Disclaimer: Inui and everyone else do not belong to me. (sighs woefully)
A long chappie. Took a while to write, and I'm very tired. Please excuse any spelling and grammar errors, but please do tell me if I got anything wrong.
That bizarre, green-sweatpants-wearing freak had been following us throughout our day at the mall. I hadn't consciously noticed that until now, mainly because of Chinatsu's annoying habit of throwing things in my face and offering an unneeded source of distraction. I like to observe my surroundings, keeping mental tabs on who was around me and the general temperature, things like that, but with Chinatsu always jumping in front of me and taking away my attention, it was rather difficult.
So, I had gone through all those fitting rooms, a futon-ya, three separate shoe stores, and a minute of self-indulgence on a blueberry muffin and half a cup of funny-tasting coffee without realizing that the data master was stalking us.
How alarming.
And sinister.
And eerie.
And – oh, great kami-sama.
Thinking, thinking, and I had bumped into the stalker himself. He had been frantically scribbling his precious data into his notebook, and not paying much attention to me, who was self-consciously and clumsily walking along in the new heels that Chinatsu had purchased for me.
"Oomph."
I felt the long, heavy edge of a book come into contact with my stomach, winding me and the whiff of a sharp, spearmint aroma sink into my nostrils before collapsing on the floor, back slapping the ground with a hard THUNK.
An army green notebook, battered, thick and surprisingly stain-less, fell open in my hands, along with a pair of thick, dark-framed eyeglasses. Before the notebook was hastily snatched away, I caught three words and a number: …chance of success: 100.
Instantly, I regretted not swapping for a pair of more suitable footwear.
The situation, in any other environment, would have been promising. My back was pressed hard against the cold stone floor, head dazed and pinned down by the distinctly minty-smelling boy on top of me (who had quite a lovely set of chest muscles, I might add). I was clad in a very revealing and improper mini-dress, and his head was against my chest. I thought he could hear my heart beating and my lungs breathing heavily.
Both of us were rather scared of what the other might do. If I had tried to shift upwards a tiny bit to escape, I would probably reveal my lacy, custom-designed underwear (damn this cursed dress). If data man had tried to pick himself off the floor from on top of me, he might form a slight wind tunnel between my legs and ultimately lift my skirt up.
But, in either situation, the result would be my utmost and total humiliation. I hadn't studied physics for nothing.
So, it would seem proper if both of us reacted at the same time.
Inui stood up with a quick movement, notebook gripped in one hand. He brushed himself off.
I tried to lift myself up, but that would endanger the chances of my dress slipping, so I stayed on the floor, and chanced a glance upwards.
I was pleased to see his face, for once, beet red and coughing politely. To think that I could have this effect on one of the more reserved members of the Seigaku Tennis Team. Chinatsu had once told me that, if you were able to approach and become friendly Tezuka Kunimitsu, Inui Sadaharu, or even Kaidoh Kaoru, you were able to approach absolutely anyone in the world.
Suddenly embarrassed, I lowered my eyes, only to I look up again. I found myself staring into the startling blue eyes of Inui Sadaharu.
I gasped. And blinked. His eyes…they were blue?
Realizing that I was still clutching his glasses, the horrified boy grabbed them out of my hands and shoved them back onto the bridge of his nose. His eyes were now sealed from my view and I thought I could hear him swearing out the side of his mouth as he said something that I perceived as very bizarre.
"Remember, you saw nothing."
Chinatsu came running towards me, her footsteps quick and measured, having walked up ahead to examine the beauty products of a bisho-in.
"Momo-chan! Are you okay?" She gasped, and tried to heave me up from slippery tiles without ruining my outfit.
On the ground, I was still in a state of paralysis. Those eyes, they were surprising in their own way…a tint of blue, highlighted by dapples of teal and turquoise, and illuminated in a vibrant azure. Inui's eyes were capturing, different from all others, surprising, reflective, and, most of all, blindingly beautiful.
I felt my heart flutter, and my head begin to spin.
What was happening to me?
Rubbing my eyes, I tried to pick myself up from the floor but just to faint, my legs growing weak as I fell down once again, my head jerking towards the side and my hair loose and scattered from it pristine ponytail that Chinatsu had painstakingly set up for me this morning.
This was truly a bad day.
After two more seconds of initial shock, I felt myself being pulled up to sitting position from the ground by a pair of strong, supple arms.
"Mizutani Maruko," Inui nervously adjusted his glasses.
"Momo-chan, say something! Can you hear me?" Chinatsu shook me like a can of beans, grasping my arms in a death grip until I couldn't feel anything below my shoulders.
I could hear mutterings from the crowd that was beginning to gather around my weak figure on the floor, Chinatsu's worried stance, and Inui's continued mumbling as he began to jot down more notes.
"Ow," I groaned, this time getting up by myself, head still spinning and limbs tender from the sustained injuries. Inui helped me into his arms.
Chinatsu seemed satisfied that I was awake, and backed away.
I tried to move, and my dress suddenly slipped past my shoulders. Grappling at the straps, I jerked it back on, my face burning.
The data collector spoke up, "Its okay, Maruko-san. Just rest for a while. Please don't exert yourself."
I relaxed against his chest. His soft, warm chest.
More footsteps around me, echoing across the floor and pounding into my skull.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"What's going on here? Inui, what are you doing?"
The gruff voice of the Seigaku tennis buchou.
