Disclaimer: I don't own 'em ^_^

A/N: Alrighty, this is a one-shot story about Ken and his affections towards Aya. It is
short and
somewhat sappy, but shonen-ai none-the-less. So, enjoy ^_-



Just for today..

by Trunks



Down the street, inside the flower shop, a young girl smiled charmingly, a soft glint in her
eyes
and delight written on her face.
A giggle freed itself from her body, "Oh, Ken-kun! You know I'm only getting these for
my mother."
Yes, the dear school-girl was, indeed, just what her title told. A giddy school-girl.
And, as everyone knows, giddy school-girls are huge suckers for a bishonen, especially
one as
charming and polite as 'Ken-kun'.

'Ken-kun' smiled politely back at her, handing the girl her change, "Of course."
In the school-girl's blue eyes, Ken was the most sincere person she knew.
However, what she didn't know, was that her precious 'Ken-kun' had 'sincerely' placed that
happy
smile on his face, just so she would take her flowers and leave. Why? He had much more
to do
than stand around and talk to the giggling girl.

Now, don't start thinking the wrong things. Ken was, indeed, a very nice person. But, as
you have
probably heard from one time to another, no one is perfect. And Ken was no exception to
this rule.
But, as much as he wished it, the girl did not leave. She only put on another smile, making
sure
to allow her hand to touch his as much as possible, as she took the change.

"You know, Ken-kun," the girl said, with another smile as she carelessly brushed her
auburn hair
away from her face, "There is a dance at my school, but I just haven't found the right guy
to go
with me, yet." She looked over at him, her eyes sparkling.

However, Ken was no longer listening to the girl. Hell, he wasn't even looking at her.
His attention had quickly been led away, once a certain red haired creature entered the
shop.
Now, no one may have been perfect, but Ken certainly thought that this red head was.
In fact, Ken couldn't find one flaw with the red head. Well, apparently, someone else
could...

"You are late, Aya," Yohji said nonchalantly, carefully watering the violets, careful not to
drown them.
Aya ignored him, carelessly putting on one of the white aprons.

"Ken-kun?" the girl asked, a puzzled look on her features, "Ken-kun, are you okay?"
Ken snapped out of his trance, "Oh, yes, of course, Ojousan. Have a nice day."
The girl raised an eyebrow, but then smiled, a fake smile, of course, and stuffed the change
into her pocket. She had obviously wanted to talk more. "Thank you, Ken-kun."

She may have grumbled a few incoheret words, but Ken was, again, not listening. He only
snapped
out of his trance when the girl closed the door of the flower shop behind her, carrying the
roses she bought with her.

Well, Ken thought, at least there weren't anymore customers. No, at least there weren't
anymore
school-girl customers. They were really just too giggly.

Ken tried to imagine Aya giggling, though he couldn't picture the thought in his head. It
was
just too outrageous. Hell, the thought of Aya even smiling wasn't even imaginable!

"Ken?" Omi asked, waving a hand in front of the boy's face, "Are you all right?"

Ken mentally scolded himself for going into a trance again, then smiled brightly, patting
Omi
on the back, "Of course, Omi, I was just thinking."
Yohji snorted at that remark, but didn't say anything further. Perhaps it was the look that
Omi shot at him? Who knows..

"KEN-KUN!"

Oh dear God, it was another giggly school-girl. Damn, where were they all coming from?
Ken was
sure that the school they all went to didn't let out for another hour.
Not only that, but they all seemed to have the same names for him and the same things to
say.


"Konnichi wa, Ojousan," Ken pasted another smile on his face, making sure his eyes
matched the
pasted look on his face.
The girl, however, pouted a bit, "Oh, come now, Ken-kun, there is no reason to be so
formal around
friends."

Friends? Ken thought for a moment. What was her name? A better question would be,
how did she
know his name?

The girl, almost as if sensing his confusion, sighed, "I'm Suzaki, remember?"

Hm, it vaguely sounded familiar, but only vaguely. She didn't look familiar either.

"Oh, of course, Suzaki-chan, how could I have forgotten?" Ken smiled brightly again,
though he
mentally rolled his eyes. He really had no clue who this girl was. Oh well, if he told her
that, then she would want to explain.
It was better to sell her some flowers and get her out of the shop, that way he could spend
more
time starring at Aya..

