A/N This is to make up for my long term hiatus. So sorry! Author's block might not be the best reason but I'll finish it one day. Before June, I promised.
Disclaimer: Everybody mentioned here is not mine. Not even Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata and co.
Kouji had never loved going to malls, don't even mention shopping. Does he strike you as a person who would hang around those places which are too crowded, too chaotic and filled with ecstatic girls who would drive him round the bend? And he definitely doesn't like watching those mushy scenes before his eyes, in other words a guy and a girl dating. Holding hands is fine, but kissing is without doubt out of the point.
However, despite knowing Kouji's abhorrence towards these things, Kouichi just had to drag him there.
It started off with a beautiful morning when his hand phone rang, causing a commotion. Kouji tossed around in his pliable bed. Grabbing a pillow, he attempted covering his ears but his attempt was futile as the ringing just would not stop. The person at the other side really was persistent. Murmuring some curses, the still half-asleep Kouji groped around for the black rectangle thing. Pressing the answer button, he started speaking in an annoyed tone.
Guess who it was? Yes, it was none other than his older twin.
So what possessed Kouji to go with Kouichi? Kouji could just reject it but why? Right again, blackmail. Kouichi had first started by begging him, giving him the reason that he needed to get something, but to no avail. So Kouichi resorted into intimidation, threatening his stubborn brother that he would make him dance with the most irksome lass in his class whose name was not known to Kouji. Did he mention that Valentine's Day is just a couple of days away and his school had had organized this stupid dance-thingy for the population.
"Hey, cheer up little brother!" Kouichi sent a stinging slap on Kouji's back.
Shooting his replica a death glare and ignoring the 'hungry' looks in all the girls' eyes in his vicinity, he returned to wallowing in self pity. Was it a sin to be a little bit better looking than other guys?
"We got your thing already, let's go home now Kouichi." Kouji said in a half begging tone, his eyelids were heavy from the lack of sleep. He still could not believe his brother would be evil enough to call at around 7 at weekend, disturbing his nice sleep.
"Come to think about it, have you gotten yourself a date for Monday?"
"Mind your own business." Kouji retorted, he hated it whenever Kouichi brought up the subject. He knew it would be easy for him to get a girl with his looks and it had been proven when his shoe locker was always filled with chocolates from those rampaging fan girls. Honestly, he had not eaten any of it yet, it probably had been taken away by the garbage man. He would not even let his dog touch that poisonous thing. Who knows what might happen if it did. Kouji did not dare take the risk.
"I have to mind as you might end up in detention again like last year when you did not attend with a date." Kouichi snickered. "How about…"
Kouji knew what was coming next, this whole process had been going on for over a week already.
"- Sakura? She's one of the only girl who does not fawn over you."
"She's going with Sasuke."
"Hinata?"
"Taken care of by Naruto."
"How about Kila?"
"No."
"Momoko?"
"No."
"Hillary?"
"No."
"Jun Pei?"
A pause "NO!" Kouji harangued, "Jun Pei's a guy for god's sake!"
"Chill down, I was just joking you know." Kouichi stuck out his tongue, "Well then, how about…"
"Kouji?"
Kouji looked up instantly, and found himself looking directly into the eyes of a blond none other than Izumi.
Kouichi elbowed Kouji, whispering "Her." Before Kouji could react, hell itself had arrived.
"Hei Ice Block!" shouted the over active brunette behind Izumi.
Oh dear god, what had I done to deserve this. Kouji slapped his forehead. He wondered what was in store for him today.
"Hei, don't ignore me!"
Kouji received a slap on the back from the hyper, loud, not so welcome and annoyingly in high spirits Takuya Kanbara.
Before Kouji could even answer him, Kouichi interrupted gesturing to the gift store in front of him, "Hei Takuya isn't that Rikku?"
"Where?" Takuya exclaimed, scanning the area behind him. "Oh my god, it's her!" Without any delay, he shoved his shopping bags towards Izumi's already full hands, and rushed full speed towards the shop, leaving the poor girl behind to struggle awkwardly with the extra load. Izumi almost stumbled backwards but Kouji caught her just in time.
"I'll help." Kouji said, transferring some of the bags from her hands to his own. Not that it was his nature to help others (You've gotta be kidding me), but he rather pity the girl who had been a victim of Takuya's wrath, or rather Takuya's obsession towards his girlfriend.
"Thanks Kouji. But I am going to get other stuffs first before going home, so I guess it's all right, I'll carry them myself." Izumi beamed mildly while her ego was screeching unruly curses at Takuya 'I'll kill him when he gets back!'.
Kouji was about to hand over the bags to her when Kouichi said, "No, it's okay Izumi-san. Kouji would not mind, right Kouji?" He grinned at Kouji.
'Why you…' Kouji had a second thought whether he was glad to meet his brother.
