Disclaimer: Still not mine
Author's Notes: I'm on a roll here. ToFuu has eaten my head. I am also working on a one-shot of the M-rated kind. (OMG, there is not enough ToFuu Lemon-y fics. Why? Why the aversion to it? Just asking. Thanks to the reviewers so far: Shenhui (Aw, thank you! Although it's fun for Fuuko to be dense because I love making Tokiya squirm.), loujane14 (ahahaha, I'm glad you think Mi-chan's funny! And yes, they did go out but it was too brief to be called a relationship. She just wanted to give him a chance. This will be discussed further in future chapters), obsessed dreamer (I just really don't want to be dependent on reviews because if I think of them too much it might come to a point that they're the basis for writing a fic and continuing and I really don't want that for myself. But yes, getting reviews can give you an extreme sense of vindication! And I love writing banter. That's why I always want my pairings to have the ability to banter, that's what attracted me to ToFuu!), yanagyi-chan (oh wow, I love your fics too! Shoot, I owe you reviews, yo, now I feel bad. But I'm glad to hear you like my fic and yes, Mi-chan can be so adorable when he's in love. But being in love with Fuuko, so much more difficult because he wouldn't have a clue where to start. Haha! Oh my, I think I'm going to make the boy suffer.) Anyway, on to chapter four, again PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
Chapter Four: Lover, You Should've Come Over
Tokiya was on his way to his first class when he heard the familiar voice of Yanagi Sakoshita call out to him.
"Mikagami-sempai!"
He halted and turned around. She was wearing her blue and white uniform and with the way she was heaving, he could tell she had been chasing him for a while now. She stopped in front of him and bent down slightly, steadying her hands on her knees, to catch her breath. After a full minute she straigtened up and gave him a sneaky grin.
"Do you need anything, Yanagi-san?" he asked warily.
"I just wanted to give you this, Tokiya," she said. He noticed the glossy paper, the size of a regular index card, that she was holding out to him face-up.
Tokiya noticeably gulped when he realised it was that picture of him and Fuuko at the bridal shop that the she-devil in front of him took. He messily grabbed it from her hand clutched the photo to his chest, hiding it from view.
"I thought you might want a copy!" she blithely told him before running off as if escaping a possible slew of questions.
Tokiya looked to his left then to his right, making sure that there was no one near enough to spy a look at the picture he guarded in his hands. When he was certain there weren't any wandering eyes around, he covertly stole a look and was promptly filled with warmth.
There they were, looking as if they were just coming out of an embrace, his hands on her waist, hers settled on his chest. They did make quite a nice picture. And Yanagi should definitely pursue photography instead of art.
His name was Touya Ashford. Japanese mother, German father. The "approachable" senior heartthrob. Blond hair, green eyes. Second in academics only to Tokiya Mikagami. Looked perpetually constipated in Tokiya's book. And he was now chatting up Fuuko Kirisawa at their pre-assigned table for Physics laboratory. Touya quirked his mouth animatedly and Fuuko looked seconds away from passing out. What the hell could this infuriating character want with Fuuko?
Tokiya moved closer with stealth once reserved for deadly enemies. He heard Touya tentatively begin, "So, Fuuko-san, about this Friday..."
Of course this Friday. The annual Senior Honours Class Dinner. An event held for the best and brightest graduating students of Nashikiri High School. It was more than a dinner, it was a room of opportunities for scholarships since various officials from the top universities in Japan (and a few outside of) graced the event. And apparently the short (the fact that Touya was only about an inch shorter than Tokiya shall be ignored) nincompoop would want Fuuko to be his arm-candy for the night.
Tokiya, with cat-like grace, sneaked behind Fuuko and without preamble said, "Kirisawa, we have to talk."
Before she could even get out a word, he yanked her by the arm and dragged her outside the classroom. As soon as they were alone, Fuuko let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I was bored to tears in there! He just would not stop talking about himself! He would just go on, and on, and on. He was like a vain, self-absorbed version of the Energizer bunny," she ranted and ran the back of her hand through her fringe dramatically.
Tokiya couldn't help a triumphant smirk from gracing his face. But of course, saving her from a bout with ennui wasn't his sole purpose in dragging her out here.
"The Senior Honours Class Dinner is this Friday. We should go," he ran through her quickly.
Fuuko gaped at him like a fish for several seconds before she said, "Are you asking me out?"
"No!" he said with mild panic before resuming his casual calm, "It's not a date. I need a...companion. You have proven yourself capable of intelligectual exchange."
