Author's note: Not our finest moment... It's time to blow the cap on another oneshot... hell, I can't write this note like I normally can. I am so... fruiting popped off (edited for our mutual convenience) with someone in my life that I felt compelled to vent my frustrations into a story that I've been kicking around a while. Might be continued, if anyone cares for it, which isn't likely. After all, stress relief can be very detrimental to a story's general quality. (As such, reviews are, as always, welcome and encouraged. I'm always looking to improve and that's the reason I put these things here in the first place.

"Students," the principal of the almost idyllically plain grade school announced, just a week before the end of the term, and the class-full of energetic ten-year-olds pointed their attention skyward to the intercom from which the authoritative voice was coming. After a moment's pause, the man continued.

"I would like to make a special announcement involving one very special student here. Due to a perfect performance not just in this term, but in all preceding terms of grade school, it is with great pleasure that I inform a Miss Chiyo Mihama that she is to report to her first year of high school at the commencement of the next school term, at none other than the prestigious..."

The name of that prestigious high school was promptly drowned out by the cheers of Chiyo's classmates and, in an almost childish display, those of her teacher as well. As the substantial blob of well-wishers crowded around her desk, heaping praise at heights to rival the Tower of Babel (and being just as coherent as its builders must have been) she blushed and shied lower into her seat.

"It's nothing! Nothing, really... whoa!" Her attempts at becalming the mob were very much in vain, as she was lifted from her desk and carried around the room.

"I can't believe this!" Miruchi couldn't keep herself still as she, Chiyo, and Yuka awaited the first bus on their rather long walk home. In an unsuccessful effort to stop jittering, she jammed her hands into her jeans pockets. "I'm so happy for you, Chiyo!"

"It's not really that big of a deal, is it?"

Yuka scoffed. "C'mon, Chiyo! Don't try to pull this whole modesty thing off on us!" She overlaid with a fake, condescending tone, "Show some damn pride! Who else jumps five grades like that?"

"You're not supposed to talk like that, Yuka-chan..."

"Whatever! It's not like anyone can hear us to begin with!"

"It's OK, you guys..." Chiyo attempted to divide the two before they got into an altercation. Fortunately, her current prestige was enough to halt the usually inevitable fistfight.

"Anyway, you should be proud of yourself, as much as I hate admitting that Yuka-chan's right," Miruchi continued. "You're so worried about sounding stuck-up. Just loosen up a bit! I mean, we're your friends, and we know you're not trying to put yourself over us."

"OK." Realizing that her friends were right, Chiyo nodded in agreement.

"We're rooting for you all the way!" Beginning her cheering again, Yuka pumped her fist in the air. "Valedictorian!"

"I'll do my best!"

Miruchi clapped Chiyo on the shoulder. "There. How about we go to the mall and grab some smoothies to celebrate? My treat!"

"Hey!"

The trio of girls turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, and Chiyo saw a boy approaching that she hadn't seen before. He was only slightly taller than Yuka, who was the tallest of the group, with an unkempt frizz of black hair on his head and glasses. She took a breath to respond, but immediately, she noticed her friends tense up somewhat.

"What do you want, Hayato?" Yuka spat.

"Yuka, don't pick a fight..." Miruchi warned, gently tugging at Yuka's arm.

"Yeah, don't pick a fight!" 'Hayato' spat right back, his tone dripping with animosity, "'cause you'd lose! 'Cause you're a girl!"

"Oh, whatever!" Baring her teeth like an animal, Yuka let out a snarl, but after Miruchi tugged on her arm again, she made an effort to calm down.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" Chiyo inquired.

"It's nothing, Chiyo. Don't let him ruin your day. Yuka, let's go!"

"Hey, I'm not done with you yet!" Hayato protested, following the girls as they tried to make their escape. "SO I heard you were going up to high school?"

"Don't answer him..." Through clenched teeth, Yuka uttered the warning. However, Chiyo was occasionally too polite for her own good.

"That's right, Hayato." She replied, trying not to let the negative first impression factor into her voice. Maybe it was just an argument earlier today that has Miruchi and Yuka so worked up, she thought.

"Don't you know what happens at those places?" That tone of his was evolving from annoying to insulting. "All the boys there are just gonna try and get in your pants!"

