingers around it, and walked off.
The girl was too stunned to move. At least, for a short while. Tightening her fingers around the object, she felt...cold. "What--" opening her hand, she saw something that she never thought that she would ever hold, not to mention even really see up close. "Ensui." she whispered.
With that one whisper, the clouds darkened. Distant thunder echoed through the air as though she had commanded it to appear just then.
She was hardly aware of a few pieces of shredded paper a little distance away. Tokiya had let them go when he had walked past her. Curiosity finally rushed through her and she picked a piece up from the ground. What she saw was a head of a young girl. "Yanagi-chan? Why would he--" she trailed off. "Mifuyu. He ripped up his picture of his sister..why?" she sank to her knees, arranging the fallen pieces together like a puzzle until it at last formed a complete picture. It was a picture of a young lady smiling sweetly. "Why?" she repeated, and a small gust of wind scattered the picture once more. She made no attempt to retrieve it, though she watched as the pieces slowly flew off to a distance. "..why? Mi-chan?"
She raised her eyes from the flying pieces and looked towards the direction that Tokiya had gone. And it began to rain.
*
Knock knock.
Tokiya turned to the door. "Who could it be now?" he muttered. He decided to ignore it.
Knock knock. Ding-dong. Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-dong. Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing-dong! Then, "Mi-chan? I know you're there! Open up! I need to talk to you!"

Tokiya froze in place. ::No. But I could have sworn that she didn't follow, and I never told her where I lived..so how did she--::
"Mi-chan? Mi-chan! Open the door!" he heard the visitor take a deep breath, and then, "MIKAGAMI TOKIYA!! Open the freaking door before I have to break it down!!!"
Tokiya finally gave in, opening the door a notch. What he wanted most at the moment was not a broken door. Probably, if he didn't open the door, that particular visitor of his would go through with that threat. "What do you want?" he grumbled at her. "And how did you find my house?!"
Fuuko shoved past him into the house, ignoring his feeble attempts at protesting. "Don't you have the courtesy to let a girl in from the rain? Gods, I'm soaked." she mumbled, removing her jacket and setting it down. "Don't you have a fireplace or something? Somewhere I could dry this off?"
Tokiya looked at her as though she was insane. "Idiot." he finally grumbled, then took the jacket from her. "There's such a thing as a dryer, did you forget that?"
As he started towards another door, Fuuko called out, "Oh, about how I found your house, I followed you." she smiled. "Surprised? I think the rain weakened your senses."
Tokiya sighed deeply, disappearing into the room. When he came out once more, the jacket was gone. He muttered, "It wasn't only the rain that weakened my senses."
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"Uh, no." Then, "Did you already finish eating at the restaurant?"
"Naaah. I got worried and left my food there. Recca and Domon musta eaten it by now. They ate yours." she grinned.
"Oh."
"Didya make something to eat?"
"I was just about to." Tokiya glanced down irritably.

Fuuko then noticed what he was looking at. "Ah! An apron! Not common for guys to wear them now-a-days." she commented. "Can you cook? Or should I help you?"
"Humph! I've lived here alone for quite some time. Did you actually think that I ate out every time I was hungry?"
"Naah." she said as she thought to herself, ::Thank goodness. I can hardly prepare a meal myself.:: She added, "But you didn't have to say something like that."
She heard the sound of a knife on cutting board. He had already gone back to the kitchen. ::What a rude guy!:: she thought, slightly angered. Then finally, she mused, ::Hm. Not bad though..:: as she watched curiously.
"So." he stated, not looking up.
"Eh?" Fuuko glanced towards him, plopping down onto the couch. Being on the couch in the living room and his being in the kitchen didn't make things any easier for her to do so. At least the kitchen was connected to the living room in a weird sense, so the only thing that obscured her view was the kitchen table.
"So why'd you come? What did you want to talk about?" he sighed.
"I came to get shelter from the rain." she said half-truthfully. Then she added, "And I wanted to know why you left so suddenly. Was there something wrong?"
Tokiya shook his head. "Do I need to give a reason for everything I do? I didn't feel well, okay?"
"Well, fine. Don't need to get pissed about it."
Silence, except for the sound of chopping vegetables.
"Mi-chan,"
"What?"
"Whacha making?"
"Cream stew." he said flatly. "How long are you planning on staying here anyways?"
"Until I want to go home. My house is kind of far from here, you know. Maybe a twenty to thirty minute walk or so. I don't want to catch a cold. Or get wet."
"I'll lend you an umbrella, so when your coat dries you can go back. It'll be late soon. Don't you want to get home?"
"You really want me to leave, don't you."
The cutting stopped. Dull eyes met hers. "Why do you think that?" was the reply.
"Fine. I take the hint." she rose.
Tokiya resumed cutting. "Do what you wish. But I'm not forcing you to do anything. Remember that."

Fuuko hesitated then, looking from the boy to the door to the couch and back. With a sigh, she fell back onto the couch, putting her hands behind her head. "Fine." she watched him as he efficiently washed a few potatoes, more carrots, and other miscellaneous vegetables and chopped them up. Quickly. Too quickly. ::Is he trying to show off?:: she thought angrily, then shook her head. ::Nah, only Recca or Domon would. He must be in a hurry for some reason.:: she raised her eyes from the cutting board and glanced at him. "Must be in a hurry to get rid of me.." she muttered under her breath. If he heard, he made no movement to show it. There was no change in his expression that signaled that he had wanted her to leave or if he had wanted her to stay.
She took a deep breath, then asked softly, "What did you two talk about?"
"None of your business." was the curt reply. The cutting grew quicker.
"Ugh. Fine." she rolled her eyes, watched him cook for a few more minutes, then asked, "Why did you rip up your sister's picture, by the way?! That was her picture wasn't it? The one that was shredded at the park?"
The chopping slowed until she saw him wince, then put the knife down. He raised his index finger and examined it. Then after a few seconds, he washed his finger off and looked over at Fuuko accusingly. "Why do you want to know?"
It took a short while for the actions to register for her. "Oh!" she exclaimed then. "Did I make you cut yourself? Sorry!" with a sheepishly bright smile, she hopped into the kitchen, took Tokiya's hand and pulled out a band-aid. She put it on the wound, then grew serious, dropping his hand. Freed, Tokiya washed the knife, threw out the bloodstained vegetables and cleaned the cutting board.
"Why do I want to know?" Fuuko spoke out. "Because I'm concerned, Mi-chan. That's about it. You're acting stranger than usual."
Tokiya froze.
The girl then smiled. "We'll talk after you're done cooking. I don't want you getting hurt further, k?" the smile turned into a grin. "Next time, you might accidentally cut your hand off or something." with that, she returned to the living room.
Finally in peace, Tokiya let out a sigh of relief and continued to cook.
*
About a half an hour later, Tokiya appeared from in the kitchen. He brought with him two bowls and cups, to the girl's surprise. He sat then down at the table and motioned for her to join him on the floor. She took a seat across from him.
"Aw, Mi-chan, you shouldn't have," Fuuko gushed happily. All that waiting had gotten her hungry.
The expression on Tokiya's face clearly showed that he was thinking two words at that moment. 'I know.'
"Itadakima~su!" Fuuko said, then tried a bit of the stew, as Tokiya removed the apron from around himself. "Wow, it's good!" she proclaimed, obviously surprised that he could cook.
Tokiya muttered something under his breath that she couldn't catch, but she was too busy eating to ask. He sighed and tasted the stew himself. It tasted good. ::Funny.:: he reflected, and a thought formed in his head. ::I'll bet you make food better when you have a guest over, Mikagami.:: he pushed it aside and replaced it with, ::It's better than usual. I just must be more hungry today.:: then again, he had a lot on his mind today. And now he had to answer questions. What he wanted at the time was an answer to his own questions.
Fuuko finally stopped eating and looked up at him. "So, what's up? There's got to be a reason that you didn't stay at the restaurant very long." she grinned teasingly. "Not when Yanagi-chan was there too.."
Tokiya glanced aside. "I learned something I didn't want to from my teacher." he said blankly, barely noticing what he was saying.
"Oh. That's it?"
"I don't think I can quite believe it yet."
"Oh." she repeated, sounding uninterested. She took a bite out of a potato.
"He told me that I don't have a sister." Tokiya blurted out, and although his mind commanded him to stop speaking out, he continued. "Everything was a lie to make me learn how to use the Ensui."
"Oh?"
His eyes flashed then and he glared at her. "Oh?! That's all?!" he slammed a fist down on the table.
Fuuko widened her own eyes, putting her spoon down. "Did you want me to say something different? Did you want me to say that your teacher lied to you then? I don't even know him! I don't know enough. I need more facts to answer, Mi-chan." she said, finally meeting his gaze. "Tell me more." she said firmly. "I'll listen, I promise."
There was a silence. Tokiya finally lowered his eyes. "Fine. If you do anything inappropriate, like laugh, I won't forgive you." he muttered hotly.
The girl seemed hurt. She frowned. "Why would I laugh?" she asked quietly. "I thought this was serious for you."
Tokiya opened his mouth, then shut it again. He then took a sip of his drink. Closing his eyes, he began. "You all knew that I was fighting in the Urabutosatsujin in order to seek revenge for my sister," he stated. "And at the Urabutosatsujin, you heard Kai say that my sister had been killed not by him, but by Meguri Kyoza. My own teacher, who trained me for a full seven years. I barely believed his words at first, but when it finally registered, a thought came to my mind. 'What do I do after I get my revenge?!'
"The answer seemed simple enough. Kill myself, for I had nothing to live for here. In other words, my life was devoted to seeking revenge. I was worthless as a human being, if I couldn't find that revenge. Well, when I thought that I actually had found who killed her, Meguri Kyoza, he told me something I could not accept. No, still can't. Do you know what he told me? He said, 'Tokiya, you do not have a sister. You never had. Why? Because you were an only child!' " Tokiya hesitated, then continued.
"I'm still a bit shocked. he couldn't have really expected me to actually believe that now, did he? He set up the whole relationship between Mifuyu and me. Just to make it seem that I had a sister. She wasn't even related to me. Am I supposed to sit her and accept that?!" his eyes opened slowly and he looked the girl in the face. "The who pretended to be my sister for about ten years was Sakoshita Mifuyu." he caught the surprised look in her face, and shook it off. "That's why Yanagi-san looked so much like her. Mifuyu-san moved to America after the staging of her death..Kyoza told me that he heard that she died in a car accident a few years back. Yanagi-san's family was paid to move here so I could recall Mifuyu through her. They were mere tools, too. But they didn't know..no, I don't think they know even now why they really came here. Kyoza wanted me to learn how to use the Ensui by will. And so he set the whole thing up."
"My God." Fuuko finally spoke. "You're not..kidding..?"