"Mikagami, stop, you're making me blush," she said sarcastically.
"It's a formal event. Wear a dress. I'll pick you up at seven."
"I haven't said yes!"
"You have no choice in the matter. Otherwise I will tell Tatesuko-sensei that you weren't sick last Wednesday and spent the afternoon prancing about the amusement park with Recca and Domon," he said slyly.
"You sure have a way with the ladies, Mi-chan," she deadpanned.
He ignored her jibe. "Friday night, seven p.m. sharp. I don't like waiting."
He quickly walked back in the room without waiting for a reply. He spotted Touya, still at their table awaiting their return. Fuuko followed his heels immediately and plastered a fake smile on her lips as she turned to Touya.
"Fuuko-san, you're back. Well I was going to ask you something before I was rudely interrupted," Touya said as he flashed Tokiya a contemptuous glare.
"Shoot," she answered between gritted teeth.
Touya spared a glance at Tokiya as if asking him to give them some privacy but the bishonen made no move to leave. Touya finally relented and just recited his invitation in front of the other senior.
"Would you like to go to this Friday's senior dinner with me, Fuuko-san?" he asked and flashed her a smile that was meant to make her knees go weak. Tokiya wanted to laugh out loud, he so had no idea what this girl was about.
Fuuko responded in a highly exaggerated manner. "Aw, man! Sorry, no can do. Already going with Mi-chan here. Missed me just by a second!"
Tokiya looked at Touya, eyes dancing along to the chanting of "I win! I win! I win!"
"Oh," Touya said, not bothering to mask his disappointment, "Well, another time perhaps."
"Perhaps," Fuuko answered with a sickeningly sweet tone. But when Touya averted his gaze she quickly mouthed to Tokiya, 'Not a chance in hell.'
Touya moved back to his own work station with a defeated sag on his shoulder. As soon as he was out of earshot, Fuuko leaned across the table and whispered to Tokiya, "You seriously hate his guts so much you're willing to suffer an entire night of my company?"
"I suffer entire days of your company, Kirisawa. I like to think of it as character building," he said while removing a notebook and a pen from his schoolbag.
"Ouch," she said as she clutched at her chest as if he had just stabbed her.
He smirked at her dramatics and drawled, "Don't sell yourself short. I actually enjoy your presence."
"Was that a compliment?"
"Don't get used to it."
Fuuko smiled seductively, though she was unaware of the effect it had. "Are you getting attached to me, Mi-chan?"
He rolled his eyes but his cheeks brimmed with ebullience. "Spare me your romantic delusions, Kirisawa. We have work to do."
He began laying out his workbook and various weights and scales on their desk to indicate that he meant business.
Fuuko leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs in front of her, making her already short skirt ride up some more. "Psh. Geniuses don't work."
"Thus you should be toiling your arse off."
"Baka," she said and threw a pencil at him.
He dodged it easily and it landed on the floor with a soft clank. "Come on, genius. Sensei says if we finish this early we can have the rest of the time for ourselves. Even leave the classroom."
She immediately brightened. "When you put it that way..."
They finished their experiment in forty five minutes giving them more than two hours of free time. Tokiya decided to hide away on the school's rooftop, underneath the water tank; Fuuko's usual hangout. He opened his lunch box and set his canteen and food container with such neat compulsion. He spent his lunch break researching on Murakami for his Literature term paper and now his stomach was grumbling. As he was about to take his first bite of sushi, the door to the rooftops opened and as he had anticipated, Fuuko Kirisawa emerged from it.
She spotted him quickly and without invitation took a seat next to him. She stretched her legs out in front of her and crossed them at the ankles. Tokiya groaned, her skirt just rode up again and there wasn't much of it in the first place. It was pure torture to sit there and watch her legs on display yet not be able to get close enough to touch her. She was going to be the death of him. Seriously, was the woman poor? Did she not have enough money to buy a skirt that fit? But his inner pervert intervened, really, if it were up to you she wouldn't be wearing that skirt altogether. Oy. He began to eat quickly to distract himself from the vivid visions of him and Fuuko in compromising positions that were rapidly forming in his head. Not a good idea to have those when she was sitting right next to him. Fortunately the girl could not read minds, otherwise he would've been thrown off the building like a sick, perverted discus at this moment.
The wind was cooling and inviting but she remained mum, looking off the distance as if studying a picture that only she could see. They were like that for a while, him just eating quietly and her basking in the soft glow of sunlight.
