Woop woop! Chapter seven is up! Sorry I didn't post it up yesterday I was up 'til midnight trying to finish it but because I had wasted a bunch of my day watching Doctor Who, lol, I didn't finish. Hope you like this chapter and thanks for all your kind reviews, I can't say that enough! :') I cry tears of joy when somebody faves, follows, or leaves a review. TT~TT


Chapter 7: The Chase!

Of all the people in the world, Haruhi was next to the last person I wanted walking through my classroom door, and yet there she was. Misawa and the other girls quickly took notice and stared at her with goo-goo eyes.

"Hello Aya," Haruhi said and Misawa's smile disappeared. I watched Haruhi blankly as she walked up to my desk.

"Would you like to have lunch with me today?" she asked and I gave her a suspicious look.

"Just you," I asked raising my eyebrow, "Not the happiness club?" She smiled and laughed once.

"No, just me." she said. I glanced in the direction of Misawa; she was staring daggers at me.

"Sure," I said uneasily. I stood and followed her out of the room, Misawa's glare following me.

I walked with Haruhi through the halls and into the gardens. We walked along the path until we came to a private bench, alongside the path, under a small tree.

"I'm sorry about what happened at the club the last time you were there." She said taking a seat, "Those guys can be a bit over the top sometimes."

"It's okay," I said sitting next to her.

"I'm also sorry about our conversation in the halls yesterday, it was rude of me," she added and I smiled at her.

"No big deal you're just worried about me, right?" I asked and she nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" she asked and I sighed.

"Not really," I said poking at my lunch, "but if I don't talk to someone I'm going to explode eventually." I half-laughed at myself and took a deep breath.

"I think," I started, "that there's only one more." She looked at me confused.

"One more what?" she asked.

"One more meeting," I said, "Until my mother gives up her parental rights."

"Now why would she do that?" she said unbelieving.

"Well just think about it, my mother already hates my guts so she threw me out. Now I'm living with my father so he doesn't have to pay her in child support. Lawyers will only point to her throwing me out as bad mothering, some might even say child neglect. If that gets around then the protective services might take Hero, Kotomi, and the triplets away from her. She doesn't want that so she'll make a deal with my father to give up any and all parental rights to me if he doesn't file a complaint against her. Meaning that he won't have to pay her in child support or go through a tedious joint custody trial. Not to mention that it would also be a way to get at me if she could make it so that legally I could no longer meet my siblings, because she knows how much I care for them." I ranted and Haruhi listened carefully.

"I see," she said, "I guess it makes sense when you put it like that."

"Adding to that," I started.

"There's more?" she asked and I nodded.

"It turns out that..." I paused and swallowed my voice got quieter, "I have a brother on my father's side, an older brother." Her face was covered in surprise; she knew about Yoshiro and understood what that meant to me.

"That must be difficult," she said sympathizing.

"You have no idea," I chuckled lightly, "He even attends this school." Her jaw dropped a bit in shock.

"Really? Have you talked to him." she asked.

"Yes, but he doesn't know who I am... yet." I said.

"Do I know him?" she asked and I nodded. Her surprise was growing by the second and she started going over the possibilities in her head. I glanced at her and sighed she noticed.

"Oh sorry."

"No, it's okay. That's just how you are." I said then there was a moment of silence.

We both sat eating our lunches neither knowing what to say.

"One more thing," I said and she looked up at me.

"There's even more?"

"Well you sort of already know about this one," I said then I sighed. "I have to take those lessons on how to be a proper lady so that my father can present me to his family as his official daughter. I'm guessing that it's going to be some big to-do because he's having me learn how to dance and social skills on how to act at fancy parties." I stopped and she watched my expression.

"What would you do?" I asked staring off into the garden flowers.

"I don't know," Haruhi said. We both stared into nowhere as we finished our lunches.

"Haruhi," I finally said; she looked at me. "Please don't tell the host club about any of this or they might start-up that weird operation Ayami's Happiness thing." I said and I looked at her; she smiled.

"Okay," she said.

"Thanks," I said, packing up my lunch. "See ya later," I said and we waved good-bye to each other.

