Disclaimer: TNK-K's not mine.


Chapter 7: His promise.

Tsubaki stared at the can of soft drink in her hand as she walked behind Shizuku. Yuuzan was in front of the brunette, leading the way to God knows where. After what had happened at school, the young Kurosaki had preferred to keep a decent distance with the raven haired boy. And there she was, following him and Shizuku at a lazy pace.

"In Japan, we have a tradition", started Yuuzan, "Of paying close attention to the seasons. I believe that tradition is embodied in the sweets we make".

'Sweets?'

"You know how they say that you can taste the seasons changing?" he continued. "For example, I like desserts like cake with plenty of whipped cream and tarts, but in the summer I prefer mousse and gelatine. They look a lot cooler".

The three of them reached a zebra crossing and while waiting for the little man to turn green, Tsubaki glanced at her two friends. Shizuku looked completely uninterested in what Yuuzan was talking about and she continued to sip her drink. Yuuzan, though, had an adorable look on his face. He was like a child who came back home from the day-care and related every exciting little things that happened to his mother. In that sense, he was just like a child and not the grown up he was.

"Speaking of cool treats, I've had it only once but I still remember it. It's a traditional Turkish pastry called Baklava. Pie crust covered in lots of syrup! When you take a bite, it just melts in your mouth! All that talk about sweets is making me crave some!"

They stopped walking and Tsubaki hung back. She kept her distance but she was still within earshot.

"You're making me sick", Shizuku finally said bluntly. "Didn't you want to talk about Haru?"

"Right, Haru!" agreed Yuuzan and he turned to face the short girl with his hands deep in his pockets. "Haru always says that he doesn't like sweets. Yeah, I can't hold myself back".

He looked towards the Kurosaki Hurricane and he was pleasantly surprised to find that she was smiling at him. "Can you girls wait here? I need to go buy something sweet! I'll be back soon".

He shot a smile at Tsubaki who only blinked at him and he walked away. "It won't be long until he finds us", he mumbled under his breath.

-Somewhere-

Haru was running as fast as he could with a huge frown on his face. His older brother had just sent him a selfie of himself with Shizuku in the background. There was also a message sent together with the picture: This is your brother. I'm having a drink with Shizuku-chan. Isn't the weather lovely today? Can you guess where we are?

"Damn!" Haru yelled in anger and he skidded to a stop on a bridge. "Where the hell are you?! How am I supposed to know?!"

-Back to Yuuzan, Shizuku and Tsubaki-

Yuuzan was not back yet and Shizuku was sitting on the left side of a bench with Tsubaki at the other end. The latter was staring at her fingerless glove as she flexed her fingers and the brunette was deep in thought. 'I wonder what Haru's big brother is up to. Did he just want to talk about sweets?'

"Sorry I was gone for so long", announced Yuuzan with his usual bright smile as he appeared with a box of doughnuts in his hands. "I had to wait in line".

He sat down between the two girls and he opened the box like a child opening his Christmas present. "I've always wanted to try the doughnuts here", he said eagerly. "We don't have one where I live".

The young Yoshida offered one to Shizuku who accepted it with no fuss and then he turned to the red head on his other side while offering a doughnut, "Tsubaki, here".

The girl took it silently. 'He missed the honorific in my name again. What is going on in his mind?'

The three of them ate the sweets in silence until Shizuku broke it, "So, about Haru..."

"Oh right", Yuuzan said and he sheepishly added, "Sorry for taking up so much of your time".

He bit into a doughnut, turned fully towards Shizuku and asked, "Are you Haru's girlfriend?"

"I'm interested to know!" Tsubaki piped up suddenly. She saw the telltale of a blush on her friend's face as she denied what she was being asked and the blue-eyed girl scoffed in response before continuing to eat.

"What? You're not in love with each other?" asked Yuuzan with clear surprise on his handsome face. "But you're together all the time. Are you sure?"

There was a short silence as Shizuku formulated her answer. "I told him I loved him, but he said he didn't feel the same way".

"You did?" Yuuzan said and he took another bite. "So what did Haru say?"

"He loved me but it wasn't the same kind of love. So I'll wait for him to fall in love with me before saying it again".

Next to them, Tsubaki facepalmed.'She's dense! And Haru's even worse'.

Yuuzan licked his finger while eyeing Shizuku and then he chuckled. "Well, I know what it probably is. He cares so much about you that he's scared of losing you or something", he explained cheerfully. He patted the girl's shoulder comically and added reassuringly, "It happens all the time! All the time! Good luck! Also, you have weird taste".

Tsubaki's reaction to this was a slow raise of her eyebrow.

"So, let's get down to business", the grey-eyed boy said as he took yet another doughnut. "I need Haru to quit school and come back home".

