The Cat and the Champion

by Whatsifsowhatsit

Crossover of Fruits Basket with Ouran High School Host Club. In spite of his usual apparent confidence, Souma Kyo is becoming worried about winning against Yuki in time, so he seeks more training. Rated T just in case, but I think it's really K plus.

1. Meeting the Champion

A/N: The story takes place after both the Animes of Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club. I hope you'll like it. I'll try to update asap, but I usually take a while, since I don't write very quickly most of the time.

Neither Fruits Basket nor Ouran High School Host Club belong to me. The characters obviously also don't. This fanfic does though.

1 - Meeting the champion

My muscles aching and my teeth gritting together, I lay once again painfully outside on the muddy garden ground. When I looked up I saw Yuki looking down at me from the warm, dry inside. He made eye contact for the slightest of seconds, his expression neutral as ever, before looking away, not giving me another moment's worth of consideration. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists in powerless frustration.

I could visualize the fight again, closing my eyes like this. I had tried a wholly new combination of moves this time, but it was as if Yuki had been as expectant of it as ever. Did nothing surprise him?

I knew I really couldn't afford to still be this easily beaten by Yuki – there was only about one year left at school and before the end of it I was going to have to have won, at least once. Although most of the time I was confident that I was going to succeed, it was mainly when I was lying on my face with what felt like a tooth out but probably wasn't when I doubted myself the most. And I began to toy once again with the thought that had been spooking through my mind a number of times before now.

Although I appreciated the time I spent with shishou in his dojo and I learnt great new techniques while I was there, I felt that it wasn't enough. Still, every time I attempted to pick a fight with that damn mouse, I found myself pinned against the wall or slammed against the floor almost before I even lifted a finger at him. I couldn't deny it any longer. At this rate, I wouldn't make it.

Therefore, I decided I should find another source of tutoring as soon as I could.

I heard Shigure inside, talking to Yuki. "Ne, Yuki-kun, you really think it's okay to throw him out like that? He lives here too you know."

I couldn't hear Yuki's soft-spoken reply, but I made it a point to not go back inside after that. As if I wanted to live with them at that moment. I crawled up, ignoring the headache, walked around the house and climbed on top of the roof.

Some time later, Tohru came home. She looked happy to see me. Waving, she called up to me. "Hello Kyo-kun! How was your day?"

She must've known when I sat on the roof, there was a good chance of something being wrong, but she didn't bring it up in the conversation. I was grateful for that. "It was okay," I told her. She smiled and went inside.

After that time in the rain a few weeks ago, I had been looking for any signs in her that might suggest disgust or distrust. Although my feelings told me she was being honest, now that she knew my true form, I still couldn't truly believe she didn't think any worse of me than she did before. Even before that, it had been hard for me to believe the possibility that she liked me, but now it was even weirder.

I looked down the path before the house and the trees besides it and sighed. I tried to analyze what I was thinking. It had something to do with Tohru, but I wasn't too sure what it was. Was I disappointed that she didn't come sit up on the roof with me? Or was it more like I was actually annoyed that she spoke to me at all, disturbing my thoughts? I wasn't too sure. I did know that her arriving at home left me with confusing dissatisfied feelings.

I lay back on the roof, resting my head on my hands and looking up at the sky. Tomorrow, I would try to do something about my lack of sufficient improvement in the martial arts.

The next day, I went to school as usual. Instead of sitting in the lunchroom doing nothing much except being talked to from all directions, I spent my free time in the library. Although in some strange way, I felt awkward about it towards shishou, I searched the martial arts section for the most recent books and tried to find out who I might go to for training anyway.

I'd found someone in the library who I thought might be fit to train me. His name was Haninozuka Mitsukuni and if I could believe what all those books said, he was the national karate and judo champion. He was said to live very close to where I lived and visit a school that was also very near, called Ouran Koukou. It got even weirder when I found out that he was only about a year older than I was. I was worried about what kind of person someone who was the national champion in two martial arts at such a young age already had to be, but it was the best chance I had. I just hoped he wouldn't be too busy to teach me.

After school, I immediately wanted to storm out and head for where I believed the school was located. However, Tohru called out after me. "Kyo-kun! Where are you going?"

