Authoress' notes: Sorry for the delay of this chapter. If you've read the update section in my profile, you'll know why. And another reason that wasn't written there was the fact that I'm usually out somewhere in Tokyo for the past 3 weeks. So, yeah, been busy, and unlucky. Hehe. Anyway, I had a hard time writing this down. I don't really know why though. :P

Chapter title: Day 4: Their moments

Rating: K+

Warnings: OOC-ness. And again, no one proofread this.

Number of words: 2 925

Spoilers: I don't think there are any...

Disclaimer: I do not own Flame of Recca, otherwise, I'll already be writing a ToFuu Sequel. :P I do own Natsumi Suzuki, though.

DAY 4

Fuuko passed the hallway and proceeded towards her and Ganko's room to call the latter for breakfast at some restaurant at the beach. It was Koganei's treat for all of them. She was about to enter the place but suddenly stopped herself when she heard humming. She leaned her back on the wall, not really wanting to ruin the blonde's moment, but in the process, also hearing Ganko's words.

"He really likes her, huh?" Ganko mumbled softly as she sat straight on her bed. She's feeling a teeny weeny bit jealous about this girl whom Kaoru likes. Why? That, she did not know.

"Come on Ganko, why do you feel like that? So what if he likes another? It should NOT matter to you." The young teen continued, emphasizing the word 'not' firmly.

She paused for a moment, staring blankly at the floor, before finding herself humming to the tune of 214, the song that Koganei sang the night before. Sighing, she stood up and prepared to leave the room.

This had been Fuuko's cue to make herself known. She knocked on the already opened door, catching the other girl's attention. "It's about time to head out, Ganko-chan."

"Okay, I was just about to go down, nee-chan," The girl replied, forcing a smile on her face. That said, the young teen proceeded to go out of the room and through the hallway.

The purple-haired watched as Ganko walked away. Shaking her head and smiling, she too, followed the other's suit.

Such are the pains of puppy love.

--...--

"Dad said that we'll be going in a cave later at sunset." Recca looked at everyone expectantly. Fuuko and Kaoru seemed to be thrilled, Ganko, looking quite scared. Tokiya, as expected, remained silent.

Domon grinned before asking, "I assume I could take Natsumi, right?" Hearts formed in the background, making all the others shake their heads.

"That'll be more fun," the flame caster agreed.

"Alright!"

Aah, another opportunity, another chance in being together.

--...--

Once outside the cave entrance already, they were all in pairs. Because Recca could not be with Yanagi, he was paired with his mom, and Shigeo, with the brown-haired girl, "Ojiji, you better take care of her," Recca whispered to his dad, which made the old man laugh.

"Of course, she's like my daughter already. No worries, I'll take care of your princess," whispered Shigeo back.

"Well, you all have your whistles, right? If ever any of you come across any danger or was lost, just blow that whistle. The man who's managing the place said that there shouldn't be many dangers. With that, you could explore the whole area, whether in a group, or just with your pair," Shigeo said loudly, so they could all hear.

They all nodded and made their way in. Shigeo and Kagerou decided to make a group of four, so Recca and Yanagi won't feel too lonely.

So close, yet so far.

--...--

"Domon-kun, thanks for inviting me here, it should really be a thrill!" Natsumi exclaimed with a small smile, though she felt a bit scared.

"Hehe, that's okay. Shall we?" Domon replied, and offered his arm.

"Thanks, I'm really a bit afraid, to tell you the truth." His companion replied, taking Domon's arm as they started to walk.

They walked in silence, with Domon having a goofy grin on his face. He was growing comfortable with the way their arms were linked to each other. Somehow, he felt like he could get over his silly admiration for Fuuko.

After a few moments Natsumi squealed and hugged Domon's arms tighter. Domon immediately looked around and saw 2 rats running away. The big guy turned to Natsumi with a smile. "Relax, just rats. No biggie."

The red-haired loosened her grip on Domon's biceps and sighed in relief. "Thank God, I thought…" She trailed and just gave out a sweet smile.

--…--

Mikagami held Fuuko's left hand with his right, their fingers were intertwined, as if their hands were meant to hold the other. Somehow, it felt right, and both of them were slowly growing comfortable to the idea.

"Ne, Mi-chan..."

"What is it…?" Tokiya fought the urge to say 'monkey' and just left it at that.

"What do you think of our dare? I mean... what made them decide to give this as our task?" The purple haired stopped on her tracks and looked at him expectantly. She really wanted to know, and thought that it will help if she asked his opinion.

"Hanabishi just comes up with strange ideas. There's really no logical explanation other than that," the silver haired bishounen simply said and tugged her hand as if telling her to continue to walk.

"Strange? You don't think this is actually impossible, do you?"

"What is?"

"This... us," Fuuko replied softly, not really planning to let him hear her words. But Mikagami was gifted with such keen senses that he managed to do so. It was his turn to stop walking.

The Ensui Master turned his head and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Fuuko felt heat slowly creep to her face. Thank goodness the cave was dark enough, else, Mikagami would see her red face. But when she didn't answer, Tokiya lifted his flashlight and focused it on her.

"You're blushing," He said nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal to him.

