InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Not Another High School Fanfic ❯ White Day ( Chapter 17 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Kikyo gets whats coming to her, Hana and Sesshomaru do something special for White Day...meanwhile Bankostu and Aoi...well you'll have to read to find out.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.31.2008 | Pages: 18 | Words: 18.4K | Visits: 160 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter 17: White Day

Hana's POV

“Whoa…”

“I cannot believe what I'm seeing…”

The next morning as Aoi, Sango, Miroku and I were walking down the hall we saw Kagome and Inuyasha a little ways from us walking hand in hand. They were looking at each other all lovingly and what not and we could automatically tell…they were finally together.

“Somebody pinch me, cuz I must be dreaming!” Aoi said.

I pinched her on the cheek and she yelped and rubbed her face.

“What?” I said innocently, “I only did what you asked!”

“I should slap you....” She said glaring at me.

All of us redirected our attention to Inuyasha and Kagome, threw up our hands and yelled, “BANZAI!” right there in the middle of the hallway.

The two of them picked up their pace and once they reached us, Inuyasha said, “What are you all yelling for?”

“Inuyasha...Kagome...we're so happy for you two! We're happy that you're finally together!!” Sango, Aoi, and I said at about the same time.

Inuyasha blushed and murmured “Okay…you don't have to make a big deal out of it.”

“But it is a big deal! You don't know how long we've waited for this moment!” Sango said. Aoi and I nodded in agreement.

“So, does Kikyo know?” Miroku asked ignorantly.

I almost flinched at the sound of her name.

Why did he have to bring her up? I thought.

I really don't know…

Inuyasha sighed and said “Yeah I called her, she started crying; saying that she couldn't believe that I would `reject her in such a way'...” he made air quotes with his fingers and rolled his eyes, “I was gonna mention the tape but I changed my mind. I finally told her it was over and then I hung up.”

I rolled my eyes.

She is so full of it... I thought.

Kagome squeezed Inuyasha's hand and he looked at her. “By then I didn't even care about how she felt, because I had already chosen Kagome.”

“Awwww!” The girls and I said.

We then heard someone sniffling behind us.

Everyone turned to see Kikyo and her little posse. Kikyo looked absolutely pathetic. Her eyes were red and her makeup was smudged from crying (even though she probably used eye drops and smudged the makeup herself) and she was blowing her nose into a tissue. All of her little `followers' were either patting her on the back for comfort, handing her tissues, or holding her used tissues.

“Kikyo! You were wrong for what you did! You should be ashamed!” Kagome said to Kikyo angrily, for the first time I'd ever heard.

Kikyo blew her nose again and said, “K-Kagome? What are you talking about? Why are you being so mean to me? Especially since I'm going through such terrible heartbreak...” Kikyo then noticed that Inuyasha and Kagome were holding hands, and she kept on going...

“OOH, Kagome how could you? You took the man I love away from me! You are the meanest cousin in the WORLD!” Kikyo harshly grabbed one of her followers and cried on her shoulder.

You know, if there is nothing else I can say for Kikyo, she is one hell of an actress. Seriously, I think she should win an award for `Bullshit Act of the Year'.

“Kikyo shut the hell up,” I finally said, ending her charade, “We all know that you're not upset and you don't give a damn about Inuyasha or the fact that he doesn't wanna be with you anymore. So drop this act, it's not cute....”

Surprisingly, she actually listened to me. She wiped the tears from her face and stood up like she had some sense.

“That's right Kikyo. You remember yesterday? You know, when Miroku...how did you put it...? Forced himself on you? Yeah sweetie, that was a setup. We recorded everything you did and said on tape and we showed it to Inuyasha. So now we all know how you really are. And nobody's gonna fall for your crap anymore.”

When I finished speaking my mind, Kikyo burst out laughing.

“I ain't laughin'!” I said.

“Well they should've figured that out a lot sooner.” Kikyo said smugly. “Come on, me, actually liking someone like Inuyasha? Come on...”

Inuyasha growled but Kikyo just grinned. “Anyway…I guess things worked out the way they should have. I mean you geeks obviously deserve each other. So, I guess I'm happy for you two...”

She walked over to Inuyasha and Kagome and started circling around them, kinda like how a vulture circles its prey (how ironic). She directed her attention towards Kagome.

“You're probably happy because you `finally' got your way, eh Kagome? Well you're wrong. There'll be more chances, dear cousin, and when I finally succeed your life will be so terrible that you'll wish you were dead.”

Then, like an immature little fourth-grader, Kikyo pushed Kagome onto the floor. Inuyasha moved close enough to Kikyo so that they were just touching.

Kikyo smiled and said, “Are you gonna try to defend your new girlfriend Inuyasha? I know you wouldn't really hit me, would you?”

Even though it was apparent that Inuyasha had gotten Kikyo out of his system, it was also obvious that he couldn't do anything such as physically harming her.

“Hm, I didn't think so,” Kikyo said, “I guess you aren't the completely idiotic tough guy I made you out to be after all...”

I really couldn't believe she still had shit to say...

“Kikyo, do you wanna know how you really are?” I yelled at her.

She turned to face me, “You have something to say to me, Twin?”

“Yes I do!” I said catching an attitude, “You are a trifling-ass bitch and you use other people to get what you want. Oh yeah, and you mess around with other peoples' feelings just to get a cheap thrill out of your crappy life.”

Kikyo just rolled her eyes at me and said, “Whatever, bitch.”

I was seriously about to smack her right then and there, but then Aoi stepped in and stopped me.

“Look hoe, don't call my sister a bitch. You're the last person to call anybody a `bitch'. You treat everyone around you like crap, even your family!” Aoi said inclining her head towards Kagome. “And please, you think people actually like you? Are you crazy? You're convinced that everyone is in love with you when, in reality, everyone fucking hates you. Like those girls behind you. They only follow you around because they're afraid of you. Or maybe I'm wrong, for all I know you could be paying them to be your friends. Do you even know their names?”

Kikyo rolled her eyes yet again, “Yes I know their names! Like...you! You're name is Mai, right?”

A girl next to Kikyo with brown hair and blonde highlights looked at her and shook her head. Kikyo looked embarrassed.