"Would I be?!" he demanded. "Not on this subject!" he looked down at his stew, which was still more than half left over and possibly already cold. "My whole life's been a set up. I lived for my sister's revenge. Now that I know that I never had a sister, that she wasn't killed, what am I supposed to do? I'm ruined. I've lived for nothing..and I can't just automatically re-build my life with a fresh start. Not now. Not after all of this." he paused, then glanced down.
::That's ridiculous.:: Fuuko bit her lip, her anger flaring up. ::That's selfish..it's a lie..it has to be. What's with that Meguri Kyoza? Him and all of his lies! Not only did he not tell Mi-chan that he had killed her sister, he didn't tell him about two Hyomon Ken masters..and now even worse, he's denying that Mi-chan ever had a sister in the first place?! Unforgivable..he's screwing with poor Mi-chan's mind here.::
Tokiya picked up his cup to drink, but found his hand shook..the cup fell. Glass shattered, liquid poured onto the carpet. Still, he made no move to clean it. He raised passive eyes to meet Fuuko's, then attempted a weak smile. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll be fine. I just need to speak with Kyoza once more. To get this cleared up. Maybe I heard wrong." he whispered, doubt obvious in his speech. Then he added softly, "I wonder why I even spoke to you about this.." ::Not that she cares about my past.::
Fuuko stood up. "Baka." she muttered.
"Huh?" that had caught the boy by surprise.
"Baka." she repeated fiercely. "Don't think like that." she walked over to his side of his table, kneeled down. In a swift movement, she grabbed him roughly and placed his head on her shoulder. He stiffened, but made no attempt to pull away. "I'm sorry about everything that happened. I really am. But what's happened's already done with." she smiled slightly. "No point in wanting to return and change the past. If what Kyoza said is actually correct this time, well, you're not tied down to revenge only now. You still have a life ahead of you. You're young, remember?" her arms tightened around him. "You don't have to live for revenge. Live for something else. Live for yourself if no one or nothing else." she chuckled slightly. "Though these words don't match me."
Tokiya finally relaxed against her. With a silent vow never to feel so vulnerable again, he closed his eyes. From one, a single tear trickled down his cheek. That was it. For his memories, which were all inaccurate, for his past which was all set up, for his world that had crashed upon him without his knowing..for the life he had been led to have.
And there, he tried to cast it all away.
*
After a significant amount of time passed, the silver-haired boy opened his eyes and pulled away. Fuuko released him easily and found herself looking into a pair of beautiful but pain-filled baby blue eyes. She blinked, then glanced aside, feeling her face grow hot. Then she turned back, smiling, an attempt to lighten his mood. "You know what might help? A party! Karoke? How 'bout sometime tomorrow? With the others? We could have belated celebration for winning the Urabutosatsujin..?" she suggested. Then she caught his 'look'..that she was all too familiar with. "Hey! You can trust in little ol' Fuuko-chan here! This (the talk) is all a secret until you give me permission to say anything about it! I promise!" she patted him on the back, then stood up. "Come on, it'll be fun! Maybe it'll help you feel a little better, ne?" she beamed. "There's no school tomorrow anyways! What's your phone number? I'll tell you what time we'll go, k?"
Tokiya stared at her as if she were crazy once more, then finally took out a notepad, wrote his number down in his overly neat handwriting and handed it to her.
She gave him another smile. "Thanks, Mi-chan!" she glanced out of the window. "Jeez, it's still raining. Are you still going to let me borrow that umbrella?" she asked curiously.
Tokiya nodded, then stood up. "I'll go with you." he said slowly, going to get her jacket.
"Oh, what a gentleman." she approved with a giggle. She automatically shut up when he disappeared into the room, then grabbed paper towels to clean the mess Tokiya's cup had made on the carpet. Now where in the world would the vacuum be?
She sighed. ::Wonder if he's okay..that musta been a big shock for him..:: she thought worriedly. ::And I promised not to tell, either, so I can't discuss it with anyone..besides Meguri Kyoza himself. Maybe I should try that.::
"Leave it." the boy returned, glancing at her futile attempt at cleaning. "I'll do it later."
"If you say so.." Fuuko shrugged.
"Here." he handed her her jacket. "Let's go."
*
"Well, we're here." Fuuko announced cheerily, motioning to the house they were in front of. "Yeah, yeah, so it isn't as grand as yours, sempai." she teased at the horrified expression on Tokiya's face. "But it's livable." she smiled. "You'll be all right getting home, right? It's gotten darker. No one knows what'll happen to a pretty girl--I mean guy in the dark." she snickered. "Some drunk might think you're a girl, considering that face of yours, Mi-chan. Watch out for 'em."
"I'll be fine." Tokiya said dryly, seeming to not catching the humor.
"Sure you will. Hmm--" she moved the umbrella aside. "Hey look, it's stopped raining!"
"Oh."
"Well, you can get home a little quicker now." she took a step back, towards her house. "Um, thanks, Mi-chan, for even bothering to 'escort' me home. And for dinner. I was an unwanted guest, too."
"Mmm." Tokiya turned, then muttered. "..sayonara."
"Ja mata." Fuuko said as he began to walk away. "..wait a sec!" she called out finally. The boy hesitated. "Take care of yourself, okay? Don't do anything rash." she said, although in her mind she was thinking how mismatching it was for her out of all people to be saying such a thing. "Bye. Talk to you tomorrow."
Tokiya, noting that she was finished speaking, began his trip back. Fuuko turned then and started into the house. When she remembered about still having the Ensui in her pocket, it was too late to call the boy back.
*
"A party? Karoke? It's been a while!" Recca exclaimed. "Hime, can you sing?"
"Um, not very well," Yanagi replied truthfully.
They were walking to the karoke bar nearby. There, at least, they could drink. Kagero would see to it. And that was also why neither Koganei Kaoru or Morikawa Ganko had been invited.
"Yeah!" Domon celebrated. "A double date with parental supervision!"
[An arrow --> Parental supervision = Kagero and Tokiya]
"Baka!" Fuuko socked him in the face. "Is that all you think about!?"
"Well, we get to be together tonight, unlike yesterday." he said eagerly, then added. "Yesterday, I stopped by your house since you left early, and you weren't there. Did you even find Mikagami? Weren't you looking for him or something? Wait...don't tell me that you were with him for more than two hours! I went to your house about two hours or so after you left the restaurant!"
With that mentioned, Fuuko glanced down and Tokiya looked unusually guilty.
"Argh! You were with him, weren't you! Ahhhh~!!! Mikagami, you know not to mess with my Fuuko...don't you?" Domon planted himself right in front of Tokiya's face. Tokiya looked green.
"Get out of my face." the older boy said menacingly, though he was sort of trying to inch away himself. When Domon paid no attention to him, he made an attempt to push Domon out of his way. To no avail. Fuuko ended up kicking the overgrown sixteen-year-old out into the street.
"Like I told you, I'm not yours!" Fuuko growled, going to strangle Domon.
Recca looked at Tokiya. "Come to think of it, why'd you leave so early yesterday?" he narrowed his eyes.
"I don't have a reason." Tokiya replied plainly.
"So you talked to Fuuko about it and aren't planning on telling us, are you?"
"Why should I tell you? And why would I have told her any more than I'm telling you now?!" Tokiya demanded.
"Hmm. So you guys weren't talking for over two hours. Wonder what you two were doing, then." he said with a smirk, putting his hands in his pockets and looking off to the side angelically.
Yanagi looked confused and glanced from Fuuko to Tokiya and back. The mentioned two both lost their composure and glared at Recca.
"AHHH~!!!!!" Domon punched Recca straight in the face and Fuuko hit the now fallen boy on the head as hard as she could. Tokiya finally managed to clear the embarrassment from his face and looked at them as though they were all from outer space.
Yanagi sighed, finally getting used to it, and Kagero pointed out, "We're here, everyone."
"Yeah!" Recca grinned, leaping up to his feet. "I'm first at karoke!"
And they proceeded as follows.
They decided that whomever was on the left would begin and it would go from there towards the right end. (The left from the perspective of the sitting members of the Hokage team. Not the perspective of people watching across the room.) Recca would be first, then Yanagi, Tokiya, Fuuko, Domon, and finally Kagero.
And so they began. Recca took the mike and sang an energy filled "Namida no Chizu" (MKR; Ferio image song) and did pretty well with it, considering that it was Recca singing. Then it was Yanagi's turn. She choose to sing "Namida no Imi" (AMG; Belldandy image song) and received scattered applause, mainly because Recca forced the others to clap.
Tokiya was (fortunately for him) unable to go next because he was still concentrating on looking for a decent song to sing. He was flipping through the title book pages as though through an uninteresting magazine. Therefore, Fuuko took the microphone. She sang "Lu-lla-by~yasashiku dakasete~" (MKR; second ending song) and received an actually unforced applause..along with a part of Tokiya's attention. None of the others had ever heard her sing before and recognized that she actually had talent, for some odd reason. Even Tokiya looked up from the title list to watch her. Well, for a short while, at least..better than nothing.
Next up was Domon.
"I'll show you the power of love in singing!" he announced loudly, then punched in the number 401.
"Wonder what he's gonna sing," Fuuko muttered.
"I have the weirdest feeling this isn't going to be good," Recca commented.
Tokiya had returned to being absorbed in the 'catalogue'. Yanagi looked eagerly at the screen to know what was next.
And the title screen turned on.
Recca read part of it. "Children Songs." he said aloud.
Everyone facefaulted except for Tokiya and Domon, who hadn't noticed.
Yanagi read the rest when it popped up. "Mary Had a Little Lamb..."
Fuuko and Recca both fell out of their seats. Recca found it hilarious. Tokiya muttered "grow up" an he continued to search for a song.
Domon finally noticed the crucial mistake. "Aw, sh**!" he muttered as the music began. Then a few seconds later, the others heard: "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb, blah blah blah!"
"Are you that much of an idiot?!" Recca sighed, hand on his forehead.
"Don't actually sing the stupid song if you messed up trying to find the song you were going to sing!" Fuuko yelled angrily. She went to beat on his absurdity once more.
Kagero sighed. "It's a good thing that we have a room to ourselves here and that the walls are sturdy. Or else someone might have gotten hurt."
"Yeah, by Domon's singing." Recca stated.
"Hey!" Domon muttered, making a face. "It isn't that bad! And that time I wasn't really going to sing that song!"
"Then why did you even bother starting?!" Fuuko glowered, annoyed.
"Cause the music played."
"AHO! Start your other song!"
Domon nodded, then pressed the number 4011.
The others immediately facefaulted again when they read the title. "Otoko no junjyo." (YYH; Kuwabara Kazuma image song).
And so they had to suffer through that song as well. (I'll bet they regretted letting him re-do the song since he messed up with the number..) Oh, and of course, he replaced Kuwabara's name with his own and Yukina's name with Fuuko's to her extreme annoyance and to Recca's humor.
Next was Kagero, since Tokiya was taking an awful long time to choose his song. (Well, he couldn't look during Domon's song since he was using both of his hands to cover his ears and so couldn't turn the pages..)