"Huh?" The reference went right over sweet little Chiyo's head, as well as that of Miruchi, but Yuka nearly boiled over.

"And that's worse than you, how?" She demanded, "You're at the bottom of every class I've seen you in! Chiyo actually WORKED and EARNED something, and you should at least let her carry a triumph from it!"

"Whatever, like some goody-little-two-shoes deserves any respect from me!"

Yuka got right up in his face, the anger visibly seething from her ears. "Take. That. BACK." She barked, her eyes appearing as though they would ignite Hayato's hair into a blazing inferno. Hayato must have had a death wish, since he only responded with an almost comical (but likely intended to be serious) 'anger' face.

"Make me!"

"I want there to be something left for the morgue to look at!"

Miruchi tugged on Chiyo's hand. "I know Yuka." She muttered, "we can get out of here now. She'll catch up."

"Sure..."

"That was Hayato." Miruchi explained, taking the three smoothies from the counter and handing her one. "It's his first name, since his family name... well, no one really knows it somehow. Not even the teachers. Don't let him get to you. He's a class A jerk."

"I could tell... did I say something to him once that got him to..."

"No. He's just like that. If you were in any of his classes, you'd see that he doesn't have any friends whatsoever. Oh, sure, he tries, but he's just such a stuck-up, arrogant little maniac that he terrorizes anyone who comes near him."

"Are you sure that there's no reason for that?"

Miruchi sighed. "Chiyo-chan, I know how you think. You want to find a good quality in him that means you shouldn't hate him or blame him for it. Trust me, he just doesn't do well with people. Not being antisocial, really... more like hostile."

"I see..."

"Yo! Miruchi! Chiyo!" Yuka cried triumphantly as she entered the food court, grinning ear-to-ear despite sporting bruises on her cheek and chin, as well as a black eye, "that was AWESOME! You should've seen... oh, blueberry!" She swiped one of the smoothies Miruchi was holding. "Don't mind if I do!"

"Yuka! Are you OK? You didn't get into a fight with Hayato, did you?" Chiyo was terrified by Yuka's state.

"No... I didn't fight him, I just kicked his sorry little butt to the curve!" Pumping her fist in the air, Yuka was basically making the largest scene possible in the very middle of the court. "MAN! And then he high-tailed it out of there like the cowardly scumbag he is! Yahoo!"

"See," Miruchi elbowed the goggle-eyed Chiyo, "I told you she'd catch up."

"But... Yuka, it didn't bother me THAT much! You don't need to protect my feelings like that!"

Yuka spun around and put her hands on her hips. "But I WANT to! That's what friends do! Always fight for a friend even when they think it's being excessively violent!"

"Th... thank you?"

"You're quite welcome!"

Miruchi looked down at the floor. "Um... Yuka? Your..."

Yuka saw where Miruchi was directing her attention, noticing that she had dropped her smoothie on the ground, and it was now splashed all over the floor.

"Wh... wha? No!" She screamed. Chiyo smiled nervously and raised a finger.

"I... I'll get you another one, Yuka..." she stammered, inching away.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Yuka fumed, whipping out her wallet. "This is YOUR day! I'll pay for it MYSELF!"

"Wow..." Miruchi gasped, "there's a first time for EVERYTHING, isn't there?"

"Except, my dear Miruchi, Hayato getting something RIGHT!"

At that moment, Chiyo recalled something from earlier she had meant to ask.

"Yuka? What did Hayato mean by 'in your pants?'"

The question seemed to plow through Yuka's head as she gave Chiyo a look of astonishment. "You don't KNOW?"

"No..."

"Yeah, I was going to get that from you, too." Miruchi added. "You really went postal on Hayato for saying that, so it has to be pretty bad..."

"I... w-well, it's..." Yuka blushed slightly. "G... go ask your dad or something!"

Miruchi and Chiyo glanced at each other and shrugged.

"OK." They said. Yuka sighed with relief.