I yelled over my shoulder, "To Ouran!" and kept running so as to avoid any other questions I might get thrown at me from classmates, leaving a confused Tohru behind.

Ten minutes later, I arrived at the school. I had read about how it was a very prestigious school, but what I saw still startled me. It was a shockingly grandiose terrain, on which many large buildings where placed, from the looks of it including a church even. From where I was standing, there was a very large gate that was wide open. Behind that, there was a three-way leading to the left, the right and straight ahead. Straight ahead, there was a circle-shaped pool, not immediately surrounded by fields of grass. Even further beyond was what appeared to be the general entrance to the main building. To the left and right of the field that contained the pool and the fields of grass, but only beyond the paths to the left and right, the building was extended. In this way, on this part of the terrain, the building shaped a very large, very broad, upside-down U, with the pool splat in the center. All of the buildings were colored brilliantly white, with bluish gray roofs. Around the entrance were very large windows and the rest of the school also had a lot of them, though not as large ones. The church was visible in the distance, even behind the U that was the buildings in front.

Although I was intimidated by the size of the terrain and the look of richness that was all about it and it made me doubt whether it might be better to wait for Haninozuka-san to exit school, I decided that I didn't want to wait any longer. I began to walk forward, passing the giant gates and walking the long walk even before the intersection. I started to run. I crossed the intersection looking neither right nor left and ran around the pool. Nobody was to be seen outside the buildings of the school. It made me fear that this school was very strict and I might not be allowed to even enter. Still, I opened the door without doubting a second time and walked inside.

I found myself in the middle of a long corridor that spread out both to my left and right quite far. The walls were colored in soft green and pink colors. Directly in front of me were broad stairs that had a 180 degree turn about halfway. I set a few steps further inside, and then looked around disoriented. Where could I find Haninozuka Mitsukuni? I looked around to see if there was any clue as to where I should go; a map of the school maybe, or a list of students, or both. There was nothing.

I heard high-pitched laughing to my left. When I looked up, I saw three girls approaching me from the distance. They were dressed in silly looking, yellow dresses with large bustles. I began to walk over to them. When they saw me, they grew quieter and I thought I could hear them whisper to each other a bit.

When I got almost close enough to them to start talking, I got uncomfortable. I always tended to get uncomfortable around rich people, because I felt they look down on you.

"Oy," I said.

The girls stopped in front of me and looked at me, urging me to continue.

"Do you know where I could find… Haninozuka Mitsukuni?"

"Hunny-kun?" one of the girls asked.

"I think so..." I nodded, doubtful.

"You have the best chance of finding him in the Third Music Room at this time of day," the same girl said. She was the girl in the middle.

"Ano," the left girl said. "Could I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," I said nervously.

"Why are you looking for him?"

I thought for a second. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her that I wanted him to train me in judo and karate, but I didn't want to be so rude as to tell her it was none of her business either. "I… I need his help with something," I said, stumbling over my words a little bit.

"Ah…" she said and the girls looked at each other a bit.

"Where is this Third Music Room?"

"Ah – the quickest way would be to go up the stairs over there, then turn left, at the end turn left, going along with the corridor, and then it'll be to your right almost at the end of that hall."

"Up, left, at the end left again, then at my right. Thanks," I said and quickly turned around to rush up the stairs. I think I heard one of the girls yell something at me, but I couldn't make out what it was and didn't feel like going back to ask. They made me feel uncomfortable.

Upstairs, I turned left and started walking. To my right, I could see outside through the many windows. There, I saw the round pool again, with the gate way beyond that. To my left, I could also sometimes see through a window. There, there was a large field that was much larger than the field surrounded by the U-shaped building with the pool, that held many more fields of grass and, beyond that, the church. The large clock showed that it was exactly three o'clock in the afternoon.

At the end of this hallway, I turned left, which indeed was the only way to go here, though there was a corridor coming from the hallway a bit before that also, which went to the right and was the left leg of the U.

Though I hadn't even really stopped panting from running earlier, I started running again when I saw that there was nobody in this corridor. I kept my eyes focused on the signs above the doors in the wall to my right. After going a bit further, there it was, sure enough: the Third Music Room.