Kagero had said beforehand that she would only sing once. No one minded, though, since they all wanted their own turns to come again. Well, everyone else except for Tokiya, who had all but been forced to attend the party in the first place. Kagero decided on "Scarlet" (AnC; opening song). She didn't do poorly, but she didn't do overly fantastic either.
Tokiya grumbled about having to be next up, but his attempt at stopping the others from making him go next was ineffective. After a few minutes of arguing that he didn't have a song to sing, the others picked for him. "Mizu-kagami." (FY; Chichiri image song). Partly because Domon stated that if the 'zu' was removed, it would spell out Tokiya's last name. Though that was overruled because of the difference in kanji, they decided it was a good enough song. He wasn't bad at singing either, if a little reluctant. Fine, very reluctant.
Soon after, in result of a bet from Recca, Fuuko and Yanagi were stuck in a duet situation.
"But I'm not that good at singing, and I might ruin the song--" Yanagi complained, frowning.
"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" Recca grinned, he wanted to hear what song the girls would pick. He had already been stuck in "Aoi Jiyuu. Shiroi Nozomi." (FY; Chichiri/Tasuki duet) with Domon because of a bet by Fuuko. Although that one had turned out pretty darn horrible.
Kagero shrugged. "Go ahead and try, Yanagi-chan, it couldn't be that bad."
And considering the duet before, that would be true.
They finally decided on "Ai wa Towa ni," (ST; Sumire/Kanna duet) with Fuuko as Sumire and Yanagi as Kanna. Though Recca and Domon stated that it was a boy/girl duet, Fuuko argued that it was two girls singing it anyways so it didn't matter. Also, Domon said that he wanted to sing a duet with Fuuko. The girl refused.
Considering the song before, it went well. Not considering that, it was fair.
After that song, it was already dark out, because they had arrived pretty late at the place. They ate a few things, mostly various snacks like chips, cookies, etc. and drank a few different drinks. Domon was able to gulp down a whole can of beer at one time without even flinching. Fuuko had stuck with a few cups of wine, as Kagero had done. Yanagi tried a sip of Recca's beer, and already became drunk. Tokiya was the only one who stayed sober, to Fuuko's distaste. She ordered him, pleaded with him, even tried forcing him to drink, but to no avail. Especially not with the coordination she had with alcohol in her system. Recca was challenged by Domon in a drinking contest, cheered on by the three females and Domon won by far, to Recca's disgust. In less than two hours, Tokiya was the only one left who could walk straight. He had stuck to his decision of being sober. And not only that, he was getting slightly tired.
Fuuko joined him on the couch, then asked in a slightly slurred tone, "Should I not have invited Yanagi-chan? I know she's probably making you remember about.." she trailed off, looking at him expectantly.
Tokiya flinched. He had almost forgotten for a small moment. Almost. But not quite. And now it was definitely on his mind. He gave a painful looking small smile, then shook his head. "It's okay."
She sighed. "Liar." she turned away from him to watch the others.
Kagero was sitting on the table now, legs crossed and drinking another glass of wine. Recca had taken up the microphone once more. Yanagi punched in a few numbers and before they knew it, Recca, Domon, and even Yanagi were all singing and dancing to "Y.M.C.A." (Village People).
Fuuko watched them with a smile on her face for a while until her eyes closed slowly and she fell against Tokiya's shoulder. He blinked, then grumbled. "Fuuko-san? Are you--" he rolled his eyes as her slow breathing confirmed his question. "--sleeping?" he mumbled, then decided upon watching the others for a little while longer.
He was starting asleep himself when he felt her stir. On instinct, he looked down at her. "Awake?" he muttered as her eyes opened.
He saw her smile. With that, she crawled halfway into his lap. ::Drunk, still. None of the alcohol seems to be gone yet.:: he observed, noting her slightly red cheeks. "What?" he asked bluntly.
"Mi-chan," she began, then wrapped her arms around him. The song of the Village People was playing again. She brought her face closer to his, then smiled once more. "Are you sure you don't want to drink?"
"Yes, I'm--" his eyes widened slightly as her lips met his. Very gently. He could smell the scent of wine. Suddenly, he felt his eyelids grow heavy and his eyes shut. When he opened them again, Fuuko had her head on his lap. Asleep. He blinked. ::What..?::
"Ah, awake now?" Kagero asked him. "You've been sleeping for about fifteen or so minutes." she said with a smile.
::A dream. And a weird one, at that.:: Tokiya thought with relief. He knew that she wasn't that type of girl. Thank goodness. It was a first, to dream of someone kissing him. It was not a comforting thought, in his opinion. Getting close to anyone now, could be dangerous....
"How long has she been sleeping?" he motioned at Fuuko.
"About five minutes more than you. You almost woke her up, too. You gave a start while you were sleeping, and she fell forward. Bad dream?" Kagero winked. "She wasn't in your lap to begin with, you know."
Tokiya felt his face grow warm. ::Embarrassing.:: was the one word that appeared in his mind. It was a good thing that Domon wasn't sober enough to notice. He would have gotten angry....and no one knows exactly how strong one could be when drunk. Maybe not coordinated, but still, was Domon ever really coordinated? Um...you decide.
Tokiya watched Recca, Domon, and Yanagi continue singing loudly, and wondered how the purple-haired girl was able to sleep through all of it. Then again, he had been asleep himself until only a little while back.
She looked peaceful. That, he noticed. He also noticed something he didn't want to notice. And that was that she was actually pretty. The only thing about her that resembled a monkey was part of her personality..and on occasion, her voice. He smirked to himself as he thought of this and absently ran a hand through her short hair. When he realized what he was doing, though, he stopped, pulled away, and looked at his hand as though it had just betrayed his orders and touched burning hot coal. What he did not know was that Kagero only seemed drunk. She actually wasn't. And she was watching this scene with unmistakable interest.
*
"Argh!" Fuuko grumbled as she sat up. "I have the worse hang-over.." then she glanced around. "Eh? I'm home? How'd that happen?" she pondered aloud, then shrugged. "Well, why bother to question." with a quick stretch, she got up and changed to make herself a bit more presentable. "Anyways, where was I planning on going today? Ah, yes. Off to Meguri Kyoza's house I go!"
30 minutes later:
Ding-dong...knock, knock..
"Hold on." a tired voice replied from inside of the building the girl had approached. After a short while, a man answered the door. He looked her up and down, then gave a slight polite smile. "Fuuko-san, am I correct? What would bring you here?"
Fuuko had her hands on her hips and was glaring. Still, it didn't seem to bother the older man what-so-ever. He must have been used to it. "I came to ask a few questions, Kyoza-san." she grumbled. "Or are you busy?"
"I was expecting you." he said matter-of-factly. "So I set aside some time. I'm guessing that you want to speak to me about my student...am I right?" he narrowed one eye, then gestured for her to come inside of the house.
"Bingo." she entered with a shrug and followed him into a room. They sat down. "Okay, getting straight to business, I want you to tell me what exactly did happen."
"Happen when?" Kyoza asked warily, whispering to someone who looked dressed to be a servant or something similar to one. "Tea, please."
"You know when! Tell me the truth about Mi-cha--Mikagami's past."
Kyoza looked at her with slight curiosity. "Ah, but don't you think that it's not really any of your business?"
"It is!" she argued.
"Tell me why." he bowed to the woman who brought two cups of tea and set it down in front of the man and his guest. "That will be all," he directed to the woman, dismissing her.
"Well, because I want to know and because Mi-chan's a friend of mine. I think I have the right to know at least a little."
Meguri Kyoza stared at her for a few silent seconds, then chuckled. "Mi-chan, eh? Interesting."
Fuuko automatically turned red. "What's so funny about that?" she demanded.
"And you say that he is your friend?" the man ignored her question and shrugged. "If you think so, I guess I can't change your mind about that."
"Fine, not really friend, but he was a teammate of mine." she defended herself, glowering. ::This teacher gets on my nerves..:: she thought to herself scornfully.
"I see." Kyoza took a sip of his tea, then motioned for her to have some of hers. She obeyed, but only after glaring at him a tiny bit longer. He finally smiled. "Energetic girl, aren't you." he murmured, then nodded. "I'll tell you. But only what you need to know."
"Before that, I want to know why you kept lying to poor Mi-chan. He's in bad shape, you know."
"Didn't you take him out to a karoke bar or something else yesterday?" he asked innocently.
"Wha--?! How'd you know!?" instantly, she was on her guard.
"I heard from Recca-kun who had called this morning to tell me you're coming." he said dryly.
"Oh." she replied, looking awfully sheepish.
"And why did I lie to him? I wanted him to become strong."
"But you didn't need to erase all other emotion from him, did you? You made him live only for revenge!"
"Maybe so. Emotions usually only get in the way. Especially anger." he chided.
"Well, so~rry." she sighed. There was no way she could keep up with his indirect way of insulting. She wondered how Tokiya had been able to stand him for seven whole years. She knew she couldn't have. That must have been partly why the boy was like that.
"Anyways, a summary of his life is here. I indirectly adopted a young girl to pose as Tokiya's sister and get closer to him. That way, he would actually think that she was his sister. Then had her killed (her death was staged, of course), hid her somewhere else, then made Tokiya want to learn how to use the Ensui."
"You speak exactly what's on your mind." she said with a frown.
"I take that as a comment."
There, they had a glaring contest. Well, something close to it. Kyoza's eyes bore into Fuuko's, trying to read her expression underneath anger. He failed to do so and dismissed it after a while.
"Is that all you wanted to ask?" he leaned back in his seat, drinking more tea.
"Yeah. I think that sums it up." she sighed. ::And I think that I don't ever want to see your ugly face any more.:: she added silently in her head.
"Ah, before you go, tell me this."

"Huh? Yeah?"
"Did Tokiya really throw out his emotions? Well, in your opinion. Because if he did, I would think that he would have stayed away from all of you guys."
Fuuko smiled slightly, the first time since she had seen him. "Heh, yeah, maybe you're right. He did actually worry for some of us in the Urabutosatsujin." with that, she glanced down, muttering, "Though I wasn't one of them."
Kyoza caught the last sentence and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Recca-kun and Domon-kun, eh? Wonder if he dislikes women." he snickered. "Though that wasn't quite what I intended to make him do..."
"You truly are mean." she stated, starting out of her seat.
"I'll take that as a compliment, too." Kyoza replied easily. "Ah, Recca-kun has a message for you. You're to meet the others at seven tonight at Yanagi-san's house. Some sort of get-together, I heard."
"Well, tha~nk you." she said with a sarcastic touch, then thought automatically, ::Well, I know where Mi-chan's attitude comes from..::
He smiled. "I will see you later, Fuuko-san." he stated. "Did I mention I'm going, also?"
Fuuko growled something under her breath that had to do with a certain 'teacher' and stupidity.
