Chapter Seven
A Way to Fall In Love

"You won't be staying here from now on"

"Katsura-san will be taking care of you starting today"

"You'll adjust to life in this town quickly, I'm sure"

She'd heard all of it before. The girl blew a strand of hair out of her eyes as the car pulled into the driveway of a townhouse. They didn't want to keep her anymore. It was fine, though. It was understandable. She wasn't their child, and they loved her no more than she loved them.

The girl understood, but the sting in her chest said otherwise. She and the driver got out of the car once it was parked, each taking a piece of luggage from the back before making their way up to the doorstep. The door was opened in seconds. Apparently her new guardian had been expecting them. It was a woman, probably in her late twenties. She dressed business-like, her brown hair up in a neat ponytail as she looked at the man in her doorway, and then at the blue-eyed girl beside him.

"You can put her things by the step. Her room's almost ready, so she can carry them upstairs right away" she told the man, looking around as though to find something better to do then greet them.

"Thank you for taking her, Mihoshi. My wife and I have been so busy with the baby, it's been difficult to maintain our lifestyle…I really appreciate this"

"That's what sisters-in-laws are for, right?" Katsura Mihoshi's reply was brisk. "Let's get the papers sorted out"

"Yes, of course!" her brother-in-law agreed hastily. "You have a lunch meeting today, right?"

"That's right"

Setting down the suitcase in his grip, the man looked down at the long haired girl who had been silent until now. "You'll be able to manage carrying both upstairs, won't you?"

"Mm…" the fifteen-year-old nodded at the question. "…I'll be fine"

"Then…" after giving her an awkward pat on the head, the girl's former guardian removed his shoes and followed after his sister-in-law.

Taking both pieces of luggage into her hands, the fallow haired youth slipped out of her shoes and began shuffling towards the stairs that were in view. Her royal blue eyes scrunched at the effort that was needed. The suitcases were heavy.

For as long as she could remember, Akina had been living a life of being passed from one relative to another. Her mother had been mistress to a wealthy businessman, so the story went. She had died giving birth to their illegitimate child, however, and the father had wanted nothing to do with the newborn. In order to avoid a dispute the woman's sister had taken the baby girl instead, raising her until she was approximately seven. Then she went to live with her uncle.

After that, things were always changing. The school she went to and the faces she saw at home were the same for uncertain amounts of time. Her second cousin had been a newlywed when Akina went to live with him. Now their baby was giving them discord, and although the teenager had offered to assist them, the couple assured her that this was a far better solution.

Maybe it was.

The girl let out a heavy breath of air, setting down her luggage once she reached the top of the stairs. Spotting her room was easy enough- it was the one that didn't have sheets on the bed or curtains over the windows. The one with dust lining the dresser and blandly new paint on the walls. It was like this so she could build on it, and then take it apart with ease.

With a bit of struggling Akina dragged her luggage into the barren room, the bottoms of the suitcases drawing clean lines across the dusty floor as she pulled them along.


"This is Kidono Akina" the teacher introduced the girl in the familiar middle school uniform. "She moved to Domino city just recently, and will be in this class from now on. Let's all treat her well, shall we?"

In the back of the class, someone yawned loudly. The teacher glanced at where the bored noise had come from- a blonde boy had stretched himself out languidly where he sat, feet on his desk and arms behind his head. He didn't look the least bit worried as the teacher sent him a glare that said 'I'll get to you later'.

The educator cleared his throat. "Do you have anything you'd like to add, Kidono-san?"

"U-um…" Akina had no idea what the stutter was for. She had been in this situation so many times already, it was like some sort of unavoidable stage performance. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you all better from now on…" she bowed, the long hair she'd taken all morning to smooth out spilling over her shoulders.

Moments later she found her seat, and as her first class in this new school started, the other students' class continued on as usual.

Weeks went by at a slow pace. Katsura-san wasn't home very often, and when she was she was always doing something important. Akina wasn't sure if this was because she was there or if it had always been this way for the young woman, but from their meager conversations the teenager felt her guardian was naturally distant. School was slightly better- a few of the girls had come and introduced themselves, most of them sitting near her during class time. They were nice, but Akina found herself too worried over how long she would be living in Domino to make friends with them properly. It was always 'good morning', 'see you tomorrow' and nothing more.

It was long after Akina's transfer that something happened which drew her away from those timeless concerns. She had been walking up the flight of stairs she frequented with a can of strawberry-kiwi punch in hand, which the girl had bought to go along with her lunch. Today was different from the other days, though- there was someone lying down on the landing that connected to the second light of stairs, sunlight from the windows splashing across their unmoving body. It gave the boys' uniform they were wearing a lighter appearance and made the person's blonde hair even more striking.