“There you go right there...” I said. I then turned my attention to the rest of the girls, “Honestly, does she pay you all to be her friends?”

Some of the girls looked away ashamedly. A few of them looked away, but nodded.

I laughed and said, “That's a shame...so easily bought off. And not just in those ways either. All of your little boyfriends....all of those people who helped spread your little rumors...all bought off. It's a shame really, the fact that you're nothing but a cheap, bitchy, conniving whore...”

I think Kikyo had had enough truth for the day because before I could finish, she threw her hand up in the air and signaled for the other girls to follow her. She intentionally walked past me and threw her hair in my face.

That's when I lost it.

I suddenly grabbed a handful of Kikyo's long black hair and pulled her towards me. I then punched her in the face with a left hook. She fell to the ground with a loud `boom!'

Everyone gasped.

Kikyo was holding her head where I had yanked out her hair. She then wiped her mouth and saw that she was bleeding from when I punched her. She commanded her girls to come after me. They did, but in one swift roundhouse kick, they all dropped to the floor.

After that an all-out girlfight broke out. Kikyo finally decided to get up and tried to punch me back, but she was too slow and I easily dodged it. Then, one of Kikyo's girls grabbed both of my arms and restrained me while the other punched me over and over.

“Oh hell no,” I heard Sango and Aoi say at the same time. Sango grabbed the girl who was behind me and high-kicked her in the jaw. Aoi took the girl who was punching me, kneed her in the stomach and slammed her head into the floor.

While they fought the other girls, I was busy beating the crap out of Kikyo while she screamed obscenities at me. Miroku, Kagome, and Inuyasha were yelling for us to stop but made no real attempt in restraining us. Probably because they were really enjoying seeing Kikyo finally getting what she deserved.

About five minutes later Kikyo and the other girls had been beaten to a bloody pulp, well not technically, but they would have if the administrators hadn't broken up the fight. While Kikyo's girls were carried to the nurse, Aoi, Sango, and I were taken to the principal's office, most likely for suspension.

Aoi's POV

I admit I was a little bit scared. I've never gotten into any real trouble at school. Not to mention getting suspended!

But even though I knew I would be in trouble, I had absolutely no regrets and I wasn't going to apologize to anyone. I didn't even have to ask, I knew from the look on Hana and Sango's faces, that they felt the same way. Sango said that Hana really had all the fun. Hana admitted that it really felt good to beat Kikyo senseless.

“I'd say her physical pain measured up to all of the emotional and mental pain she caused us. No then again, maybe just some of it. I still say she deserved even more pain...her and her little friends.” she said folding her arms.

We sat in the plush chairs of the principal's office for what seemed like forever. I was counting how many books there were on the bookshelf, Sango was slouched over, half asleep, and Hana was doing something on her cell phone. When the principal finally arrived we all sat up attentively. Following him were the administrators that broke up our fight...along with Sesshomaru.

When she saw him, Hana quickly looked at the floor so that she couldn't make eye contact with him.

Sesshomaru looked very confused. He looked at Hana, then at me, then at Sango, then back to Hana, and then the principal.

“What is going on?” he said.

The principal adjusted his glasses as he read some papers that were handed to him by the administrators.

“Well Takahashi-san, it appears that these girls, Hanamori Aoi, Kuwashima Sango, and Miyashita Hana, are eligible for suspension on account of fighting and causing major physical harm to fellow students,” he read. The way he put it sounded like we were on trial for committing a felony.

Sesshomaru looked appalled, “What...?”

“Yes, according to the victims, Hidaka Kikyo and a few of her acquaintances were attacked by these three girls after some sort of disagreement.”

Sango stood up and yelled, “First of all, Kikyo had it comin' to her! She's been instigating all year. It was time she got what she deserved! Second of all, we did fight the other girls, but we didn't attack them. There's a difference. They came at us first and we fought back!”

“Sure Kuwashima,” said a buff female administrator, “As many fights as you've gotten into since you first came to this school, that's an interesting story coming from you. Sit down.”

Sango sucked her teeth in irritation, but sat back down.

“Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what is their punishment?” Sesshomaru asked.

Principal sighed and said, “Well, since Hanamori-san and Miyashita-san aren't usually troublemakers, I think they should get a week-long suspension. However, Kuwashima-san has been getting into trouble for a while now and needs to learn a lesson. She will get a three-week long suspension...”

Sango's eyes widened and she got hysterical, “Three weeks?! It's halfway through the year! I can't afford to miss all of those school days!”

Principal only shrugged his shoulders, “Our actions have consequences dear, there's nothing I can do...”

I realized that Sesshomaru had become very quiet in the past couple of minutes. I looked at him and saw that he was very lost in thought. As if he was concocting some plan in his mind. He then stood up and faced the principal directly.

“Sir...you don't think that maybe you could relieve these three of punishment just this once? I mean, Kuwashima does have a point about missing school. We don't want them to fail for the year do we?” Sesshomaru said.

“I'm sorry Takahashi-san, I can't do that. These girls have violated the code of conduct, and I refuse to be lenient with my rules...”

Sesshomaru smiled and said, “Screw the rules...I have money...”

The principal and all of the administrators looked puzzled.

“What do you mean...?”

Sesshomaru pulled a thick wad of cash out of his pocket and waved it in front of Principal's face. The principal stared at it like he was a starving homeless person being presented with a hot meal.

“Now, I'm pretty sure that the amount of money I have here in my hand is five times greater than your monthly income...all of it is yours...if you let these girls go...”

Now, the buff lady from before looked appalled, “I cannot believe this! Our principal is a high-standard man who would never be bribed into such...!”

“THEY'RE OFF THE HOOK! IT'S A DEAL!” The principal said cutting her off. He hungrily snatched the money out of Sesshomaru's hand. “Takahashi-san, please escort these young ladies back to their classrooms.”

“Yes sir.”

He walked over to us and helped Hana out of her chair. Then he nodded at Sango and me and told us to come on.

We were just about to leave when Principal addressed Sesshomaru.

“I wonder...why on earth would you go so far as to pay me in order to release these girls from their punishment?”

Sesshomaru glared at him, “Do you want to keep that money-?”

“YES!”