Chiyo was walking with Mr. Tadakichi the next day when she encountered Hayato again, whose face gave the appearance of an oatmeal raising cookie after his altercation with Yuka the previous day.. She had to wonder if he'd been seeking her out or if he was just on his own business, but decided that she wasn't going to ask him and reversed her course. Unfortunately, he caught sight of her as she turned around to walk away, and began silently following her, which she wouldn't have noticed save for Mr. Tadakichi's occasional protective glances back at her. Looking around herself, however, and noticing the boy stalking her, she steadily began to speed up and turned the corner she had just come around the other way, so as not to lead him to her house.

She wasn't sure why she was so scared of him, but then again, that caution might serve its purpose. Just so long as she was in view of the public, she wouldn't be harmed, right?

Whether or not that was Hayato's intention, he resumed following her, until she was running at a full sprint down a street she'd never been to before. Finally, she whirled around and faced him.

"Why are you following me?" She demanded, her usual politeness completely forgone and forgotten due to fear, exhaustion, and confusion.

Hayato looked at her like she was insane. "What're you talking about? I'm not following you! That's false accusation! Jeez, quit being so paranoid!"

Chiyo's ears burned, and she turned around to walk away, when Hayato began laughing at her obnoxiously... and continued following her. Mr. Tadakichi let a small growl escape from his throat when he looked back at their pursuer.

"I know..." She murmured in response, "I don't have any idea what his problem is, either... C'mon, there's a few places that he won't follow us into."

In a few blocks, there was a fashion boutique that Chiyo had always gone to, ever since she was six years old, and had always made an exception to the 'no pets' rule because of Mr. Tadakichi's excellent manners. Since no boy in his right mind would go into a fashion shop for anything, Chiyo knew she was safe as soon as she entered, holding the door open for Mr. Tadakichi.

"Oh, good afternoon, Chiyo-chan, Mr. Tadakichi!" The clerk called brightly, checking her list. "No appointments today... just here to buy something for home use?"

"Actually... it's a long story. You see..."

It seemed as though Chiyo had assumed her safety from Hayato a little bit too soon, as he practically blew down the door as he burst into the boutique, pointing straight at her.

"You can't do that! It says no pets on the sign!" He screeched.

"Good afternoon, sir!" Oblivious to his antagonism, the clerk explained. "Mr. Tadakichi's a friend of ours..."

"I don't care! She can't come in here with pets!"

"Sir, I'll say this again..."

"No you won't!"

The clerk leaned over the desk. "Friend of yours?" She whispered.

"Not at all..."

"I see. Hang on. Sir, if you have such keen observational skills, you'll also notice another sign right here on the desk."

"'We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.'" He read.

"Exactly, sir. We invoke that right upon you now. Please remove yourself from the establishment."

"You're supposed to refuse..."

"Please remove yourself, or I'll be required to contact the necessary authorities required to remove you."

"Fine!" He glared directly at Chiyo, without making any motion toward the door. "Rat! Tattletale! Suck-up!"

Finally deciding he had seen enough, Mr. Tadakichi strolled lazily towards the boy, his canine eyes regarding him with distaste. Hayato took a step back.

"Hey, what's your dumb dog doing! Get away from me! You'll give me RABIES!"

Composing himself perfectly, Tadakichi walked around Hayato, picked him up by the back of the collar, and carried him towards the door, which the clerk opened so that the dog could deposit the boy out on the street. By the time Hayato recovered and attempted to reenter the store, Tadakichi was inside, the door was locked, and Chiyo had gone into the back room with the clerk. Hayato pounded on the door for a while, then stormed off the way he had come.

"That's why we make exceptions to the rules, sometimes." The clerk smiled gently. "Who is that kid? The first person I've ever seen that doesn't like you, sure, but why?"

Chiyo moaned. "He just started going after me yesterday... may I please use your phone? I think I want to get a ride from my dad today..."

"Certainly, sweetheart!" Taking the phone off the hook, the woman noticed that Chiyo was starting to cry. "Hey, hey, hey... don't let that little devil get to you like that! You're taking the high road, right? In a few more years, you'll get to go to that high-class high-school and you'll never have to see him again, so cheer up some!"

"I'm... actually going to that high school next year. I just figured that out yesterday..."

"Is that kid raining on your parade?"

"Y...yes."

"Of all the nerve..."

Author's note: That's all, folks! Reviews and suggestions encouraged by the establishment!