On my way back to class I thought of different ways to avoid Misawa but all my plans lead to dead ends. 'I guess there's no escaping her bullying.'

When I got back to my class I realized that I was really early, lunch wasn't over yet so there weren't many students in the classrooms. There were, however, a few guys whispering to each other at a desk close to mine. When I walked in and they looked up at me. I got a funny feeling in my stomach when the one smiled and waved for me to come over.

"Hey, wanna talk for a bit?" he said; I didn't move. "Come on over here, we wont bite." he said; he and his two friends chuckled.

Keeping my eyes on them I took one step closer to my desk and the boys all stood up. I froze; 'That's not right, something's up here.' I thought then I took a step back towards the door. They took a step towards me and that was it. I threw my bag at the on closest to me and darted out the door.

'CREEPERS!' I thought running down the hallway I could hear them chasing after me. 'Not good.'

I ran down the halls hoping that there would be a teacher or another student but there wasn't. I tried to ditch them by making a couple sharp turns it slowed them down but the kept up the chase. 'Darn!' I thought. I dashed around another corner couple corners until I ran into somebody, literally. I bumped into this person and fell backwards on to my butt.

"Ow," I said hitting the ground.

"Hey," said a guy's deep yet creepy voice.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," I said trying to stand up; he put out his hand to help me up, then I looked up at who I had bumped into. Before me stood a tall boy with red hair and a really scary expression; like someone had just short-changed him at DQ and gave him chicken fingers instead of steak fingers. I was a bit reluctant to grab his hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked his expression still the same.

'Is he making that face because he's upset with me?' I thought but just then I heard the boys round the corner behind me. They stopped and looked around.

"There she is!" one said pointing at me and they began running in my direction. Without thinking I grabbed the boy's hand and he helped me to my feet. I didn't let go of his hand and instead started pulling him with me.

"Sorry again, but this looks like it's going to be a hit and run, you should run too. Those guys are chasing me and I don't think they have good plans for me." I said trying to get him to move but he didn't budge. He glanced around the corner at the three boys coming our way.

"Here," he said pulling away from me and putting his hands in his pockets, "Let me take care of this." The red-haired boy stood at the corner and I stood behind him. Just as the boys came around the corner, they looked up, saw him, and froze.

"It's Kasanoda!" They exclaimed.

"Now - why are you three dimwits chasing a pretty girl, HAH?" He exclaimed, his voice striking the boys with fear. I couldn't see his expression but I guess it must have been terrifying.

"We... um... that is... RUN!" the one shouted and they hurried off scared silly. I couldn't help it, they looked so frightened, I burst out laughing and the red-haired boy looked at me.

"That... was so... funny! They ran off like dogs... with their tails between their legs!" I said in between laughs, leaning on the wall for support; the boy stared at me like I was crazy.

"Wow," I said after the last laugh, "You're amazing." I smiled at him, and he averted his eyes.

"Not really," he mumbled, "They always run from me."

"Well, I thinks it's amazing." I said with a grin. "Besides, you called me pretty so I have to pay you back a compliment, so you're amazing." He looked at me surprised and blushed a little.

"Aren't you," he said looking away again, "going to run away too?" I looked at him confused

"Why would I do that?" I asked and he pointed at his face.

"You may look scary but that doesn't mean that you are scary. I mean sure you scared those boys off but you also saved me. Now, why would I be scared of someone like that?" I said holding out my hand.

"I'm Ayami Sohma, by the way. What's your name?"

"Kasanoda, Ritsu Kasanoda," he mumbled shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you Kasanoda," I said then I heard the class bell ring.

"Oh!" I said looking off towards my class, "Well, I'm gonna be late even if I run and I've been running for a while now. Not to mention that I was late to the same class yesterday, I doubt that the teacher will let me off again." I sighed. "Oh well, I'll just skip." Kasanoda looked at me funny.

"What?" I asked.

"So you're just going to skip class?" he asked.

"You're skipping," I said; and he looked surprised at me.

"How did you know that?" He asked.

"Well, I don't see you running off to class." I said with a grin. "Hey, wanna skip together?" I asked and he blushed again.

"Whatever," he said shrugging and we started walking together.

