I love you all! I'll try to add in more Kukai parts. c:

Freya sat in the clubroom across from Aria. Neither of them spoke. Their eyes met in a gaze that was stiff with tension.

"So, tell me what's up with you and Akashi," Aria finally said, breaking the strained silence, "Since you didn't call me last night."

Freya sighed. "All right, Rakuto thinks he's my ex-boyfriend."

Aria raised her eyebrows, at which Freya shook her head in response to. "Which is not true! He is not my ex-boyfriend," Freya added hastily before launching into a very long story about her past with Rakuto.

By the time she was finished, Aria was almost speechless. For one, she had watched enough dramas on the television to find it difficult to believe that something like what Freya had just told her actually did happen. Her journalism instincts just couldn't accept the fact that ridiculously melodramatic things really did happen in real life. It was just unnatural!

"Do you hate him?" was the only question Aria could form amongst the disbelief she felt.

"I guess you could say that I hate him," she muttered with evident distaste. After all, she loathed to admit it, but facts were facts and what had happened when they were in middle school had left her with a trauma that she couldn't forget no matter how much she tried to, along with a phobia that she ignored. "It disgusts me that I ever had feelings for him."

She shuddered a little at her horrible taste in boys back then. If there was only one thing she was allowed to regret in her entire lifetime, she'd definitely choose having a crush on Akashi Rakuto.

"But there's one thing I'm confused about," Aria said.

"What is it?"

"You say that he's the one who ended your friendship, or whatever term you labeled your connection to him with, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why is he going around telling other people that you're his ex-girlfriend?"

Aria's point raised a question. Sure, they had spent some time together. But it never escalated into anything more than that, to Freya's relief, thanks to Rakuto. So why was Rakuto choosing to tell people that he had been in a relationship with Freya when they hadn't been?

"I'm willing to bet that he's a super-sadist that enjoys torturing people with mental games," Loki muttered darkly, "What's your take on it, Kukai?"

Freya had left the club room and met up with her brother and Kukai, hidden away in Seiyo High's confusing garden maze. She had told them about Aria's question, and they were debating on whether or not there was a deeper meaning to why Rakuto had turned up in their school of all places after several years. One would have thought that he would have known better to stay away, especially since his face was well-acquainted with Loki's fists.

"I have no comment on this," Kukai replied diplomatically, looking up from his phone, "I'm still looking for information on this guy,"

Freya raised her eyebrows. "You're Googling a guy?"

"It's not what you think, shortie," Kukai retorted, sniffing pompously before returning his attention to his phone's screen.

She chuckled, and smiled, but deep inside, Freya felt like something was different. What was it? Her thoughts started to form into an escalating spiral staircase, getting more and more complicated as she added more assumptions and ruminations.

"Found it!"

Freya jolted back into reality and peered over Kukai's shoulder with her brother. "Found what?" they asked in unison.

Kukai moved over a little to give them a clearer view of the screen. "There," he indicated, pointing at the screen, "Akashi Rakuto, heir of Akashi Enterprises... It says here it's a world-famous trading company. Basically Fortune 500."

"Yeah, I suppose that's why the journalism club is doing a feature on him," Freya added thoughtfully.

Loki scoffed. "Yeah, like that superfluous Mercedes wasn't proof enough?"

"Well, we know that he's rather wealthy and all," Kukai muttered, "But it doesn't mean that all wealthy people are rich and famous,"

"He's not famous. His father is," Freya corrected.

Kukai turned his attention back to the screen again. "Something, boring, not worth talking about…" Then something caught his eye. "Fan club?"

Loki snickered and Freya rolled her eyes. Kukai's eyebrows raised as he saw the number of members the fansite had. "Almost over a five thousand…" he commented, "Wow. So he's basically a celebrity socialite. How not surprising,"

Loki answered before Freya could ask. "He's been picking up the Tsukiko-sarcasm from me,"

"I was going to ask that-," Freya said, "-and why you passed on the opportunity for a movie, since you usually prefer to go with me, not alone,"

Loki shrugged. "I just decided to leave you two alone for a day," he said casually, "You know, I somehow feel like a third wheel nowadays," He added with a sly smirk.

Freya's cheeks flushed and Kukai- well, Kukai was still curiously looking through Rakuto's fan-made gallery, the meaning of Loki's words lost to him.