I threw the doors open and stormed inside, forgetting even to stop running. What I saw was a large room that didn't really look much like it was a music room at all, except that there was a large, black piano wing in the corner. There was nobody in there.

I put a few more steps to get myself to stand still after running. I heard the doors fall shut behind me. Panting, I put my hands on my knees and waited there, with my back to the doors, to catch my breath. Then, I heard many voices approaching and, seconds later, the door opening. I spun around quickly, just in time to see two guys entering the room. One of them was a tall blonde one with blue eyes and the other was one with black hair and glasses. Three other guys came behind them. One of these was a short, girly looking one with brown hair and brown eyes and the others were two redhead twins with cat-like eyes. At the end of the group came a very tall one with black hair, blue eyes and a neutral expression, who carried a short blonde haired one with large brown eyes, who looked a lot like a less blonde version of Momiji but thankfully wore boys' clothes, on his shoulders.

All of them were wearing the same blue and black outfit that had to be the school's uniform. It consisted of a blue buttoned shirt with a white shirt underneath it, black pants and black shoes. They also all wore a black tie over their white and under their blue shirt.

I thought the both guys with the black hair were probably the ones I was looking for, so one of them had to be Haninozuka Mitsukuni.

Just then, the group noticed me and became silent. All eyes were directed at me and I felt myself become self-conscious again.

I saw the tall black haired one with the blue eyes put the boy who looked like Momiji down on the floor. I now saw that he was holding a plush bunny in his hand. The twins stepped away from the girly looking boy. Then, the tall blonde guy bowed down before me and held out his hand for me to shake. I frowned and took a step back. He introduced himself. "Good afternoon! My name is Suou Tamaki. What could I help you with?"

He wasn't Haninozuka-san then. Reluctantly, I shook his hand. "My name is Souma Kyo… and I'm looking for…" It was embarrassing to say it like that when the person I was looking for had to be in this room also. "…Haninozuka Mitsukuni."

All eyes turned towards the small blonde boy who was sitting on the tall guy with the neutral expression's shoulders. Slowly, my eyes followed, only to reach the large brown eyes staring back at me. "Eh?" the boy said. "Boku?"

I was wondering the same thing, myself. Could that boy possibly be the best judoka and karateka? I looked away, the boy's stare making me uncomfortable. When I didn't say anything more, he took a step forward, then another and then he kept walking. He kept staring directly at me when he continued, up to where the boy who introduced himself as Tamaki was standing. Half of him was behind Tamaki, the other half wasn't. He put his hand on Tamaki's waist, apparently to keep him from leaving. I saw Tamaki look down at the blonde little boy for a second and then back up to me. The would-be Haninozuka Mitsukuni still kept looking at me. "Hi, I'm Hani… why were you looking for me?"

I found myself breathing out slightly louder than usual and I felt a lump in my throat and I wasn't sure why. "I think I must have been looking for… someone else. Another Haninozuka Mitsukuni." I still didn't believe this was the boy I was looking for. I visualized this person defeating me in the martial arts and I couldn't help but find the image rather ridiculous.

"Why were you looking for whichever Hani-chan, then?" the boy asked.

I was once again taken aback by the way the boy spoke (and acted in general) and uncomfortably looked around at the other faces watching the conversation. They either didn't seem to realize it at all, or they were just used to it. Tamaki was looking down at the young boy I was talking to; the guy with the glasses was standing in the background near the wall with a notepad he was scribbling in; the guy this Hani was sitting on before was also looking at him with his apparently everlasting neutral look and the twins seemed to be staring me down. The girlish boy was also looking at me, but when I caught him, his eyes widened for a second before he looked away and walked over to a table to sit down there.

I looked back at Haninozuka, who was still waiting for my answer. I didn't really want to tell him with everybody standing around us listening, except maybe the boy at the table. Still, I felt like I should tell him. "I was hoping... that he might train me."

A silence fell and I felt all eyes being directed at me once again. Even the tall black haired guy with the emotionless face, who hadn't let his eyes wander from the boy I was talking to once before, looked at me briefly. Then, the guy with the glasses started enthusiastically writing things in his notepad again, which disturbed me.