“Then stop asking questions!”

“Yes!” Principal said obediently. As we left I saw Principal in his chair, counting his money greedily.

Hana's POV

Everyone was in a better mood once we all got out of that stuffy office. I was walking and holding hands with Sesshomaru while Aoi and Sango were singing `For He's A Jolly Good Fellow' (they changed `fellow' to `rich guy'), but then he told them to be quiet.

“I was wrong about you Sesshy,” Sango said, “You're not as uptight as you look!”

“Thanks...” Sesshomaru said sarcastically.

“But for real Sesshomaru, why did you do that?” She asked, “I mean, I figured you would do something like that for Hana, but all three of us?”

“Well, my intention was to do that at first. But I thought about it, and I realized that if I had just let Hanako off the hook, she probably wouldn't have agreed with the negotiation unless I also helped you two.”

I smiled and said, “You know me too well...”

He looked at me and I looked at him, and Aoi ruined the moment with her comment.

“Nu-uh, you two need to go somewhere with that, it is too early in the morning...”

Sango laughed, but Sesshomaru and I just looked at Aoi, who smiled and said, “I love you Hana!”

I rolled my eyes, “I love you too, Aoi.”

We dropped Sango and Aoi off at their classes. Then it was just Sesshomaru and I walking together.

“So,” he said, “White Day is coming up in a couple of weeks...”

“Yeah, I know.” I said smiling.

“I have something special planned for you...” He said smiling back at me.

“Really? What is it?” I said with excitement

“If I intended on actually telling you what it is, I would have said it by now.”

“Aw, come on Sessho-chan!” I said eagerly, “I can't take this suspense!”

“Hehe, patience is a virtue Hanako,” he said, “You'll find out soon.”

When we finally arrived at my class, Sesshomaru and I stood outside the door for a moment.

“You know I really don't feel like going to class. I'd rather walk around the halls with you...” I said laying my head against his chest.

“I understand...but you know we both have to get to class...” he said wrapping his arms around me.

“I know...but...”

He finally let go of me and after an awkward silence I said, “Well, I'll see you later Sessho-chan...”

We kissed, and right then the bell rang.

“What? Class is over?” I said confused.

“I guess so,” he said, “I guess...”

He said something but his words got lost in the noise as more and more students entered the halls.

“What did you say?”

“I said, I guess I won't see you later because we have our next class together...”

I smiled and said, “Yeah you're right...shall we?” I said extending my arm out to him.

“Sure...” he said smiling back.

We then walked, arm in arm, to our next class.

Aoi's POV

A couple of weeks later...

The day was White Day; kinda like Valentine's Day, except girls get the presents instead of the guys. When I got to school I saw a lot of girls with stuffed animals, jewelry, candy, or flowers. As a matter of fact, I noticed that one girl received all of those things from her boyfriend. I overheard her talking to two of her friends as they walked past me.

“Rie, you are so lucky...” one friend said.

“Yeah Rie, you're lucky to have such a Prince Charming for a boyfriend...” said the other friend.

“I know, I know...” said the girl named Rie.

Looking at the girls, I thought to myself...

I wonder where my `Prince Charming' is today...

As soon as I finished my thought, someone walked up behind me and covered my eyes.

“Hmm, I wonder who it could be...” I said playfully.

“Well...” the `mysterious' voice said, “He's really cute, and awesome, and talented. And he's gonna get really mad if Aoi guesses wrong...”

“Oh...well in that case, it has to be Sesshomaru!” I said, once again playfully.

“You know what...”

I moved the person's hands away from my face and turned around. I was `surprised' to see that it wasn't Sesshomaru, but Bankotsu who was the mystery man.

“Hi Kotsu-chan!” I said hugging him, “You know you really should stop trying to sneak up behind people! For all you know I could've been Hana!”

He pointed to my bracelet.

“Oh...” I said.

“Besides, even though you two are twins, I think it'd be kinda messed up if I couldn't tell the difference between my girlfriend and her sister by now.” Bankotsu said.

“Mm, good point,” I said.

“So...you know what today is right?” he asked.

“Of course...!” I said with excitement, which made him smile, “It's Wednesday! Happy Hump Day!”

Bankotsu just looked at me like there was something wrong with me. “Aoi-chan you're really weird,” he said while pulling something out of his pocket, “I love you, but you're weird. Happy White Day...” he said, smiling yet again.

“Yay me!” I said like a spazz.

The box that Bankotsu was holding out towards me was covered with black silky fabric. Like boxes used to hold jewelry.

Hmm, I thought before I opened it. When I did open it, I was almost blinded. Inside the box was a white gold diamond necklace; and one of the prettiest necklaces I had ever seen (next to the one that Sesshomaru had given to Hana).

“This is so beautiful!” I said almost breathless. But then I thought of something and got sort of annoyed, “Hey didn't I tell you to stop spending all of your money on me?! This is a really nice necklace. I know you didn't get this from the 100 Yen store...”

When I said that, the smile that was once on Bankotsu's face vanished. “Um...not to give you the wrong idea but...I didn't technically pay anything for that...”

“....don't tell me....” I said quietly.

“Don't tell you...what...?”

“You stole this?!” I angrily whispered.

“Wha-? NO I didn't steal it!” he said sounding kind of offended his face went all pouty.

“No! I'm sorry I'm sorry!” I said hugging him as tight as I could.

“S'alright!” He said, instantly sounding better. “Anyway, that necklace was actually my mom's...”

“What? Really?” I said.

Bankotsu nodded. “Yeah, she used to wear it all the time. I just happened to find it the other day and I thought you'd like it, so I decided to give it to you!”

I honestly felt really bad. I felt like I was taking one of the last things that Bankotsu had of his mother away from him. I closed the box and held it out to him.

He didn't take it. Instead he wore a confused look on his face. I told him the reason why I didn't want to accept his overly-generous gift.

“Naw, don't think about it like that!” he said waving his hands. “I bet, well, considering she could have a say in it, that she would want you to keep the necklace. And besides...”

He took the necklace out of its box and put it on me. When I moved, the reflected light made it shine brightly.

“See? It looks really nice on you!”

