Okay Guys, Chapter 6 is up. YAY :D It's the first week of class and i still have time to update and write chapters :D It's not much but i hope you guys enjoy!

SHOUT OUTS: Never Ending Nightmares and Princess-Lazy-Chan, Thank you so so so much for the reviews :D

So, once again, here's chapter 6 !

Heart Strings

Chapter Six: Tugging of the Heart

It was really hot. It was as hot as a summer's day. I wiped the beads of sweat that trickled down my forehead. Everyone seemed a bit unenthusiastic about practice, even me. Who wouldn't be in this weather? I'll tell you who, the regulars. Then again, their "enthusiasm" was a bit forced. What were they doing right now? Running laps as usual. "AAAHH" they were screaming, nearing the finish line. And as usual, they all finished at the same time. I clicked the stop watch. Wow, despite the hot weather they all managed to make it in time. Well, I guess that's what Inui-juice does for you. Yeah, once again Inui senpai ad threatened the team with his "oh so magical" juice if they didn't finish the last lap in less than a minute. I sighed.

Everyone, minus Kuni-chan and Fuji senpai, were lying on the floor. They were so exhausted. It looked as though they would collapse any minute. I sighed. They should really pay attention to their health. Of course, practice was important, but too much of it isn't good. They could strain a muscle, fracture a bone or even get sick. And it's my job to make sure that none of these things happen, especially now that preliminaries were near. I started handing them their towels and water bottles. "You guys should really rest a bit. You don't want to injure yourselves before the preliminaries right?" I smiled. Preliminaries were at the end of the week. It would be really bad if the regulars weren't in tip top shape.

"Takishima, here." Inui-senpai handed me a water bottle. You know, the same one the regulars use, the gray one with a straw on it. "You'll end up dehydrated for staying too long under the sun. It would be bad if our manager collapsed." I think what Inui-senpai tried to say was, "Takishima, if you collapse, I won't have anyone to help me collect data." I sighed. Well, at least he did care about my safety right?

"Ah, Arigatou senpai." I smiled as I gladly took the bottle from him, I was a bit thirsty after all. Being under the hot scourging sun for hours is something that no one wants to do. I looked at the bottle and chugged it down….Ew, it tasted horrible! Uh-oh. Gag reflex. I dropped the water bottle and ran towards the nearest water fountain. Grr. I bet Inui-senpai spiked my water bottle!! UGH!

INUI'S POV

Possibility of Takishima drinking the contents of the bottle I gave her, eighty two percent. I smirked as soon as she drank it, Now, I'll be able to see the effects of my juice on a girl. She did a gag reflex and ran. I think she's going to vomit. Hmmm, she handed that pretty well. I honestly thought that she was going to collapse. I looked at Fuji, he was smiling. His smile was three centimetres wider. Probability that Fuji is amused at the situation, ninety three percent. Probability of Fuji thinking "I should have done that long ago", ninety six percent.

It seemed that Kaidoh was a bit curious as to what happened to Takishima. He took the bottle and spilled the remaining contents on the ground. Dark green ooze came out and as soon as it hit the ground, the ground simmered. Good sign.

"AAH! Inui-senpai gave Miyuki-chan some Inui juice! That's not right, not right at all!" Momoshiro yelled. Probability that Momoshiro is more amused of what happened to Takishima rather than being upset, seventy six percent. "Actually, Takishima gave me the idea. When she mentioned something about spiking your water bottles. Well, at least now I have my data. He he he." I snickered.

Tezuka looked at me. Probability of Tezuka getting upset at what I did to his cousin and giving me laps, ninety nine point nine percent. "Inui. Thirty laps around the court."

MIYUKI'S POV

If there was something that I swear never to do again, it was to never trust Inui-senpai with food or beverages. It's been six hours since I "accidentally" drank some Inui juice but I can still taste it. I can still feel it going down my throat. BLEH. I will NEVER drink that horrible drink ever again! Suddenly, I made a face. Hopefully, no one saw that. See, when you're bored, you tend to think and do about the weirdest things. I sighed.

Yeah, class was boring as usual, especially since I don't get English that much. I sighed. Darn, there's going to be a long test soon and I can barely translate things in English, let alone speak the language. I sighed once again. Right now, the teacher was discussing something in English. And as you can tell, I was confused. At first, I tried using the dictionary, but then gave up. I really couldn't catch up. Boo, Ryo-chan's lucky, fluent in both English and Japanese. I mean, look at him, he's sleeping! He doesn't even need to listen to the teacher to get a perfect score. I bet he doesn't study for English. Mou, lucky Ryo-chan.