"What with?" the boy then asked.

I waited for a second, so I wouldn't stutter once I spoke and then I said, "Martial arts."

"Ah, then you are at the right place." Tamaki spoke out now. I looked at him, kind of glad I didn't have to speak with Haninozuka anymore. "Hunny-senpai is the national champion of judo and karate. Also, Mori-senpai here," he pointed at the tall guy with the black hair, "is the national kendo champion."

I looked at the stern-faced guy he was referring to as Mori-senpai. I had read about him as well. Morinozuka Takashi, national champion of Kendo. It was impressive, but I wasn't too interested in fighting with swords. I wanted to defeat Yuki with my bare hands and with nothing else.

He called Haninozuka 'senpai'. It reminded me that this overly cute blonde little boy was, in fact, older than I was even. I had been thinking of him as just a kid a little, when in fact, he was much older than he looked. He reminded me of Momiji even more, now. His voice even sounded like Momiji's.

"Did you know he used to be the captain of Ouran's karate club?" Tamaki continued. "He used to teach a lot of students martial arts."

"But Tama-chan…" Haninozuka pulled Tamaki's sleeve to get his attention. Then, he turned to me. "Kyo, I'm sorry, but I stopped being the captain of the karate club. You should talk to my brother, Yasuchika. He took over from me. He will teach you."

"No," I said strongly without thinking, "I want you to teach me."

He kept looking up at my face, into my eyes, his mouth a little bit open.

I saw four-eyes once again write something down in his notepad and I got fed up with it now. "Oy!" I yelled out at him. "Stop writing everything I say down in your stupid notebook! It's rude!" He froze for a second. Then, he let his arms fall softly down besides his body and shifted his face so, that the light that shone in from over the bushes outside was brightly reflected in his glasses. I slowly looked away from him again, still a little bit pissed.

"Kyo-kun," Haninozuka said, attracting my attention again. "Will you come with me for a bit… please?" As I nodded slowly, hardly conscious of his question, he turned to Morinozuka-san. "Takashi… will you wait here please?"

"Un," Morinozuka-san nodded with a deep, low voice.

"And… will you hold Bun-bun for me please?"

"Un," Morinozuka-san repeated and took the bunny doll from Haninozuka's outstretched hands.

'Bun-bun'… he really was just like a little kid.

I glared at the guy with the glasses, who was still standing there in the exact same position. On my other side, to my left, the girlish boy was sitting at the table with his books spread out all over it, writing in an exercise book. In front of me, Bun-bun looked very much out of place, the way it was pendent, held at only one paw by the not quite plush-like looking Morinozuka-san.

Haninozuka walked forward, passing Tamaki. With a serious expression, he approached me. "Come," he said and took my hand, pulling me along. Unconsciously, I held my breath as I meekly followed him, noticing how soft and cool his hand felt in these otherwise warm surroundings. His touch was very light and gentle and, in a sense, casual. He led me to the far corner of the Third Music Room and let go of me there. He stood directly across me and looked up into my eyes again.

"Why do you want to train in martial arts?" he asked me.

Something about how he was willing to take the time to talk to me individually and to think about what I had to say so seriously made me feel strange… somehow. Some weird sensation of gratefulness, I suppose it was. He did this for me, even though he had stopped being the captain of the karate club already, for whatever reason.

"There is a person who I need to defeat before the end of this year," I told him. "Some kind of... bet." I thought it probably sounded stupid like this, but I couldn't tell him the total reason why I wanted to beat Yuki. Why I had to beat him.

He nodded slowly and I wasn't too sure what to make of that. After a while, he said, "Why don't you want my brother to teach you? He's very good, you know?"

"He's not the national champion, is he?" I said. Damn, why was I blushing? Was I blushing? I was, wasn't I?

"No," Haninozuka admitted. "He's not." He looked like he was thinking about something. "Well, I don't agree with your reason for wanting to train..." I was waiting for the 'but', I knew it was coming. "...But I guess I can... we could at least try it once."

"Really?"