I really couldn't help but smile. Not only was it pretty, but the gift was so thoughtful, extravagant and simple at the same time. It was so sweet of him to give me one of the only things he had left of his mother.

I kissed him on the cheek and said, “Thank you Kotsu-chan...You really are a sweetheart...”

Hana's POV

Excited, nervous, curious...

Different emotions whirled inside of me as the hours ticked away, counting down to my date with Sesshomaru.

I had no idea what I was going to wear. Sesshomaru suggested that I dress nice. But I wasn't exactly sure which `dress nice' he was talking about. Was it the `Prime Minister's Ball' kind of `dress nice' or was it the `no jeans or sneakers' kind of `dress nice'? I wasn't sure. I eventually decided on a pretty little white dress that I honestly didn't know I had. But at the moment it really didn't matter how it magically ended up in my clothes closet because I finally had something to wear.

I decided I wanted to look kind of...shiny. So I put on my diamond earrings, the necklace Sesshomaru gave me, and on my eyes I put on white shimmering eye shadow.

I also decided I wanted to make my hair look nice too, so I curled it.

I was curling one lock of hair, when one of my brothers burst through my bedroom door unannounced. It scared me so badly that when I jumped I dropped the curling iron. It landed on my other hand and the extreme heat burned me.

“Do you mind?!” I yelled at whichever brother it was that intruded my space.

“Sorry Hana!” said Kyo, “I didn't think you'd be in here...”

I glared at my youngest brother, “Well you especially shouldn't be in here if I'm not in here! Besides, what happened to `knock before you come in someone's room'?”

Kyo picked up a little rubber stress-relieving ball from my dresser and started tossing it up and down in the air. “Well,” he said, “The rule kinda lost its purpose...at least in your case...”

I picked my curling iron back up and continued to curl my hair. “Did it now?” I said, “What makes you say that?”

He stood next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Sure it did,” he said, “Ever since you hooked up with your boyfriend, you've never been home. Not to mention in your room. So why should I knock if I know you aren't inside?”

I rolled my eyes at him, “Just because I'm not home doesn't mean you can come into my room whenever the hell you feel like it, Kyo.”

He ignored what I said and plopped down right on top of my bed like it was his own.

“Get off of my bed!” I yelled. I was now really irritated with him.

“I bet that's where you're going now isn't it? You're going on a date with your boyfriend,” it annoyed the mess out of me the fact that he kept saying `your boyfriend' like it was something disgusting, “What's his name again, Sesshu-somethin'?”

“It's Sesshomaru,” I said, “And it's none of your business where I want to spend my time.”

Kyo shrugged his shoulders. “I just figured, since it's White Day and all...and,” he pointed to what I was wearing, “Need I say more?”

I had finished curling my hair and I was now putting on my lip gloss. “You really don't need to say more,” I said while putting gloss on my upper lip, “So get out of my room Kyo, you've officially overstayed your welcome, which technically wasn't even there to begin with.”

But Kyo just doesn't listen.

“Maybe you should call it `quits' with the guy Hana, you know the other day, Dad was telling us that he thinks...”

I didn't dare let him finish his sentence.

“KYO GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!” I attempted to throw a stray shoe at his head, but unfortunately it didn't work because he ran out the door as soon as he saw me pick up the shoe.

“Ugh...” I banged my head on my vanity table out of frustration. My head really hurt after that, but I didn't care. I was starting to get really frustrated with my brothers, and my father. But I didn't dwell too much on my feelings regarding that because I was about to leave them and spend my evening with the man I loved.

Sesshomaru's POV (AN: Nothing, I just wanted to say `hi!')

I was anxiously waiting for Hana to arrive. She called me and told me that she'd see me in a couple of minutes, but those minutes seemed to be going by like hours. I looked out the window for what seemed like every five seconds. My brother noticed this and decided to conduct a...unwanted conversation...

“You have a date tonight? Where is she? She probably stood you up! Ha, you loser!”

I then turned to face him and said, “Okay, yes I have a date tonight, not like it's any of your business. And I do not know where she is at the moment. And as for all of those other things...well, don't you have a girlfriend now? Where is she? Why don't you go somewhere with her and leave me alone? I am not trying to get into some pointless argument with you and take my frustrations out on Hana when she gets here.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, “Tch, I don't even know what she sees in you...you're so...so...”

“I'm so, what?” I asked Inuyasha, daring him to try my patience, “Please, share with me little brother...”

“That's little half brother, `Sessho-chan'...”Inuyasha said. I pulled hardly on his dog ears, the one thing he hates the most.

“Don't...ever...call me that....again!” I said, pulling harder on his ears with every word.

When he broke free from my hold on him he tried to punch me. But he moves so slowly, I caught his fist before he hit me.

“D-Damn...you...” Inuyasha said. He reminded me of the men in those samurai movies, saying their final words before their demise.

“You need to stop this foolishness.” I told him, finally releasing his fist, only to have him try to attack me with his other one. He still failed to hit me, because I caught that fist as well. “I'm serious Inuyasha. If you get blood on my new white suit...I'll really kill you.”

When he finally calmed down, he brushed himself off as if we had really gotten into a fight or something. “God, you're so...what's that word...metrosexual...”

“And you are so...” I said. But I didn't get to finish telling Inuyasha exactly what he was, because with my keen hearing I heard a car pulling up to the house. I looked outside once again to see Hana's white car rolling into the driveway.

I suppose Inuyasha heard as well, because he looked outside the other window to see what the source of the noise was.

I watched Hana as she gracefully stepped out of her car and watched her as she walked to the front door.

I tried to open the door to greet her, but Inuyasha pushed me out of the way.

“What are you doing you idiot?!” I yelled at him.

“I wanna say `Hi' to Hana!” He yelled back. And after a long minute of fighting, I finally incapacitated Inuyasha enough so that he wouldn't give me any more problems.

I opened the door and saw Hana standing in front of me, looking quite beautiful in all white.

“Sessho-chan!” Hana exclaimed when she saw me.

“Hanako,” I said pulling her closer to me by her waist. I leaned my face closer to hers and kissed her.

“God, get a room or sumthin.” Inuyasha said unnecessarily. I really didn't feel like dealing with him anymore, so I just left with Hana and slammed the door behind me.