*
"Truth or Dare!" Recca announced, as soon as everyone had arrived.
"Huh?!" Fuuko looked confused. "What are you talking about? What's with this 'get-together' anyways? Why--"
"Girls in that room, guys in that one." Recca ordered, wrapping an arm around Yanagi and whispering something into his Hime's ear. The others saw Yanagi giggle slightly, then turn red.
Tokiya, who would usually be angry at seeing such a show of affection between the two, did nothing. His face stayed blank. Still, Kaoru didn't look very happy.
Meguri Kyoza entered the door, asking where he fit in with the others. Would he have to go with the guys and play? Or could he just watch?
Tokiya automatically paled, taking a step away from his teacher. Fuuko caught the action and stepped forward.
"Geez, you don't know when to give up, do you." the girl muttered.

If Kyoza had heard the comment, he didn't show it.
"Saa, saa!" Yanagi pulled the purple-haired girl into the room Recca had selected for the females.
Fuuko sweatdropped and allowed herself to be dragged off, though she kept her eyes on Tokiya the whole time. He didn't seem to notice. And if he did, he didn't seem to care, being too focused on avoiding Kyoza.
Recca finally noticed the tension and then said lightly to Kyoza that he should stay in the other room. Kyoza then replied that he would go buy something in a store because he had time. With that, he said a casual "good-bye, see you later" and disappeared.
After Kyoza had left, Recca ushered the remaining males into one room and the females in the other. He winked at Yanagi, then said, "Well, we'll meet back here when dinner's called."
Yanagi nodded, then giggled. And Truth or Dare was started.
*
Recca went first for the guys. Immediately, he looked at Tokiya, who was looking bored and nervous at the same time. He had never been a big fan of games.
"Mikagami!" Recca announced, a huge grin on his face. "Truth or dare?"
"This is stupid." Tokiya replied, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "Why do I--"
"Pick!"
Tokiya sighed. "Truth."
"What in the world did Fuuko and you do after leaving the restaurant?"
--
Yanagi smiled timidly. "Kagero-san, you can go first," she said politely, considering the older woman's age.
"Okay." Kagero said with a shrug. "Fuuko-chan."
"Geh!" Fuuko bit her lip. "Truth."
Kagero's serious expression disappeared and she smiled evilly. Fuuko gulped.
"Truthfully, tell me one good thing about each guy in 'our group'." Kagero stated.
--
"I--I don't have to answer that!" Tokiya protested, the nervous expression even more visible on his face.
"Aw, but you do!" Kaoru argued. He wanted to know what went on, since he wasn't even invited to the restaurant...and not to forget the karoke bar.
Tokiya glanced uneasily around the group of faces. Recca's grinning one, Kaoru's anxious look, Domon's seriously creepy face. He then sighed. "Nothing." was the simple reply.
"Liar!" Recca exclaimed gleefully, "It's written all over your face!"
Tokiya glanced over at Recca, then narrowed his eyes. "Hanabishi..what's written all over my face?"
"That it's a lie, stupid."
"Ah."
"Are you going to answer the question or not? If you don't, you automatically get a dare..." Recca was having the most fun at annoying the older boy.
"Fine, I'll answer it. Though I already have.." Tokiya took a deep breath.
--
"EH!?" Fuuko looked at Kagero as though she was crazy. "What kind of question is that!?"
"Who cares, now answer it!" Kagero still had that suspiciously evil look on her face.
"Well, fine, I guess." the purple-haired girl shrugged, twiddling her thumb. "Recca is someone I've known for a long time, so I don't really have anything good about him to say," she caught the expectant look on Kagero's face, frowned, and continued, "But I guess he's a good friend after all. I mean, he really cares, especially about Yanagi-chan," she stole a glance at Yanagi, who blushed. "Hm. Domon, he's stupid but strong. Koganei's good at using the Kougon Anki, considering his age. He's really swift, though I can't say very strong." she shrugged, "Because he's so little, mind you. There."
Kagero sighed. "And...?"
"And?" Fuuko looked confused.
"You're missing someone." ::On purpose?:: Kagero held the thought from her lips, knowing that any extra speaking would make the girl angry.
"I am?"
--
"She came to look for me when I was at the park." Tokiya was saying, not meeting anyone's gaze. "And after I left, she followed me somehow without me knowing and found my house. I had to let her in, cooked her dinner and walked her home. It was raining." he added, annoyed at the memory.
"That's...it?" Recca looked suspicious.
"Mmm-hmm."
"Liar!" Kaoru accused this time.
Tokiya facefaulted. "How much more do I have to say? Are you sure that none of you were listening or something?" he narrowed his bluish green eyes once more.
"Nope, that's why we wanna know. What'd you talk about?" Recca questioned.
"My past. Now can we get to someone else?"
The black-haired boy knew when he had pushed too far. "Yeah, sure. Koganei, go ahead next."
"Okay." Kaoru pretended to think for a bit, then said with a smirk, "Mikagami-niichan."
"Wha--!" Tokiya tried to protest, but to no avail. He had to go, again.
--
"Mikagami Tokiya-kun." Kagero reminded, as she watched Fuuko seriously look confused or be a very good actress.
"Oh! Yeah! Mi-chan!" Fuuko sweatdropped. ::D*** it.:: was the first thing to come to mind. Aloud, she said, "I really appreciate his skill. He's really good at using the Ensui and--" she paused, looked down. Ensui..it was in her house, still. She had forgotten to give it back to Tokiya.
"Huh? And?"
"..and he's smart and quick." she finished lamely, her spirits darkened.
--
"Truth."
"Mikagami-niichan, have you ever gone on a date?"
The room burst out in laughter. Tokiya did not look amused.
"Oh, and if you haven't, have you wanted to? Hmm?" Kaoru was grinning like a maniac, while Recca and Domon were both busting out in laughter.
"What kind of girl wants to go out with Ice Man?!" Domon exclaimed, rolling on the floor with laughter.
"Someone who works in the freezer section of a grocery store!" Recca added.
Kaoru glanced at Tokiya, his grin not wavering a single bit.
Tokiya sighed. He was beat. Again.
--
"Next up?" Kagero looked at Yanagi expectantly.
"Ganko-chan?" Yanagi asked, confused.
"Wai!" Ganko turned to the slightly red Fujin master. "Fuuko!"
"Me again?!" Fuuko turned a deeper shade of red, this time of anger. ::This game is rigged. I know it..::
"Mmm-hmm."
"Truth."
Ganko stood up, pointed at Fuuko dramatically, then asked, "Out of all of the guys, who would you most want to kiss?!"
--
"No, and I never have wanted to." Tokiya answered darkly.
"Aw, poor guy," Domon gushed.
"Hey, have you, Domon?" Recca retorted.
"Yeah, with Fuuko, many times!"
"You wish!" Recca pounded Domon on the back, laughing. What they didn't notice was that even though he knew that it was a joke, Tokiya was not at all happy with the comment.
"Go ahead, Domon!" Recca said after he stopped laughing and caught his breath.
"Heck yeah! Mikagami, you're up again!" the big 16-year-old said happily.
Tokiya was very very very irritated when he was informed of that information.
--
"Wha--?!" Fuuko shook her head. "Why do I have to answer that one?!" she wailed.
"We'll all answer it then, if that'll make you happy." Kagero suggested.
"Yeah!" Yanagi piped in.
Ganko shrugged. "Okay by me..."
"Fine, but I'm last, in that case!" Fuuko announced, crossing her arms and looking around, exasperated.
"Recca-kun." Yanagi said automatically.
"Koganei." Ganko said supportively.
"Recca." was Kagero's answer, to the shock of everyone else. When asked why, she answered because she would never be able to, unless her curse was relieved.
"How about Mr. Hanabishi?" Fuuko said dryly.
Kagero turned red and the purple-haired girl knew she had scored a point.
"Your turn, Fuuko." Ganko reminded.
Fuuko sighed, then thought for a moment. ::Recca? No, not him. Anyways, that'll make Yanagi-chan mad. Not Koganei, he's so young. Definitely not Domon. Who's left?:: an image of a certain Ensui master appeared in her head and she shook it off. ::No! Not him!:: "Out of who?" she asked, with sinking spirits.
"Koganei, Recca, Domon and Mikagami." Ganko said, helpfully.
"Mi-chan." was the automatic answer. As soon as she said it, though, she covered her mouth. "Ah! I mean--I mean--"
"I knew it!" Ganko cried out, clapping her hands in joy.
Fuuko glanced away from the group, trying to hide her embarrassment. ::Baka! Baka!:: she thought to herself, though she had to admit he was better than the others. In her opinion. And she had a reason to wish to, since she never would. Though she didn't have a complete reason why she would want to.
--
"Truth." Tokiya replied, knowing that Domon's dare would have been one of the worst. Recca's being the absolute worst, of course.
"Who do you think is the cutest of the girls in the other room?" Domon asked suspiciously.
If everything was still going normally, Tokiya's answer would have been 'Yanagi-san' without hesitation. But now that he found out all about what had happened in his past...? What to answer?
"....Yanagi-san." he said dully.
With that, the whole room went silent. Tokiya looked at them as though they had all just grown an extra head. "What?"
"So why don't you think so anymore?" Recca and Kaoru demanded at the same time.
"Huh?!"
"Who do you really think, then?" Domon interrupted, red in the face. "If not Yanagi!"
"But you all heard my answer--" Tokiya objected.
"We heard, yeah, but who said we believe?!" he glared at the upperclassman. "What the h*** happened between you and my Fuuko!?"
"NOTHING!" Tokiya finally slammed a hand down on the table, quieting the others. His eyes widened and he turned away. "Sumanai.." he said quietly.
Domon glared at Tokiya, then grabbed a hold of his shirt collar, lifting him up. "Bastard, don't you dare even think about taking my Fuuko away from me, you hear?"
"..let go."
"DID YOU HEAR ME?!"
Tokiya said nothing further, glaring opposingly at Domon, who was doing the same thing back at him. Recca gulped. This was not good.
"H--hey, Domon! Mikagami never said that he though Fuuko was the cutest! Whaddya think you're doing?"
"It's written all over his face, da**mit!" Domon argued, shaking the collar.
Tokiya finally pushed him away, then walked to the door. "I'm leaving." he announced, then opened the door.
--
"Yanagi-chan's turn." Kagero informed the others.
Yanagi opened her mouth to speak, when they heard a loud slamming noise from the other room. They all exchanged glances, then shrugged.
"Go on, Yanagi-chan."
"Fu--Fuuko-san." Yanagi said, afraid of the reaction she would get from the girl.
Fuuko finally shook her hesitation away, then grinned. "Fuuko-chan's so popular now-a-days. Dare!"
Yanagi looked blank, obviously not expecting the other girl to pick dare. She then said timidly, "I dare you to sneak up on the guys and see what's going on, then report it to us?"
