A FEW WEEKS AGO

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--..--

Great… this was just great. He couldn't find his keys again, though he usually put them in his school bag. His parents weren't home and his little brothers were probably at some friend's house – not even their grandmother was home!

Marui sighed, and looked up at the sky – dark clouds were gathering and it looked like it'd rain any minute now. He'd probably left the keys in the club room like last time and the time before that. Maybe he could make it before the rain, if he ran back to school and home again.

--00—00--

The club room was locked!

"Dammit!" Marui grumbled, as he fumbled with his cell phone. "Pick up!"

Jackal still hadn't answered his calls for the last ten minutes nor had Akaya. Niou had said something about studying (yeah right!) and Yanagi was just too creepy to hang out with after school…

Maybe he should go to buchou's room at the hospital? … or maybe he should run there. Since he could already feel the first raindrops hit him.

"Shit!" he exclaimed when it suddenly started pouring down. What to do, what to do?! The only thing he could do was to run towards downtown and hope to get inside somewhere warm and dry.

--00—00--

Marui sighed where he sat crouched under the awning outside a small family mart. All plans about visiting Yukimura would have to wait since the downpour didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon.

He sneezed. Things can't get any worse now he thought.

"Marui? Shouldn't you be home by now?" a deep voice said from above. Marui looked up. And he met a pair of brown eyes, hid under a black cap.

Just what I didn't need… The truth was, Marui had tried hard not to be left alone with Sanada since the incident at Niou's place those months ago. It was just too embarrassing to talk about it, so none of them had talked directly to each other since that time – except for Sanada's yelling and Marui's teasing of course.

All in all, they both pretended it had never happened.

"Uh… hi fukubuchou. What're you doing here?"

Sanada lifted with the bag of groceries he'd bought, an inch higher. "For my mother" he said. "I was on my way home again."

"Oh. I'm… gonna go visit Yukimura-buchou as soon as the rain stops…"

"Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Yeah…" Marui hung with his head like a kid getting scolded. Busted…

"When are your parents returning home?"

"I dunno…"

"You'll catch a cold if you sit out here" Sanada said. "Come with me." And now Marui noticed the black umbrella he carried. Big enough for two persons, so Marui only hesitated for a short moment before standing up.

Sanada smelled nice, Marui noticed. They walked close but without touching, in silence on the narrowing streets until they reached the gates of Sanada residence.

Marui already knew that Sanada lived with his parents, older brother and grandfather. And that he practiced kendo. But he hadn't thought the family would own their own dojo or that the house would be so big! It was the size of a smaller manor.

"I'm home" Sanada said when they entered the house, and they took off their shoes in the hall. Nobody answered, so Marui followed Sanada into the kitchen, where the capped boy put the grocery bag on the table.

Marui sneezed.

"Sorry" he sniffed.

Sanada looked at him from top to toe. "You're soaked to the skin" he said accusingly. "No wonder you're sneezing, you'll catch a cold like this."

"Sorry" Marui repeated. But Sanada had already gone into another room. After a oment he returned, carrying a bundle of white clothing.

"Here" Sanada said, shoving the bundle into a surprised Marui's arms. "There's a bathroom to the right" he continued, pointing towards the living room and a small door to its right.

Marui, feeling a little unsecure, felt a light push in his back as sign of permission and was then shown, or rather shoved, into the bathroom.

It wasn't until then that he suddenly realized what the white bundle was.

"A… kimono?" he said. Sanada had given him a fucking kimono? "What the hell is he thinking?" Marui muttered as he undressed himself. The rough cloth felt odd against his skin, but it fit pretty nicely. Must've been fukubuchou's old he thought as he examined it.

--00—00--

As he walked out from the bathroom, he accidentally walked into someone. The same person roughly grabbed Marui round the waist, making the boy gasp in surprise.

"Wow! I didn't know my little brother had a girlfriend!" the other stranger said, grinning broadly at Marui. His breath smelled foul of alcohol.

"What the-?! I'm not a girl! So let go!" Marui exclaimed, struggling.

"You're pretty cute" the boy continued. "So how come you hang around Genichirou?"

"I'm a boy!" Marui protested loudly, trying to get away from the other boy's too intrusive hands. "Get off me!"

"Aniki!" Sanada exclaimed, as he came out from the kitchen. "What're you doing to my teammate?!" He was clenching his fist.

"Ehh?!" the brother said, blinking. His hand had by now found its way inside Marui's kimono, making the boy cringe and Sanada's nostrils to flare. "Y'mean she's a boy?!"

"I already told you!" The sound of Marui's held-back sob made Sanada clench his fist as he watched his brother let go of the smaller boy.

Marui's whole body was shaking when the boy withdrew his hands. But in its stead a strong arm draped itself around Marui's shoulders as Sanada protectively shoved his teammate behind him.

"If you try something like that again, I'll make sure you'll be eating your meals through a drinking straw this month" Sanada growled in a low voice. "Aniki."

"Relax, I didn't know he was a boy" his brother slurred. "What a waste… cute though." With that, he more staggered than walked past them, and disappeared out of the front door.

Sanada waited for a moment until he said: "You alright Marui?"

"Y-yeah… I guess…"

Then, Sanada turned around to face him and he was clenching his teeth. Those familiar brown eyes were harder than stone. But his expression softened as he looked at Marui's face.

"I'm… I apologize for my brother" Sanada said, placing a huge hand on top of Marui's head.

And for a moment, Marui was able to see another side of him than the stern fukubuchou who made the team run laps or the chairman of the school's public moral's committee.

Then, silence. Embarrassing... What was there to say more? Well, Sanada wasn't exactly known to be a talkative person but at least he tried.

"…would you like to visit our dojo?" he stuttered.

And Marui was struck speechless, both at the fact that fukubuchou was stuttering and... Wait, was Sanada trying to hit on him with that kind of odd line?!

--00—00--

Sanada's really not the sociable type eh? Hehe… next chapter up soon. If you're nice and review a lot I'll be concentrating some more on Poor little kouhai after this!