“I feel so special!” Hana exclaimed. “There aren't that many people our age that can say that they've ridden in a limousine twice.”

The day before, I had asked my father if I could use one of his limousines to take Hana out. He graciously agreed and now Hana and I were being driven by a chauffer to our destination.

I nodded my head to show that I heard what she said but didn't say anything else. We actually didn't talk for the rest of the drive. That definitely felt awkward, knowing Hana and her talkative personality.

When we finally arrived at our destination, Hana was ecstatic to see that we would be dining at one of the nicest Chinese restaurants in Tokyo. I knew that Hana loved to eat (yet never gained a pound, ironic) so I figured going out to eat would be the best date to take her on.

Hana and I entered the restaurant to find it absolutely deserted.

“That's strange,” she said, “You would think that since it's White Day, the place would be packed.”

“I'm sure it would normally,” I said, “However, I rented everything out just for the two of us.”

“Really?” She said looking up at me, “That was so sweet! You didn't have to do that.”

“I know I didn't have to do it. I did it because I wanted us to be alone, so that we wouldn't have to be bothered by some loud, ignorant moron who drunk too much wine or some spoiled brat complaining that they don't have ice cream.”

Hana laughed and said, “Smart move.”

A man in a waiter's uniform approached us and tried to speak in Chinese.

“Please stop,” I said. “You're not Chinese. We know you're not Chinese. So stop embarrassing yourself please...”

The man looked down, ashamed. “You two are outside, follow me.” He said in his real, Kansai dialect.

When we followed the waiter outside, we saw a garden eating area that was illuminated by many candles. Everything was covered in red and white rose petals. Music was playing as well; it was some sad-sounding interlude played with a koto.

Hana and I sat down at our table and the waiter handed us some menus.

“I don't need one,” I said handing it back to him, “I just want water.”

The waiter looked at me strange, but took back the menu anyway. “I'm assuming you want to keep yours ma'am?” He said to Hana.

“Yes, just give me a minute to figure out what I want.” With that he walked away.

While Hana looked at the menu, she asked me why I only wanted water.

“I don't eat that much.” I replied simply. She looked as if she wanted to say something more, but didn't.

The waiter returned exactly a minute later. Hana told him what she wanted to eat and by the time she was finished the waiter had used up three pieces of paper (I really think she ordered over half of the food on there).

“I knew I took you to the right place,” I said once the waiter left.

“What do you mean?” Hana asked.

“I mean that for a person with a bottomless pit for a stomach, a restaurant would be the perfect place to go on a date.”

She rolled her eyes, “That's not true, I don't eat that much...”

“Are you kidding? Do you remember that Christmas party? When they were serving dessert, you almost killed Inuyasha for the last piece of that cake.”

“Look, that was some good cake okay?!” She said with all seriousness, which made me laugh (AN: Wow, that's a personality switch moment).

After that, none of us really said anything for a good ten minutes. I suppose this bothered Hana because she asked me, “Sessho-chan, what's wrong? Why are you so quiet?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I don't know. You aren't talking either though, so what's on your mind?”

She sighed and explained to me that before she came to my house, she had gotten into an argument with her younger brother and that it was still bothering her.

“I'm sorry.” She said afterward.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” I reassured her. “Inuyasha was actually annoying the hell out of me, before you arrived.”

“Wow,” she said, “Little brothers can really be a pain in the ass. But we love them either way...”

“Wait, who the hell said I loved Inuyasha?”

Hana laughed and said, “Sessho-chan, you're the worst!”

About 40 minutes later, Hana's food had arrived. I was right in thinking that she'd ordered over half the menu, her food took up even my side of the table.

Hana sat in (close to) absolute silence as she ate her food.

“Please eat something Sessho-chan!” she pleaded with her mouth half-full of noodles, “If you don't it'll make me feel bad!”

“Don't feel bad,” I said, “I told you I'm not hungry.”

She sighed and went back to her food. She was finished ten minutes later.

“That was good!” She exclaimed.

“Was it?” I asked, “I wasn't even sure if you could taste it, considering you sort of sucked it all down...like a vacuum.”

“Oh hush, Mr. I'm Too Pretty to Eat...”

I was about to respond, when our waiter came by with a tray of fortune cookies.

“Either of you want one?” He asked.

“I love fortune cookies!” Hana said, happily grabbing one.

“And you?” The waiter said to me.

“No.”

“Please, Sessho-chan! You let me eat alone, the least you could do is get a fortune cookie.”

I took a cookie from the tray to make her happy and the waiter disappeared again.

“Let's see...” Hana broke open her cookie and took the little slip of paper out and read it, “Couples who love each other tell each other a thousand things without talking. Wow, that's just like us, Sessho-chan! What does yours say?”

Likewise, I opened the cookie and read the slip of paper, “Look beyond what you see. What the hell does that mean?”

Hana simply shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I had fun! Did you have fun, Sessho-chan?”

“I always enjoy myself when I'm with you, Hanako.” I said truthfully.

She smiled, “And I always have fun with you...hey, are we gonna leave now?”

“What's your hurry?” I asked her, “I'm just waiting for something...”

“Oh...Hey Sessho-chan, have you seen that movie `Love Me Not'?” Hana asked.

“No. I'm not a big movie person. Besides, I've never heard of it.” I replied.

“I was thinking that we could see it together. It's a Korean drama about a man who goes into debt, and he has to pretend to be the long lost brother of this blind heiress and kill her so that he can get her fortune to repay his debt. I heard it's really good, and it looks good too.”

“I see...”

The song that had been playing on the radio went off. The DJ was now introducing the next song.

“Here's something for the lovers out there, the Japanese version of BoA Kwon's single `Sunshine' from the soundtrack of the movie, `Love Me Not', enjoy!”

“Wow!” Hana said over the opening piano of the song, “After I was just talking about the movie! I love this song too! It's so sweet...”

I stood up and extended my hand out to Hana, “Would you like to dance?”

“Of course!” She said blushing, extending her hand as well. I took her hand and pulled her closer to me. I grabbed her waist as she wrapped her arms around my neck. We then danced to the soft sound of the music...

