Hello again, everyone! It's the second chapter of My Studded Prince! Will Kouji fess up to his feelings or make up some lie and get out of it? This chapter is going to be in Kouji's POV, but I will warn you the POV will switch between several character often. This is going to be many chapters long, so don't even think we have just begun! Mwahahahaha!!

And to clarify the whole albino thing, I have an unhealthy obsession with characters with white hair. Therfore she has white hair. Don't judge me! It's my world here, I can do whatever I want. And thanks for the reviews, I got my friend to look this over before I published it. PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME IF YOU LIKE IT, SO I'LL KNOW IF I SHOULD MAKE MORE CHAPTERS! I'm not going to write about something people don't like.

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Kouji's POV

I stood before my older twin, feeling as though there was a heavy spotlight upon me. I tried to clear my throat to aleviate the lump that was forming there, but it made very little difference. My mind was racing, trying to find the right words to say, the right things to do, so that if this didn't turn out the way I wished it to, Kouichi wouldn't think of me any differently for harboring these feelings. How long have I had these feelings for him? I started to feel this way around him last year, our 1st year in high school, before he even met Yuuki, probably around the time of our class backpacking trip...

"It's boiling hot out here!" Takuya groaned as he collapsed in a heap, his backpack rolling off of his shoulders and falling to the ground with a loud thump. I couldn't blame him; it wasn't even noon and it already felt as though we were being baked alive.

"And it's only the second day," I gasped as I fell to the ground in the same manner as Takuya, strands of my black hair stuck to my forehead in light perspiration. My throat felt dry, and my leg muscles ached. I excercised daily, but going up hill for hours at a time would knock the wind out of anyone. "Imagine what the rest of the week will be like."

"Don't remind me!" Takuya groaned once more has he laid back against his bulging backpack, his left hand groping the side pockets to find his canteen bottle of water. "What kind of inishiation is this?! 12 miles a day, dragging around heavy backpacks and no showers? I don't care if 1st years have to do this trip, it's more like cruel and unusual punishment."

"Amen." I reached up and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. A moment later Kouichi appeared, throwing down his pack beside mine and sitting on top of it, wiping his face with his shirt and huffed.

"How far have we gone?" He asked hoarsely, looking at me with a hopeful glint in his eye.

"Not very far...only about 3 miles since we all left."

"You got to be kidding me!" He laughed dryly, yet the hopeful glint soon faded from his deep, blue eyes. "It seems like we've been walking for hours."

"Just three more days..." I shrugged, attempting to get back to my feet to remove my jacket, but fell back abruptly onto my pack as a wave of dizziness over came me. I groaned softly as I reached up and held my forehead in my hand.

"You ok, Kouji?" Kouichi asked, his voice immediately shifting into a concerned tone and placed a hand upon my shoulder. I looked at him and gave him a weak nod.

"Yea, just got dizzy for a minute..." I replied.

"How much water have you drank since we all left camp this morning?" Takuya asked after taking a large gulp of water from his canteen.

"Not much..."

"That's your problem, you were supposed to have drank half of your canteen by now," Kouichi turned away and fumbled for his own canteen in one of his pack's side pockets.

"I'm fine," I said, not wanting to make a big deal out of all of it, but in moments Kouichi held out his canteen to me and looked at me with a kind smile.

"You'll get dehydrated if you don't drink enough water, Kouji." he said, almost in a gentle tone. I looked at the canteen bottle and then at him, and I couldn't help but smile. It's always like Kouichi to look out for me, but lately when he looked at me or spoke to me like that, I felt butterflies in my stomach, a feeling I never felt before...

"Thanks.." I said softly, taking the canteen from him and twisting the cap and brought it to my lips. A shutter ran down by backside as the water splashed upon my dry throat, aching for several moments then at last quenching my thirst. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until afterwards that I had finished up all the water left in his canteen.

"You must have been thirsty, huh?" Kouichi chuckled as he took it back and placed it back inside it's respective pocket.

"Nice one, Kouji." Takuya teased me.

"I didn't mean to drink all of it, I'm sorry.." I felt guilty, because it was going to be a good while before our group was going to stop again to find more water.

"It's fine, I brought two canteens with me." Kouichi replied with a reasurring nod, holding up his second, filled to the brim canteen bottle. I felt releived and laid back upon my pack, my eyes slowly drawing to a close as I sighed.

"You know," I heard Takuya say as he twisted his cap back on the canteen. "When you share a drink with someone, your technically kissing that person in a secondary sense."

"What??" Kouichi replied in a flustered tone. I opened one eye and flung a rock in Takuya's direction, hitting him in the shoulder.

"You say that, when you've shared your drinks with Izumi many a time." I shot back casually.

"That's different though! And you didn't have to hit me that hard, Geez!"

"How is it different? Last time I checked, she wasn't your girlfriend."

There was a moment of silence before Kouichi snickered. I opened my eyes and saw that Takuya's face had turned a bit red, and reached into his pack and threw a wad of dirty socks at Kouichi's face, who ducked just in time to land on the ground.

"Nice one." I chuckled as I looked at Kouichi.

"I try." He laughed as he reached back and grabbed the projectile and threw it back at Takuya. "We should get going."

"Yea yea yea." Takuya grumbled as he stuffed his socks back into his pack. As we began our hike again, I couldn't help but think about what Takuya said.

Kissing Kouichi, huh? I thought to myself. I wonder what that would really be like...

"I thought spacing out was my thing." I heard Kouichi say, which brought me back into reality. I blinked and shook my head a bit.

"Sorry about that." I apologized. He chuckled lightly and flicked my nose playfully. "What was that for??"

"You're getting off topic, Kouji. Now tell me why you don't like Yuuki, I do have chores I have to do before Mom gets home."

"Oh..." Wonderful. Why couldn't I have just kept my mouth shut and kept my opinion to myself? I knew Kouichi wasn't going to let me get away without saying something, and I doubted I could get away with a lie. I felt the imminent time drawing near. I had to do it now. Now was the moment I had been waiting for for so long. I only wished it could have came sooner..

Drawing in a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a moment before speaking. I only wish if this goes wrong that you still love me as a brother, Kouichi, if nothing else...

"You want to know why I hate Yuuki?" I said, slowly pulling my hands out of my dark grey jacket pockets and looked up at him. I felt a breif moment of hesitation as I parted my lips to speak again, and no words came out. Why can't I say anything?? He thought.

"Yes. And be honest, please." Kouichi replied solemnly, tilting his head to the side slightly with a slight smile. Don't do that! That only makes it so much harder for me, I wanted to whine. If I can't say it...I guess that leaves only one other option.

Before I could even make sense of what I was doing I found my left palm upon the back of Kouichi's bare neck and my lips pressed gently against his own. I was just about as shocked as Kouichi was, but only to the fact that his lips were softer than I had imagined, so warm and inviting. I heard the sound of the celery he held in his hand fall to his feet with a loud "thump", and a small utterance of surprise escaping his lips into mine. My hand trailed down the back of his neck, relishing the feeling of his skin upon my fingertips. But once I realized how tense he was, I reluctantly pulled away and took my hand away, looking at his face. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were almost as red as the tomatoes that sat upon the counter. His expression was a mixture of shock and confusion. I didn't understand why I felt disappointed, for it was the expression I had expected. With a sigh, I stuffed my hands back into my jacket pockets.

"That is why I hate her." I finally spoke, breaking the deafening silence that seemed to loom above our heads. Without waiting for his response, I left him standing at the counter and walked out the door, not wanting to bear to hear what he had to say.