"Hehe.." Fuuko grinned once more. "Seems easy enough.." ::Except Mi-chan's extra good at sensing people around..:: she sighed to herself, ::Even though I was able to follow him in the rain without him noticing. Too bad it's not raining.::
She hopped out of the room, closing it softly behind her.
--
"Anyways, who would think that a tomboy like her'd be cute? Fuuko's only good trait is that she fights well and sometimes has brains." Recca was saying with a shrug, to Fuuko's disgust.
Tokiya ignored the comment, not saying anything further, but grumbling to himself in his mind. He took a step out, then saw a familiar figure sitting on the couch nearby.
"Hello Tokiya." Kyoza looked up towards Tokiya, who automatically paled and went back into his room.
"What's wrong, Mikagami-niichan?" Kaoru questioned, taking a look at Tokiya's overly pale face as he shut the door.
"N--nothing. Isn't it my turn next for this..?" Tokiya said carefully, avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah, go ahead." Recca said, shrugging. "And he said it was stupid in the beginning, too." he muttered. "(Not to forget that he was just about to leave.)"
"Okay. Hanabishi."
"Yeah?"
"Tell me. Why did you rig the game?!"
--
::Rig..?:: Fuuko listened intently to the conversation. ::I wish they'd speak up. I can't hear a word that Koganei says, I can barely hear Domon. I can hear Mi-chan the loudest, he must be closest to the wall.:: she thought with a sinking heart. He wouldn't be happy if he knew she was listening in. He probably already knew, with her luck. ::Well,:: she shrugged. ::Think on the bright side, it wasn't only this one which was rigged. I wonder what it was rigged for.::
--
"Well, truthfully, we wanna know what's going on between you and Fuuko." Recca said, carefully analyzing Tokiya's unchanging expression.
"Nothing. I told you. I'm not trying to steal her from Domon, if you're afraid of that." Tokiya said coldly.
--
Fuuko gulped. ::So that's what this is all about?! I'm gonna kill them..::
--
"Hey! I'm not afraid of that!" Domon exclaimed, shaking his fist. "Fuuko's my woman! She wouldn't betra--" suddenly, there was a big crashing sound, and the boy fell over, a huge lump growing on his head. The door was wide open.
Tokiya rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He had been the one to open the door, knowing that Fuuko would have just broken it down to get to the other boy if he hadn't. "How long were you planning on listening, anyways?" he directed towards the eavesdropping girl.
Fuuko automatically sweatdropped, it had been pure instinct that brought her to punch Domon, even with a shut door in the way. "U--uh..not much longer, Mi-chan.." she said, watching his angered expression sheepishly. "I was dared to--"
"Dinner's ready!" a high pitched voice exclaimed, and everyone glanced towards the other door.
::Phew. Just in time.:: Fuuko breathed a sigh of relief.
As the girl's door opened, Recca announced, "Truth or Dare is now over for now! Dinner time!!"
*
::Humph.:: Fuuko walked home facing down the whole way. She had wanted to ask Tokiya to go with her just so he could get his Ensui back, but after what she had overheard during Truth or Dare would have made the others a little suspicious. Maybe even more than a little. She sighed, as she had better things to do than sit there and worry her head off about Tokiya. Right?
As soon as she reached her house, she quickly took a shower, dried her hair and plopped onto the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, she remembered the conversations she had had during the day, then finally fell asleep.
"Mm..?" the purple-haired Fujin master awakened after a long while and stretched out. "Today's..school!" she glanced at the clock. "I'm late!"
*
"Oy, Fuuko! You're unusually early today!" Domon exclaimed, a big smile on his face. Seeing her from that early in the morning got him in a good mood.
"True, true." Recca announced, walking in himself, then yawning.
"Ohayo, Hanabishi-san, Ishijima-san!" Fuuko said cheerily, bowing slightly.
"Hanabishi...-san?" Recca looked amazed.
"Ishijima-san?!" Domon exchanged glances with the other boy.
Fuuko then noticed the only other figure in the room. "Ohayo, Sakoshita-san!"
"Ohayo, Fuuko-san!" Yanagi beamed at her, not noticing anything particularly wrong with the scene.
Recca then shook Fuuko. "What the he**s up with this change, eh, Fuuko? All formal and stuff! You were never like that!"
"I'm not sure." Fuuko shrugged. "When I woke up, everyone seemed to be afraid of me when I passed them by in the hall. Maybe it was because of my disgustingly male-looking hair-cut." she pouted. "Maybe I'll get extensions. I wonder who did it."
"Whaaaaaa--?! Didn't you like your hair cut?!" he looked lost.
"Hanabishi!" a voice called out, and he turned.
"Yeah?" Recca did not look thrilled. "Mikagami, what are you doing here so early? And in an underclassman's room?"
"Ah, I don't have anything to tell you." Tokiya shrugged. "I just thought you would know where Fuuko-san was, and since she happens to be right there, I don't need to ask for your help anymore." he glanced at Fuuko, sighing. "I have to talk to you."
"Huh?" Fuuko seemed confused. "About what? When?"
"Now!" he narrowed his eyes, then grabbed her arm. She winced and pulled back.
"Do I know you!?" she finally demanded.
Tokiya dropped the arm, tilting his head slightly. "What do you mean by that? Of course you know me, I--"
"His name is Mikagami Tokiya, remember? Idiot!" Recca waved a hand in front of Fuuko's face. "Duh! Are you that forgetful? We were all teammates, remember? From the Urabutosatsujin?!"
"What's that?" Fuuko sank into a seat. "I don't understand. What's been going on? What.."
"Don't act foolish!" Tokiya finally snapped. "I don't have much time for this. Are you coming or not?!"
"I'm sorry, Mikagami-sempai, but I don't know you well enough to trust you. At least, I don't remember knowing you."
He flinched as though hit, then grabbed her arm once more, pushing her against the wall and glaring into her eyes. In them, he found only terror. No anger in sight. ::Sh**!:: Tokiya thought, annoyed. "Where's the 'real' Fuuko!?" he demanded. "I don't have the time for this! Hanabishi, are you playing some sort of sick joke on me!?"
"I have nothing to do with it!" Recca glowered.
"Let go of my Fuuko." Domon was saying, the shadows of the darkened side of the room making him seem overly repulsive.
Tokiya looked from Recca to Fuuko, then to Domon, and then back. He finally let go of the girl's arm, crossing his arms and walking out without another word.
"..he doesn't seem very nice to me." Fuuko stated, wiping a tear from her eye which was threatening to come out.
Yanagi finally spoke. "Recca-man, part one thousand and two, all done!" She clapped her hands together excitedly.
Recca and Domon both fell over. Fuuko just looked confused.
*
"I want you all to meet Susumu. He's new in class, so be polite to him. Kirisawa, raise your hand, he's going to sit next to you." the teacher decided, eyes strict.
"Aw, how cute!" "Whoo-hoo!" "Argh, another stupid boy...why can't it be a girl this time?" scattered conversation was heard throughout the classroom.
Fuuko waved, then sent a stunning smile to the newcomer. "Welcome to our school!"
"Open to page 24 in your textbooks, all of you..."
--
"Susumu?" Recca glanced the boy up and down, noting each of his features. Then, he gaped. "R--Raiha!!!!!???"
'Susumu' smiled. "I would like you to call me Susumu here, please. That would help me out a little bit."
"What are you doing here?!"
"Oh! Do you two know each other?" Fuuko smiled, playing with a strand of her hair.
"Duh! Fuuko!! He was at the Urabutosatsujin, he was part of the Uruha squad! He has the elemental weapon Raijin! Don't you remember?" Recca glowered.
"I think she's under a spell. A very strong one." Raiha predicted, speaking only to Recca. He left Domon to talk to the now-horridly-polite-Fuuko.
"By who?!"
"I'm not sure of that. I'm not really sure if she's under a spell or not at this rate." Raiha sighed, leaning back. "Though I think I might know how to erase this spell."
"How!?"
"You'll see."
*
About a week later:
"D--date?! Be your girlfriend?! What are you--" Fuuko began, turning slightly red.
"Sure. I think you're pretty cute, and very smart, at that." Raiha/Susumu said softly, pulling the girl closer to him. "If you don't like me, though, it's fine."
"Oh! It's okay!" the now ex-Fujin master nodded happily. ::Well, I think it's my first real love, and I was sort of attracted to him as soon as I saw him..:: she said, with a small sigh.
--
"WHAT!? He knew her for less than a week and now he's her boyfriend!? I can't allow that!" Domon wailed angrily. "Especially knowing that he was once our enemy!"
"Humph! Who cares? Whoever she likes, she could like, and if they like her back, that's just the better, isn't it, Domon? If you actually care for her, you'd want her to be happy." Tokiya said matter-of-factly.
"WaaaahhhH~!"
Truthfully, Tokiya wasn't feeling at all good at the fact of Fuuko dating a former Uruha member, either, though he didn't want to show that.
"Well, what Mikagami-niichan's saying is right, of course," Kaoru stated, intensely watching Tokiya's grave expression. "Mikagami-niichan, you're all right about this, right? You look kind of worn out."
"Ah, it's just because of the sudden change in personality." Tokiya said quickly. "As soon as she returns to normal, she wouldn't continue to date a Uruha member..would she?"
"No way! She'll go back to dating me!" Domon said happily, standing up.
Tokiya sighed. "Mm-hm..you go on dreaming about that, Gorilla." he muttered, then sat down. "There must be something wrong..she's been acting strange for a whole week and a few days now." ::Masaka..this isn't something that Kyoza would do to me again, is it?!:: he shook his head. ::Wait! Why would he choose her? Our only relationship is that she was a teammate of mine in the Urabutosatsujin and that she goes to the same school as me. The same as Hanabishi, even Domon. Unless..Kyoza had a habit with playing around with the girls in my life. And that can't be right.:: he stood up, sighing once more. "Maybe Meguri Kyoza knows something about this. He saw her on the last day that she was still being her 'normal' self.."
"Maybe this is her normal self?" Recca asked, walking in. "That she was hiding from us."
"You wish, Recca-niichan!" Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Just 'cause she's being nicer to you."
"Hey! Whaddya mean by that!?"
"You know exactly what I mean!"
"Teme!!"
"Fuuko wasn't like this before!" Domon wailed. "This isn't the Fuuko that I love! (Though she's a little easier to tolerate sometimes now...)"
"Thank Gods for her." Recca smirked, then shrugged. "Well, she'll probably be back soon, if she's under a spell or something. She's not the kind to stay under a spell for the rest of her life."
"Don't you guys care, though?" Kaoru questioned, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, what if the spell's gonna kill her or something? You haven't even bothered to find out anything about it."
Tokiya glanced around the room. "Koganei's right. Maybe you should speak to Kagero-san about it."
"Why don't you, then? Since you seem to care so much." Recca asked dryly. Tokiya glared at him.
"I'll go." Domon stood up, a serious expression on his face. "I want to know what's wrong. And I feel bad for just leaving Fuuko be for over a week when I knew that she was acting different. I know she wouldn't have done something like that."