As I close my eyes
I see your face
The brightest smile I've ever seen
No words are needed
For me to tell you how much you've given me

You taught me so much
Held me tight as I cried
And I think its time to tell you

Let me come closer to you
And embrace you tight
Then I will have no more fear
Be my guiding light
I love you
More than anyone else
And I want you to know
My one and only sunshine

Why was It me
Why was I picked
I wanna see your smiling face again
I can feel the warmth on me
I wanna feel
What its like love
What its like to live

Let me come closer to you
And embrace you tight
Then I will have no more fear
Be my guiding light
I love you
More than anyone else
And I want you to know
My one and only sunshine

Your my warm light
Shining bright
All over this world
Your embrace is all I need
Say
I love you

I love you so
You're the one and only person for me

I thank you
My only Sunshine

(AN: Sorry for all these notes, but I just had to say, this is a REALLY good song! Seriously, if you get the opportunity, download it. Like you read it's called Sunshine and it's by BoA or BoA Kwon or whatever)

I let go of Hana once the song ended. She looked up at me and smiled.

“Are you gonna be my sunshine, Sessho-chan?” She asked.

I smiled back and said, “Of course...”

We both leaned in closer and kissed. At that moment I couldn't think of anything or anyone else but Hana. It was those moments only that had purpose, being with the woman I loved.

I hadn't noticed it at first, but lying on our table was what I was waiting for, a bouquet of roses. I picked them up and handed them to Hana. She giggled and said, “Hana to Hana, that's funny.” (AN: In case you don't get it, it's like, she's getting flowers and her name means `Flower'. So it's like `the Flowers of Flower'...yeah okay)

“So, you like them?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? I love them!” She hugged me, “I love you, Sessho-chan!”

“I love you too. As a matter of fact, I'll love you until the very last rose in the bouquet dies.”

She looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I'll love you until the last rose in that bouquet dies.”

You see, what Hana didn't realize was that the bouquet of roses I handed her was special. There were twelve roses in all. Eleven of the roses were real...

The last rose was artificial.

Aoi's POV

Hm, I wonder how Hana and `Fluffy-sama' are doing right about now...

I was sitting in my bedroom, lost in my own thoughts. It was a quiet evening. Aunt Risa had another late night working, so the only inhabitants of the house were me and Kotsu-chan, who was asleep in his cage. It was extremely quiet.

I looked at the necklace that Bankotsu had given me for what seemed like the hundredth time since I got it. I was absolutely in love with it.

Ah, I love him so much...

Buzz...

The vibration of my cell phone startled me out of my thinking. I picked it up and looked at the number. The call was from Bankotsu's house number.

“Moshi?”

“Aoi-chan?”

Surprisingly it wasn't Bankotsu, it was Jakotsu.

“Hey Jakotsu, what's up?”

“Did you see Bankotsu anytime today after school?” He asked. He sounded really worried. I was curious as to what was going on.

“N-no, I didn't see him after school. What's wrong?”

He took a deep breath then started explaining everything, “I came home about an hour ago from work. I called his name to let him know that I got back, but he didn't answer. So I assumed he was asleep or something...”

“Okay...then what happened?” I said.

“So yeah, I didn't really think anything of it at first, but then I noticed that it was extremely quiet. Like, I didn't hear him moving around or anything. So I went in his room to check on him and...”

“He wasn't in there...” I said silently.

“Well...yeah. I called his job to see if he was there, he wasn't. I called his phone a couple of times too, no answer.”

“Is his bike outside?”

“Yeah, that's why I thought he was home at first. Even though he did take the bus to school today...I figured that maybe he went somewhere with you, but now that you've said you haven't seen him...I don't know...”

Where the heck is he?

I told Jakotsu that I would try to call Bankotsu's phone myself, and that I'd call him back with my results. Well, I called...

Voicemail...damn...

No results, so I called Jakotsu back and told him that I'd come and help him look for Bankotsu.

As soon as I hung up I wrote a small message for Aunt Risa telling her where I would be in case she, for whatever reason, came home before I did. After that I checked to make sure that I had my keys and my cell phone before I went to my car. Once outside I hopped in the driver's seat of my car, turned the ignition and floored the gas pedal.

Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at Bankotsu's apartment complex. I was surprised to see that Jakotsu was already outside waiting for me. It was dark outside, but once I got out of my car and took a closer look at him, I could see that he was exactly the way he sounded when we were talking on the phone, worried to death.

He was doing a lot of fidgeting, and his head was hung down so low I could barely see his face. He pulled a lighter from his pants pocket and at first it looked like he was setting his hair on fire, but I soon realized that he was just lighting a cigarette.

“Jakotsu...” I said.

He raised his head and inhaled from the cigarette, making it burn an orange glow.

“Aoi-chan,” he said to me after exhaling a large amount of smoke.

“Any luck yet?” I asked him.

“Not yet, if I had I would've told you earlier.” He said.

“I guess that's true...”

He tossed his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it.

“Well, let's get going...” He said trying to sound motivated, but it still didn't hide how worried he was.

“Yeah, let's go,” I said.

Jakotsu and I spent two hours (even though it felt like more) looking for Bankotsu. We double-checked his job, asked neighbors if they might've seen him, went to his friends' houses (the friends we knew anyway), and heck we even scoured the streets of Tokyo (at night! That's hectic!)! But still, we had absolutely no luck. Our search led us back to the apartment. Jakotsu had figured that Bankotsu might have came back home in the time that we were gone, but when we arrived we discovered that that wasn't the case.

“As soon as I see that boy, I'm gonna beat the hell out of him for making us go through all this trouble! Aoi-chan, some guy is gonna get extremely lucky cuz you're gonna be single soon...Aoi-chan? What's wrong?”

I had barely noticed it until Jakotsu asked me what was wrong, but a few tears streaked my face. I was upset of course, because I had no idea where Bankotsu was.

What if he's hurt...? Or, what if it's something worse than that...?

“Oh God...”

With that thought, I started crying even harder, and I no longer had any control over the tears falling from my eyes.

“Aoi-chan, don't cry,” Jakotsu said, giving me a friendly hug, “I'm sure he's okay.”

I tried to calm down, but my tears just kept falling and my shoulders kept shaking.