She knew this boy- he was in her class, though his name was still a mystery to her. Akina saw no use in going out of her way to learn everyone's names unless she would be with them for a while. What she had noticed was that this particular classmate was often absent, and seemed to get into trouble with the teacher a lot. He was most likely a problem student, and with that said, his reasons for lounging around in the stairwell shouldn't have been any interest to her. Even so, the long haired girl stepped onto the landing and shuffled towards the boy, his back to her and one arm tucked beneath his head.

Is he asleep, I wonder? The fallow haired schoolgirl wondered, peering down at him with curious blue eyes. Taking a breath, Akina's voice echoed faintly through the stairwell.

"Hello…I'm Kidono, the transfer student from your class. I don't mean to bother you, but I was wondering what you were doing…?" she hesitated asking, the girl's hand tightening on her can of juice nervously. He did not respond, and for some senseless reason she kept talking. "Most people don't sleep during lunch, so I thought it was a bit strange…I mean, people usually eat during lunch. I thought they did, at least…um…" looking down, the sun glinted off the tin can in her grasp. "…Do you not have a lunch…?"

The question hung in the air like laundry getting soaked by the rain. It was heavy, and it made her frown. About a minute passed by with the girl standing where she was and the boy not saying a word. Slowly, Akina knelt down and placed her strawberry-kiwi punch on the floor, the metal clinking softly on the fake marble flooring.

"I'll give you my juice" she told him, feeling a sense of accomplishment as she stood up. "It might be a bit too sweet, though…"

The girl started to make her way up the second flight of stairs, a chorus of footsteps flooding into her ears as a group of students walked up the first flight, stopping at the landing. They were talking, quiet and incoherent as their words echoed softly beneath the sound of her footwalls. Akina continued walking, her pace steady as she neared to the doors to the second floor of the school building. As she reached out to push them open a sharp clang rang through the stairwell, joined by the crunch of tin and the hissing of liquid. She froze, her royal blue eyes widening in shock as laughter bounced off the walls.

Akina dashed to the railing, throwing her eyes downwards. Amongst the group of laughing boys was the blonde from her class, a grin cutting across his features as he walked down the stairs with them. A crushed tin can lay shivering on the plateau between the two staircases, strawberry-kiwi punch dribbling down the wall where the drink had been smashed against it.

Reeling back on her heels, the girl pressed a hand to her chest as she felt a very misplaced sense of rejection.


"I was wondering…do you know anything about the person in our class with blonde hair?" Akina asked the next day during lunch hour, earning a few strange looks from the girls whom she ate with.

"You mean…Jonouchi?" one of them wondered, somewhat incredulously. "Jonouchi Katsuya? Don't tell me you're interested in him!"

"Well…no…I mean…I was just curious about why he's absent so much…" the fallow haired girl didn't know if she'd call it being interested. She'd like to know why he thought it was funny to waste her juice.

"No, no!" another girl protested. "He's a delinquent, always getting into fights! There's no use asking about a guy like that"

"I mean, he has gotten a little better since he became friends with Honda-kun last year-" the first classmate started.

"-But he's still far from anything likeable!" the second finished. "As long as he keeps hanging out with Hirutani and the rest of those jerks, he's one of them!"

"So," the two girls parroted one another. "Just forget him, Kidono-san!"

"A…ah…yeah, I'll do that" Akina placed a slice of picked radish in her mouth, chewing slowly.

"Hey, hey, isn't Maeba-kun hot, though?" one of them gushed.

"Oh, I know, right! Have you gotten a chance to see him yet, Kidono-san?!"

The fallow haired girl reluctantly swallowed. "Um…yeah…"

The rest of their conversation carried on much the same, with the pair of girls raving about the boys they thought were attractive and then verbally gauging the blue eyed girl for her thoughts on them, declaring that she should absolutely be interested in those types of guys. Akina couldn't muster up the will to tell them that she had no interest in such boys- that after being shuffled through so many different schools, she found no point in picking out good-looking boys to follow after. Instead she quietly agreed with their idolizing words, the opinions she gave out nothing more than an echo of her company.

For the rest of the week the schoolgirl really did try and do what her classmates told her to do and forget about the boy named Jonouchi Katsuya. He was a delinquent, and had no apparent qualities she could consider good. He skipped class and talked back to teachers and seemed to live off cheap cafeteria snacks. But why? Why was he like that? Why would he be so cruel as to throw her strawberry-kiwi punch against the wall? She knew that the sweetness of the drink could be a little much for some people, but had it really been necessary?

Akina had nearly been able to toss aside those questioning thoughts. She had almost succeeded in convincing herself he was nothing more then a mean person who found it fun to meaninglessly destroy things. But then, in the very same stairwell that she had first spoken to him, that theory was proven wrong.