"Great!" 'Suzaki' grinned, "Because, I just came by to invite you out to dinner. It's at that
very nice restaurant, will you please join me?"

Ken had been afraid of that. Why didn't these giggly girls go over and bug Yohji?! Wasn't
he the
flirt?! Well, the death glares that little Omi shot towards them must have finally made them
leave Yohji alone. It was amazing how protective Omi was, toward Yohji.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Suzaki-chan," Ken said, pasting a sad look on his face, "but I've got to
work
late tonight."
He only prayed that one of the others wouldn't say something stupid, like: 'Oh, nevermind,
Ken,
you can go out anyway!'
That would really ruin his life.

Luckily, none of the other workers made a sound.

However, the girl pouted again, looking thoroughly sad, "Can't you just take tonight off? I
already
made reservations."

Hmph, Ken mentally glared. They were so sure that he was just going to jump at the
chance to go
out with them, weren't they?

"I'm sorry, Suzaki, but maybe we can go out some other time." Yeah, like when hell
freezes over.
Ken smirked at the cynical attitude. He wondered when had picked it up.

Suzaki sighed, nodding, "Okay, maybe some other time." The she headed towards the
door, clearly
pouting. Hm, school-girls didn't take 'no' very well. Well, Ken sighed, at least she hadn't
giggled.

She actually wasn't that bad of a girl, even though she was a little moody. But, even so,
she
just wasn't someone Ken wanted to be around for a long period of time.

But, he wouldn't mind being around Aya for a little while.

"Ken, if you start starring off into space again, then don't blame me if I hit you with a
flower pot," Omi smirked, carefully arranging some daisies.
Yohji grinned, "I'll do it for you."

Ken smiled, going back to his place at the register. He really didn't have anything to do but
to stare at Aya. Omi was doing the arrangements, Yohji was watering the flowers, and
Aya was
cleaning up.
Therefore, they had given him the job of staying at the counter. And, needless to say, it
was
not his favorite job.

Actually, it had been a pretty dull day so far. Barely any customers, which meant Ken was
bored
out of his mind. His conscience reminded him that most of the customers, like Suzaki,
hadn't
been interested in anything but the florists.

In fact, Ken was so bored, he was actually counting how many times each girl flirted with
each
of the florists.
So far, the score was: Ken-5, Yohji-3, Omi-2, Aya-1.

Ken was almost certain that most of the girls were afraid of Omi. After all, even though he
looked
sweet and innocent, he most certainly could give the most icy glares to anyone whom
flirted with
his Yohji.

Actually, Ken thought they made a rather sweet couple. But, as protective as Omi was
towards
Yohji, Ken swore that Yohji, secretly, was three times more protective of Omi.
It was just a very entertaining thing to watch. There was no telling how many girls the two
of them had scared off with their glares.

Which is why Ken was leading in the scoring, because he had the ability to paste a fake
smile
on his face.
Aya was behind. And, if you knew Aya, you would know the reason. His ice cold
personality wasn't
easy to ignore.

"Ken?" A girl asked, blinking.
Hm, he hadn't realized that another customer had entered the shop. He really needed to
pay a bit
more attention.

"Hi, Iatori, how can I help you?" He asked, smiling again.

She smiled, most likely happy now, "I was just hoping that you had some petunias."
A nod, "Yes, I believe we do." Ken walked away from the counter and into the back
room, where most
of the flowers that weren't asked for often were kept.
There, low and behold, were a set of petunias.

Ken picked them up, ventured back into the shop, and sat them down on the counter, "Are
these
all right?"
Iatori nodded, delighted, "Oh yes, Ken-kun, they are perfect."

Hm, that was the first time she had called him 'Ken-kun' in a while. She usually joked
around and
called him 'Ken-chan'.
He certainly hoped those other girls weren't rubbing off on her. She was the only
school-girl he
knew that didn't-

She let out a giggle.

Oh no, they had gotten to her! They had converted Iatori into one of them! She was now a
giggly
school-girl.
Smirking, he pushed his humor away. Sometimes his mind went a little insane.

