Story: Letters Of Love

Chapter: B Is For Braid

Authoress: The Akuma's Sakura Violin

Rating: K+

A/N : Thank you to all of those who reviewed, but a special thanks to xXxDreamwindxXx! My first reviewer ever!

This chapter's dedicated to her!

Also! As she was the first reviewer of 'A Is For Apple', she got to pick the 'B' word for this chapter!

So, as any of you who have read the reviews should know, first reviewer of each chapter picks the word for the next chap! If you have an account and are the first reviewer, I'll PM you and ask you for a word, or better yet, if you know you are, just put it in the review! And for the anonymous reviewers! Please check if you are the first reviewer and put the word in your review because sadly, I cannot ask you for it. Boo. And a warning to slackers! (Yes even though I am one) If you take too long to reply me (as in, more than five days), I WILL JUST ASK SOMEONE ELSE! I have a limited writing time, (The holidays and weekends-ish, teachers love lugging on the homework) so please reply me quickly, or just tell me the word!

Anyway, One last thing I would like to say…. YAY! I GOT SIX REVIEWS ON MY FIRST FIC! I know this may seem a measly amount to some but to me it's a lot!

Now I think you've endured my babble long enough, enjoy the story! (I hope you guys find this not OOC, I tried my best to do so, but Misaki's a hard character to write [Generally turns out to spiteful or too mushy, ughh, had to re-write lots of this…]! And it's a few pages longer as well! I work better at crazy hours of the night/morning, it's just waking up later in the day that's a problem .)

Story Note! This is set at the time of the Sports Festival! I just kind of tweaked it a bit, so in case you haven't read that part, in short, Hanazano Sakura has to kiss (on the cheek!) whoever wins the race, so Misaki participates in the race to save her from those 'monsters'.


~B Is For Braid~

"And one, two, three, four…" Misaki continued to stretch. It was the School's Racing Carnival and she couldn't lose. She just couldn't. Or else poor Sakura… NO! She wasn't going to think of it! She was definitely going to win!

Misaki straightened up and surveyed the competition, everyone looked a lot more pumped than usual, but she was sure that she could beat them, she'd been training extra hard.

Just as she was about to continue stretching, she felt something breath on her ear.

She jumped back, whirling around to see a familiar smirk, "Yo Pres,"

Usui.

Misaki's eyes widened a little and her face flushed slightly, but she quickly covered it with a cough.

"Usui," she greeted. "What are you doing here?" She inquired.

"Thought I'd race," he shrugged nonchalantly, a lollipop in his mouth.

'Crap,' Misaki thought, 'I can beat everyone else but this guy… I'm not so sure.'

They were interrupted by the loudspeaker.

"Could all students participating in the final race please line up at the starting line?" The speaker droned monotonously.

"Good luck pres," Usui saluted, before walking over to his spot, still sucking on his lollipop.

"Pshhh, don't need it," she muttered darkly, getting into position.

"On your marks," Her muscles tensed, "Get set," she prepared to spring forward, "Go!"

~B Is For Braid~

She heard the gunshot and she was off! But so was everyone else.

It took her a minute, but she got ahead of the group, feet pounding away at the ground, but she wasn't the only one.

Usui.

She "Tskked" under her breath and began to run faster, she and Usui neck and neck, her trying hard to get ahead, while he just kept that cool, calm, bored face on his face, still sucking on his lollipop.

And so this is the way the match progressed, Misaki trying as hard as she could to get ahead, Usui easily keeping up with her, eventually, they were on to the home-sprint, she could make it! She knew she could! She pumped her lugs as hard as her body would allow, almost half way there!

She glanced beside her to see Usui, with that damn irritating smirk. It oh-so annoyed her, she felt like ...crap!

One of the other runners (who really wanted to win, no matter what) friend, chucked a ball her way, really hard, hitting her leg and making her crash to the ground.

Her arms hit the ground first, as she instinctively curled up and protected her head, then her legs skid along the ground as she was thrown forwards by her own momentum.

Pain shot through her system and she screamed in agony, her eyes closed in pain as she finally stopped skidding across the ground.

Even through the pain induced haze, she angrily thought, 'I am SO going to murder whoever did that!'

The world went quiet as she felt herself being dragged into the darkness...

"Misaki!" Her eyes snapped open at the sound of her name, and stared right into the eyes of the person who called her name.

Usui.

"Misaki! Are you alright?"

Misaki snorted at this and then grunted in pain, "Of course!" she bit out sarcastically, "What do you think?!?!" She glared at him for a little while before taking a deep breath and sighing.

"Here,"

Misaki looked up to see Usui offering his hand to help her up.

Something inside her snapped.

Who was he to think she needed his help! Her! Misaki Ayuzawa of all people!

Anger returned, Misaki glared at the hand, before smacking it away.

"I don't need your help!"

Usui's eye's widened in shock, and he seemed rooted to the ground like a statue.

Grimacing, Misaki slowly got up, wincing at the pain. She was gonna do this, WITHOUT anyone else's help.

"Now excuse me," she muttered, staggering to her full height, "I have a race to win," and with that, used one arm to push him out of her track, and began to run.

Usui was left with his mouth open, the lollipop dropping from his open mouth, as he watched Misaki run.

Every step she took made fire burn up her legs as she ran those last few meters.

'Just a few....more...steps!'

And then she was over, and sound burst up around her as she slid down to her knees, a smile on her face. She'd done, she'd done it all by her self, and she was so proud.

And then, the world went black.

~B Is For Braid~

Misaki's eyes fluttered open as she stared at the ceiling.

'Where am I?' She thought drowsily. Then it all started coming back to her.

'The race! And I won! But then... I can't remember anything past... did I black out?'

She blinked a few times before taking in her surroundings.

