Unfortunately, tomorrow came too soon and Ryume had to face it whether she wanted to or not. She had her bathing suit on with a green shirt and baggy dark blue pants over them. She carried a bag with her needs in it, along with a small cooler inside. Last night, she decided to make a treat for everybody, for good luck.

Before she left, Kasaigaru was waking up and he smiled at her warmly before she left then went back to sleep. She knew he was probably worried about her, but tried not to worry about it herself. She was at least going to try to get along with Ino.

When she entered the outside pool, she gazed all around her. It was crowded. Not a good sign, she decided. She saw the 'kiddy pool' and in another bigger pool, onto the side (connected to the same pool) was a circle. In the circle, the water spun, so once you entered, you'd be taken in the spiral current. She was going to try that out with TenTen later.

"Hey, Ryume!" She heard a voice behind her and saw TenTen and Hinate coming towards her. She waved to them and pointed to a spot near the shade where they could sit. Then they shook their heads and pointed in a different direction. Ryume looked in the direction they were pointing at and saw Ino and Sakura talking to other girls with a group of boys nearby. Ryume's face fell.

TenTen was next to her and noticed. "Yeah, as expected. They choose a spot near the guys and a whole ton of popular, prissy girls."

"Prissy girls? Oh, god." Ryume said. "Do they know them?"

"Yeah. They met a few days ago and decided to all go to the pool today." TenTen shrugged and the towel draped over her shoulder fell. Ryume caught it before it touched the ground and handed it back to TenTen.

"Looks like I'm going to be busy," Ryume joked. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I promised Kasaigaru and myself that I'd stay away from Ino. So, I'll be over…" She stopped as she looked back at the spot she was planning to sit at. It was taken. She growled softly.

"So then you're sitting with us?" TenTen asked, smiling.

Ryume sighed. "I guess. Great. Just perfect. I can just feel an argument starting up."

They reached the group and put their stuff down. A few looked up at them but most ignored them. Sakura looked up at Ryume, "Oh, Ryume, you came. That's so great!" she said and smiled, introducing Ryume to a few others. They all waved back and called out their names also. Ino came forward and introduced TenTen and Hinate.

"Yeah, these were the girls I was talking about." She said and everybody laughed.

Hinate asked quietly, "You were talking about us?"

"Yeah, but nothing too bad." Ino said without looking at her. Hinate's face went blank.

Ryume went to her and motioned her to sit next to her on a chair. "So are you going to swim, Hinate?"

Hinate put he fingers together and said in her quiet voice. "I'm actually not really in the mood for swimming, I might just put my feet in the water."

"Oh okay," Ryume said. "Well if you get bored let me know. I have a feeling I might be swimming by myself."

"Why are you gonna do that?" A familiar voice called from behind Ryume. She felt the seat move as if someone else had sat on it and looked behind her. She gasped when she met Hikuro's eyes, inches away from her hers. She jumped up, blushing.

"H-Hikuro! Sheesh, don't scare me like that."

Hikuro grinned, "Scaredy cat. You got scared of me surprising you, but you don't get scared when you fight enemies." He put his finger to his head and twirled it. "Kinda weird." He said playfully.

Ryume laughed and threw his towel at his head. He caught it and threw it back at her. "Yeah, yeah. I don't want to hear it, you stubborn kid." Ryume said playfully and smiled.

Hikuro put on a shocked look and put a hand to his chest, acting surprised. "Well look who's talking! You act stubborn too."

Ryume leaned down to his eye level. "Trust me, it's not as much as you!" She grinned and flung the towel on top of his head, covering his face.

"Okay, lovebirds, calm down, geez. We're going in the pool now." Ino said and rolled her eyes.

Ryume glared at her. Lovebirds my ass, you pig. She thought darkly. Facing back to Hikuro she found him leaning back in the chair with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. But the thing that made her blush was that he was topless.

Itazura noticed and smirked. "Hey, Hikuro, you're lovebird is blushing at you." He said.

Hikuro grinned without opening his eyes. "Is she now?" He teased.

"I'm not you're lovebird." Ryume growled and turned away.

"Aren't you going in the water?" He asked.

"Yes. Right now, actually."

"With your clothes on?" Hikuro asked, obviously trying to make her turn red again.

It worked. Ryume turned away again. "Of course not. I'll go change in the bathroom, I need to use it anyway."

"Riiiiight." Hikuro teased again. Beside him, Itazura smirked again and sat down also. Hikuro still had his eyes closed when Ryume came beside him. His eyes flew open as he jumped when he felt her hit him on the side of his head. "What was that for?" He asked.

"Sorry," Ryume added a tone in her voice making a grin come onto her face, "My hang slipped while getting my bag." Then she walked off, leaving a Hikuro smiling behind her, shaking his head.

--

"Hey, Ino, where's that other girl? The brunette." A boy with brown hair asked.

Ino shrugged. "Who knows? She probably just left."

"Why would she leave?" He asked.

"How should I know? She probably doesn't like wearing bathing suits in public." She said making a few girls laugh at her response.

A girl got curious and added on another question, "Aren't you guys friends? You should look for her."

Ino stopped and thought. An evil grin snuck on her face. "Yeah, I'll go look for her." She said and got out of the pool. She found Hikuro talking to Itazura and walked to him. "Hey, Hikuro." He looked up and raised his eyebrow at her, giving her an unwelcome look. "Do you know where Ryume is?"

"Why would you care?" He said.

"Because she'd my friend, duh." She lied.

"Yeah right."