As we walked through the halls he didn't say a thing and, once again, I somehow ended up at that same tree in the gardens. I took a seat in it's shade with my legs up and my arms around my knees. He watched me then took a seat next to me with one knee up and his arm on it; he kept a bit of distance between us.

"So," he said suddenly making me jump, "why were those boys chasing you?"

"Um," I said thinking it over, "I don't know for sure, but I think a girl in my class asked them to do it." He looked confused.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I ate lunch alone with the host that she likes and she thinks that I'm trying to steal him away from her. The truth is that we're just old friends from middle school and I have no intentions of dating him." I said laughing at that last bit.

"Which host?"

"Haruhi Fujioka," I said and he nearly jumped out of his pants.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said looking away; he looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. 'Only on reason for that...'

"You know don't you?" I asked and he looked at me, "Haruhi's secret." He nodded slowly.

"En," he said and I started laughing.

"How long have you known? No, wait, scratch that, how did you find out?" I asked and blush covered his face.

"I saw her..." he paused, his blush deepening, "changing." I snickered and burst out laughing again.

"Wow! that must have been a shock." I said then I switched the conversation to myself so as to make him a bit less embarrassed.

"I've known her since middle school, so I knew she was a girl from the start. Did you know that she used to have really long hair?" I asked and he must have imagined her with long hair because he began blushing redder and redder; I giggled.

"Wow, crush much?" I asked in English and he looked at me confused.

"You like Haruhi don't you?" I asked, in Japanese this time. All his blushing up until now were just small little blushies this time he went read from ear to ear. His entire face glowed red and I giggled some more.

"Shut up," he said looking away, but I was still giggling.

"Don't worry dude," I said casually as I leaned back on my palms. "I won't tell her or anyone; I'm not that kind of person, I don't gossip." I said stretching out my legs and looking at my feet.

"Anyway," I said returning to the starter subject. "I think one of the girls in my class hates me because I'm closer to Haruhi then her. Which is why she asked those boys to beat me up or something, but that's nothing new to me."

"What do you mean?" he asked and I blushed a little.

"Well," I said tilting my head, "Like Haruhi now, I used to dress differently, too. When she and I met, I had shorter hair and only wore boy's clothing so I got teased a lot in school. I was required to wear a school uniform, but I broke that rule a lot and it landed me in detention more times than I can count." I said with a laugh.

"When I lived in America the guys there didn't like that I could beat them at basket ball so they beat me up for that too. Heck, up until just recently I still dressed that way." I stopped talking because I thought I had lost him.

"Why did you change?" he asked; I blinked and looked at him blankly. "I mean! Not that you look bad as you are now!" he started rambling through his blush, "Actually, I think it looks nice, I mean you look really nice but, ah! Oh man, I mean, that is-" I cut him off laughing.

'I think that this may be the most I've laughed in weeks.' I thought with a sigh.

"No, I'm not upset with you, I was just surprised that's all." He watched me as I tried to configure a good answer to his question.

"I guess, the first question you're supposed to ask is 'Why did you start dressing like a guy in the first place?' and that would answer a lot of things." He stared at me as I thought back to the time it all started.

It was a week before our move to Japan when my mother found me sitting on the bathroom floor with a pair of scissors, cutting off all the brown locks.

"What on earth are you doing!" she exclaimed taking them away and I started crying loudly.

"But... Hero and Kotomi won't have a big brother! They need a big brother!" I was screaming as she dragged me down to the hair salon.

They fixed my hair and, while my mother left to go talk on her cell phone, I told the clerk that my mommy wanted my hair blonde. I slipped her a couple of twenties, that I had stolen from my mothers purse, and she dyed my hair with no disagreement. When my mother came back in, the lady had already finished coloring my hair. Needless to say, she freaked out.

I smirked at the memory and realized that Kasanoda was still staring at me.

"Oh sorry, I was having a flashback." I said blushing then I sighed. "This isn't the real me and that wasn't the real me either."

"Then what is?" he asked and I realized something for the first time.

"I don't know," I said. 'Over time, have I completely lost me?' I laid back on the grass, closing my eyes. 'This is getting too deep for me and I just met this dude.'

