Chapter 2: From a Womanizer to a Gentleman

AKATSUKI'S POV

"C'mon Ruka, let's go out." I tried to look as cool and sexy as possible as I looked at my childhood friend, Ruka Souen, with an awkward smile on my face.

"No way, you womanizer. Go find some other girl to annoy." Ruka always looked so annoyed by my presence.

I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. I don't even know why she called me a womanizer. She's the only girl I ever tried to flirt with. When did I go wrong? Oh yeah, when I made that stupid bet.

My intentions were never for her to find out about that bet. The only real reason why I made the bet in the first place was because I wanted an excuse to show Ruka how I really felt about her. I didn't even tell this to the other guys.

My rejection count was now at 17 (all the rejections were by Ruka). As the rejection count rose, I started to sound and look more and more desperate. I have to say, I was getting so desperate that I went to my cousin, Hanabusa Aidou, and the other guys, Takuma Ichijou and Senri Shiki, for help.

Hanabusa started with, "You act too fast and womanizer-like. She probably thinks you just wanna get in her pants."

Takuma smiled and said, "I think you're going somewhere with this, Hanabusa-chan."

"The key… The key is to be submissive, almost like a masochist, to Ruka." I knew asking Hanabusa would be a bad idea…

"That's complete bullshit." I heard Hanabusa crying in the background with Takuma comforting him.

I moved on to the next guy, "Senri, how'd you get Rima?"

"Well, I never made a stupid bet that would anger her." Seriously, these guys were just giving me crap as answers.

My last hope… "Takuma?"

"You have to be a gentleman. Take it slow. Start by fixing your broken friendship and then move forward to something more," Takuma said with a smile.

"Sounds like something from a shojo manga… Don't tell me you've been reading Ruka's manga again…" I joked. Senri laughed with me. Hanabusa was still sulking in the corner, but I heard a snicker from him…

"No! Why would I read Ruka's manga if I have my OWN shojo manga?" Takuma was quite defensive.

"S-sorry…" I held my hands in the air.

As corny as Takuma's advice was, I decided to take it… I was going to be a gentleman and just take it slow with Ruka.

RUKA'S POV

So one day during school, the weirdest thing happened. Akatsuki saw me, said hey, but didn't try to flirt at all (not that I was anticipating it or anything!). I guess he finally gave up after 17 rejections from me (not that I kept count or anything!).

In math class that day, we changed seats and guess who sat right next to me. Yeah, it was Akatsuki. I thought this kind of thing only happened in shojo manga!

Math was never a subject I excelled in and the teacher taught way too fast for me to comprehend everything. He gave us an assignment and put us to work. I was able to finish the first few problems but then I came across one that I didn't understand at all.

I wasn't the type of person that asked the teacher questions, so I was pretty much screwed. For a brief second, I thought about asking Akatsuki since he was a freakin' genius, but then I decided it was better to just suffer through the math alone. I even felt like he was watching me struggle through the math because he had nothing better to do.

Just then, Akatsuki raised his hand. The teacher said, "Yes, Kain?"

"How do you do problem number five?" That was the number I was stuck on.

"That's very unusual for you to have a question, but I guess I'll work it out on the board for everyone." The teacher was confused and so was I. It was like Akatsuki had asked that question for me…

The bell rang, and everyone was packing up, getting ready to leave.

"Hey, Akatsuki," I called.

Akatsuki turned around and jokingly said "Oh hey, Ruka. I didn't even realize we were sitting next to each other."

"Shut up," I said in a not mad way.

"So… What was up with you asking that question in class today…?" I asked trying not to sound too interested.

"Isn't it obvious that I just didn't understand something? That's kinda why people ask questions. Duh, Ruka…" He stuck his tongue out at me.

"If you need help with something, Ruka, just ask me next time." He looked at me, not with the eyes of a womanizer, but with the eyes of a gentleman...

"So he did ask because he knew I was needed help…" I thought.

"Thanks, Akatsuki…" I made sure I said it quiet enough so that he couldn't hear.