"What do you mean 'third wheel'?" Kukai's tone was distracted as he swiped through the gallery of paparazzi pictures, "The three of us are like best buds! You know, the three musketeers! Although we've known each other for a couple of months..."

Freya stood up abruptly from the garden bench she was sitting on. "I'm going home now," she said, her face a bright vermillion red, "I have lots of homework to do,"

Freya started walking away quickly.

Kukai blinked at her retreating figure, confused. Then he remembered something. "Oh yeah! Freya! Tomorrow, Cineplex! Two in the afternoon!" he called after her, "And no Loki allowed!" He added and Loki scowled at his friend.

Kukai watched Freya nod her head swiftly and disappear through the bushes. "Why's Freya so jumpy nowadays?"

Loki fought off a wide grin. "She's just afraid that Akashi will do something bad to her," he said, half-seriously, half-jokingly.

"Well... I won't let anything happen to her, then," Kukai said firmly.

The ebony-haired boy allowed a sly smile onto his face. "Does Kukai have a cruuuuush?"

"Ha ha ha," Kukai raised an eyebrow, "She's my friend, and I don't have any romantic feelings for her,"

Loki frowned a little. "You'll soon see..." he loomed over his friend with a dramatically creepy expression, wiggling his fingers to enhance the eldritch effect.

"Idiot," Kukai knocked Loki's head with his phone.

"Ow! You could get arrested for assaulting me like that!"

Freya could feel angry butterflies swarming in her stomach, as she patiently waited for Kukai outside their meeting place. She had spent the whole of last night going over her homework. Writing a thousand word essay was no mean feat, especially if it was on History.

But among her pile of school-work, she still couldn't get proper sleep and in the end, spent half the night until three in the morning either listening to her iPod or reading a novel. Funny, the novel she read last night was the movie she was going to watch with Kukai today.

Freya's memory train suddenly 'kaboom-ed' itself into oblivion and the angry butterflies in her poor organ went even crazier and threatened to burst out.

The reason for this outrageous reaction was because of a sandy-haired teenager with an impish smile making his way towards her. Freya got envious stares from some watching girls as Kukai greeted her with a, "Hey Freya! Am I late?"

Freya shook her head, skillfully retaining the 'I-like-you-ain't-that-obvious?' look and smiled casually. "Nope, you're not late," she said, "I was just early, that's all,"

Kukai sighed in relief. "Good, because I nearly forgot about the time when I was checking my score on Fantasy Football,"

Freya had to giggle at this. "You're really turning into another Loki," she commented, as she and Kukai got in line for tickets.

"Well," Kukai said, grinning as he paid for two tickets, "You're just gonna have to keep me in check then,"

Freya nearly had a full-on blush as Kukai said this, but she fortunately didn't. "I'll just go get some popcorn, alright?"

"Sure," Kukai nodded, "I'll wait for you at the entrance. Be sure to get me a drink, will you? Anything will do,"

Freya went of to the snack bar and got some popcorn and drinks, while chanting a self-made mantra to not do anything stupid on this outing. It was an outing, right?

Freya firmly assured herself that it was strictly a friends' outing and not a date. Period. An inquiring voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Er... miss? Could you please pay now?" the cashier asked politely.

Freya's face grew red as she hastily gave her payment. Great, just after her mantra too. "Nice one, Freya, nice one…" she thought to herself bitterly.

She proceeded to the cinema entrance and saw Kukai waiting there for her. Taking the drink from her, he said, "It's starting soon, let's go find our seats, alright?"

Freya obligingly followed Kukai to their seats, and once locating their places in the dark, Kukai settled himself beside Freya rather comfortably.

Freya kept on chanting her mantra while the previews showed, and the reminder flashed across the screen, reminding the patrons to switch off their cellphones and to keep quiet. Then the real torture started.

As a deer galloped on screen, apparently running away from its unseen captor, Freya thought herself to be doomed. Sitting in a dark place beside your crush was very torturous to the mind and racing heart, after all, especially if you were going to be in the same position for almost two hours.

Freya tried to pay attention to the movie, but with no avail. She shifted her eyes to Kukai momentarily and saw that he was absorbed into the movie. His hazel eyes reflected the images on-screen.