Shizuku was shocked as well as Tsubaki. Haru quit school? This was not happening!

Yuuzan stood up and walked towards the rail, leaning against it. "You know that Haru is living with Mitsuyoshi right now, right?"

"Oh? Uh, yes", replied Shizuku, shaken by what Yuuzan said.

"Our dad is pretty strict", he explained. "He kicked Haru out of the house before he started middle school. He was a pretty big troublemaker". He paused momentarily to eat the chocolate doughnut and then continued with a distant smile on his face, "I don't know why Dad's changed his mind but he wants Haru to move back in all of a sudden".

Shizuku lowered her gaze to her hands and Yuuzan turned around to face the two girls, "So I was sent to convince him to return. Haru hates both of us, so I can't get close enough to talk to him".

By now, Tsubaki contented herself with listening only instead of voicing out. She wanted Shizuku to figure this out by herself and she already felt as if her presence was being ignored by the other two persons.

Shizuku was nervous. There was a weird sensation deep in her stomach and she felt like throwing up until it completely disappeared. She folded the paper in her hands to keep her fingers from twitching and then asked, "Has Haru said anything?"

"Based on what Mitsuyoshi said, Haru doesn't intend to return", he replied.

His expression took a complete turn when he imitated his younger brother, "'Screw that!' was his answer. Well, I can't do much about that anyways".

The boy kept his eyes on Shizuku who still had her gaze lowered to her lap. "So, there you go", he concluded. "I'm sure you'd be lonely if Haru went away, Shizuku-chan".

The troubled girl looked up at him and Yuuzan smiled. "So, would you help me?"

"Huh? I don't understand what you mean", she replied slowly. "Didn't you come here to take Haru back?"

"Yeah", he agreed, "But that's what our Dad wants. If you ask me, it'd be really inconvenient for Haru to move back in now".

"What?" asked Shizuku with plain surprise.

"If he comes back, we'll end up killing each other", the boy clarified with another smile that did not fit at all and then he laughed, followed by a sigh. "Dad and I gave up on him long ago, but now he's actually going to high school".

He took slow steps towards the brunette. "It sounds like there have been a few incidents but he's still going to class. Why is that?" He bent down at the waist to be on eye level with her and he pointed a finger right in front of her nose. "All because of you".

Tsubaki narrowed her blue eyes into slits at the sharp look in Yuuzan's gaze that was slightly obstructed by his long bangs.

"Haru won't leave school as long as you're there", he told her. "And that's the only way I can keep him here. What will you do, Shizuku-chan?"

Mizutani drank in everything that Yuuzan said without a word, staring in the deep grey pools.

Suddenly, a hand took hold of her collar from behind and the person pulled her at the back, away from Yuuzan, as they grabbed her bag and swung it at the elder Yoshida who immediately jumped backwards. Tsubaki reacted as well and she jumped off the bench, instantly at Yuuzan's side to face the attacker. However, her offensive stance slackened when she saw that it was Haru with a furious look on his face.

"Haru!" exclaimed Shizuku.

"Bastard!" he spat angrily. "What do you think you were doing, Yuuzan?!"

The older boy laughed good-naturedly. "Sorry, I saw you coming and couldn't resist", he admitted.

"You're twisted", Tsubaki told him bluntly.

Haru shot Shizuku a deadly glare and then turned to Tsubaki, "Hurricane? I didn't know you were here".

"Doesn't matter", she replied with a shrug.

"It's been a while since we last talked, Haru", said Yuuzan with a tilt of his head. "Are you doing okay?"

His brother glared at him and replied, "I don't know what you and Dad want but I'm not going back now! If you want to make me quit school, go ahead and try!"

Haru took hole of Shizuku's wrist and pulled her up. "Let's go, Shizuku, Hurricane".

"Haru", whispered Shizuku but she stopped him. "You should listen Yuuzan-san out. He said that he isn't here to take you back".

Haru turned around with still that furious look on his face. "What?!"

"Sorry, but I don't want you to quit school", she admitted and lowered her gaze to his shirt.

He was surprised by her words but the frown came back on his face. "I can't trust what he says", he told her.

Yuuzan laughed at that. "That was pretty mean-"

"You stay out of this!" Haru yelled.

"Now, now", Yuuzan continued, "You should listen when your girl asks you to do something. And I didn't want to say this but if you keep running away, she'll have to take your place. Like today".

Haru calmed down at that. "Fine, start talking. I'll listen. What do you want me to do?"

"It's very simple", said the shorter Yoshida as he closed his eyes and leant his back against the rail. "I just need you to promise me that you'll keep going to school".

"Huh?"

Yuuzan looked at Haru and explained, "Dad didn't think you'll start going to school. Now he wants you to quit so that he can enroll you in a school where he'll have more control over you. But if you've already learnt how to be a functioning member of the society, there's no need in forcing you to come home. I can convince Dad, Is this a deal?"

