Take Two: In and Out

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It's the second year of university, Domyouji is in New York, the rest of F4 and Makino are in Eitoku University, still working part-time at the shop with Yuuki who is attending K University.

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'YUUUUUUU-KIIIIII-CHAAAAAAN!'

'Hide me!' Yuuki muttered to herself before ducking down behind the counter in a hasty attempt to avoid the cheerful voice, but it was no use—a dark head peopled over the tall ledge and smiled at her.

'Yuuki, you're not hiding from me are you?'

It was too long ago since he stopped adding "chan" or "san" at the end of her name, too long since she gave up on telling him that they weren't good enough friends for them to be on a first name-alone basis. And to be fair, he'd put her through so much in the last year alone that it gave her the right to call him Soujirou.

Not that she did.

'Nishisako-san, do you mind not disturbing the peace?'
'What do you mean? I always greet you like this,' he said, furrowing his eyebrows and looking gorgeous.
'And every time you come here I ask you not to do it,' she sighed.
'So why do you keep asking when you know I'll keep doing it anyway?' he asked.

'Can you just tell me why you're here so that you can go away?' she shot back.

'For someone who professes to love me with all her heart—you're not very nice,' he was now leaning over the counter, their faces inches apart.
It amazed her that whereas before she used to cower under his attention, she stared back at him now—eyes widening as though daring him to cross her.

'You're so cute when you're angry,' he suddenly grinned.
And immediately they both pulled away.
'You went to the club last night didn't you?' she asked, trying to keep the accusing note out of her voice.
'Yes,' he sounded cheery.

'And you of course, got lucky.'
'Did you doubt me?'
Yuuki sighed.
If she didn't like him so much she would be disgusted by his habits.
But because she did, she was only disgusted by her stupidity.
'No Nishikado-san, I have every belief that your ability to pick up is legendary.'

'Good… so this time her name was Madoka—or was it Manami… anyway…' Soujirou continued on and Yuuki let him talk, just savouring the few moments that he was around her.

'Excuse me…' a voice asked from the doorway.

Both Yuuki and Soujirou looked up to find a beautiful girl standing at the doorway looking uncertain.

'Sanjo Sakurako!' Soujirou exclaimed.
'Nishikado-san?!' the girl's eyes widened prettily, and she shook her head, causing her neat curls to bounce around her.

'Hello, I don't know if you remember me—I'm…'
'Matsuoka Yuuki ,' Sakurako smiled widely, and again both Soujirou and Yuuki held their breath at the beautiful sight—it was like watching a toothpast commercial.
'You remember me,' Yuuki was pleased.

'Yes, of course I remember Tsukushi-chan's closest friend. I hoped you would still be working here. I've just gotten back from studying in France for a year, and I couldn't wait until school to catch up with everyone.'

'Welcome back!' even before Yuuki could tell her where Tsukushi was, Soujirou had straightened from leaning against the counter and walking over to her and shaking her hand.
Sakurako it seemed, was not used to such a reaction that she looked over Soujirou's shoulder to Yuuki, looking like a deer caught in headlights, her face turning red.

'T-thank you,' she bowed suddenly, almost knocking heads with Soujirou in the process.
Yuuki was amused.
It seemed as though even becoming beautiful had not completely gotten rid of her self-esteem issues.

'So you're here for good now?' Yuuki asked.
'Yes, I'll be attending Eitoku for now while my agent finds me jobs.'
'Jobs?' Soujirou asked.
'Yes… I'm modeling now.'

The way Soujirou's eyes widened, Yuuki knew he was a goner.
She was surprised at the lack of jealousy she felt, of course there was still a pang, but it wasn't as strong as before.
Of course the fact that he'd spent two years flaunting his girlfriends at her might have helped.
But this was Sakurako.

Surely she was supposed to feel even a little bit resentful of this girl who'd come out of nowhere and seemed to win him over with little effort.
And it worried her that all she felt was subtle amusement.


Author's Note: I'd like to say thank you for the reads and the reviews! Thank you to Akira for letting me know that I spelt Yuuki wrong, I am not Japanese so sometimes I get confused about the extra vowels that people put in names to make it mean something different.
But I would also like to say that I think it's a bit too much to suggest that Soujirou can only fall in love with one person in his lifetime, especially considering Sara is engaged/married. I think it's time for him to find a different sort of happiness/love. With that, please continue reading-- this will be a medium length fic, I'm planning about 8 chapters. Kei