Tea & Coffee

Visitor 2 – Iced Tea

AN: I uh, the reason why it says coffee princess for the first chapter is because that was the title, then I thought of another one, then I forgot to change, and then I'm probably not going to change it because I'm so lazy/ got better things to do.

Anyway, I'd just like to make it clear she's only got a history with Ryoma. No one else.

This is a quick chapter, kind of. I'm not very used to writing this customer. It might not make much sense :/. I don't know. Just, please reveiw and tell me what you think! Please? ... Cheer me up? I've just finished writing this at half three in the morning.


"Hello there! Could I speak to the owner, pleasee?"

The maid looked at him oddly. "If you're sure you want to speak to her, then its fine." She turned quickly to move to a door with warned that it was staff only. The door swung easily with a gentle push and the maid quickly walked inside.

It was hardly a quiet afternoon. Ochibi had suggested this place (saying that a friend of his owns the place, and he just had to check it out because obchibi didn't have many friends apart from the regulars) and of course, it was really close to the street tennis courts. Some random practice wouldn't harm anyone at all. He would have dragged Oishi along with him but the guy had other things to do apparently, which was kind of fishy…

And plus, something was bothering him.

Kikumaru chewed his bottom lip. Nothing bothered him too badly, but – but it was something he didn't want to talk about. It was private. Something he only told Oishi, but although he was keen to hear him out, he really didn't give him any peace.

He didn't notice that the owner was already stood in front of him, looking a little annoyed, bored, and pissed.

"Yo, what was it you wanted me to talk to you about?"

"Oha! Are you a friend of ochibi's, nya?"

She then frowned in confusion, not really sure what to say. She wasn't too good at dealing with the bubbly and overfriendly types. "Uh, who are you talking about?"

"Oh, oh! Sorry, I might not have been too clear! It's em, Ryoma-chan!"

"Ryoma-chan –"It took approximately two seconds for it to sink in. "Ryo-chii! Yes! I know him! Short, green hair, adorable little face, is a tennis fanatic and the bloody Prince of Tennis –"

"Yeah, him!" Kikumaru's face lit up, and from his expression, Hanato thought he was going to start jumping up and down on the spot and start buzzing around the cafe. "Ochibi's great, isn't he? He suggested me to come here, said he knew the owner! You see, you see, you see! I'm his team-mate from the regulars, Kikumaru Eiji! But you can call me Eiji! What's your name?"

Hanato felt a little overwhelmed. She raised her eyebrow and chewed on her bottom lip. She grabbed the bottle of iced coffee hidden under the counter and sipped it, almost drowning half the bottle. She just, didn't know why, but she behaved like a nervous wreck when faced with any sort of strange characteristics in a person. That's why most of the time she tried her best to avoid them. Hanato may think that though, but in actual fact, by doing that, she attracted more people with strange personalities.

Kikumaru picked up on the fact that Hanato was behaving rather strangely, being an effective reader of body language. "What's wrong? Did I do anything wrong?" He stared at her with the biggest puppy eyes ever seen, and Hanato flinched.

"Em, I'm sorry, I have a bit of a disorder when it comes to people with over the top personalities. I'm uh, Haibara Hanato. Hanato will be fine. Uh, nice to meet you, uh, Eiji-kun."

"Man! Don't be so formal, Hanato-chan! Loosen up! I'm no bad guy! You've got to be good, and strong, and –"

It seems Hanato had pulled herself back together again.

"Hay, Eiji, if you have nothing good to say to me, then you shouldn't have called me over. I'm a busy person."

"Why can't we have a little chat, Hanato-chan? Please? I'm a customer, after all –"

Hanato frowned. It was one of those 'if you haven't got something interesting, don't bother' frowns. Kikumaru knew this, and suddenly remembered what Ryoma said along with it.

My friend likes life stories and dilemmas, and she's pretty good at solving them.

Why, he gave him plenty of grief when he said 'she' and that was that. Ochibi hated girls. Hated them. He hated how they made that much of a fuss about him, especially his growing nation wide fan base. He'd always call them names when he was particularly upset, because he usually was calm and composed, and arrogant, snotty and a total brat too. But he was cute.