The girl had been in a rush, jogging down the stairs and skipping steps while she was at it. Her long fallow hair was obscuring her eyes when she reached the landing and pivoted on her feet. She had noticed a blurred figure in her peripheral vision as she leapt past them, but soon forgot about it when her foot touched the edge of the closest step and then slipped. Akina swallowed a scream, knowing what awaited her as gravity started to pull her downwards.

A hand latched onto her wrist and yanked her back, snapping the girl out of falling. Now she was stumbling backwards, and just as Akina was sure she would end up tripping over her own feet the pulling stopped. The long haired girl steadied herself, opening her eyes after realizing they had been squeezed shut. She was then looking up at Jonouchi Katsuya, his eyes meeting hers with an unreadable stare.

Suddenly, all the questions she had been trying to do away with came flooding back, along with new thoughts that sang louder than the rest. He helped me. He saved me. He cared about me enough to catch me.

Jonouchi Katsuya is a good person.

Swallowing inaudibly, Kidono Akina found herself staring into the blonde's eyes- which were brown- for an uncomfortable length of time, neither of them saying anything. It was him who broke the silence, a smirk on his face as he spoke.

"Running on the stairs is dangerous" Katsuya said to her. "If you're gonna fall, it's best to fall upwards"

And with one quick tug on her wrist, Akina was doing just that. She landed ungracefully on her stomach, the edge of the steps knocking the wind out of her. Mustering up the strength to move, she shifted onto her knees and looked over her shoulder at the fair haired boy, who had continued to make his way down the stairs. When reaching the bottom, he glanced up at her momentarily and let out a faint chuckle.

"Nice panties, transfer student" Jonouchi said while walking out of sight.

"P…panties?" Kidono echoed, the new sense of confusion adding onto the bafflement she was feeling over what had just happened. Then she noticed how she was posed, and how short her skirt suddenly seemed.

Akina felt a mild thrill run through her with the knowledge that she had just flashed a member of the opposite sex, which encouraged the already rapid beating of her heart.


"Um, sensei…" the long haired girl approached her teacher hesitantly. "Soon it will be time to collect our career plan sheets, won't it? I…I was wondering if I could do that for you"

The teacher adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "Hm…well, we usually have the class representative do that…but it seems you're finally taking an interest in your class- I'm glad to hear it. Pleased collect them neatly, Kidono-san"

Akina bowed and thanked him sincerely. When the time came to collect the career sheets from all her classmates she did it as neatly as possible, careful not to make creases in the paper as she flicked through them. "So this is what a class representative does?" she wondered aloud, not hating the work.

The girl was checking to see if she had missed anyone, along with one other thing. She paused as her eyes trailed over a particular name written out in a messy, careless fashion. She scanned over the sheet of paper, biting her lip as the information before her sunk in. Then Kidono continued on, finding that all the student's career plan sheets had been handed in. Straightening the papers out gently, she placed them on the desk at the front of the classroom and went home.

The next day, the girl arrived at school prepared. She had thought long and hard on what she meant to do at this point. She was interested in him- that much she could admit. The girl wasn't expecting anything to come of it, of course. She might leave on any given day. But if she could help him in any way- steer him onto a better path- then he would be happier because of it, and he wouldn't have to crush cans of juice that he might rather drink.

Even if he doesn't even remember me when I leave, Akina thought as she approached the menacing looking group of delinquents, that's okay.

"Excuse me," she started, pausing only briefly when a few of them looked towards her. "I'd like to talk to Jonouchi-kun for a minute"

"What, you want to confess or something?" one of them snickered.

"Answer's 'no'" she heard the blonde say before she spotted him leaning against the wall. "Get lost"

Akina frowned, twisting her fingers nervously behind her back. No! Her hands clenched into fists. Don't shy away!

"Like I'd come here to do that!" she hear herself scoff, shifting her arms so they were now crossed over her chest. "I'm only asking for five minutes! Don't tell me you're scared to be alone with a girl for five minutes?"

Her baiting worked. Jonouchi pushed himself away from the wall and walked towards Kidono quicker then she expected, grabbing her by the arm. He kept walking, pulling her around the corner and down the hall far enough to be sure no one would hear them talking.

The blonde threw her arm down in an irritated and perhaps even embarrassed fashion. "What?" he demanded, sounding more awkward then angry.

"Um…" now that she had gotten him away from his friends, she wasn't sure what to say. It had all been carefully rehearsed in her head, but she suddenly felt like she'd lost her script. "Well I…I saw on your career plan sheet that you've decided to go to Rintama-"

"That's what we're talking about?" the boy cut in, throwing his hands in the air. "Forget it- I don't have time for this!"