Mentally slapping herself and telling herself to get a grip, Freya diligently blocked out all means of distraction by keeping her eyes on the screen and ignored the fast pace of her heart. The movie was now reaching the part where Bella first saw the Cullens.

"Freya! Look! Pay attention to Jackson Rathbone slash Jasper Hale!" Freya thought to herself, "We all know he's your favorite character in the book! So look!"

The actor playing Jasper appeared on the large screen, and Freya kept her eyes on him, kicking out any invading thoughts of Kukai and the ever-wailing 'Kukai-is-near' alarm.

But then, her conscience was being a devil to her. The innocent fact that Kukai was just right beside her started killing Freya's mind, completely taking away her attention from the movie.

One hour later into the movie, Freya finally could pay attention to the movie. It was reaching the climatic part now. She brought up the straw protruding out from the styrofoam cup to her lips and took a sip.

Then at that unfortunate moment when the liquid was half-way into her gullet, her eyes shifted to the row of seats three lines below, and then she suppressed the spitting out of her iced lemon tea and choked on it when she forced herself to swallow it completely instead.

She muffled her coughs, and Kukai noticed his friend coughing and worriedly turned his attention to her. "Are you alright, Freya?" he whispered.

Freya nodded as she gained back her ability of speech. "Does this movie end soon?" she asked in hushed tones.

Kukai checked his watch and replied, "Yeah, why?"

"I'll explain it to you as soon as the movie's done, and then we're going somewhere else without being, uh, detected," she whispered back.

Kukai apparently agreed, because he nodded and went back to watching to movie, but not as attentive as before. He was unsure of Freya's weird actions and it greatly disturbed him until the credits started rolling and both of them got up to leave.

Once they were outside, Kukai turned to her and asked, "What happened back there?"

Freya started laughing nervously. "You know, I sorta saw some person..." she began.

"Ah! Freya! Souma!" a deep voice remarked, "Fancy seeing you here!"

"… whom we all know," Freya finished coldly. She turned to the person, "Hello, Akashi,"

Yes, the person who Freya had seen before was none other than Akashi Rakuto, who conveniently had been watching the movie as well.

"Akashi!" Kukai had an expression of surprise on his face. He hadn't pegged the boy to be a fan of something like Twilight. Heck, he himself had picked the movie because he had assumed that Freya, being a girl, would love it. It had only been a minute since the ending and he barely remembered what had happened - he just recalled thinking the words, "This is pretty stupid," several times during the movie.

Rakuto just smiled at them. "Freya, it hurts me that you've gone back to calling me by my surname," he said, "Are you both out on a date?"

Any other means of emotions had been driven out of Freya and was replaced with coldness. No embarrassment, no shyness. "Of course not. We're just friends," came the clipped, icy answer.

Kukai shook his head. "We're only friends. What makes you think that we're dating?"

Rakuto had a knowing smile on his face. "Oh, I don't know. It just gave me the idea when I saw you two together when I first came that you both were dating,"

"Whatever," Freya said, taking hold of Kukai's arm, "Let's go Kukai,"

"Sure," Kukai nodded, following Freya.

As he walked past the other boy, Rakuto's voice was only audible to Kukai as he said, "She's mine."

Kukai blinked, confused at what the brunette had just said. He watched Rakuto's back as he moved with the crowd. What exactly had he meant by that short proclamation? There was no way that he actually thought that he could get Freya back, did he? And if he was insane enough to think so, what made him so sure that Kukai was occupying the position he coveted?

Then he felt Freya tug at his arm. "Kukai!"

"Huh? What?" Kukai was brought out of his confusion, "Sorry, Freya. I blanked out there for a moment,"

"What happened?" Freya asked, as they exited the building.

Kukai shrugged. "Oh, nothing really. Just something that came to my mind,"

"Alright...?" Freya regarded him with a dubious look, "So, where are we going to eat?"

Kukai grinned at Freya. "I think I know just the place!"

Freya felt out of place. Kukai had brought her to a family diner, which he had enthusiastically called, "The best place on earth where you find the best food you can eat!"

She had grinned nervously when both of them entered the place. Kukai had warmly greeted the owner while the workers behind the counter were staring at Freya.