"No, I'm not," denied the girl fervently. "Let's just go and forget what I said. I was merely wondering." With that, she let go of his hand and started to walk, leaving Mikagami, confused.

Maybe he really was a daft person. Had he not noticed that Fuuko was showing something else? Yes, Kirisawa, Fuuko, has a crush on Mikagami, Tokiya... on her Mi-chan. Oh wait, was it really just a crush?

Tokiya shrugged, then caught up with her pace and walked beside her. They walked in silence, and neither seemed to want to break it anytime soon. They left it at that until Fuuko came to a stop. She sat down on a rock and sighed. "I'm a little tired. Let's stop for a while... or you could just leave me here."

"Stamina's running low already? Not like you at all," Her companion said with a smirk. Mikagami sat down on a lone rock across Fuuko. He didn't plan to dance in a girl's costume and ruin his very clean image. No, not in this life. The silver-haired bishounen had wanted to ask about what she said earlier, but restrained himself. It was just sooo0oo not him.

"It seems to me that this place is not dangerous at all," the wind-child mumbled. She covered her mouth as she yawned. "No danger, no excitement." Fuuko stretched her hands sideways. Her left hand landed on top of something... scaly. The girl yelped when she heard a hissing sound. Immediately, she stood up and backed away.

"Stop. No more sudden movements. The last thing you would want right now is to be poisoned," Her companion whispered.

"Step back slowly," He added after a few moments.

Since they did not have anything to use if ever the large snake becomes aggressive, (Recca insisted on leaving their Madougos, as it was vacation) they just have to retreat. When they were already quite a distance away, they stopped for a moment, but rocks fell from above them. To dodge all of the pieces, Fuuko moved fastly, but lost her balance along the way, luckily, Tokiya made it in time to catch her.

"So much for no danger," Mikagami said dryly, looking at Fuuko, who was leaning against him. She just smiled sheepishly and stood up straight.

"Well, I loved the adrenaline rush, anyway." The girl stuck her tongue out at him. Surprisingly enough, he gave a small smile. He sure loved that feeling as well. The last time he felt that was when they were in UBS.

Fuuko sure had been surprised by the sudden show of emotion, even if it was just a tiny bit... because it was from someone who barely shows any.

The two of them went towards the cave entrance and proceeded outside. They decided to just wait for the others there as they were already satisfied by the things they experience earlier.

Mikagami sat down on the area near the clear waters, and Fuuko did the same. Silence came upon them, but it wasn't all that awkward. Fuuko knew better than to disrupt the quietness between them, and so, she contented herself by fiddling with her fingers.

Growing comfortable with the idea of being a couple is not actually a comfortable idea, now that they thought about it.

--…--

He glanced at her again, before averting his gaze back to the barely lit path. He released a small sigh as he continued to tread along the cave.

Kagerou looked at her son and felt pity for the young man. She knew that he was having a hard time staying away from Yanagi. It was actually quite a surprise that Recca managed to endure the last few days without the brown haired healer.

Recca's father also felt pity for him. And for Yanagi too. Shigeo knew that the girl can feel Recca's eyes on her, and was trying her hardest to ignore it. He also knew that they wanted to be with each other. It was, after all, a vacation. They should be having fun… together. But it was Recca's idea that caused this, so he really couldn't do anything about it…

Once again, the Hokage leader shot his hime a longing look. Yanagi, on the other hand, never shifted her gaze from the path.

…Or maybe Shigeo could actually do something about it. He leaned a little closer to Kagerou and whispered something. Recca's mom seemed to be reluctant at first, but after giving it some thought, she nodded her head.

Stopping his tracks, Mr. Hanabishi cleared his throat.

"Okay. I'd probably feel really guilty later, but what the heck. I'll give the both of you one minute. You can talk to each other and all that. But just one minute, you hear me?"

Both of the teens stopped suddenly and blinked. It took a few moments before what Shigeo said actually registered in their minds.

"What? Not taking the offer?" Kagerou added after a few moments of not hearing anything from the two people being given the chance.

Finally, a smile appeared in Yanagi's face. Recca's parents smiled back. It was really great to see the girl's face light up again. It seemed like forever since they saw her give a genuine smile, even though only four days had passed.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped the brown haired girl in a tight embrace. Yanagi's eyes widened in surprised, before hugging the younger Hanabishi back. It had only been four days, but they did miss each other so much that it actually hurt. Contented smiles made their way to their faces.

The two adults turned around and took a few steps away to give Recca and Yanagi a bit of privacy. "25 seconds and counting," said the older Hanabishi before sitting down on a rock.

When the young adults finally let go of each other, the raven-haired ninja stated, "Hime… after all this is finished, we'll have fun somewhere else. No more dares."

The girl chuckled softly and nodded her head. "That's a promise, right?"

"Yeah. That's a promise."

A single moment can mean everything. And a single moment was all that they needed.

--…--

"Kaoru-kun, let's go back now." Ganko tugged on her companion's sleeve. The fangboy grinned. He knew that the girl wasn't exactly fond of these places. It scares the hell out of her.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen. Don't you know that I'm this generation's superman?" He joked, making the girl raise her brow.

