Chapter 2

"Look, I'm not mad at you guys… I'm already past that. I'm just wondering why you guys didn't tell me sooner."

Kisara was sitting across from Ukita and Freya in her living room. She had answered her door to find them standing there holding hands. She looked at them surprised, she hadn't expected them to come to her. They had come to set things straight after hearing how she had been seen yelling curses about them on her way home the day before.

Ukita had remained silent the whole time. His face was bright red and he looked somewhat ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner. We just weren't sure how you would react so we… we decided to keep it a secret for a while."

"Well, whatever the reason, it's behind us now. Congrats you two, it's about time someone in our group was happy."

Freya glanced over at Ukita then back at Kisara. She suddenly had a sly look on her face. Kisara got the feeling she wasn't going to like what she was going to say next.

"Actually… that's another reason we came to see you. We heard that you might have… done something with uh… someone… last night."

"Someone…? Oh! You mean him! Yeah, I made him come over yesterday after I saw you guys, then I had to boot him off my front step this morning!"

Freya's eyes widened.

"You mean… you and Kenichi? Since when?!"

Kisara looked puzzled. What did she mean by that? Suddenly she realized.

"What? Oh! Fuck! That's not what I meant! He found me spying on you guys at the cafe and I made him come back here with me so I could bitch at him. Then he slept outside my front door when I passed out because he was too dumb to lock the door with my keys and put them back through the slot. God! What, did you guys think we hooked up or something? Ha!"

Despite her casual dismissal of it, the thought of something like that made her turn red.

"Oh… so he just came here so you could bitch at him? And… he was ok with that? I mean… after what happened to him I would figure that's the last thing he would want to deal with."

What was she talking about now? He had seemed fine to her…

"What do you mean? Something happened to him?"

Freya nodded.

"Fuck yeah something happened, you idiot! He finally confessed to Miu yesterday and she shot him down!"

Kisara went cold. No, that couldn't be. She was always so possessive of him, there's no way she would turn him down. Shit! She started shaking her head. God, she had been stupid! He was probably just out clearing his head and then he had to put up with my shit the rest of the day! FUCK! And then that phone call! That was just the icing on the cake... she had meant the thanks, but the misunderstanding it might have caused had made her laugh.

"Look, I wouldn't worry about it. Kenichi's a nice guy, I'm sure he didn't mind."

Kisara shook her head again, but didn't say anything. Freya looked over at Ukita and motioned toward the door.

"Look girl, we're gonna get out of here. Sorry to bust up your day like this."

"Oh! I uh… T-That's fine. Get your asses out of here before I change my mind about you guys."

Kisara faked a smile as they left and she shut the door behind them. She stood leaning against the door for some time before she made up her mind. She had been thoughtless with Kenichi yesterday and she needed to go apologize. At this she headed out for Ryozanpaku.

Finally, she came to stand in front of the gates. She tried to push them open, but was barely able to move it. She put one foot up on the door and pushed it open that way. Inside it was quiet. She didn't see anyone, but from her experience that didn't mean anything. That crazy sword lady, for one, was always hanging about from trees and rafters. As she walked inside she heard Kenichi call out.

"Hey Kisara!"

She stopped as he ran up to her. He didn't look entirely happy.

"What the hell was that phone call this morning? You do realize how that sounded, right? I've been in deep shit around here because they thought… well… they misunderstood."

"Well I meant it as a joke, but I didn't realize… about Miu…"

Kenichi looked at her then his head fell slightly.

"Ah… you've heard… yeah, I had just come from that when I found you."

"Oh god, I'm really sorry I dragged you to my apartment and made you listen to my bitching. That was probably the last thing you wanted to hear about."

He looked up at her again and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Kisara. I left yesterday to get my mind off of it and that's exactly what happened. Also, you didn't drag me anywhere, remember? I followed you. If I hadn't wanted to go I wouldn't have."

Kisara turned slightly red. Shit! Why did he have to be like this? He was way too nice for his own good! She looked around. She could see the masters hiding poorly behind trees and doorways watching them, buncha dorks. She did not see Miu though.

"So where is that hussie? I'd like to go give her a piece of my mind!"

Kenichi lowered his voice.

"Yeah… she's been avoiding me since your call this morning. If you meant for someone to take that the wrong way, it DEFINITELY worked on her. Plus master Sakaki keeps walking up and patting me on the back. Master Kensei even gave me a camera and said 'Bring me the good stuff!'. That lech, I'm tempted to take some pictures of Apachai at the bath and give those to him."

They both laughed.

"So are you sure you're alright?"

"Me? Yeah, I'll be alright. Master Akisame is giving me extra exercises to help 'clear my mind'. Heh, we'll see how that goes, I'm just afraid he's gonna break out one of his weird machines."

Kenichi paused.

"What about you? You gonna be alright?"

"Sure, I'll be fine. They came over today and we talked. It's all cool now. And if it's not? I'll just call you up and we can get drunk again!"

Kenichi laughed.

"Yeah, you do that. Though, to clarify, I didn't get drunk. That was just you."

"You slept outside my door."

"I told you why I did that! I wasn't drunk!"

Kisara laughed this time.

"Whatever, you lightweight. I'll see you around."

She gave him a punch on the arm and started to leave.

"Hey Kisara!"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"I meant what I said. If you need to talk again, call me up any time."

Kisara nodded then hurried out before he could see her turning red.