"I didn't know Inui had a girlfriend."
The slightly feminine tone of Fuji Syuusuke. I twisted around, and heard the shutter of a camera click, but not before Inui dropped me on the floor.
From my surprised yelp, I could hear a chuckle, "Not today, Fuji."
"Fshh…Inui-sempai?!"
I choked back a giggle at Kaidoh Kaoru's comment. He would definitely be shocked at his mentor having a girl in his arms.
"Wah! Momo-chan!"
Momoshiro Takeshi. He wasn't fazed at all by the fact that we shared the same nickname, but rather took this as a chance to try and buddy up with me (not to mention getting me to match-make him with Tachibana Ann).
"Nya, ochibi! Look, there's a girl that fell down! Let's go see what's happening!"
Kikumaru…the acrobat.
"Eiji-sempai, can we please get out of here…? I'm hungry."
The freshman ace. Sipping his Ponta and looking amused.
"Somebody get an ambulance!"
Oishi Shuichiro. Figures he would overreact.
"Ano…we should probably call security."
Ryuzaki Sakuno. The little freshman girl had taken to looking up at me ever since I had brought down the attention of every boy in the school.
"Momo-san! Oh, my, what are we going to do? Ryoma-sama, save her!"
Osakada Tomoka. Her voice wasn't hard to recognize; she was the only one with the booming yet high-pitched chirp. I smirked. Wherever Echizen was, Ryuzaki and Osakada were bound to follow.
"According to my two years of tennis experience, I think it would be necessary that Momo-san –"
"No one cares!"
Horio was abruptly cut off by the other two freshmen standing nervously next to him. I looked at the trio in confusion, and witnessed the three of them staring unabashedly at my chest. My dress had slipped, once again, to an unfavorable position. Shifting the low-cut collar up to my throat, I glared, my eyes threatening to rip out their guts.
They scampered into the nearest bathroom.
After a quick evaluation of the situation and an Oishi freak-out, everyone gathered around me, beginning to argue and decide on what to do to help me, while I was abandoned on the floor, rubbing my head and smoothing my skirt.
What were they all doing here?
I soon learned that the tennis team had been on their way to Taka-san's sushi shop to celebrate a recent unofficial tennis victory, but had to drop by the mall in order to collect some special toothpaste that Kikumaru had ordered. Apparently, it was only ever delivered to this specialty store in this mall, and Eiji-kun had threatened to never play tennis again if they did not make the trip over here.
Tezuka took charge.
"Fuji, retrieve some paper towels from that coffee shop and clean up Mizutani-san's knee injuries. Kikumaru, go and buy your toothpaste. I promised Kawamura not to be more than half an hour, and we are already over 20 minutes late. And for heaven's sake, stop drooling over that teddy bear in the toy store. Kaidoh, keep an eye on your sempai and walk him to the store. Momoshiro, call for a taxi right now. I will pay for Mizutani-san's taxi fee. Inui will escort her back home, seeing as he had made no plans to eat with us in the first place. The girl is in no immediate danger; Oishi, please calm down."
"What about me?" the freshman whined.
"Echizen, you will quit intoxicating yourself with grape soda, round up your cheer-leading team, and confiscate Fuji's camera. Fuji, now is not the time for any black-mailing. Get to work! Anyone who does not complete their task in the next five minutes will run seven-hundred laps upon our return to Seigaku!"
I had never seen Tezuka in action, and was impressed. The guy could be quite threatening when he wanted to. You could almost see the blur of regulars' feet as they rushed past and tried to finish doing whatever they were commanded to.
Seven hundred laps…harsh.
My headache worsened as I was finally able to stand up and walk shakily into a bench, where China-chan began to clean up my ruffled state. Running towards the restrooms, my friend brought out her emergency make-up kit and started to redo my brow and lips.
Then I saw Inui, now fully backed away from the scene, glasses glinting ominously while he took notes.
Even though everyone was crowding around and fretting over me, I felt oddly alone without his hand on my shoulder.
After much arguing, and continued interruptions, I was hauled into a cab, with Chinatsu straightening my dress and clutching my ribs while Inui ran his hand down my back, trying to relieve stress.
It was…very comforting.
I fell asleep.
She was incredulous.
"Your eyes…they're really blue?"
He sighed.
"Yes. I thought I'd let you know that, when I accidentally showed your friend Maruko-san. Since she would probably tell you anyhow, I must swear you to secrecy before anything happens. You're a huge gossip, Chinatsu, and I hope that you would not tell anybody."
"But I thought…your eyes…they were green?" She scratched her head and leaned back against the leather car seat.
"I wear contacts, as an extra precaution. I seemed to have forgotten to apply them today. Now, what I'm more worried about, was Maruko-san taking a peek at my notes, when we bumped into each other."
"Oh, don't worry, Momo-chan probably didn't see anything."
"I won't take your word for it."
"Why not?"
He avoided the question.
"Hm, maybe I'll call Tezuka and see how he's managing the team…"
She watched him as he dialed the number and waited to hear the ring.
"…we are now safely at Maruko-san's home, buchou. Do you think you can come over later? I have some rather controversial notes to discuss, Te – he hung up."
She smothered a giggle.
A/N: Hmm...is it too OOC? AU? Please comment. I spent such a long time writing this, and I'd be depressed if I got no reviews for all this HARD work...I'm trying to improve my style of writing.
Thanks for reading!