"...I'll go too." Recca finally said, following the bigger student. "You're making me feel a little bad myself. I'll ask Hime to join us, too."
"Why?" a voice called out, and he jumped, turning.
"Ka-chan!"
"What were you going to ask me?" Kagero was at the door, leaning against the side slightly. "I don't think you need Yanagi-chan next to you whenever you speak to me."
"Uh, oh, well...um..."
"Have you seen the way Fuuko's been acting?" Domon spoke, "We were wondering if she could be under a spell or if she was just fooling with us."
"I've seen. And I very well think it's a spell." she smiled. "To switch her personality to just the opposite."
"Great." he muttered, then asked, "How do you make it go away?"
"Well, I'm sorry to say, it's going to be harder now than before since you've all let it stay in her system for a long time without trying to break it."
Kaoru shrugged. "See?"
"And I don't know the exact way of breaking it, either."
"Why not?!" Recca asked, exasperated. "You're probably the one who did it, and even if not, you always knew the answer to everything else!"
"I've never seen such a thing in my life!" Kagero argued. Then, on instinct, she turned, an expression of surprise on her face. "Ah, Raiha-kun." she said softly, then raised an eyebrow when he completely ignored her, pushed her out of the way, and entered the door.
"Hey! Raiha! Why'd you push Ka-chan out of the way, you know you could have just--" Recca began, but was cut off.
"Mikagami-san! I have a favor to ask of you!" Raiha exclaimed, trying to catch his breath.
Tokiya turned his gaze on the newcomer, then looked aside, at the wall next to him. "Why do I have to do a favor for you, out of all people?"
Raiha looked surprised, then irritated. "Just read this, would you?" he stuffed a paper in front of the upperclassman's face.
"Hmm?" he looked very uninterested as he skimmed through the letter. "What's this about?"
"Are you actually reading?!" Raiha demanded, his peaceful demeanor fading quickly.
Finally, as Tokiya read through the letter, his eyes widened. "Fuuko-san's been kidnapped? Her?! Why?!"
"NANI!?" Domon cried out, "Let me see it!" with that, he ripped the letter out of the silver-haired boy's hands.
As though released from a trance, Tokiya regained his composure. "And what did you want me to do, Raiha?"
"Go and rescue her, of course!" Raiha rolled his eyes, an obvious sign of impatience.
"Sorry, but that seems to be your job." he said curtly, turning away. "It says that you're supposed to go, Susumu-kun."
"There's no time to be so rude, Mikagami-niichan!" Kaoru argued. "Raiha's asking you a favor here! That's not usual!"
Raiha and Tokiya both glanced at Kaoru as though scolding him for speaking. Kaoru squeaked and took a step back.
"Koganei." Tokiya said coldly, "It says on the letter than Susumu should go alone to save her, but only if he wanted to. It's almost time for him to be there." he crossed his arms. "I can't help. Even if I wanted to." then he turned to Raiha, the expression on his face not a kind one. "Go, Raiha. If you don't bring her back safely, you'll be signing your death warrant." ::Not to forget that even if I went, I wouldn't have my Ensui with me..I never got it back from her..:: a slightly panicked voice whispered in his head. He shook it off. "Are you going or not? Should I just finish you off now?"
"It's not exactly my problem--" Raiha began.
"Take responsibility! She's your girlfriend after all!"
"Uh-oh..." Kaoru whispered to the others, excluding both Raiha and Tokiya. "Mikagami-niichan's losing his cool...this is not good."
Raiha took a deep breath, then said, "I don't want to go! No, I do want to go, I want to save her, but this is something that would be better for you!" then he added firmly, "If you would be able to save her, she may be able to remember something about you, maybe if she sees the Ensui! Or how you fight. Or something! Don't you care about what happens to her!?"
"Humph! Ask Hanabishi or Domon over there!" Tokiya said, clenching his fist. "There's not much time left. And I never asked you to care about how much she knew about me and how much she forgot!"
"As I said, I'm not going."
"It says that Susumu should go."

"That doesn't mean that they know who I am. It might just be someone who heard Fuuko-san say that name." Raiha argued steadily.
"It's true that Fuuko-neichan knew the least about you when she got to school the other day...I was always wondering about that." Kaoru stated. "Why don't you try, at least, Mikagami-niichan?"
"Why should I?" Tokiya glared around the room.
"Go, Tokiya." Kagero finally spoke.
"Why--"
"Go."
He flinched, not used to receiving orders from anyone. It took all of his patience in order to keep from saying that he acted only as he wished and not how others did. "Give me the letter." he finally whispered hoarsely.
Domon snapped into reality. "Huh?"
"Give me the letter."
*
::And of course I get stuck doing this.:: Tokiya was thinking angrily as he started for the place mentioned in the letter. ::Raiha would have been better off going. I don't even have my Ensui with me..but why should I tell anyone else about that? They would ask where it went, and I can't tell them that I gave it to Fuuko-san..::
When he arrived at the spot, he winced at its uncleanliness.
"Welcome."
He turned on instinct, instantly on guard. He hadn't been able to sense the figure until it had come very close by.
"You are Susumu, correct?"
Tokiya raised an eyebrow, then nodded slightly. "What do you want me to do?"
With that, a energetic looking pink haired girl appeared, her hair in two buns. She smiled sweetly at him.
"If you want the girl back safely, then you need to give her your life." the first person said, a gleam in his eye.
Tokiya facefaulted. ::So this is what it's about? That must mean that they do know who Susumu is..at least, she should.::
The pink haired girl smiled once more, then brought out something which looked unmistakably like a miniature sword. She nodded, and the other figure vanished. Then the smile returned to her face as she glanced at a wall. "Ah, I see that you come in place of Susumu. But still, you'll do fine. I'll make you a deal. If you can beat me in a duel, I'll let the girl go without complaint. If not, I'll keep her until you bring Susumu. If you don't bring him then, I'll kill her."
"Sounds interesting." Tokiya said, wondering if this girl happened to be good at sword fighting or not. Then he remembered that even if she wasn't, she would be armed. He was not. "But before that, how do I know that you'll return her if I win?"
"Ah, you sound as though you're confident. She's fine for now, though I can't tell you where she is. And proof?" she pulled out Fuuko's 'headband'. "You'll just have to trust me on that one."
He nodded slowly. "Whenever you're ready." before he had finished saying that, she had disappeared. ::Behind.:: he leapt out of the way, grabbing hold of a fallen branch nearby. "Not bad for a start." he complimented, a small smile on his face. ::So she is good with her weapon.::
The girl winked. "Not bad yourself." then she jumped in, twirled over him, and slashed him on the back.
::Too quick..I barely could follow the movement..:: Tokiya winced, spinning around to face her. "Who are you, by the way?"
"My name?" she attempted the same movement once more, but the boy got out of the way just in time. She hit a wall instead. "Yukiko."
"Ah." Tokiya judged the distance between them, then flipped back when she zoomed forward. She looked disappointed, then disappeared once more. ::Above.:: he thought to himself, stepping back just in time to avoid getting hit. He had figured out her speed, and now it would be simple to avoid anything she did, as long as she didn't have any hidden tricks up her sleeve.
"You're good." Yukiko said, landing and jumping back. She was already breathing heavily. The Ensui master seemed amused that she had tired herself out with her speed.
::Going too fast would tire anyone out.:: he mused. ::That's why a good fighter would estimate his own speed and strength to make sure he wouldn't waste either of it.:: He figured that although she was a good fighter, she was used to taking out an opponent with the fewest blows possible, and always at the start. She couldn't fight for long periods of time, since her strength came from her limited speed. She was an okay fighter, her weakness coming from lack of experience.
She swooped in once more, and he stepped aside. She ended up slashing at the same wall as before.
"Done?" Tokiya asked, keeping the leafless branch in front of him.
"Not quite." the girl disappeared once more, but it was easy for him to follow her movements. She was tired out, and slower than she had used to be...although normal eyes would never be able to tell the difference.
Right when the girl had gone above him, he feigned ignorance, lowering the branch. She swept in, then gasped as his other hand, his left one, shot up and sent the sword flying across the room.
She landed, panting. "Y...you're left-handed?!" she exclaimed, eyes widened.
"Did you think I wasn't," he asked innocently, raising his right hand which held the branch. "Because I had this in my right-hand?" he shook his head, chuckling slightly. "You underestimate me too much."
"Don't you have any other weapons!?" she cried out, alarmed. "You couldn't be a good fighter unless you attacked!"
"Not with me." he said truthfully, then shrugged. "You need more practice. Maybe you'll be able to beat others if you get stronger. Sorry, but your speed isn't going to help you anymore." with a slight smile, he leapt up, spun over her, and landed gracefully on his feet. "Did I mention that my own strength came from speed?"
Yukiko gulped, taking a step back, towards the fallen sword.
"That won't work this time."
Before she knew what was happening, the boy was back behind her, the sword in his hand. He threw her the branch. "Will you continue?"
"N--no!" she shook her head, seeming frightened. "I'll show you to her!" she started to an area, then smiled, facing a way that he couldn't see, then said in an unusually cheery manner, "Too bad I'm not sure that she's in a good condition anymore, though."
"What?!"
"I know you know about elemental weapons. You were one of the Hokage team in the Urabutosatsujin. Though I didn't quite get the pleasure to see your fights."
"I didn't see you there."
"I was at Mori-sama's party." she replied, then continued, "This one is similar to the Oboro, though it's used on people besides yourself." she produced a small blue ball from her pocket, then threw it up in the air, using the branch to break it into pieces.
Tokiya noted the power she had put into the action and felt glad that she hadn't hit him more than once. The wound in his back may have been bigger if he hadn't moved at the end, even if the sword she held was not as big as an ordinary one should be.
The branch fell from her hand. Yukiko bowed towards him. "You're the first one who was ever able to win me. Though you sort of won indirectly. I've seen that you have something against attacking women, like the other members of the Hokage." she shrugged, "Then again, if I had explained a little bit more about what I was doing, you may have not won." she gestured at the wall. There, the figure of Fuuko slowly appeared. Her smile showed malice. "Every time I missed you, I was able to hit her. I'm not sure she could have survived all of those times. Don't worry, I won't ever bug you guys again. I'm leaving this country today. And now that I don't have the elemental weapon, I can't 'cheat' like this ever again."
"Kisama.." That would have been the reason that Yukiko had kept on striking the wall whenever she missed him. He had thought that there had been more blood on the sword than when she had slashed at his back, too....though he assumed it was his mistake. Tokiya stole one glance at the purple-haired girl and knew that she would be in trouble if he didn't get her to the hospital or to Yanagi soon. He leapt up, cut the rope that was binding the girl to the wall, and caught her as she fell.
"Thanks for the fun fight. My last one, too." Yukiko winked, the evil smile still on her. Then, she disappeared, fading into the darkness as her laughter echoed off of the walls.