Akina panicked when he spun on heel, grabbing onto the back of his uniform tightly. Her shoes squeaked noisily on the floor as she was pulled along, and Jonouchi soon stopped to pry her fingers off of him.

"Would you let go already?!" Katsuya snapped.

"P-please just listen calmly" she stuttered. "Like I promised, I only want five minutes!"

"Fine, whatever, just let go!" the boy insisted, slapping her hands away when she finally uncurled her fingers. "Now hurry it up, transfer student!"

"All I wanted to say was that Domino would be a better choice for you" the girl sighed, tucking her hands behind her back to hide how they trembled.

"And what makes you think that?" he asked snidely, straightening his uniform jacket.

"Because…" Akina faltered, searching her mind for the reason. "Because you seem like a person who does good with learning things hands-on, and Domino has a lot of good classes for that. Plus you look athletic, and there's a good sports program…also, if you went to Rintama you might have to take a bus to get to that district…it would be easier overall"

Jonouchi appeared to think about this for a moment. The consideration quickly drained from his expression and he eyed her suspiciously. "Here's a new question. Why the hell do you care?"

The girl was without words for a moment, only able to find them when she looked at her shoes. "That's…you caught me on the stairs the other day….I'm really grateful, so…I just…" she trailed off as Katsuya laughed.

"Are you an idiot?" the blonde asked, appearing to be genuinely amused at her reasoning. "So I wanted to mess around with the new student! So what? I can't believe you seriously thought I did it to be nice!" then the laugher died and a cold look settled in his eyes. "Don't bother giving gratitude to me, transfer student. It's unwanted and unneeded- I'm a bad guy, so I think I'll stick with other bad guys"

He turned to leave. Akina bit her lip hard, and then made one last-ditch effort to change the boy's mind.

"How about a different reason, then…?" she murmured, not looking up to even see if he had stopped to listen. "One that…doesn't involve any of those things?"

"…Let's hear it"

She smiled weakly in knowing he was still there. Then her cheeks flushed and the girl almost wished he wasn't. Sucking in a breath of air, Akina forced herself to look at him. "You'd look better in Domino's uniform"

Jonouchi returned her stare seriously for a moment before he took a step back, looking dumbstruck. "W…what?" he tried.

"The Rintama uniforms are ugly" Kidono said firmly. "You'd look a lot cooler in blue. Well- that's just a matter of opinion, of course…" she turned away from him and began walking down the hall. "But a reason is a reason. See you in class, Jonouchi-kun"


"Hey…" it was a rare lunch hour during which Jonouchi had sneaked away from Hirutani and his gang to hang out with his most recently gained friend, Honda Hiroto. "How do you think I'd look in blue?"

The brown haired boy shot him a questioning glance before clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Jonouchi…I have to say that I simply don't feel that way about yo-" he stopped talking when a book hit his head.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Jonouchi shouted. "You know I didn't mean it like that!"

Honda rubbed his abused cranium, glancing down at the weapon that has struck him. Intrigued, he bent down and picked it up, much to his friend's silent horror.

"A Domino high school information booklet? But I thought you were going to Rintama"

"I am!" Katsuya retorted. "I mean- I probably am, but I was thinking Domino's uniforms are pretty cool so I'd maybe check it out…" he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"J…Jonouchi…" the blonde watched as the other junior high school student's eyes became watery. "You say that, but…you really just want to go to the same high school as me, right? I'm right!"

"What? No, I didn't say that!" Jonouchi protested.

"But that's what you meant!" Hiroto insisted.

Katsuya punched him when the brunette attempted a hug.


Wow! I did Akina's past arc all in one chapter. I'm happy with myself. And I bet you're all happy too! I mean, an OC story that focuses on their OC's background for only one chapter?! Hahaha. My favorite part was, of course, the ending XD. After doing Akina's pov for a whole chapter, switching over to Jonouchi was quite a relief, even if it was only for a second.

So, just to mention things that weren't super clear within the chapter- Akina moved to Domino halfway through her last year of junior high school. She talked to Jonouchi when there was about a quarter of the year left. They didn't have any interaction after that, and the next time they met- in Jonouchi's second year at Domino high- Akina had changed herself (or at least her outer self) into the class representative he knows now. Her present time persona smothers what he may have thought of her before, and so he can't really recall much of Akina from junior high- in fact, it might be safe to say he even considers them two different people! Transfer student and class rep.

I had trouble writing a meaner Jonouchi. It hurt me T.T. And just fyi, I fall up stairs all the time! Haha! But strangely, I never fall down them…and that's about all I have to say! If you have any questions, complaints or words of praise, feel free to tell me in a review! Overall, I hope you enjoyed this two-chapter release.