"But first," he said and wisely held up his index finger. "I have to eat keki!"

"Keki?"

But he was already walking away. In surprise, I watched as he took a piece of cake from seemingly out of nowhere and sat with it at the table, across the girly looking boy that was already sitting there, studying. "Hi, Haru-chan!" he said and 'Haru-chan' looked up and said 'hi' back before going back to his studying. With a broad smile, Haninozuka carefully made some space at the table by moving the books a little, before putting the small plate with the cake on it down and starting to eat it. Morinozuka-san walked over and sat down at the table also, saying "Hai, Bun-bun" and giving the plush bunny back to Haninozuka. Suddenly, I was standing alone again and I already started to feel uncomfortable.

"Do you also want some keki, Kyo-kun?" Tamaki suddenly asked and I looked up, startled to see him suddenly standing next to me.

"Ano... no. That's okay," I said and just saw the guy with the glasses write something down again before I looked away. I thought for a second and went to sit at another table by myself. Tamaki and the twins joined me at the table without asking me if I was okay with that. "Hi," I awkwardly said to the twins.

"Hey," they said in unison. "We are Kaoru and Hikaru, Hitachiin brothers."

"Ah... what's the difference between you two?" I asked. They looked at each other knowingly and I saw Tamaki smile.

"I'm Hikaru," the boy to the right said. "I part my hair from the right; Kaoru parts his from the left."

I looked at them both. It was true that they parted it from different sides. "Ah... but are there no characteral differences between you two?"

"Well," Hikaru said, "We have been told, sometimes, that there are some."

"So, what are they?"

It was the other boy who answered me now. "We'll leave that for you to discover."

Hm, so they didn't really want to tell me, obviously. But, what he said did suggest that they expected me to be back, even though Haninozuka hadn't yet told them that he had accepted my request. I wondered why they thought he would.

"So, Hunny-senpai accepted your request, huh?" Tamaki asked.

"Yes, he did," I said, "But..."

"But..?"

I wasn't sure how to phrase my doubts about Haninozuka. I still had trouble grasping the concept of this childish little boy being the national champion of both judo and karate. What if there was made a mistake somehow? It all felt like I was dreaming and would be disappointed to wake up later and be robbed of the hope that I felt of finally beating Yuki, with the help of this... kid. I nervously looked aside to see him devouring his cake. When I went out to look for the national karate and judo champion, Haninozuka wasn't the kind of person I expected to find. I thought about saying that, but I wasn't too sure if they wouldn't tell him. Also, I felt that if Haninozuka really was that great in the sport, saying this wouldn't be respectful enough towards him. I shrugged.

"Hunny-senpai surprised you, didn't he?" Tamaki said, looking in my eyes for the answer before I replied vocally.

I didn't want to answer a question like that, so I looked down at the table and remained silent. Luckily, he got the hint and stopped looking at me so intently.

"Hiiii! Sorry to have kept you waiting!" Haninozuka suddenly said from right behind me.

"Haninozuka," I gasped, startled.

"You can call me Hunny," he said with a sweet smile.

"Have you already eaten that whole piece of cake?" I asked.

"Three, actually," he said dead serious and big eyed.

I looked over his shoulder behind him to take a look at the table, where he had sat. Piled in a corner were three small plates. Next to it was a larger plate that had a piece of the whole cake still on it. At the table, the feminine looking boy was still sitting. He looked at me, also big eyed.

I wanted to say something back to Haninozuka that would show my disbelief of someone eating that much, that quickly, but he talked first. "I wanted to eat the rest too but I didn't want to keep you waiting."

"Ah..." was all that I could say.

"Kyo-kun?"

"Yes?"

"What could I call you? It's a bit confusing, since your name is like Kyou-chan's – ah, he's Kyou-chan," he pointed at the guy with the glasses, who briefly looked back at me from behind a laptop when I looked at him.

"His name is actually Kyouya," one of the twins told me.

"You... you could call me Souma," I said.

"Ah, Souma-kun!" Hearing him say it, it reminded me of Tohru talking to Yuki. It didn't sound too nice.

I looked at Kyouya again, to see if he was looking at me again, but he wasn't.