*
"She should be fine after a few days." Yanagi said with a smile, turning to the others. "Though those were some deep wounds."
Domon and Recca both breathed a sigh of relief, and Tokiya glanced down.
"It's pretty much my fault." the Ensui wielder said softly. The others all looked at him. "If I had only noticed the madougu.."
"Don't blame yourself." Raiha mumbled. "I don't think I would have noticed either."
"Yes, don't blame yourself. If you are to blame something, blame them." Kagero said, looking at the unconscious girl. "At least she is okay."
With that, Fuuko stirred.
Kaoru glanced around the room. "I'm gonna get some water and cloth. Yanagi-neichan, you need something for the cut on your arm."
Yanagi nodded slightly, "Yes, and I need to wipe off this knife..." she gestured at the small knife she had used to cut herself. Fuuko had lost a lot of blood, and so she had needed to transfer some of her own blood to the other girl to heal her.
"..where..am I?" Fuuko blinked up at the many faces around her. She sat up, made a face. "I don't feel so good.."
"Don't move." Kagero said, pushing her back onto the bed. "You had some serious wounds. Although Yanagi-chan healed some of them, we can't afford to have her lose all of her energy in healing, either. You'll be fine by tomorrow, when she regains her power to heal."
"Power..to heal?" she looked confused.
Everyone glanced around as though thinking to themselves, 'Oh yeah, forgot that she didn't remember that.'
Then she smiled slightly. "Arigato, Mikagami-sempai, for yesterday." she said weakly.
Tokiya looked surprised. "You were up?"
"Kind of. Though I don't really remember what happened."
"Ah."
Raiha sighed. "Um. Could I have a private moment with Fuuko-san?"
Everyone else gave consent and left the room, though Domon was more than a little reluctant.
When they were completely out of the room and the door was shut behind them, Raiha sat down on the chair next to the bed. He took a deep breath, then let it out.
"I think that we should call it off."
"Huh?" Fuuko asked, struggling to sit up slightly. He made no move to stop her.
"I'm just being a nuisance to you. If we weren't dating, this wouldn't have happened."
"Are you blaming yourself for this? I don't even know what's going on! No one's really explained--"
"Mikagami-san said that the girl who had kidnapped you had wanted me to devote my life to her. She thought that the easiest way to get me to go there was to kidnap you."
"But you didn't even come, did you?!"
"No." he said truthfully, shifting in his seat. "I don't want you to get hurt, you know. Maybe if we call this quits, it would help."
"But--"
"I'm truly sorry for what happened. If I had known this kind of thing would happen to you, I would have stayed away...but I didn't. And I'm sorry about that." he smiled then, just slightly. "I love you, really I do. And that's why we need to stop this."
Fuuko blinked, then shook her head. "I don't understand a thing that you said." she said flatly. "You love me, and that's why you're leaving me. In other words, you want me to have a broken heart, is that it?"
"It's better than a broken body."
"Is it!?"
"I'm very sorry about this."
"And you think a simple sorry's going to make me feel better?"
"I have nothing else to say."
She shook her head then, falling back into the bed. "I understand. So you loved me but you stopped. That's fine with me. It's not that I can't find someone else. You probably already have." she said coldly.
"I don't mean that--"
"What do you mean!?"
"I'm saying that I'm trying to protect you. I'll stay away from you, that way you'll be safe."
"Humph!"
"Sumanai! Believe me!" he stood then, moved to the bed and kissed her on the cheek. "It's been fun." with that, he left the room.
For the rest of the day, all anyone heard from the room was the quiet sound of someone sobbing.
--
For some odd reason, Tokiya had not been feeling very well that day. Something was on his mind. Bugging him. Sometimes, he could even feel a faint tug at his heart whenever he passed by the room the purple-haired girl was in, catching small sounds of whimpering and crying inside. He sighed. Maybe it would be a good idea for him to confront Raiha and ask what horrible thing he had done to her to make her feel so miserable.
Just at that moment, Raiha entered the room, followed by everyone else.
Tokiya glanced up, raised an eyebrow, then ignored them.
"What did you want to tell us?" Kaoru demanded, annoyance clear on his face. "I was in the middle of playing a video game!"
Domon was just about as annoyed. "So was I."
Raiha sighed. "I just wanted to let you all know what's wrong with Fuuko-san, that's all. I advise no one to bother going in there if you hear her crying."
"Why not?" he looked concerned. "She's crying?!"
"We broke off our relationship."
The room went silent. Tokiya felt something close to anger rising up in him.
"You're being too conceited. Maybe she's not even crying about that." the silver-haired boy snapped.
"Maybe not. I just wanted to let you guys know that she may need some time to herself."
Yanagi glanced down. "We'll stay away. Right, everyone?"
A mumbled chorus of "sure" and "uh-huh" was heard, and the group dispersed.

*
"I'm glad that I get to go home today." Fuuko mumbled, standing up and fixing her hair. "But besides that, I'm finally in one piece." part of her old personality reappeared, and she pondered about what had possessed her to say such an improper statement.
"I'll walk you home." Tokiya offered, surprising even himself with that statement.
She smiled, bowing to him slightly. "Arigato."
"Hey! Me too, then!" Domon cried out, then growled something when he was pulled out of the room by someone smaller than him. Kaoru.
"But you gotta finish playing this!" Kaoru was arguing, dragging Domon out of the room.
Recca rolled his eyes. "Stupid!" he called to them.
"Hey! I'm not stupid!" Domon called back.
Fuuko seemed in high-spirits. "Come on! I want to get home." she glanced at Tokiya, smiling brightly. "Mikagami-sempai, do you know where I live?"
Tokiya's mood dampened. Who would have ever known that he was actually missing being called 'Mi-chan' by the girl. He nodded slowly.
"Good!" she said sheepishly. "Because I don't know how to get there from here."
Recca laughed at the comment. "Ba~ka."
--
"Won't you come in for a bit? Since you came here and all.." Fuuko said as soon as they had arrived.
Tokiya shook his head, "It's a long walk from here."
"That's a good reason to come in! Rest!" she said cheerily, then pulled on his arm to go in. As soon as they stepped in, she dropped his arm and blushed profusely. "I'm sorry! I don't know what got into me."
He gave her a tight-lipped smile. ::I do. Your old personality did.:: Aloud, he said, "That's okay."
"W..would you like some tea?" she asked, embarrassed.
"Sure."
She disappeared into the kitchen after giving him directions on how to get to her room.
He slowly made his way into the room, then glanced around. Unlike what he was expecting, he found that her room wasn't much different from other girls. There were a few scattered stuffed animals and some posters on the wall. With a shrug, he sat down on the only chair in the room, turning it so he would be facing the door instead of the desk in the room.
She finally reappeared and placed his tea on the desk. She took a seat on her bed. "...so.." she began, not knowing what to say.
"So?" he questioned, taking a sip of his tea.
"Um.." she fidgeted slightly, glancing everywhere except for the corner where he was located. "Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly, standing and placing her cup on the desk, away from his. "I had to ask you a question." with that, she pulled something out of her drawer.
::Fujin?:: Tokiya thought to himself, glancing at the object. He was wondering where she had put it, too. And above all of that, he had to ask where she had put the Ensui. Then again, there was no way in the world that he could be sure she still had it. She might have done something to it, not knowing what it was.
"What is this? An odd armband?"
He facefaulted. "You could call it that.." ::So she has forgotten.::
"I wanted to know where it came from. When I awoke the other day, it was on my desk and I didn't know anything about it. I don't remember a thing..did I used to wear this or something?"
"Often."
"Oh.." she sighed and returned to her seat, not bothering to get the cup back from the table.
"Do you feel any better yet?"
"Huh?"
"About the wounds you had received a few days back. I'm sorry about that, it was my fault for not noticing about--"
"Oh! About that! Don't blame yourself! It's not your fault!" she smiled.
"Everyone else has been saying that also." he said dryly. "I just wanted to say sorry."
"Apology accepted."
Suddenly, he put his own cup down on the table, then stood up.
"Something wrong?"
"No." ::I thought I sensed something around here. Maybe it's my imagination.::
"Oh. Okay." tilting her head, she stood up.
::There it is again. Something's wrong. Someone's around here..:: he widened his eyes, finally noticing what was wrong. "Get down!" with that, he slammed into her, pushing her down into the bed.
To her horror, there was a loud crashing noise, and she saw red. Blood?!
Tokiya winced, looking down at her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..what happened?"
As if to answer her question, a group of men flew in through the window, a few holding small knives. The unarmed ones seemed to all have satisfied looks on their faces.
"What.."
The boy handed her the Fujin. "Put it on." he commanded. "I think that's what they're after. It'll protect you." he cringed slightly and reached behind him, pulling out one, two, three knives.
::That must be why they look so satisfied!:: Fuuko noted, slipping on the Fujin carefully. As soon as she got it on, he slumped forward, breathing hard. "Are you okay?!" she asked, nearly in hysterics. "I'm sorry, it's my fault! If I hadn't--"
"I'm fine."
"But you're bleeding!" she exclaimed, widening her eyes. "Who are these people?"
"Give us the Fujin." a man said, knife raised. "Or else."
"Fujin?! What's that!?"
"Don't listen to them." Tokiya instructed, pulling her closer to him in order to cover her. "Don't move. You won't get hurt if you don't."
"But you're going to get hurt! That's not fair!"
"Who says life's fair?"
"But--"
"Hand it over." another man demanded, nodding at the other.
A fourth knife was thrown, Tokiya moved over slightly in order to avoid it.
"If I give it to you, will you stop this?!" Fuuko asked, overly frightened. Tears were about to come out of her eyes.
"Of course we will." the man who had thrown the knife said. "But if you don't, well, we'll see to it that you're boyfriend there, dies."
"Boyfriend?" a big question mark appeared over her head.
"Ah, whatever!"
Tokiya shook his head. "Don't give it to them. If you do, you don't know what would happen. The Fujin chose you as its master. You'll be able to use it if you would just concentr--" pain flickered through his eyes and he gritted his teeth. "--ate." he finished.
"Why?" the purple-haired ex-Fujin master asked finally.
"Why did it choose you? How should I know?"
"I mean why are you doing this for me?"
"Huh?" he blinked. ::That was a good question. Why was he doing such a thing?:: before he could ponder about it too much, the answer hit him. He tightened his arms around her. "Why?" he forced a small smile onto his lips, to hide the almost unbearable pain. "Because.."
She looked up into his eyes, felt her cheeks grow warm. ::Baka! Fight!:: she heard herself yell in her mind. ::Fight? But I can't..I don't know how.:: ::Baka!! Fuuko-chan used to be able to use the Fujin whenever she wished!:: the voice taunted. ::But--::
"I love you."