"Your silence scares me," he said after taking a sip of water from his canteen.
She only smiled to acknowledge that she heard him but did not say anything more.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, finding her silence vaguely unsettling.
"I doubt you'd find it entertaining," she replied.
"Try me," he gently insisted.
"You and Yanagi," she gave in.
Tokiya was piqued. "What exactly about me and Yanagi?"
"I know you had a thing for her," she said. He was disconcerted to find that there was not the slightest hint of jealousy in her voice, just plain old pondering.
"I assume your thoughts don't end there," he said tetchily.
"I don't know, falling for a girl who's a mirror image of your sister; Freud would have a field day," she said without a tone of mockery.
Tokiya was surprised not to feel any anger at the mention of Mifuyu; instead there was just a pinch in his heart that reminded him of warm smiles and the smell of pancakes in the morning.
"You know Freud?" he replied with a slight smirk.
"Stuff it, Mi-chan. We've been through this before, I am not unintelligent," she said without looking at him.
He opened a bag of chips and pushed it meekly to her side, a quiet invitation that she took.
"I could say the same for you," he teased.
"Dude, don't insult my heritage. Domon doesn't look like any of my relatives," she replied and he could hear the grin in her voice.
He only laughed lightly before continuing, "I was referring to Raiha. Purple hair and all."
She took a moment to respond and his heart palpitated at the nostalgic look on her face, as if she was trying to capture something she could not quite reach. "Raiha and I... we were never like that."
He swallowed a sliver of fish before speaking. "He anointed himself your prince. And you once said you were his princess."
"Princes and Princesses never live happily ever afters in the real world. That's why Yanagi and Recca opted for the Ninja-Hime set up. Royalty and underling? Totally sells," she joked but there was no humour in her voice.
"You mean to tell me that if Raiha showed up right now and asked for you, you wouldn't go to him?" And he thought he stopped breathing the moment he threw the question at her, not sure if he ever would again should she say she would.
She took another moment...a much too long one. "I don't know. It seems like such a long time ago."
Tokiya wanted to shake her until she gave him a definite answer. Because he had to know, he just had to know; if she wanted someone else sitting right next to her instead of him, if she was waiting for someone he knew was not coming, if her heart ached for one kiss upon someone else's lips, if he was wasting his time pining for someone who longed for someone else. But then he had wasted his time on lesser things; and he would give up his kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulders.
Fuuko interrupted his thoughts. "I'm glad you're here, you know," she said in a dreamlike trance, "I could almost forget everything happened if it weren't for you."
Tokiya furrowed his brows in askance.
"My fuujin, Raiha, Kaoru, they all left after our last battle. Recca, Domon, Yanagi, even Ganko, they would've been a part of my life no matter what. But you, you had to have been brought here to me by something magical. Everytime I look at you, I'd just know, that moment of my life, was real, all real," she finished wistfully.
And God, she was looking at him with her eyes glazed over with something he couldn't quite comprehend, like a memory he knew but could not remember, and he wanted nothing more that pull her to him and devour her soul, kiss her til she couldn't breathe without his air running through her veins. But all he said was, "Can't say I'm too miffed having you as my friend either."
Fuuko closed her eyes and smiled as if she had just managed to protect a well-kept secret. "Thanks for having me, then."
Fuuko turned away and stared once more into the horizon. "I'm sleepy, Mi-chan. I was up all night finishing my DNA model for Chemistry."
"Go to sleep then. We have two hours to kill," he said with the softest voice he had ever addressed her with.
She stretched her arms above her head and without warning rested her head on his thigh. She was in soporific heaven after a few minutes and he prudently stroked her hair away from her face, touching her as if she was an delicate Persian doll that could break any second. He carefully packed his lunch, checking on her every other second to make sure she didn't stir. And he watched her sleep until he had to wake her up from this dream.
A/N: My Kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder - is from Jeff Buckley's Lover, You Should've Come Over. Beautiful song and absolutely amazing lyrics. And yes, the chapter title was in honour of the song. With the exception of the first chapter, all chapters have been taken from song titles. They serve as fic soundtracks. Hee.
Next Chapter: The Dinner. More ToFuu. More Talk. Not Enough Action. More cold showers for Tokiya. Hee. And more Team Hokage activities. Because you know Yanagi's going to tell Recca what she's thinking about our ToFuu.
Finally, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FIC! I think I'm still above taking updates into hostage, but it would be nice to hear from you if you hold any sort of interest in this fic.