RING RING. The school bell rang, meaning, English class was over and it was time to go to the next class, Home Economics, another class that I dread. Here's a little secret. I can't cook anything other than eggs. Yup, that's the sad truth. Whenever I cook or bake something, it either turns out burnt or it tastes bad. I even make rice balls taste bad, and the only thing I put there is rice, salt and a little vinegar. Ridiculous right well at least the things I make aren't half as bad as Inui-senpai's juice. Joy, two dreadful classes in a row. And guess what we're doing today? Baking. We are going to bake a cake today. Dun dun dun. And guess who I have as my partner? Ryo-chan. And get this, neither of us can cook nor bake. How'd we both become partners in the first place? I sighed.

"Echizen, Takishima. A word please?" It was the teacher. Ryo-chan and I approached him. "What is it sensei?"

"I already mentioned the matter about you having a tutor right?" I nodded. "Well, I've decided on who your tutor can be. I already talked to Echizen about it, he said it was fine" Ha? When did that happen? Ryo-chan as my English tutor? Well… I guess it could work. I mean, one, he's my best friend, no need to worry about getting along with him, and two, he's fluent in both English and Japanese.

"A-alright. Thank you sir" I bowed as my English teacher left the room. I looked at Ryo-chan, squinted and glared at him before hitting his right arm. "I-Itai! What was that for?"

"THAT. Was for not telling me that you were going to be my tutor"

He raised his eyebrow, a bored expression planted on his face. "Ha? You're weird…."And once again, Ryo-chan decides to leave me behind and like I said before, I hate it when he does that. "Oi, we're gonna be late" I heard him shout from the corridors. "Ryo-chaan! Wait for me!!" I was definitely making a ruckus.

It was time for home economics. And, like I said earlier, we were supposed to bake a cake. The teacher, well technically it was the school but let's just say it was the teacher since she was the one who brought them to the kitchen, already provided the ingredients and the recipe.

"Alright class, please go to your respective working tables and start baking. Remember to wear your aprons, and please do be careful" she said enthusiastically as she smiled. I don't like the subject, but I do like the teacher. She was one of the nicest teachers in school, very understanding and very motherly.

As soon as I had my white apron on, I headed towards the working table with the recipe on my hand. As for Ryo-chan, he got the ingredients from the teacher's working table.

"Step one. Slice the strawberries in half and toss them with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Set aside. Then preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit."I read the instructions for the cake that we had to bake. Strawberry short cake. Yum. "Neh, Ryo-chan, can you preheat the oven while I slice the strawberries?" I look over to Ryo-chan who had just finished getting, or should I say dumping, the ingredients on our working table.

"Uisu"

"Alright so slice the strawberries in half. That seems easy. Now where are the knives and chopping board?"I started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets of the working table. Oh, here they are. Okay, now…time to slice. There were a lot of things that I'm afraid of, once of which would be sharp and pointy objects. And well, a knife was a sharp and pointy object. I was scared to use it, fearing that I might end up cutting someone's or my own finger. Sadly, I had no choice but to use it. How else would I slice the strawberries right? Okay, here I go, wish me luck! I placed the strawberry on the chopping board and held the handle of the knife with both my hands and, well, started "slicing". And since I wasn't holding the strawberry, it rolled. Grrr. This is gonna take forever.

"Miyuki-san, what are you doing?" It was the teacher. I guess she noticed how I was slicing the strawberry. It was somewhat like how people chop wood, except, I didn't raise my arms that high. I had no intention of poking an eye out. I laughed nervously "Ahaha…I was…slicing the strawberry?" she giggled. I bet she found it funny that I couldn't even slice a single strawberry. "Here let me show you…"

The kitchen was a mess. For some strange reason, Ryo-chan and I had managed to scatter the batter of the cake all over. Heck, even the walls were covered! Was it our fault that the beater machine thing wasn't working properly? Yes, it went berserk on us! We couldn't even stop it! Not just that, there was also flour everywhere. I sighed. So here we are, cleaning up the mess, scrubbing the floors. And, to top it all off, we never finished baking. So, we have to make another cake tomorrow, during lunch break. I can't believe I'm going to use up my lunch break baking a cake instead of eating one. I sighed of the nth time as I looked out the window.

I looked out the window. It was still a bit early. Class was dismissed earlier than usual due to our little "accident". But still, cleaning takes a long time. "So, I guess, we're missing practice today huh?"

"Mada Mada Dane" I laughed. "It's funny when you say that with your nose all covered with flour" True enough, he really did have floor all over his nose. Not just his nose, even his hair had flour. Honestly, Ryo-chan looks like a grandpa who has powder on his face. I started laughing laughter as the image ran through my head.

He wiped his nose. "Che, you're one to talk. You have flour all over your face." Ryo-chan approached me and gently started wiping the flour off my cheek with his thumb. This was so un-Ryo-chan-like. Given this situation, I really thought that he'd dump more flour on me.