Her eyes widened, she felt dizzy. "W--"
"I always have. Though it took me this long to figure it out. Sumanai." the boy whispered, raising her head slightly with his hand. "I don't think I can stand this much longer. The rest is up to you. I believe in you." with those final words, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
"Aw, how sweet." a man muttered. "Sorry to ruin the mood, but we really need to get going, you know. We don't got all day." he pulled his sword out of its sheath and brandished it, snickering softly.
Fuuko gasped when the boy pulled his face away. "There's no way I can--"
What she saw next was unexpected. Tokiya's light bluish green eyes suddenly turned dull, blood spilled from his mouth, and his body went limp. Her eyes widened once more.
The sword had gone through him. All the way. She could feel the tip of it on her stomach.
::No way.:: a thought formed in her head. ::There's no way.:: "Mi..Mikagami-sempai?!" she shook him slightly, then looked up at the man. Her breath caught in her throat, she gasped weakly.
"Give the Fujin to me." the man said, holding out his hand expectantly. "There's no one here to save you anymore."
"....unforgivable." the girl finally whispered, the confusion in her eyes replaced with anger. "How dare you do this.."
"Huh?"
Fuuko pushed the fallen boy away from her, then stood up. Her hair whipped around her face as the room suddenly became windy. The men looked towards the window expectantly, but there was only a slight breeze outside. "Fuuko-chan's angry at you. All of you." her eyes burned with hate, all traces of fear gone from them. "How dare you do such a thing to my friend."
"Sir, what's happening...?" a man cried out, "I can't move! My feet are stuck! There's some kind of tornado--" he ceased speaking, hysterically trying to remove the unseen force around his feet. Unfortunately for him, it was not a good idea. Blood appeared on his fingers, and he felt the force go higher and higher until all of the wind around him formed an invisible drill and went straight through his heart. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell.
"What the he**..." the man he had called 'Sir' took a step back, then found he couldn't move further.
"I'll never forgive any of you." Fuuko was saying calmly, waving her hand at each of them and sending a current of wind towards them all. It was the only way she could hit them without ruining her house. "..die."
And for a few moments, all that was heard in the house was the sound of anguished voices of men being whipped into shreds by the wind.
Crash!
Fuuko turned, stopping the currents of wind. The men were all down, anyways, so she had no need to continue going. Her eyes stopped glowing with red and she looked around, her hand over her mouth. "My God..did I just--"
"Fuuko!" Recca entered the room. His jaw dropped. "What happened?!"
She looked at him, fear returning to her eyes, but only slightly. She leaned down, taking Tokiya's body into her arms. "I..killed them, Recca. I..went overboard.."
"Mikagami!?" he widened his eyes.
"He..when he tried to save me..I..I.." she cradled the boy in her arms, a tear finally falling from an eye. "Mi..-chan.."
"I'll get Hime..." Recca said softly, turning and running out of the house.
Fuuko slowly pulled the sword out of the limp body and stroked the hair. "What exactly..happened?" she flinched as more blood streamed out and ripped a piece of cloth from her coat, pressing it against the wound. The white coat turned dark red in color and she shook her head. "I can't believe this. This is impossible. I'm dreaming, aren't I? This is just a nightmare.."
*
"Are you sure that you're okay, Fuuko-neichan?" Kaoru asked, walking alongside the others.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Fuuko grinned. "Just fine! Though I don't remember a thing that happened before."
Although she had thought that she had murdered the men who had barged into her room, they, with the exception of Tokiya, had all been found alive and were hospitalized. They all had no remembrance of anything that had occurred. Fuuko herself didn't recall anything that happened between the time when she had gone to Yanagi's house to play Truth or Dare until the incident that had occurred a few days back. She had also been trying her best to forget about everything that had happened in her room, to not much avail.
"If you say so..." Kaoru sounded suspicious.
"What's there to be not okay about?" she asked, eyes twinkling.
Recca exchanged glances with Domon. The latter stepped forward.
"Ah, um, Fuuko, will you go out with me? Now that it's all over with you and Raiha..."
"Ugh, I can't believe I went out with someone from the Uruha." Fuuko sounded disgusted. "Even if he isn't really bad at heart." then she gave the boy a smile. "Sorry, Domon. Not now and not ever." she gave him a thumbs-up sign. "Anyways, haven't you thought about it? You don't love me, you just admire me. Not that I don't know what there is to admire."
"Admire?" Domon looked confused. Then the words clicked into place. "Hey. Whaddya know. Maybe that is it."
"Idiot!" Recca yelled at him playfully, hitting him on the back. "Wake up and smell the coffee, will you?!"
"Hey!" he yelled back, socking him in the stomach.
"Yow!"
The two boys began to beat each other up. Kaoru shook his head impatiently as Fuuko rolled her eyes.
"You two never grow up." Fuuko muttered, turning so she could watch the others while walking. Walking backwards wasn't her hobby, but she didn't want to miss the fight.
All of sudden, she saw Kaoru's jaw drop down, then Recca and Domon both cease fighting with widened eyes.
"Huh? Did I say something wrong?" she raised an eyebrow, then noticed they were all looking over her shoulder. "Eh?" before she could turn all the way around, she felt herself being pulled into someone's arms. She looked up to see who it was, then widened her own eyes when warm lips pressed against her own.
Yanagi appeared from behind the figure, smiling radiantly, and Kagero stepped out as well.
"Like our present?" the latter questioned, a tiny smile on her mouth. "Yanagi-chan healed his wounds and somehow, he was able to come back."
"Mi-chan.." Fuuko whispered as the boy pulled away. She felt her face grow warm, then wrapped her arms around him with a grin. "You're back! Thank goodness!"
The other three all shook their surprised expressions away and made it known that they were glad that the boy had returned as well. Just not as drastically.
"You're okay?" she asked happily.
"I'm fine." Tokiya replied, looking around at the others who were graciously welcoming him back. He nodded slightly and finally smiled. "Nice to see that you've gone back to your normal self as well."
"Nice to be back!" she replied, then snapped her fingers. "A-ha! I have to give you something back." she dug into her pocket, then took something out.
"Ah." he took the Ensui back with grace, pulling out something in return. "I heard that Kyoza passed on." he whispered into her ear. "You never told me you visited him."
She looked sheepish. "Sorry. And how did you know that I went?" she asked suspiciously.
"The woman living with him told me." he said softly, then added, "I think that it was his doing, changing your personality." he continued, handing her a piece of paper. "It's the last thing he wanted me to know."
"Hm?" she read it over. "'I just wanted to help you out slightly, since all I've been doing has ended up bad.' Eh?" she questioned. "That lost me there."
"He gave you something in the tea." he let her go, turning away. "He wanted me to recognize my feelings for you. The only way that it would leave was when I told you how I felt. You would have been able to snap out of the spell even if I had said I hated you."
"But you don't, do you?" she pouted, looking at him expectantly.
"..no."
"Okay, stop with the lovey-dovey stuff, will you?" Kaoru feigned yawning. "Come on! We get it enough with Recca-niichan and Yanagi-neichan!"
The mentioned two blushed.
"I think it's cute." Yanagi argued softly, looking confused.
Recca snickered, then looked at the heart-broken Domon. "Snap out of it. Fuuko just told you that all you do is admire her, not love her!"
"But still..." Domon said, frowning.
"So. You never told us that you were in love." he said, interested. "When, why, where, and how?"
"Don't be rude!" Kagero glared at him.
Fuuko turned to Recca, then snapped, "Why should we say anything about it? Anyways, who says we're in love, stupid?"
"Implying." Recca stated calmly.
Then she turned to Tokiya, who looked confused. "And I never told you that I loved you back, remember." she chided, "Ask before you kiss, too."
Tokiya blinked.
She broke into giggles. "I'm just kidding! Don't look so serious! I actually happen to be flattered about all of this!" then she smiled, winking. "Oh, unless you were in love with my alter ego! My bad!"
The boy finally shrugged it off. "Ah. You have a point there, though. I never asked how you felt about me." he sighed. "Tell me the truth. How do you feel about me?"
Fuuko turned a light shade of red, to the surprise of the others. "Are you kidding me? Why do I have to answer in front of everyone else?" she asked, flustered.
He blinked once more. "Eh?"
She finally glanced away from everyone around. "Well, I've gotta say that I've always respected your abilities..not only did you have skill, but you had brains..and although I didn't really think much about you when we first met, I think I came to like you more later. When I actually knew how you were. Not when you were shut in your clam shell, mind you, but when you got out. When you actually expressed emotion." the serious expression on her face faded and she grinned at him. "You can be really cute at times, you know."
Everyone went silent, then looked at her as though asking 'are you feeling okay?'
Recca grinned. "Whoo-hoo! So Ice Man had already told you that he loved you?" he turned to Fuuko, who was blushing from embarrassment.
Tokiya looked annoyed. "Is there something wrong with that?"
The other boy whistled, the stupid grin still pasted on his face. "I didn't know you could do such a thing. She's popular, you know, with the weird guys. Like, with Domon and Fujimaru."
Fuuko automatically whacked him on the head. "Don't mention that name ever again!" she scolded, glaring at him.
"Fujimaru Fujimaru Fujimaru!" he danced around, chased by both Fuuko and Domon, who were out to beat him up.
"What about me is weird!?" Domon demanded.
"Everything!"
He paused, then turned serious. "Fuuko, I want you to know that I'll never forget about you, the love we shared together, and everything.--"
Fuuko hit him on the head instead, putting a hand on her hip. "Shared!?"
"--But," he continued on, rubbing his head. "For now, I'll let you be with Mikagami. As long as he promises me one thing."
The group looked anxious to know what he wanted, and so waited impatiently.
"Mikagami. Promise me this. That you'll never hurt her." Domon said solemnly. "And if you do, there's no way that I'll forgive you. Remember that."
Tokiya looked over at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion. Then he nodded.

"Thanks." he turned to Recca. "Anyways, back to what I was doing." with that, Recca and Domon began fighting once more.
The others looked upon the scene with interest, then shrugged. Fuuko went to chat with Yanagi, Kagero to Tokiya. Recca continued to beat up Domon. Kaoru sighed, then turned to the figure who had been hiding in the bushes the whole time. "Ganko, you can come out now!"
The little girl sheepishly came out, although everyone else was too busy chatting with someone to really pay much attention to her. Kaoru threw her his rubix cube. "Mix it up. I haven't done this for a long time and wanna see if I still can."
Finally, everyone seemed to end what they were doing around the same time. Recca invited his Hime to a restaurant and she instantly agreed. Kagero wandered off alone, while Kaoru explained to Ganko that she needed to play the video game with him because the game was far too easy unless she did. She was sweatdropping. Tokiya, at last, smiled and asked if it would be okay for him to walk Fuuko home. She accepted, but at the cost of first taking her out someplace. It was early, after all.
And so, they all went off in their own directions.
The End........for now. ^.^; Short idea, eh? Considering my other fics, that is. ^.- (if u know me in RL, u know what i'm talking about..)
Ja!
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