The owner stopped to look at Freya. "Oh? Kukai, you sly dog!" he said, a grin spreading across his aged features as he took Kukai's head under his arm and ruffling his sandy hair, "You've gotten yourself a fine girlfriend here! Very beautiful one too! Why didn't you tell me?"

Both high schoolers flushed as they protested simultaneously. "No! We're not dating! We're just friends!"

The old man gave Kukai a sly smirk. "So, what's your name?" he asked, turning to Freya.

"Ts-Tsukiko Freya! It's nice to meet you sir!"

The owner scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "No need to be so polite, Freya," he said, shoving his hands into the pockets in his apron, "Here, both of you have a seat at this table," He gestured to a table near the windows. "I'll come and get your orders as soon as you're ready,"

He left for the staff kitchen, leaving a harassed-looking Kukai and an embarrassed Freya sitting at their table.

"Uh...sorry 'bout that," Kukai apologized, "The old man can be really embarrassing about me on purpose,"

Freya smiled at him. "No, it's okay. He's really nice though. Are you two related?"

Kukai hurriedly crossed his arms into an 'X' sign. "No way! If he was..." he ominously turned to look at the owner, who was taking orders from another set of customers and shivered a little, "...he would make my life miserable by telling everyone the worst stories of my life! I just used to come here everyday when I was a small kid, so I'm like a regular visitor here,"

"Like what kind of embarrassing stories?" Freya asked with bright interest.

"Well, there was this one ti- hey wait a minute! You were making me tell you embarrassing stories of myself! That's unfair!"

Freya shrugged and chuckled. "You were the one who voluntarily agreed to tell me!"

Kukai made a face and turned to the owner as he came towards them. "Having fun, you two?" he asked cheerily, "What can I get you?"

"The usual!" Kukai raised a hand with a grin.

"Gotcha, and for the pretty lady?" he turned to Freya.

Freya reddened. "Uh... um... cake?" It sounded more like a question than an order.

"Cake? Sure. Alright, The Kukai Special and cake coming right up! Beverages?"

Kukai asked for Coke and Freya asked for iced tea. As soon as the owner left, Kukai looked at Freya, and asked, "Don't you ever drink anything other than iced tea?"

Freya's dark eyebrows raised a little, disappearing beneath her bangs as if she had been asked a surprising question. "Huh? Um, I guess you could say that. I used to drink more iced tea than anyone in my family. My elder brother had to hide away everyone's except my share away from me,"

Kukai snickered. "So you were a glutton,"

Freya made a face. "Was not," she mumbled, "And what's a 'Kukai Special'?"

"Oh, it's just a couple of normal stuff you find around here. It's real name is the Set A meal, but the old man there calls it the 'Kukai Special' just 'cause I mostly always eat it after school whenever I come here to hang out for a while,"

Freya grinned slyly. "Who's the glutton now, greedy?"

"I take offense to that name!"

Their orders came and Kukai enthusiastically stuck a fry into Freya's mouth. "Nice, isn't it?" he prompted.

His hand had brushed against her cheek as he pulled back from feeding her. She shivered at the contact. "Er, yes."

She could feel her ears burning as she stuck the fork into the cake and took the first bite. Kukai bent his head sideways to get a better look at Freya's face.

"Am I hallucinating, or do you seem like you've either gotten a sunburn or you're turning really red just by eating a part of strawberry cake?" his voice was laced with amusement.

Freya shook her head vigorously as she swallowed the cake. "Of course not. You really must be hallucinating. See? Still the same color as before," She pulled her cheeks to prove her point.

Kukai reached over and pulled at her pale-to-red cheeks, grinning. "Chubby cheeks! That's cute!"

Freya felt the heat prickling her neck now, and her stomach twisted wildly from the contact. "I take offence to that!" she gently swatted his hands away, and she wouldn't admit it, but just for a second, she had allowed her hand to linger over his.

"That, was so good," Kukai sighed with satisfaction as they left the restaurant together.

"True," Freya agreed nodding, "So where are we headed next?"

Kukai put up his arms and folded them across the back of his head. "Well, I don't have anything I'd like to get, how about you?"

Freya tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hm... Loki's run out of shampoo... the first-aid kit's running low on some stuff…" she noticed her friend looking at her in disbelief, "Yes?"

Kukai's mouth was slightly parted as he stared at Freya. "You serious? You look after Loki? You check on all his needs?"