"Hanato-chan! I'll tell you about something that's been bothering me. Is that okay then? You'll talk to me? I'll be really lonely if you don't."

He could tell by her expression that she was interested. "Why can't another worker talk to you?"

"Well," he said in reluctance, not really wanting to point out the obvious, "They're all busy, nya!"

"Well, so am I! I've got tons of paperwork to do, not to mention homework!" She growled at him as if to prove her point, but he really didn't understand what she was getting to. "But before I go, I shall listen to your story."

"Hfmt!" Kikumaru laughed. So she really loved stories that much then eh? She looked about the same age about he was anyway, which was kind of weird. A junior high cafe owner?

"Hanato-chaaan!"

Hanato recognised that tone of voice.

"What is it?"

"I tell you about my story, and you tell me how you got to be a cafe owner, okay?"

She shrugged. She didn't mind sharing a story for a story. If you want to be treated fairly, treat others with the same fairness.

"That's fine. Do you want a drink with that?"

"Hahaa! Sure, why not? Can I have…. An Iced Tea please!"

"Okay." She walked into the kitchen and demanded an iced tea. Wow. If only he could do that one day. One day.

She came back out with a halfway there smile. Her actions and words were very different to what he was seeing before. Ah well, she probably saw that he was just your average bubbly, awesome at doubles, great at acrobatics guy.

If only.


Well, it started like this.

I came from a big family. I mean, really, really big. Some of my siblings were older than me for a good couple of years, and I was the youngest. Through my childhood, I had to share everything. I didn't mind usually, sharing was nice, and fun, until someone comes and keeps it for themselves, which happens quite a lot, believe it or not.

I picked up a tabby one night after tennis practice. The cute little thing was wet from the stupid rain, and it looked so weak and tired. So I picked it up and took it home with me. Gave it a nice bath. Went out to buy food for it. Combed and softened out its silky fur but it didn't last long and turned messy again. I was stuck with a name until it scratched an old doll from the junk box that Sarumi was supposed to take out to the charity store, and my baby cousin came over, so she took it out of the box and left it on the floor… you know the rest right? Said so before. I called the cute little thing Dollie because of it. Cute name, isn't it?

I knew when my brothers and sisters came back they would be so jealous and try to take Dollie away from me. So I was getting prepared, and then they came home, showing absolutely no interest! I was really happy then, having something of my own. Heck, I don't even have a whole room to myself!

But then, months later, grandma visited. Days later we got a phone call saying she was in hospital.

The ones who could rushed over to see her, and heard from the doctor that she collapsed because she made contact with a cat, or was in a place where it had a cat. She has really over the top reactions with cats, he said, something like that. My grandma's pretty old, so something as little as that could put her life in danger.

Em. I think my family already knew it was me but they kept saying that she could just have been unlucky while she was outside. But I knew it was me. Grandma hardly ever went out knowing that she showed bad reactions to cats.

I should have known – I should have known – I feel so bad. She's still in hospital now, and I know it's all my fault!


Kikumaru covered his eyes, probably crying. He sniffled, trying to regain as much manly pride as possible.

Hanato was handed a glass of Iced Tea, poured near to the top with four ice-cubes floating.

"Eiji-kun," He looked up at the sound of his name. She picked up a cube of sugar and popped it into the iced tea. She swirled it with a clean spoon, but of course, the sugar cube would not melt. Instead, she prompted on crushing the cubes with the spoon instead, and in the end, the bits of sugar were crushed fine enough to eventually dissolve.

"Here," She passed him the drink. "Don't worry, it's on the house. Just remember, your family's right. There's no proof that it was you, expect percentages. You know numbers, I know numbers. They're just numbers. Not proof. Don't feel so bad; your grandma might be waking up sooner than you think!"

She could not help but grin when Kikumaru grinned so dramatically. "I'll remember that! Thank you for the drink!"

"You're welcome." She simply turned, and walked back into the restricted area. For a moment, he was curious of what it looked like inside.