"Make yourself helpful little brother. When a lady is in trouble, you should help her you know? Well then, I'll see you at home then shounen." Kouichi added before running off. Kouji could have sworn that he saw Kouichi's grin turned into an evil smirk and he did not like it.
"Sorry to impose on you then, Kouji" Izumi smiled apologetically, "-kun." She added, an awkward grin spread across her face. Accompanying it was a tiny blush on her face, but she immediately turned away so Kouji would not catch it.
Kouji nearly fainted. He had a bad feeling about this. Why was everybody acting weirdly today? First Kouichi, now her. I don't remember any time she called me with the suffix attached to my name.
But hey… it sounds nice… Right?
Kouji nearly kicked his conscious to hell.
When Izumi was finally done with her shopping, it was already dawn. She turned to look at her companion, who was currently being cornered by some girls whom she had identified as some bimbo girls from her school. They wanted Kouji to go as their date for the upcoming dance on Valentine.
Izumi did not know why but it makes her blood boils looking at scene occurring in front of her. She stomped over instantaneously and started sending everybody away with a flea.
"Back off! Stop pestering him as he's going with me!" She yelled, hugging Kouji's arms possessively.
Kouji looked really stunt. Why was she clinging to his hand and more importantly what did she just say?
If looks could kill, all the girls would have dropped dead. Izumi had this grim look in her eyes. Izumi let the girls had one last chance to appreciate her killing look before turning away and dragging Kouji off.
The two walked towards Izumi house in silent. Kouji decided to show his gratitude for saving him from the fanatic bunch of girls by walking her home. And besides, he did not think that Izumi could manage. Somehow Takuya had forgotten all about his own stuffs and ran off with his girlfriend. Izumi affirmed that she would throw it at the corner of her house for it to rot if he did not want to claim it. Kouji thought it was a pity as his bags contained branded sports shoes and some other clothes that would total up to around 10000 yen.
It was not until they almost reached Izumi's house before Kouji broke the awkward silence. It really was strange as usually Izumi would speak a lot and amused him with all the colourful vocabularies she had. "Say Izumi… Erm… About the thing you said just now… About you going the dance with me… Are you… Erm… really sure?"
Izumi felt her cheek getting warm; she never expected this to come. "Well, actually that was an act just to save you." She replied, trying to hide the embarrassed tone in her voice, "Yeah an act…" She added softer, trying to convince herself that it was true.
"Oh…"
Again, they returned to what they were doing previously - walking in silence.
A few seconds later, Kouji said again, "Say Izumi… Who are you going with?"
Izumi was again caught off guard. "Nobody in particular," She shrugged, "I would never want to go with Horio again, he's such a jerk. How about you, Kouji?"
"Same here."
And the conversation ended here. It was not until they reached Izumi's house before Kouji spoke again.
"Say Izumi…" He paused, pondering whether he should really say it, "Doyouwannagowithmetothedance?"
"What?" Izumi asked, giving him a questioning look.
Kouji took a deep breath, mustered up all the courage that was left from every corner of his body and said, "Do you want to go to the dance with me?"
There he said it! Now his conscious would have no right to call him a chicken anymore.
Ok now, Izumi definitely did not expect that. She was now fighting the blush that was creeping to her cheek. Before she could even give herself more time to think, she already gave him her answer and she believed that it was her true feelings but it was so soft that Izumi could not hear it.
"Pardon?"
"I said when."
"What do you mean by when?"
"I mean what time would you want to pick me up?" She said a little bit louder. Great, now she was officially blushing but she had to be grateful that the lamp post chose to be dim that night.
"It starts at 8. How about 7.30? Would it be ok for you? I heard from Kouichi that girls would take a long time to make themselves look good for this kind of occasion."
Wrong move, Kouji.
"Hei! What do you mean by that? I will prove to you that I could be ready even before 7!"
Kouji chuckled slightly, "Whatever, here's your things. Good night." He turned to walk away but Izumi caught his arm.
"Goodnight Kouji." She whispered into his ear and planted a small kiss on his cheek before rushing into her house.
Kouji stood rooted to the ground; he traced the place where Izumi had kissed him a few seconds ago.
Am I in heaven?
Unknown to the newly formed couple, some people had watched everything that they had done. Yep, that's right, they were none other than Kouichi and Takuya.
"Mission accomplished!" Both boys grinned maniacally, giving each other thumb ups, "Couldn't have done it without you girls!" They added, gesturing towards the bunch of fanatic girls whom Kouji had described as.
"Now that we had helped you with the your 'mission', you better give us our money now."
Naughty Takuya and Kouichi! Can't believe you guys resorted to bribery just to match-make the two. Kouji, Izumi what loyal friends you'd got!
A/N Sorry again for the sucky ending. And checked back in a few weeks. I already got the inspiration for the continuation of Endless Tale already (while writing this fic) But sch's been busy. curse the sch