'I'm at the nurse's office! Well... I guess that makes sense...'

Misaki returned to staring at the ceiling, before looking out the window.

The sun was pouring in, it seemed to be around the afternoon, if going by the sun said anything.

'It's around fourth period now I guess...'

The door opened, and a figure walked in, softly closing the door behind them, before softly walking up to the bed Misaki was currently occupying. She was so entranced in looking out the window, she didn't notice the other person before she felt someone's breath tickle her ear.

"Yo...pres,"

Misaki jumped and looked towards where the sound had come from.

Usui.

"You!," she gasped, before hissing in pain, she'd put wait on her arm, which was bandaged and at the moment, painfully throbbing.

Usui chuckled, straightening up. "Yes, me," He couldn't help tease, but the humor in his voice didn't reach his eyes. His eyes showed... concern?

Misaki chucked him a glare before slowly sitting up and leaning slightly against the wall behind her, taking the pressure off her arms.

Once in position, she turned her head towards him.

"Why are you here?" she growled.

"Aww, how mean of Ayuzawa, and after I took all the trouble of coming here during my spare!"

Misaki's eyes widened slightly, so she had been out all morning!

She coughed slightly into her hand, before looking up and looking back accusingly at him.

"You still haven't answered my question,"

"Oh?" He tapped a finger to his chin in a mockery of being in thought.

Misaki just glared at him.

He turned to her with a smirk.

"But I thought that was obvious, Misa-Chan,"

Misaki's hand clenched into a fist, but she unclenched it in a hurry since it made her arm hurt.

"And that is...?" she prompted.

Usui chuckled slightly before gently sitting down on the side of the bed.

"To see you of course,"

Misaki blinked in surprise, "Huh?" She said intelligently.

Usui sighed before leaning towards her ear and whispering, "I wanted to make sure you were all right,"

Misaki just stared at him, her face portraying her complete shock at his words.

"But... why?," She whispered, not really realizing she was doing so.

At this, Usui paused, before putting a hand around her back, moving her forward slightly before propping up her pillows and gently leaning her back against them.

"Because I just do," He finally replied.

"What kind of an answer is that?," She asked somewhat incredulously, yet she spoke softly, surprised at his actions.

"An answer," He replied simply.

"I guess so..." She then turned away from him to look out the window that was next to her.

She didn't feel like talking, although the pain had subsided considerably, it was still there somewhat, and she felt quite sleepy still, from just waking up. She hadn't been getting enough sleep recently due to a test coming up as well as the Carnival, leading her to train and study late into the night.

A few moments later, she felt her hair band coming out and her hair falling onto her shoulders.

"Huh? What are you doing?" Misaki tried to look back at Usui but he gently held her face where it was.

"I'm not doing anything, just... try and get some rest..."

A small part of her brain was screaming at her not to listen to him, reminding her how he was a 'Perverted Outer Space Alien' and shouldn't trust him, but at that moment, to her worn-out mind, sleep sounded like a great idea.

"Mmhmm..." she murmured, sinking into the bed, holding onto her pillows as she found her self lying flat on the bed, her head snuggled into the pillows.

She heard Usui chuckle slightly, before continuing to do whatever it was he was doing to her hair.

Misaki felt like demanding what he was doing, but she was just too tired, and she couldn't be bothered asking, in any case, whatever it was felt really nice.

It felt like he was softly massaging her head, stroking her hair as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

"Good night...Misaki,"

That was the last thing she heard before losing herself to the black waters of sleep.

~ B Is For Braid~

"Ayuzawa, Ayuzawa! Time to wake up!"

Misaki felt herself being gently shaken awake.

"Hmm?" She replied groggily, "What time is it?"

"It's about fifteen minutes to the bell, school's almost over."

Misaki's eyes shot open.

"Already?!?!" She asked the School nurse, looking at her incredulously.

The Nurse chuckled slightly at her antics, before nodding slightly at the girl.

"Your things are here, Hanazano Sakura dropped them off here during recess, since you fainted at the field, she was very worried about you."

Misaki smiled softly, "Sakura-chan..." She was grateful she had such great friends.

"Eh, what's this?" Nurse-San peered curiously at Misaki, "I'm pretty sure your hair was in a ponytail when I left you before..."

"Eh?" Misaki reached her hand around to touch her hair.

It was braided.

'When did that happen?' She thought to herself.

"Ahh, but maybe it was braided before... I can't really remember..."

"Ahh.. yeah,"

Misaki got out of the bed and got her things, thanking the nurse for her care.

"Oh it was no problem Ayuzawa! I just had to bandage you up, that was all!,"

"Bring!!!!!!!!!!!!" The bell for the end of school rang.

"Ah! There's the bell, I'll see you some other time then, Ayuzawa,"

Misaki nodded and smiled at the nurse, "Until then! Arigatou Gonzaimasu!" She waved good bye to the nurse and began to walk towards the back gate, it was the closest one to the nearby train station.

'But I'm SURE I put my hair in a ponytail this morning... when did my hair get braided?'

"Yo!" Misaki looked up, the answer was staring at her, right in the face.

Usui.

Of course.


THE END!!!!! Of this one-shot at least!, I am really, really, really, really, really, REALLY sorry about the late update, see the thing is, I kinda got side-tracked by a little thing called life. Gomen a sai! .

Anyway, how did you like it? Was the length all right? I need feed-back here people!

And I'm really looking forward to the next dedicated chapter, and to what 'C' name my first reviewer for this one-shot thinks up! I'll be waiting! And even if you're NOT my first reviewer, please hit that green button, I want to hear your thoughts! Flames are A-OK too! (Never been flamed...)

Anyway, until next chapter, Ja` Ne!

~The Akuma's Sakura Violin~