"Okay, I promise", said Haru seriously.

"There we go!" Yuuzan said, regaining his cheerful attitude.

Haru held Shizuku's hand gently and he pulled her along to leave. "Let's go", he told her. "Hurricane, come on".

Tsubaki, who was on the sidelines the whole time, walked towards her classmates but Yuuzan held her back by holding her gloved wrist.

"She'll be staying here with me for a while", Yuuzan said. Haru turned back on the spot with a deeper frown.

"She's not!"

"Haru", Tsubaki called. "I'll be fine", she said with a comforting smile. "You go ahead with Shizuku".

"A-Are you sure?" asked the brunette hesitatingly.

"Don't worry, Shizuku-chan", Yuuzan replied in the red head's place. "I'll even take her back home".

Haru nodded to Tsubaki and turned once again to leave. "Don't let me see your face again, Yuuzan", he added over his shoulder.

Tsubaki watched the two of them until they disappeared from sight and a nice breeze picked up, caressing her red locks. Her eyes flickered to the hand on her wrist and then up to the boy's face. She had to tilt her head up since she was a good five to six inches shorter than him. She took a small step back to put some distance between them and Yuuzan chuckled at her. He let go of her and went to sit on the bench. Tsubaki did the same, although she sat on the end of the bench.

"The other day at the batting center, I asked Mitsuyoshi about why you spaced out suddenly", he said casually. The girl snapped her head towards him and Yuuzan felt her piercing stare. "He told me about your past", he added.

A tense silence followed.

"Oh", Tsubaki breathed. She was not expecting this at all. Her heart was beating in an almost agonizing way and she concentrated on pushing the darkness back deep into her mind, where it belonged.

"I won't believe what people say, though", he told her and smiled. "I want you to tell me about it when you're ready".

Tsubaki shot up from her seat. "If you held me back just to talk about this, then forgot it. I'm not breathing out a word", she told him coldly and turned to leave. Once again, he stopped her but this time, his hold on her was stronger and more firm. She tried wrenching her hand out of his grip but in vain.

"I'm not done talking with you", he said gently but Tsubaki caught the underlying authoritative tone. His sharp gaze on her felt overbearing and she silently sat down again, closer to the boy due to his unbreakable hold on her. They were silent for a while, simply enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

"Why does Haru call you Hurricane?" Yuuzan asked with twinkles in his eyes.

Tsubaki smirked at the memory. "I was like a hurricane when I was younger", she said, using a proud tone. "I would cause a mess wherever I went, destroyed anything that annoyed me and I was like a knight in shining armor for the weaker students. One day when a teacher was scolding me for trashing a classroom all by myself -don't ask how I did that- he told me that I was like a hurricane beyond everyone's control. Some students heard him and hence the nickname Kurosaki Hurricane".

"So you consider yourself to be strong", the older boy questioned, more like stated, with a smirk.

Tsubaki shrugged, "I guess. It was easy to beat up the bullies at school".

"Then how come you haven't succeeded in making me let go of you?"

Yuuzan held up their hands with a Cheshire-like smile. His smile widened even more when a blush crept up the girl's face and she avoided looking into his eyes in an adorable manner.

"W-We're grown up now", she stuttered and the red on her face darkened. "O-Of course you'll be physically s-stronger than me!"

Yuuzan laughed and he let go of her, watching as she placed her hand where his previously was.

"You're so cute when you're flustered", he told her with a lopsided grin.

"Don't say that!"

"Your hair is really long", he suddenly said and eyed the ponytail which stopped at her waist-line. "That reminds me", he added and fingered his bangs, "I need to get a haircut".

"Don't cut it", Tsubaki blurted without thinking.

"Oh?" Yuuzan looked at her but she stared off into the distance.

"I-It looks nice like this", she justified softly and lowered her gaze to her lap. A squeak escaped her when she was pulled into a side hug.

"If Tsubaki says so!" chirped Yuuzan happily.

It was not long before they stood up to go home and as he had told Shizuku, Yuuzan accompanied Tsubaki to her place. The red haired teenager stood in front of the gate, opened it but she did not go in yet. She looked at the taller boy and smiled softly. "Thanks for taking me back home", she said sincerely.

"Anytime!" Yuuzan said and then his tone dropped into a more serious one, "I'm a new person to you but I'll protect you and hold you whenever you feel vulnerable or scared".

Stunned, Tsubaki watched his back until he turned round a corner.

Why did her heart skip a beat?


Author's note: Okay, I'm feeling proud of myself. Two chapters in one day! Say, is the relationship between Yuuzan and Tsubaki going too fast? Please tell me if it is! Thanks everyone! :D

~IcedLady~