"Souma-kun?" Haninozuka tugged at my sleeve to get my attention again. By natural reflex, I pulled my sleeve away from his hand, but I immediately regretted it.

"What?" I asked. I hoped it didn't sound as rude to him as it did to me.

"I'm sorry, but I can't teach you today. I have classes!" he told me.

"Oh," I said, more than a little disappointed.

"Ah – but you can come over tomorrow if you wanna and eat keki with me."

"What about the training?"

"Un! That too."

I wasn't sure whether to appreciate or to get upset with this different way of communication that I was getting from him. More than anything, I was confused. "Okay... that's cool," I told him. I pushed the chair back and got up, suddenly anxious to go. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Are you leaving already?" he asked. It sounded as if he would honestly like it if I stayed longer, but somehow, that only scared me more. He barely knew me. Usually, I was suspicious of people who were so friendly to me, even though they barely knew me.

"Yes," I said and I stepped away from the table. "Thanks for helping me."

"Byebye..." he said softly and I walked away, out of the room, without looking back or saying anything to anyone else.

As I walked back from where I came when I first got here, on my way to outside this way too large school, I thought back at what happened inside that room. I wondered why it felt so much like something that hadn't really happened at all. Most of all, I thought back at Haninozuka. What was with that guy anyway, he was way too cute with his keki and his Bun-bun – how was he any different from Momiji? Then, if they were so much alike, why did I not get totally annoyed with him like I always did with that rabbit? It had to be... because he seemed so much more thoughtful than Momiji. It looked like he was more considerate of other people's feelings. Could it be that?

At home, I avoided everyone but Tohru for the rest of that day. It was only the four of us, so this wasn't too hard. I sat in my room on my bed, by myself when Tohru dropped in to ask about why I had gone to Ouran today.

"I was looking for someone... to give me training."

"Eh? What about Kazuma-san?"

"I'll still go to him for training, too," I told her.

"Ah, I see! Who is it you were looking for in that school?"

I looked away from her. "His name is Haninozuka Mitsukuni. Supposedly, he's very good at karate and judo."

"What is he like?" she asked.

"Well... I'm not sure."

"Ah..." We were both silent for a while. Then she said, softly, "Kyo-kun..."

"Hm?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I forgot – I need to go cook dinner!" She got up and started to leave, but she waited for me to reply first.

"Huh?" I looked back up at her.

"I'm sorry! I'll see you later right?"

"Right..." I said and with that, she left. I frowned, lying back on my bed, enjoying the softness of the pillows and the blankets underneath me. She still confused me sometimes. What did this mean? Could it mean that she was uncomfortable around me after all? Why all of a sudden?

...Of course not. By now, I should know better than to think she would lie to me like that. I sighed, looking at the ugliness of the black and white bracelet around my arm.

By the time dinner had come and gone, I was so tired by the day of school, the visit to Ouran and my own thoughts that I stayed up in my room and did nothing until I went to sleep early.

The next day, as was appointed, I went to Ouran again to see Haninozuka and receive some training. Today was going to be a day focused on martial arts training, since I was also going to see shishou at his dojo this afternoon. Also, since it was Wednesday, I had had a tough day at school, so today was sure to be tiresome.

School had already been tough, but at least all arduous things still to come for today were things that I enjoyed, or at least things that I was doing out of free will. I had surprised myself today by looking forward to going back to Ouran all day. It was hard to tell myself not to be so enthusiastic about it because it would probably only make me feel disappointed afterwards. How good was I supposed to become, anyway? No matter how good my tutor was, there was only so much a person could learn at a time, right? Besides, shishou was already much better than Yuki would ever be, so it was doubtful that Haninozuka was even going to be much of a help to me at all. Even so, I was glad that school was over, so I could go to Ouran High School again.

I was again impressed by the looks of the terrain the school was on, but this time I just kept walking at the same pace constantly, all the way to the Third Music Room. Also, different from yesterday, today I arrived at the door calmly and even knocked. It was Tamaki's voice answering, telling me to come on in.

"Ah, Souma-kun!" Haninozuka said happily. After that, Tamaki, the twins and the only guy of whom I didn't know the name yet, the one with the girlish face, welcomed me.