A defensive look appeared on her face. "Well, someone's got to do it. My parents are in a business trip in Paris. My older brother, Zephyr's at University studying Art, and my older sister, Pandora's in a conservatory studying to be a flautist in a European orchestra. So which leaves me and Loki, still in high school. We look after each other in a way. He does what my dad does and I do what my mum does. We're sort of emancipated minors without the emancipation."

Kukai whistled admiringly. "You're pretty good for taking on the role of Loki's mom while your real mom is away,"

Freya's face was now red from the innocent praise. "It's nothing."

Kukai grinned as he pocketed his hands in his jeans. "Well, let's go get Loki Junior his daily needs!"

The convenience store was nothing short of a mini adventure, as Kukai excitedly ran down the aisles where all the snacks were and practically shoved entire shelves of chocolate into the shopping basket. Freya had had to return every item back to where it had been, while Kukai protested. It was an hour before they finally left the store. As they exited the shop, Freya grimaced when she recognised the person walking down the pavement. She had an overwhelming urge to flip a table in frustration. Why did they keep on running into the only person in the world that she didn't want to think about, let alone see?!

"Freya! Souma!" Rakuto had a book tucked under his arm as his hands were in his pockets, "Doing your shopping, I see. Are you two really not dating? You seem to be doing something only couples do,"

"And are you really not stalking us?" came the frosty question. Kukai's expression, usually friendly, was now one that was nothing short of irritated.

Rakuto ignored his accusation, and raised a hand towards Freya's face. Capturing her chin, he stepped closer towards her, until he was merely inches away from her. "You're invading my bubble," Freya snapped as she roughly tugged her face away from his hand, and took a few steps backwards away from him.

"Don't touch her. You don't have the right to touch her!" Kukai growled as he defensively stepped in front of the girl.

Rakuto smirked as he looked over the other boy's shoulder, and directly at the incensed girl behind him. "I'll see you in school, Freya,"

He then turned around and continued walking down the street. Both friends exhaled in relief as soon as he disappeared around a corner.

"You okay?"

Freya nodded. "Yes, just a bit freaked out. And I have an urgent need to get home and scrub myself."

"And maybe buy some new skin? Is that possible?"

"You're hilarious."

"Thank you for today. I had fun, despite the unfortunate run-ins with the devil."

The both of them were now outside the gates of the Tsukiko home. Kukai had gallantly offered to walk the girl home, to which she reluctantly agreed because the athlete refused to take no for an answer. He had claimed that the extra miles home would be good for his stamina, and Freya didn't have a better reason to reject him.

"It was nothing! I should thank you for saving me from a potentially dangerous day at home," a dark expression momentarily flashed across his face, before he remembered something, "Oh right, here. I got this for you."

In his hand was a simple black book, and as Freya accepted it shyly, she realised it was a photo album. "A place for your pictures!" he explained with a thumbs-up.

"Why?"

"And I ask you, why not?"

Freya's grip on the gift tightened as she beamed at her friend. "Thank you so much!"

"Thank you for hanging out with me today! I'll see you tomorrow," before Freya could get another word in, the jock had already turned around and started his walk home.

She jogged after him. "Wait!"

Kukai abruptly stopped walking and turned around, colliding with Freya. "Ow..." they moaned, rubbing their heads.

Their eyes met almost immediately, as they raised their heads; noses almost touching. Both of them blushed furiously at the closeness, and hastily took a step backwards each, widening the distance to a respectable amount.

"Er, you needed something?" Kukai's eyes flickered nervously to the ground.

"I'll, um, see you too?" Freya finished lamely, having forgotten what she had wanted to say earlier, fidgeting where she stood.

A chuckle erupted from between his lips as he started walking again. "See you too!" his voice getting fainter as he got further again.

Freya watched Kukai's back as his figure got smaller and smaller in the distance. She smiled softly, clutching the album he had given her.

"Can't wait for another day with you."

This took a long time to type because in-between typing I hit an all-time high fever that lasted for two days, making me disabled in bed plus a sunburn from all that high body-temperature. In any case, I hope you don't mind me using Twilight as the movie, since that's the only movie that came into my mind. Never read the book, movie wasn't that great. Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Luv, sakura-pichu16296

Edited: 27th August 2010