Ino flinched as she heard the group behind her whisper. "What are you talking about? Of course she's my friend. I don't know what gave you the idea that I'm not!" She tried to put on an innocent look as she spoke the words.

"Well why don't you tell her that. Not me." Hikuro smirked. "Go ahead. She's right behind you."

Ino turned around and saw a confused Ryume. She forced on a smile, "Hey, Ryume. We were getting worried about you. Where did you go?"

"Umm, to go change… Why?" Ryume asked strangely. What the heck is going on?

"She says she's your friend." Hikuro said and sat up.

"I am, aren't I? He just doesn't know what he's talking about, is all, right?" Ino said and gave Ryume a look when everyone wasn't looking.

Ryume blinked twice. "Uhh, sure…"

To play safe, Ino added on something so she wouldn't become suspicious. "Besides, that's the reason I invited you!" She said and put on another fake smile.

Ryume saw right through it. But there wasn't anything she could do about it. Who knows, it might be better this way. Just for today, that is. Ryume just nodded and automatically, Ino grabbed her arm and led her back to the pool. Hikuro looked mysteriously at Ryume as she was dragged off. The he glanced over to his teammate. "Maybe we should go too?"

"Sure. Lets watch out for your girlfriend." Itazura joked.

Hikuro put on angry triangular eyes and ignored him. He went in the pool and kept and eye out for Ryume.

--

The day went by smoothly.

But Ryume was getting too suspicious. Ino was being too nice. They haven't had one argument and she was, of course, thankful, but she knew it was wrong. Ino was just trying to grab everyone's attention and become popular. She needed to talk to her.

"Hey, who wants a drink?" Ryume announced and everyone raised his or her hand. She nodded and went to Ino and TenTen. "Wanna help me out with carrying the drinks?" She asked politely.

They nodded and the three walked to get the sodas. When they were waiting for the drinks, Ryume asked as casually as she can, "Hey, Ino, not that I don't mind it, but why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ino said through gritted teeth. She knew what Ryume was doing and she didn't like it.

"Because you're juts trying to get everyone's attention. It's okay, Ino. I just wanted to tell you that I'm uncomfortable with it. You understand, right? Friend?" Ryume added.

Ino glare at her. The tray of drinks came and Ryume went to grab one of them. Before she even touched the tray, she felt icy cold liquid dump on her head and trickle down her back. She gasped as the ice touched her are bare skin. And she was about to turn around when Ino's hand suddenly shot out from the side and slam it on the tray in front of Ryume. The tray fell from the counter, soaking Ryume with soda. TenTen gasped and picked up the cups from off the floor.

"Oh, be careful, Ryume!" Ino said and picked up a cup. She turned to the man behind the counter who was a bit angry. "Sorry, she's a klutz. Can't really trust her with anything.

The soda incident had grabbed attention around them and everyone was staring at the two girls picking up the cups from off the ground while one stood still, soaked with ice cold liquid. Ryume took in a deep breath and excused herself to the bathroom.

Hikuro rose from his chair as he saw the crowd look in one spot. The spot where Ryume and Ino headed. "Oh no." He muttered and pushed himself through the crowd. He saw Ryume heading to the bathroom and saw that she had her arms around herself. His eyes went sorrowful and he waited for her to come out.

Ryume turned the shower on as hot water rinsed herself free of soda and shivered. She was freezing. The sun wasn't helping and neither was the air conditioning in the bathrooms. Why do they have those near showers for crying out loud? She stayed still in the shower as the water rinsed her off.

"Did you see that cute guy outside? I think he's waiting for someone, but did you see his abs?"

Ryume turned off the water and stepped out. She hesitated before going outside. It wasn't until waiting for five minutes in a bathroom stall did she finally decide to go out. Her head was down as she walked out. The sudden rush of hot air from the sun made her shudder. Then, she was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders, the hands of the holder were warm and comforting.

"Ryume! What happened? TenTen said that the soda fell on you." It was Hikuro's voice, she recognized clearly.

She didn't raise her head. Keeping her gaze to the ground she spoke quietly, "Is that what she told you? Or did Ino tell her to say that?"

Hikuro flinched, "What? You mean Ino did this?"

"Of course not! Why would I ever do that to my friend, Ryume!" Ino's voice came from behind Hikuro. Ryume finally looked up, her watery eyes dried as she saw Ino and the group trail behind her. She spoke again, "Hikuro, you really don't like me, do you?" She pretended to pout.

"Oh, shut up you liar! You're getting me angry too, now." Hikuro snapped at her. His arm was Ryume's shoulder.

"It's okay, Hikuro. I'm not angry." Ryume said and wriggled herself out of Hikuro's arm. She tried to smile up at him, but it didn't work. So she turned back to everyone else and bowed. "I apologize, I think I'm going to go sit down for a while." She walked away.

Hikuro looked at Ino with angry eyes while she defended herself, "I guess she's just having a bad day or something. Come on, let's go try out that slide over there!" She announced and everyone followed her to the deep end of the pool.

Hikuro went back to his seat, wanting to talk to Ryume, but didn't find her there. Just Itazura. "Hey, Itazura, where's Ryume?" A shrug. "She said she was going to sit down."

Itazura backfired, "Did she ever say she was going to sit down near us?"

Hikuro sighed and put his hand to his head, "Right, I should've thought of that." He looked around the pool watching out for her. He couldn't find her. Turning back to Itazura, he informed him, "I think I'm going to walk for a bit. I can't find her from here. It's too crowded."

Itazura, who had his eyes closed, gave him a silent thumb up. Hikuro didn't notice and went to search for Ryume.