A/N: Finally, after some months…grr...blame the schoolwork, I got pretty loaded... I have already made a draft for this but got no time to type...at least...I got the chance to type this now after those term papers...thanks for the previous reviews...

Disclaimer: I don't own any…just the fic...as always..

Chapter 1: I don't know.

Fuuko Kirisawa wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead as she looked at the calendar posted at her door. Her stare lingered at a teddy bear sticker stuck unto May 11. Her lips stretched to a smile-a genuine one: one of the few smiles she had been able to produce after the last week's news-despite herself.

Ganko, accompanied by Kaoru, came over to her house last week just to make sure she would come to the trip and not disappoint the gang. Kaoru came from the Hanabishi's residence, Ganko from the Sakoshita's. She had been staying there for a couple of weeks.

"There," Ganko had said as she stuck the bear, "To remind you that we'll be waiting."

Kaoru at least had been sensitive enough to say something to her behind Ganko's back. "Neechan, I'm sure whatever the matter bothers you, you can face it. We're gonna help you."

"Arigatou, Kaoru-chan."

Fuuko turned her attention to her cluttered room. Her drawers were either fully or half opened. Sweaters and jeans were on the floor and on the bed. Crumpled papers were half-heartedly swept to a corner of the room. Heaps and heaps of junk foods occupied the study table and the chairs. So how would she pack her things?

She felt for her Fuujin and kept that way, not moving, not even breathing, not being aware that she had already triggered curiosity among members of her gang.

Another bead of sweat escaped her from the back of her neck down to her spine, wetting her already sweat-soaked shirt. She unzipped her black bag pack and lazily slumped to the floor.

'Alas, I could be living a peaceful life after that UBS tournament...why do we have to go back.."

…

"Do you think she'll come?"

"Ah," Recca scratched his nape, toppling his usual cap for that matter. "That, I usually don't get about her. Once you think she's predictable, next thing you know she's outta there-"

"Saying that she's crazy would be a greater help," Kondo piped in. "WAAHH!"

Ganko held Kondo's neck and tried to shake him. "Say that again to my neechan and I'll take the life out of you!"

"Good thing you've said that Ganko. I wanna beat that thing and shred it to pieces," Kaoru said, a-matter-of-factly, in a very serious tone.

"Shuddup, you're just a kid-"Kondo chirped, oblivious to the beating he was getting from Ganko. Kaoru raised his Kougan-Anki. "Let me have that Kaoru-chan, I'll tear him to pieces myself!" Ganko declared.

"AAHHH!"

The older guys shook their heads and muttered "kids" under their breaths.

"It's a pity though, she can't come," Yanagi said in her sweet voice. "It is really weird, though. Why in the world she does not want to be in a trip, and we even thought she'd be happy about it."

"Hai, Hime, Fuuko got a stomach for adventures."

"Fuuko won't come if she has a reason not to. We just have to accept that," Kagero voiced the thought that everybody had but was kept inside. To this, several heads nodded.

Mikagami Tokiya set an icy glare at the van waiting for its passengers. They, Recca and him, had already put their things inside and had waited for the others. Ishijima had come late, obviously not wanting to be the carrier of those bulky bags to the trunk of the van. Tokiya smirked. A while back, Recca told him how queer it was for someone as free as Fuuko to be so stubborn for a 'vacation'. Despite himself, Tokiya admired how the flame caster respected his comrades for what they are and not only because of their powers

A sigh. "If that is the case, then must we go?"

Tokiya's glare immediately transferred to the owner of the voice. "HE" was not a part of the gang. Tokiya knew he met him somewhere, he just couldn't remember. Funny that his memory was clouded. A result of, he once said to himself, hanging around with monkeys.

"Can't we still wait for a moment," Ganko pleaded to the man with her puppy dog eyes. The man smiled at her and nodded. Tokiya noticed the closeness and sweetness of the 'kids' to this man (but Ganko and Kaoru could get along with anyone they liked). He also noticed Hanabishi, Ishijima and Kagero's respect for this guy. Looking at him, he noted nothing extraordinary from the man except for his violet hair and purple eyes, 'not unlike Fuuko's' Tokiya noted. He kept his stance checked and calmly put his hands in his khaki pants' pockets. He felt a vague trace of controlled aura emanating from the man. 'Just in case.'

5 minutes,...eight minutes...ten..15..

"I guess that's it. Well we should not push her to come with us. Let's go," Recca said, a hint of resignation in his voice and everyone took that little hint and they all (may I exclude the 'man' and Mikagami) sighed. Ganko stifled a sob as she ran towards the van. Yanagi Sakoshita ran after the little girl and tried to comfort her.

"How could she break Ganko's heart," Recca uttered, unconsciously in a voice loud enough for someone beside him to hear.

"Niisan, I believe she did not intend to do so," Kaoru said confidently yet his voice was hoping...

Where art though, Mikagami smirked at his own thought. What poetic words for the wind wielder. She could have at least the decency to tell everybody she was not coming at all. But had she not shown her objections already?

"Whatever the matter that bothers Fuuko, it better be a good reason. It must be."

Yeah. Funny. It was though this man has the same brain cells Mikagami has. Why, they thought the same way.

"Don't tell me she's going to spoil OUR date! I made this all possible for her," Ishijima bawled to everybody's headache.

A massive sweat drop, with Kaoru's whisper "Good thing then that neechan did not come at all."

Suddenly a flying suitcase smashed Ishijima's face and he hit the ground with lots of dust clouds. "Yeah. Imagine me with that nose-ringed gorilla," came in the voice and in that instant, the petite figure of Fuuko appeared. Then everybody's face glowed.

"Neechan!" Ganko cried.

"Fuuko!"

"Sorry for keeping you waiting. But I'm here," Fuuko said while embracing Ganko.

"Where have you been?"

Domon suddenly stood up and brushed some dust from his shirt. In a very serious tone: "Then we can have a date that we like to have for a long time now."

"Shuddup you baka or you wanna have a taste of my fuujin?"

"So you have decided to come; that's good."

Tokiya's eyes narrowed at the sentence. Fuuko started at the person's voice. Typically a sentence 'only' Tokiya Mkagami can say. She smiled, but when she turned...

The same built, probably more muscular, same long hair but it was untied and not silver. The facial features were softer.

Fuuko's eyes widened as she saw those familiar orbs and she felt her heart beat faster than it should, the blood already pulsing through a vein in her temple. She swallowed a hard lump inside her throat and in a face and a voice, she prayed nobody would doubt, she greeted the man.

"Ogenki desu ka, Raiha-san."

Raiha...

Raiha...

"Ogenki desu ka, Kirisawa-san."

The gang watched the exchange of greetings indifferently. Tokiya, however, kept his hands in his pockets. 'Just in case.'

-TBC-

A/N again:

I'm not an expert in tofuurai fic...forgive me...and if this chapter is so short wait for the seond...I'm working on it...thanks for the school vacation...I welcome it with open arms...shout-outs, flames, reviews and whatnot just click the review button and off you go…ja.

Edited: 03 december 2010