"Ken, can I ask you a favor?"
Uh oh, here it comes..

"Certainly, Iatori," Ken raised an eyebrow.

She looked around, then leaned over the counter and whispered, "Could you tell me if
Aya-kun has
a girlfriend?"

Ken suddenly felt very ill, "N-no, I don't believe so."

Her face lit up like a hundred watt light bulb, but her voice remained a whisper, "Ken,
could you
tell me what he likes? I mean, something that would get him to notice me."

"Sakura-chan," Ken said, the smile fading from his face, his eyes almost glaring over at the
sound of her name.
Iatori blinked, quite puzzled, "Sakura-chan?"
A nod.
"But you said he didn't have a girlfriend," Iatori pouted. Yes, she definitely was becoming
like all
those other school-girls. They always acted that way when they were 'in love'.

"He doesn't, Iatori," Ken busied himself by taking the broom, sweeping around the
counter.
Aya and Omi had left, apparently going into the back to bring in some more flowers.

"Oh," Iatori thought for a moment, "But he likes her?"
A nod, "Hai."


* * * * * * * *

Aha! It was absolutely, positively, without a single doubt, the most perfect gift in the
whole
entire world!
It was a sweater, a beautiful black sweater. But, that was not the important part. The
important
part was that it was NOT that hideous orange sweater that Aya owned.
In fact, the black sweater was for Aya, so that he would quit wearing that dreadful orange
one.

Now, Ken thought that Aya could look good in anything. Absolutely anything.
But, there was a small exception to that. Red and orange clashed, it was as simple as that.
And, the sweater looked hideous, even on Aya.

Ken had sat it on Aya's bed, careful to do it when he was sure that Aya would be gone for
a long
period of time. There was nothing worse than being in Aya's room when Aya was in there.
Absolutely nothing worse.

Why? Well, the temptation of grabbing Aya and kissing him was becoming very great, and
it was
always worse when the two were alone in a room.
And, Ken knew it was futile. Aya couldn't love him. Aya was only interested in Sakura,
mostly
because she looked like his ill sister.

That Ken didn't understand, but maybe it was just because he was overly jealous. He really
wanted
Aya to look at him without the icy glare, and to smile when he talked.
But it wasn't going to happen, he only did those things around Sakura.

And it really made his blood boil.

Ken was almost positive that Yohji and Omi knew about his feelings towards Aya, but that
didn't
matter. Wether they knew or not didn't matter to him. It wasn't as if it was going to
change
anything.

A sigh escaped Ken's lips as he lay on his bed, the soccer game that blared on his
television had
long since been forgotten.
He wasn't in the mood to watch television. He was too busy thinking about Aya.

"Well," Ken decided, "I suppose that I should at least be glad that he is my friend."

Something about that sentence just didn't seem right. Aya was his friend, wasn't he?
Certainly those icy glares were just meant to protect Aya's emotions, they didn't mean
that he hated Ken.

But there was just such a false sound when he said that sentence, it just seemed fake.
Just as fake as those smiles he put on his face everyday.

There had been a time that Ken had worn true smiles, happy as a clam, but that was a long
time
ago. Last year, Ken had started to notice Aya more and more. Notice how he moved, how
he worked,
how he glared and stayed stoic.

There was just something about him that made Ken feel terribly warm. It had started out
as a
harmless attraction, nothing more than that.
But it had grown over the last year, until Ken was positive about his feelings.

He knew he was in love with Aya. It wasn't a crush, or an attraction, it was love.
But, there was nothing plain or simple about it. Loving Aya, but knowing that Aya only
saw
him as a partner in work, was killing him.

Slowly, but it was killing him. Emotionally.
Sure, Yohji and Omi were the only ones whom noticed it, but that didn't matter. Ken
would have
to move on.

Hm, that wasn't as simple as it sounded.

Oh well, maybe one day he would tell Aya how he felt, and maybe Aya would even react.
Even if it was only to punch Ken, it would at least be a reaction.

But, that would be for a long time. Because, for now, Ken was almost content with
watching the
red head from afar.

But, who knows..

~Owari