But what if he's right? I thought, What if I'm just thinking negatively?

I tried even harder to calm down, it still didn't work.

I guess I really can't help it if I'm worried...

Just then, I heard a buzzing sound along with a happy-sounding techno beat. Jakotsu pulled a dark pink cell phone out of his coat pocket and checked the number.

“I don't recognize the number but...” He answered the phone, “Moshi, moshi?”

I watched Jakotsu's expression change as he listened to the person on the other line speak. He looked extremely annoyed.

“Guess who it is!” He whispered to me.

“It's Bankotsu?” I whispered back.

He nodded.

I was kind of mad that Bankotsu, just now, decided to contact someone, but that was overshadowed by the satisfaction I had of knowing he was okay. But then again, I still wasn't even sure of that. I just knew he was currently talking to his brother.

“Okay so...WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Jakotsu yelled into the phone, “You just vanished without a trace, didn't tell anyone where you were, Aoi-chan is here with me and we've been looking for you for two damn hours!”

He was silent again as he listened to Bankotsu speak.

“Wait, what...? You better be fucking kidding...you're serious...?” He shook his head and chuckled, but there was no amusement in it at all, “Alright, we'll be there...no, we'll both be there! She's been looking for you just as long as I have, she deserves to know where you are too...I have nothing more to say to you Bankotsu!” With that Jakotsu hung up.

I was sort of afraid to ask, but I needed to, “S-so, where is he?”

Jakotsu gave a long sigh and rubbed his temple. He looked at me and said, “Aoi-chan, your boyfriend is in jail.”

Have you ever had a headache because you had a million different things going on in your mind at once? If you haven't then I hope you never do, because it's not pleasant. And if you have, then you can relate to how I was feeling as I walked with Jakotsu to get Bankotsu out of jail. Questions and possibilities raced through my head with every step.

Why is he in jail?

What if we can't get him out?

How long had he been there?

“What happened to his promise...?” I whispered to myself. That's what I wanted to know the most.

Originally, I had offered to drive us to the jail, but Jakotsu said that it wasn't a long walk so I agreed to walk with him. For some reason however, it seemed to be taking forever to get there. But was it really taking forever? Or was I not ready to witness what was ahead?

That was probably it.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I barely noticed that we had arrived. I let Jakotsu walk in ahead of me, and I took a deep breath before I walked in myself.

Bankotsu had told me that he had been to jail on several occasions. When I walked inside, my first impression was that it definitely wasn't a place that I would want to visit often. The place smelled like a moldy basement. And it was dirty and grimy, like no one even put any effort into cleaning the place. At the entrance there was a smug-looking police officer with a very shiny badge sitting at a desk and reading a newspaper. I assumed that he was the top police officer or whatever.

When he finally noticed that Jakotsu and I were waiting for him, he stared at Jakotsu for a while and grinned.

“Well this is a shame, I see you here more times than I see my own kids, boy!” The officer said to Jakotsu. He then looked at me and grinned again.

“This time you have a friend with you. How old are you, girl?”

“Young enough to get that pretty little badge of yours taken away for messing with minors, you perverted old man!” Jakotsu said defending me, “Now stop messin' around, where's my brother?”

The officer picked up his newspaper and continued reading.

“That was very disrespectful, I don't think I can take you to your brother now...”

I could tell that Jakotsu was getting pissed off now. If this guy really was the head-chief-whatever, he wasn't being a very good one with that level of maturity.

“I don't have time for this, alright, where the hell is my brother?!” Jakotsu yelled, banging his fists on the desk.

Just then, another police officer walked in, a tired, lazy looking one with dark circles under his eyes. He was carrying two cups of coffee.

“Kitamura-san!” The head officer-whatever snapped at the lazy officer.

“Yes sir!” The lazy officer said, suddenly a little bit more energetic.

The important officer took the coffee from the lazy one and sat right back down in his chair.

“Go get Kusao-kun out of his cell. You know where he is, don't you?”

“Yes sir!” The lazy officer replied. I think that was all he was allowed to say.

He walked down the long, dimly lit hallway full of cells in order to retrieve Bankotsu. When I looked after him down the hallway, I saw that it was no better down there than it was in the entrance where Jakotsu and I waited. The halls were lit only by a single row of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Some of the bulbs were flickering, others had completely died out. The walls were covered with chipped paint, which was an odd shade of green, like the gowns that they put on you when you go to the hospital. On top of all that I wasn't even down there, but I could feel a cold draft flowing through.

I didn't understand what was taking so long. Jakotsu and I had been waiting almost ten minutes for the officer to return with Bankotsu, and neither of them were anywhere to be seen. But just as I was about to say something, I heard two sets of footsteps.

“Here they come...” Jakotsu said practically to himself.

The guard stepped out of the darkness, holding Bankotsu by his arm. He grabbed a small key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs that chained Bankotsu's wrists.

“You can go,” The guard said.

Bankotsu slowly walked over to us. I noticed that he had bandages wrapped all around both of his arms, and he had a bandage on his face.

I wonder how that happened... I thought

I also noticed that he would not look at me. He looked at Jakotsu, who just shook his head at him, but he acted as if I wasn't there. Well, not really. It was more like he was trying hard to avoid looking at me.

Suddenly, Jakotsu grabbed both of us by our shirt collars and said, “Well children, it is a school night so we'd better get on home!” He then pushed us both out the door and once we were outside he half dragged me and Bankotsu as he ran for dear life.

“Why are we running Jakotsu?” I panted.

“I don't-have money-for bail,” Jakotsu said between breaths.

“You know you have to pay bail money.” Bankotsu said. It was the first thing I'd heard him say since I saw him.

“Of course I know that. Why the hell else would I be running? Now move faster!”

Ten minutes later we finally reached the apartment. I must say I had never run that much that fast in my entire life. I was totally exhausted. Jakotsu wiped sweat from his forehead and said quite randomly, “I'm hungry. I'm going inside.”

Without any other remarks he left, leaving Bankotsu and me alone together.

For a long while we just faced each other in silence. As if one person was quietly battling with the other person over who should talk first. I finally decided to speak, and when I did I dared to ask, “What happened?”