Kaoru gave her a genuine smile, causing a blush to creep onto his companion's face. "Seriously though, don't worry. I'll…" He faltered, taking a deep breathe.

"…protect you," He whispered softly, turning his head to look at her.

Ganko gulped. A deeper shade of crimson made it to her face. She avoided her companion's gaze and said, "Err, your girl… she won't be too happy if she heard that."

The Kougan-anki master chuckled and turned around. The blonde gave him an inquisitive face. "She doesn't know, remember? I'm sure though, that if she knew, she won't mind," Kaoru started and began to walk.

Ganko's brows furrowed. He was walking towards the opposite direction. The fangboy turned around once again and extended his hand, "If you don't really like it here anymore…" He smiled. "Then let's get going and go outside for a fresh air."

She smiled sweetly. He returned it. They held hands.

--…--

He didn't really know how their positions became like that. It wasn't all that new to him. They had been doing that for a few days now, but did she really need to continue to act even though they were not being watched by anyone?

"Kiri--... Fuuko," Mikagami said firmly but softly. His eyebrow twitched.

Kirisawa Fuuko had her head officially rested on her companion's shoulder, eyes closed. She seemed really comfortable as she didn't move or bulge when Tokiya called her name. Either she was just pretending not to hear him, or... she was already asleep.

The Ensui master sighed and didn't bother to wake her up. He might be cold and all, but he can be still quite the gentleman. And besides, he didn't have the heart to wake a sleeping angel… wait, he meant monkey. Yeah, monkey.

He stayed like that and pondered over things like how it had been for the past four days. He realized that it wasn't all that bad. It was a bit awkward though, having to be attached to someone, but Fuuko had been understanding enough to not make a big hassle about their task.

'She's acting a bit funny though,' He thought, remembering the times when she would blush or suddenly ask intriguing questions. He shrugged. 'Why did I suddenly care anyway?' He frowned and then concluded, 'Must be Hanabishi's influence.'

He looked down and watched her as she rested silently. Fuuko was actually really beautiful, and not to mention, has a nice body to complement it.

"You know, Mi-chan, you once said that it's not really polite to stare."

Mikagami quickly looked away. So she wasn't asleep after all. 'Damn Mikagami Tokiya, you were caught in act.'

Fuuko stirred and looked up, her head never leaving his shoulder, with a grin on her face. "This day is, as a matter of fact, a red-lettered day for me." Her grin faded only to be replaced by a smile.

Tokiya, after regaining his composure, looked at her expectantly, "Why? And you actually don't need to act right now, get your head off my shoulder. It's getting numb."

"See? Because of that," Fuuko answered before lifting her head as he said.

Tokiya raised an eyebrow. He was growing quite confused... what was she talking about?

"You're being more talkative! Hurrah!" She said proudly, giving Tokiya the V-sign. He ignored the comment.

"…and…" She continued.

Stretching his arms backward to support himself, he leaned backward and looked up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle with delight, and the moon brightly shining, guiding the boats in the seas with its light.

Fuuko's smile widened as she saw Mikagami relaxed. "...You're becoming a teeny weeny bit softer."

That made Mikagami face her. He looked at her seriously, searching her eyes for any signs of jests. "Oh yeah?"

Without thinking twice, Fuuko answered 'yes' in a clear and firm voice. It was her turn to look up and watch the starry skies. After a few moments, she closed her eyes. The wind blew gently, swaying her purple locks as it caressed her face softly.

Tokiya smiled inwardly. Maybe she was right, he was becoming, to put it in her words, 'a teeny weeny bit softer.' He shifted his gaze back up and contented himself by just staying quiet and not ruining the moment.

They stayed there for what seemed like eternity, before new voices broke their silent reverie.

"Nii-chan, nee-chan! You're here too!" Ganko blurted out in surprise.

The pair turned their heads to where the voice came from, and sure enough, it was Koganei and Morikawa.

"Err, was it a bad timing? Erm, don't worry, we'll just sit there," Kaoru said, pointing to the space a few feet away from the older two, before scratching his head.

"It's ok. Seemed like you two had already wanted some fresh air too," Fuuko answered. Mikagami just nodded his head in acknowledgement of their presence.

The younger two smiled and sat down on the space distancing themselves a bit from the other pair. They really didn't want to ruin their nee-chan and nii-chan's momentums. Actually, secretly, they wanted the two to get together, as they really complimented each other's personality.

"Ganko, Recca-niichan's dare for the two of them seems like a good thing after all. Although, it really has no meaning to him other than torturing Mikagami-niichan and giving Fuuko-neechan a real challenge," he whispered softly, careful not to let the other pair hear his remarks.

Ganko nodded and grinned. They do look good together.

Like the older pair, Ganko and Koganei just sat down in silence as they waited for the others to come out of the cave.

After a comfortable night, though, a not-so-comfortable day usually follows.

Authoress' Notes: So..? How was it? No good? Sorry if there were typos and/or grammatical errors. I'll edit every chapter after I finished the story. :)

c",) Reviews make my day. Flames will be laughed at. Constructive criticisms are always welcome. c",)

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