I saw Morinozuka give me a stern look, one that was neutral, but of which I wasn't really sure if it was the same look he had been giving me yesterday. I just ignored him, and kept my eyes on Haninozuka.

Haninozuka, who had been sitting at a table more to the left from the entrance than the table he and the girlboy had been sitting at the day before with Morinozuka-san, Takashi and Kyouya, jumped up and walked towards me. "Come, sit with us," he said.

Reluctantly, I followed. Again, my thoughts greatly confused me when I realised that I was disappointed that he didn't take my hand to pull me to the table, like he had done yesterday when he wanted me to follow him. I sat at the table with them, at the head of the table. I sat at the side where Haninozuka and Morinozuka-san were also sitting, far away from Kyouya, who I didn't think I liked very much. He looked so unfriendly and cold all the time, a bit perhaps like Yuki was to me most often, but very different at the same time.

"Souma-kun, we've waited for you to eat the keki's!" Haninozuka said and took two large identical pies from out of nowhere again, handing them to Morinozuka-san, who started cutting them into pieces with a knife and handing everyone, me included, a piece, served on small plates that were also given to him by Haninozuka.

I didn't really like to eat cake all that much, but for today, I wasn't too much against eating a piece. I took the silver, overly decorated fork from Morinozuka-san with the plate and started eating. It was a very nice whipped cream cake with a strawberry on top of each piece that Morinozuka-san had cut.

After I ate the piece of cake, I felt that unpleasant feeling again that I always got when I ate something overly sweet like this. A feeling like I can't do anything without feeling very bad in my stomach while doing it. Amazingly, Haninozuka ate three more pieces after his first and didn't even take much longer than I did with my one piece.

The girlish boy joined us and soon, I found myself talking with him as the rest had their own conversations and Haninozuka ate some more of the pies. He introduced himself as Fujioka Haruhi. Then he asked, "Who is it you want to beat so badly that you want Hunny-senpai to train you?"

"How do you know?" I asked in return.

"Gomen... I've heard you talk yesterday," he said.

He talked in a very honest way, so I had no reason to doubt his words. Even so, I was careful with trusting him just yet.

"It's my neffue," I said.

"Your neffue... huh? Hmm..."

"What about it?"

"Well, I was just thinking that there was so many family rivalry around lately. Only the twins don't seem to be having that problem, I think."

"With me and Yuki, it goes ages back," I told him. I suppose I was being more precise than he could imagine.

"Souma-kun!" Haninozuka said to me then. "Are you ready?"

I nodded at him and got up. Haninozuka walked over to Morinozuka-san's side of the table.

"Takashi... I'm going with Souma-kun to the karate room, okay?"

"Un, have fun," Morinozuka-san told him.

Haninozuka happily led me, by himself, to the karate room. Seemingly nothing was left of his initial doubt about teaching me. I wouldn't say he was ambiguous or something, but rather that he had just put his negative thoughts aside and started to focus on the positive sides of him teaching me, whichever they might be for him.

"Will your brother be there as well?" I asked.

"No," Haninozuka said. "Chika-chan doesn't teach right now."

The karate room was a large empty hall in many green colors. The floor consisted of large square-shaped tiles. Against one of the walls the material that was used in lessons lay, recently used but still nicely sorted: rubber mats, rubber gloves, additional karate outfits, those small square mats that you hold in your hand for another to hit, and much much more.

"I'll teach you both judo and karate," Haninozuka beamed. "That's how I do it. That way, you won't get bored as soon."

"Oh," I said, "I won't get bored, believe me."

"Ah really? Well, we'll see." Upon saying that, he took off his uniform, revealing a white, easy outfit with a black belt underneath. He walked off and dragged a rubber mat, that seemed way too large for him, away and put it before me, standing on the other side himself. He looked up at me. "Do you know any judo already, Souma-kun?"

"Well… not really, I think…"

"Try to throw me down here on this mat," he told me and took a step forward to stand on it. He seemed to be enjoying this so far, as enthusiastic as he sounded.