"I'm gonna nap a bit, wake me up ten minuets before the bell."

He stayed silent while I snoozed, never really falling asleep. I thought he had left until he mumbled something I couldn't understand.

"Hey," he said after a while; I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He was looking across the gardens, the wind blowing through his hair.

"I think you should be whoever you want to be, dress and act the way you want. Do what you want. You shouldn't let others decide who you are for you." He said looking off into the middle distance, like this was some dramatic turning point for the main character of a movie whose getting some advice from a helpful stranger.

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and I smiled at him, one very close to my real smile. 'I like this guy, he's interesting.' I thought as I saw blush cover his cheeks for the millionth time and he stood up quickly.

"It's time to head back to class," he said. I sat up and he offered me a hand.

"Thank you," I said taking it and he helped me up. "Not just for this, but for everything you did today. Thank you." He blushed more. 'He gets embarrassed too easily.' I thought as we started walking together.

"No problem," he mumbled.

"See ya later," I said heading down the hall to my class.

"En," he said shuffling off in the other direction.

After he was gone, I giggled at how shy and not really scary he actually was.

I walked to my class and when I arrived at my classroom I found my bag sitting on my desk. I wondered why for a few seconds until I picked it up. On my desk was a note that read, I told you to stay away from Haruhi now you'll regret it. I sighed crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash.

The rest of school dragged on with me getting angry stares from Misawa all afternoon. So when the last bell rang I was relieved. I gathered up my things and noticed that one of my library books was due back, so I hurried off to return it.

As always the libraries were full of noisy groups of students. I dropped my book in the return box then headed bake towards the door. I looked up only to see the same three boys from earlier waiting by the door; I glared at them and they grinned. I glanced at the librarian but she was busy with the long line of students.

'Well they won't attack me with all the people here, I could stick around a while.' I thought walking towards the English Literature section. I walked calmly down one aisle and searched for a book to read. I found a book and took it with me to a table. I took a seat glancing at the door; they weren't there anymore.

'Maybe they gave up?' I thought then I saw three familiar people sit at a table three down from me. 'Or not...' I sighed and opened the book.

I wasn't reading it, I only vaguely remember the title. I was trying to think up an escape plan.

'They're going to wait until I leave to attack me, they won't do it in front of witnesses.'

As time ticked by students began to leave.

'Crap, pretty soon the Library will close and I'll be on my own after that, so it's inevitable that they're going to attack me. But... if I can get to the halls before them, I'll have a good chance of being able to run away again. Arg! I hate this, makes me sound like a coward! . . . But father forced me to promise not to get into any fights. Arg!' I thought.

I noticed a large group of students about to leave and took my chance. I stood up quickly and quietly and the boys did as well. I left my book on the table and walked swiftly towards the door, cutting in front of the group of students. They followed but got caught behind the group. I walked quickly around a corner and out of view then I made a mad dash to escape.

After a short while I looked back, sure enough they were there. 'They're very persistent... I wonder what Misawa offered them in exchange for roughing me up or whatever?'

I ran through the halls and cut around a couple of corners; I was getting tired, but so were they, so if this came down to a fight I would have already tired them out a bit.

'I doubt that these rich kids know any sort of fighting skills and I only know what I learned from my many alley fights. Even so, I'm one girl against three guys I've taken on more but all those times the fight was interrupted by some bystander calling the cops about a group of boy roughing up a scrawny kid.' I took a corner and noticed something.

"Wait a second..." I mumbled. 'I know where I am!' I gave myself a mental pat on the back.

As I rounded that last corner, I saw the doors to music room three come into view, but I was going to fast and I lost my footing. I fell to the ground out of breath.

"Damn it," I breathed. I looked up the room was too far down the hall even if I did scream, which I wouldn't, it could reach but it's a music room so it's probably sound proof. I pounded the ground with my fist lightly as I heard them getting closer.

"Now," the one said running up to me. I scurried to stand but he grabbed my hair before I could get to my feet.

"You'll pay for making us run so far!"


AHH! NO AYA! lol Please review!

~Thank you for reading~

~MiraCarpathia