Do you know what the best lie he came up with was?

“Nothing...”

No, seriously. He told me that `nothing' happened to him.

“Bankotsu,” I said. He looked surprised. I guess he wasn't used to me calling him outside of his nickname. “This,” I touched the side of his face that had the bandage on it, “Did not happen because of `nothing'. Please, tell me what really happened.”

He sighed and brushed back his bangs so that his tattoo was visible. “Alright,” he said, “This is what really happened...”

Bankotsu's POV

The memories of what had happened in the past couple of hours were clearly in my mind as I explained everything to Aoi. It had all started once I got home from school.

I was just in the living room watching tv, when I heard this loud banging on the door.

I figured it was important, whatever they were banging on my front door for, so I got up and unlocked the door. I opened it and found my friend Haru, the youngest member of my gang, lying against the doorpost, barely able to stand up.

“Haru-kun!” I yelled as he collapsed into me. Haru had a little boyish face, and he was basically always smiling. But at that moment he looked pitiful. He had bruises all over his face and his lip was bleeding.

“Kusao-san...” He said, barely able to talk. I helped him sit down on the couch so that he wouldn't straight pass out on my floor. That's when I decided to interrogate him.

“What happened to you?” I asked trying not to yell. I figured he'd been through enough already.

“It...It was them...” Haru whispered, then coughed blood, “Jigoku, you're old gang.”

Shit...

“What the hell did they want?” I asked, harsher than I wanted to.

“They...” Haru looked like he wanted to explain but couldn't.

“Haru-kun, tell me what happened!” I yelled. I didn't want to hurt Haru's feelings, but if something happened to one of my people because of me, I needed to know.

He still looked like he didn't want to tell me what happened, but continued anyway.

“Well, all of us, we were just hanging around downtown, minding our own business. That's when we saw them. All in black, just looking at us and laughing. That's when Inoue-san decided to call them over. The other guys started making fun of us and saying all this crap about you...”

Of course, not like they're man enough to say anything face to face.

“What did they say?” I asked.

“Well, they said that you were a punk and a traitor, `cuz you left them. And that you're too soft `cuz you lost your edge all for `some girl'.”

Ha, shoulda known...

“I was the only one who tried to stand up for you, Kusao-san!” Haru said, “I told them to shut up `cuz they didn't know what they were talking about. And then I tried to hit one of them, but, that guy stopped me.” He shuddered, “The one with the long black hair. You know the one who's the leader...”

That little bit really didn't surprise me. Naraku was exactly the guy you wanted if you needed someone to `pick on the little guy'.

“Then what happened?”

“He was like, `You really want to fight all of us?' I mean, we really were outnumbered. But I was willing to fight either way! Everyone else scrammed while I single handedly fought, well, tried to fight, every single member of Jigoku.”

I was surprised to hear that Haru of all people fought all thirteen members of one of the toughest gangs in Tokyo all by himself without coming out of it dead. But still I thought it was kinda messed up how nobody stayed to help him at all.

I guess there's just no honor amongst criminals.

Well after Haru finished telling me his story, I decided to pay my former gang a little visit. I knew where their hangout was and knew that it wouldn't be too hard to find them. As expected, I found them hanging around the old abandoned elementary school just a couple of miles away. I figured that they'd be surprised to see me, but they weren't. It was supposedly `all apart of their plan'. They wanted Haru to run back to me `like a dog returns to its master', as they put it, and then have me come to them `looking for revenge', and as a result they would `beat the crap out of me'.

Some harsh words were said, and insults were hurled. I really didn't care. That is until one of the guys said something about Aoi. That's when I lost it.

I lunged at him and knocked him down. Then another guy tried to punch me, but I dodged it and punched him in the face, which broke his nose. I was pretty much winning even though I was by myself.

But then those bastards pulled knives on me. I'd forgotten that they liked to fight dirty when things weren't going their way. I had no way to get the knives away from them, so all I could do was let them cut me up. They'd slashed me all over my arms and on my face. But luckily enough for me, one dude was standing close enough to me for me to snatch the gun that was sticking obviously out of his front pocket. When I got the chance, I took the gun and fired it twice at him. Everyone else backed up away from me, but I wasn't quite done with them yet, so I fired more shots. I shot one guy in the leg, and another in his chest.

As luck would have it, after I fired my last shot the police came. All the other punks had run away by then, so I was the only one who got arrested. I mean it makes sense and all that, because the police couldn't have known that just minutes before they came, I was the one who was in trouble, No, all they saw was three boys who had just gotten shot, and another one holding the gun.

“So yeah, that's what happened.” I said, wrapping up the story. Aoi looked like she had no idea what to think

“But...why? Why didn't you just stay with Haru? If you did, none of this would've happened!” She said.

“I told Haru that he needed to go home,” I explained. “I felt like it was something that I needed to take care of, like, it was the right thing to do.”

“But what about me Bankotsu...? You told me, no you promised me that you'd try to change and that you'd stay out of trouble. And then you do this...what is it, do you like to have me worrying about you?”

I don't know what it was, but I just got really irritated and I snapped at her, I didn't even mean to. It just happened...maybe it was because I felt guilty...

“You know I don't even know what the hell your problem is! Why do you even care about what I'm doing when I'm not with you?! It's not like it's any of your business!”

Aoi slapped me hard in the face and started screaming at me.

“Why do I care? I care because I love you! And if you got badly hurt, or got killed because of something unnecessarily stupid, I'd be devastated! I figured you'd understand that by now, but it looks like you don't! And if that's the case...then maybe we shouldn't be together!”

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.

“Aoi-chan,” I said calmer than I was before, “Come on...you don't mean that...”

I tried to take her hand, but she snatched it away instantly. She took off both the necklace and the bracelet that I'd given her and she put them in my hand.

“Aoi-chan, wait...!”

But before I could even get an opportunity to explain myself, Aoi had already started walking to her car. The only thing she said to me before she got in and drove away was,

“Goodbye, Bankotsu.”

As soon as Aoi's car drove out of sight, rain started to pour. And then, ironically enough, Aoi's bracelet slipped out of my hand and landed on the concrete. The `A' charm for `Aoi' and the `B' charm for Bankotsu, broke off.