I was now staring at Ryo-chan's face. I've never noticed it before but…he really was quite charming. He had one of the most captivating eyes I've ever seen, next to Fuji-senpai's of course. His skin was perfectly toned. He had the perfect jaw line that suited the shape of his face. And…his smile, the smile would make your heart melt. He had a kind of bittersweet personality. Sometimes he'd be so impassive, but really, he's a very sweet and caring person. He's the perfect guy that everyone wanted. No wonder he has so many fan girls chasing after him. I blushed. Was it because of my train of thought or was it because of the fact that his face was a few inches away from mine? Well, whatever the reason was, it was making me uncomfortable, it was making my heart race. What's wrong with me today? Never in my life have I experienced such a thing.

He stopped wiping my face and was now looking straight at me. Well, this was awkward…. "A he he he" I laughed nervously as I tried to pry away from Ryo-chan's gaze, hoping he doesn't notice my blush "N-neh, R-Ryo-chan…Let's uh, Let's finish up. There, there's still a l-lot we have to c-clean. Hehehe" Ryo-chan just blinked, he seemed a bit confused. Who could blame him? I was acting a bit strange.

"Uisu"

EIJI'S POV

Twenty minutes of practice and I'm already tired. I had just finished fifty laps around the whole court. Nya, Buchou was so mean, giving us fifty laps for setting him and Mimi-chan up. It was for their own good anyway! I sighed. Speaking of Mimi-chi, she and Ochibi won't be coming to practice. You see, I heard from Oishi, who heard it from Buchou, who heard it from Riyuzaki-sensei, who heard it from Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo, that Mimi-chi and Ochibi were on cleaning duty for creating a mess in the kitchen and will be excused from practice. I knew both Mimi-chi and Ochibi can't cook but they couldn't have created that much of a mess could they? I sighed.

"What's wrong Eiji?" Oishi was such a worrywart, but I guess that's what makes Oishi, Oishi nya. "Mou, Oishi! Mimi-chi and Ochibi aren't here! I have no one to play with" I whined to Oishi, something that I had gotten used to. And I guess it was pretty loud cause some of the other club members, well, almost all of the club members who were in hearing range, were staring at me. I just gave them a victory sign out of the blue. It seemed like the right thing to do at the moment.

"Kimumaru, ten laps around the court for disturbing practice" Buchou had interrupted my victory sign session.

"N-nani?!"

"Twenty laps" and just like that, I went back to running more laps. Nya, why do I always get into trouble?

MIYUKI'S POV

I couldn't get my head over what happened. I wasn't talking about the situation itself, more of, why in the world was I so flushed back then. I mean, it was just Ryo-chan. He's my best friend and I talk to him EVERYDAY. So why would, why would I start feeling as though my heart's going to explode whenever I talk to him? Ugh. Maybe, it's a side effect from Inui-senpai's juice? Yeah, maybe that's it. I sighed.

"You're quieter than usual" Ryo-chan was pointing out the obvious. Ever since we finished cleaning up, no scratch that, ever since the "incident", if you would call that an incident, I haven't uttered a word other than "Yes", "No" or "Ah…" We were still in school, walking along the corridors. No one was there though. Most of the students were either at their respective homes already or were in their respective clubs.

"A-ah, is that so?" I giggled a half hearted giggle. "W-wow, I didn't really notice." That was obviously a lie. I was being quiet on purpose. Why? Well, give me a break! I was a bit confused! I mean, I had no idea why my heart was beating so fast, nor do I know why I feel so flustered right now. And well, I honestly didn't know what to say. The usual Miyuki-chan would be able to start a conversation with Ryo-chan in a flash, as for the Miyuki-chan right now, well, she was a bit nervous. Not the bad kind of nervous, more like, I-don't-know-what's-happening-and-don't-know-what-to-do nervous.

"Ah…"

Once again silence engulfed us. One, I couldn't talk. There was a little something that was stopping me. Two, Ryo-chan doesn't talk much. Bad combination. It's like, putting Kuni-chan and Ryo-chan in the same room. None of them are bound to talk.

We were now walking along the drive way. From afar, I heard someone bellow. "Mimi-chi! Ochibi!" It was none other than my "nii-chan", Kikumaru Eiji. He was waving all the way from the tennis courts. From the looks of things, it seems like they were still practicing. "N-neh Ryo-chan, let's go see how practice is going on." Ha. See that, I was able to say something decent to Ryo-chan. My heart was still thumping a bit but it was somewhat minimized, which was good! It would have been strange if I couldn't even talk to my best friend. I sighed.

I lay on my bed, thinking of what had happened earlier on. I just couldn't get it out of my mind; the events, the emotions that I felt. There was a little voice telling me that this had nothing to do with Inui-senpai's Inui juice. To put it simply, I wasn't convinced that the way I'm acting towards Ryo-chan was because I had some Inui juice. But, why do I feel this way? Why do I feel as though someone's tugging my heart?

Finally, Miyuki is starting to notice her feelings towards Ryoma! Sadly, she can't tell what these feelings are :( What'll happen next?

Alright, well that's chapter 6. How was it? Well, letting me know is just a click away. Review Review :3 Reviews are loved and are always welcome :3