Tenma and Tsurugi were walking together. Again.

Early morning practice had just ended, and it was time to go to class. You didn't care, not now. You simply watched those two talking, the short little devil hugging Tsurugi, and he chuckled. He chuckled, for god's sake, and what you wouldn't give to have him look at you like that, laughing, instead of the slight smirk he gives you on occasion. It just isn't enough, not when you know there's more to him than a good-natured smile. You wish that Tenma the Mistake wasn't here, was never here, so that you never had to know about Tsurugi's other side that no one else could draw out. In fact, you wish that you had been the one to do so, but you were too slow, always lagging behind that speedy asshole Tenma.

It wasn't that you hated Matsukaze. He was a great kid that saved the soccer club from the brink, and you liked him like you liked all your teammates. In fact, it wouldn't be a far stretch to say that you loved him, as he was one of your best friends. You loved Tenma, and you loved Tsurugi. Just not together. Never together.

"Shindou!" called a voice from behind. Without even turning around, you knew it was the only person you could trust unconditionally.

Tsurugi and Tenma turned around as well as they heard Ranmaru's voice. Tenma was looking at you, a concerned expression written across his eyes. You looked away, but didn't know why. Something nasty was bubbling in your chest. And as for Tsurugi, well... it's not like you want to remember the look on his face. He was angry. Probably at you.

"Kirino," you said with a nod, acknowledging him. "You're late this morning."

"No, you just ran off without me." His pink locks bounced behind him as he ran up to you, and he beamed brightly. You had to admit, he was pretty cute, and he looked like a droopy-eared rabbit.

You smiled without even thinking about it, and he laughed back.

"Hey, Shindou, guess what?"

His playful tone had suddenly dropped like a stone, along with your stomach. "What is it?"

"We're late for class."

-

You simply stand there as the painfully pink shitstain drags the captain off with him. Not physically, but might as well have been. The 2nd-year always had Shindou wrapped around his little finger, taking him everywhere you wanted to, talking to him everytime you try to talk. It was infuriating, but it wasn't Kirino's fault- he didn't have it out for you because he didn't even know what you wanted. No one knew what you wanted, not Kirino, not Shindou, hell, maybe not even yourself. To be completely honest, you weren't even sure who or what you were chasing after. Maybe you had already passed the finish line and was still running, desperate to find the checkpoint that never even existed.

"Let's hurry too!" exclaimed Tenma, and he dashed off in the direction of your homeroom. You began to run too, but settled to a light jog so as not to provoke any more detention than you needed. Shinsuke ran up along with Tenma's lady friend, whose name you didn't remember and didn't really care about. Tenma was yours, and that's all she really needed to know.

"Slow down!" yelled Shinsuke. As he passed you, he nodded slightly, but said nothing more. "Come on, Aoi."

Trotting up the last few steps to the classroom, (and bracing yourself for the teacher's chiding about punctuality in school) you wondered why no one else had warmed up to you after you became a full-fledged Raimon member. Sure, maybe you DID completely annihilate the second team, beat everyone to a pulp, trash the uniform and ball, and other things, but you saved the team's ass more than once. And yet, only Tenma, that magnificent little bastard, had warmed up to you. Others, like Shinsuke and that Aoi girl, barely wanted to acknowledge your existence.

As you sat down in your seat, (and resisted the urge to put your feet up on the desk) you realize that the first-years had it easy on you, what with them being naive first-years and all. They had had no prior knowledge of Fifth Sector or Seeds, and so they could forgive you more easily. The second-years, you had noticed, were far more wary. You were wary of them, too. You didn't like them. Any of them. Except Shindou. He was alright, you guess. He had been the second one on the team to trust you, after all. The first one, of course, had been...

Tenma waved at you, seemingly in distress, mouthing something urgently.

What? You had no idea what the fuck he was going on about.

What's the answer to-

It was going to be a long day.

"Kyousuke, how are your teammates acting towards you now? Have you made any new friends?"

You paused to consider this for a moment. You knew you could tell Nii-san anything, but to be honest, you didn't know how to quite respond to this yourself.

"Yeah," you say.

He waited for a moment, but probably knowing that you were not the talkative type, urged you to go on. "Who?"

"Matsukaze Tenma," you say instinctively. "The one that burst into your room that one time. He's actually a really good guy, and really reliable."

"I see. Who else?"

"That's it."

Nii-san paused for a long moment, and you wondered if you had done something wrong. Worse, if you had accidentally given something away. But what? There was really nothing to hide when you had nothing at all. However, that didn't seem to be what Nii-san was thinking. You brace yourself for the inevitable.

"Who else?"

There it was. The famous Nii-san intuition, beginning with repeating the question.

You suppress a defeated sigh, because you know he can even read into that, even if you can't. "Shindou-senpai, the captain of the team."

"Why don't you want to acknowledge him as a friend?"

Step two: question the psychology behind your actions.

"I don't think he thinks of me as a friend," you say, choosing your words carefully.

"Why not?"

Step three: elaborate and solve world hunger.

"He has another friend really close to him. And he mostly just talks with the second and third-years."

Nii-san seemed to want to end the water and sanitation crisis, too, but held back. "... well, you should ask."

"Ask what?"

"If he thinks of you as a friend."

Why not? "Alright."

Nii-san's soft smile fell into a mischievous smirk. "That'll be 500 for the counselling, please."

-

A/N: Next time: trading card games and general confusion :D (it will get more KyouTaku-ish... maybe)