Again uncomfortable, I walked forwards without pause. I felt that he was probably going to avoid being thrown down and throw me instead as a way of showing how to counterattack an attacker. However, when I took him by his wrist with my right hand and pulled him towards me, using the speed of the move while I turned around to throw him over my shoulder by sliding my left arm under his armpit, safely onto the mat, he didn't resist in the least. Startled and just a little bit worried, I let go before he even landed and caught myself looking for his expression to see if he was showing any form of hurt that he might try to hide, but there was nothing. Instead, he simply continued the movement to roll over backwards, ending straight up on his knees and standing up again right away.

"That was good!" he said sincerely. "That was a judo throw, did you know that?"

"No," I said, now averting my eyes, but kind of proud that he, the national champion, complimented me. "It just felt like it would be."

"That was Ippon Seoinage," he told me. "A technique that is pretty new and wasn't recognized before 1982."

"I don't even remember how I did that," I said.

"That's okay," he said and smiled sweetly. "The first thing you need to learn is how to properly fall to avoid damage anyway. Ukemi. You'll be much stronger if you are able to do that well."

That was something shishou had been teaching me about, but I had never truly felt like I mastered it. Even so, I had requested to him that we moved on to more aggressive ways of fighting and he had accepted. He had told me that it was important, but I had been too impatient back then to learn all that before moving onto something that I could actually beat Yuki with. Shishou had mentioned it a few times later on, but I had told him that by now, experience alone had taught me how to survive damage. He would counter this by saying it was better to avoid damage than merely survive it, but up until now I had never thought about it as a weapon before. Somehow, the way Haninozuka presented it to me now made me think again.

"Okay," I said.

He talked to me a bit, ever smiling, ever enthusiastic and interested in my opinion, about the role of the uke and the shite; about why it was important to know ukemi and about how important paying attention to your opponent was. If one was to succesfully avoid damage by ukemi, he said, one had to know what the opponent was going to do and use that knowledge to their advantage.

"For example," he continued, "Suppose you know what I'm going to do. It is a technique called Sukui Nage. Come here, I'll show you." He stood firmly on the mat again and held out his arms towards me. "Put your hands on my shoulders," he told me.

Without knowing why, the anxiousness returned. Though I was interested and I thought that I liked Haninozuka training me, there was a very unpleasant feeling in my stomach the whole time. I never had that problem when training with shishou. It made sense, of course, since I knew shishou since I was a little boy and he was like a father to me, while I barely knew this person at all and was still receiving training from him. Besides, the fact that this boy, who otherwise seemed so cute and innocent, was the national champion in both judo and karate made me unsure of how to act around him.

I stood opposing him, slowly stretched out my arms and then put my hands on his shoulders. At this point, my throat and lips were becoming dry and my hands were getting sweaty, though it really wasn't all that warm in here.

"Now," he said, "this position makes it easy for me to use Sukui Nage. Are you ready?"

I nodded.

"If I get your arms away from here…" He moved his own arms upwards in-between mine and then to the side so my arms were swiped away. "…And then grab you like this…"

He ducked quickly, with my arms hovering above him, surprising me, and put his arms, at face height for him, around my waist, placing his left foot next to me and pressing his side against me. My mouth dropped open a little and I felt myself holding my breath and noticing the warm softness of his touch.

He talked up to me, holding me still like that. "Then I can throw you backwards over my hip like this, landing you on your back. If you use the energy from this fall to keep moving and roll backwards, over your head, you will barely get hurt. Hold on!"

Just as I was starting to quiver slightly in his arms, he tightened his grip. I gasped slightly as he pulled my body against his hip and then lifted me, apparently without effort at all. My feet swung up into the air and weightlessly, I felt myself, soaring for about half a second. Then, there was the characteristic POOF as I felt my body change – become smaller and hairy all over - within another half second. I fell at a speed that seemed to be decreased, out of my own clothes, and landed on the floor on four orange paws, shaking beneath me. About a second later, my clothes fell on top of me and covered all but my head. In the same second, I realised that I was in a large empty room, with nowhere to run to or to hide - except maybe underneath my clothes – with a Haninozuka that was full or surprise, looking around to see where I went before even noticing my clothes on the floor… as a cat.