TRICKED AND TWISTED

Chapter 10: When Everyone is Against You

I breathed in, out, in, out. Again and again. It was a cycle of internal changes within my body. Oxygen coming in, Carbon Dioxide coming out. Well, that's what my teacher once told me. I opened my eyes. Gen-chan was still meditating in front of me. I closed my eyes again and tried what he was doing. Zen Meditation at four AM. Yes, this is what I was wasting my sleeping time for. Meditation.

And the reason why I'm doing this?

Well, obviously it's because I need to get my head cleared off of Niou. Especially those words that he said last night. I need to delete that forever in my brain. And thus, I invited myself to a morning meditation with Gen-chan. He was not willing at all to let me join him but I wouldn't leave his house, and so this is what was is happening. An hour of pure silence.

This seriously isn't going to work. And with that thought in mind, I dozed off to sleep where I had a dream of falling off a staircase and waking up seconds before Sanada was through with his meditation. He opened his eyes and found me staring right at him.

"What do you want, Sai?" He asked suddenly, while pushing himself off the ground and on to his feet. I did the same and stood up.

"Food." Just seconds ago, after I had awakened, my stomach started grumbling. "I'm so hungry. I didn't sleep the whole night and I skipped dinner. I'm really hungry."

Gen-chan started murmuring something I couldn't understand. He walked towards his kitchen and said, "Sai. I wasn't talking about what you want. I was asking why you're here and why you needed that meditation."

Clearly that was not what he said earlier, but my brain hasn't been functioning well, lately. I guess, I heard wrong. I shrugged, "I don't plan on telling you."

Genichirou sighed. "You're hopeless."

I shrugged again. "What's the point in hoping in something when you know nothing will come out of it?"

"What does that mean, Tanaka Sai?" He suddenly raised his voice.

I sat on the floor beside his kitchen table, resting my head on it. "I don't know. I mean, here I was hoping that something good could finally come out of my life but I skipped off that chance because I chose to run after an idiot and the next thing you know, I get two guys running after me. The stupid part is that they're good friends. And it's tiring being someone in the middle of those two. I mean, you just can't separate them at all."

And I just kept blabbing. That's how stupid I am.

"Don't spit out nonsense, Sai! And sit down properly!" Sanada once more ordered.

I got my head off the table and stared at him. "Are you planning to listen to me blab about something ridiculous about my life or not?"

He gave me a face that obviously said he didn't want to listen. I didn't want to even tell him about what Niou told me and here I was spitting out.

"If you want to talk gossip, go find someone appropriate for that." He uttered.

"Obviously at 5 AM, I don't think anyone is awake enough to actually listen to my problems. Besides, I haven't slept the whole night and I really need to spit it out." I yapped.

"Then don't tell me."

I sighed. "Can I sleep here for awhile? I think all I needed was a place for me to sleep without thinking of last night's events. And I think here is the perfect place."

"Haven't you slept enough during the meditation?"

Wait. How did Sanada know that? Wasn't his eyes closed the whole time. I looked at his expressionless face. Gosh. I can hardly read this guy. There will never be a girl who would fall for a guy as strict and as a mean as this guy. I wish him all the luck in the life.

"I didn't." I lied. "Just give me time to sleep."

He sighed, then brought me to a vacant room where a single bed lay. I tucked myself in it instantly and there I was, off to dreamland.

I woke up to Sanada's screaming and a whole lot of him telling me that we were both going to be late for morning practice. I jumped into my uniform which I packed in a bag, and two slices of bread which were resting on my side of the table. I greeted his grandfather a good morning before I rushed off to Sanada's side. He was already briskly walking. I tried to catch up to his speed, but I'm not exactly physically as strong as him. Kendo doesn't really teach people to be physically fast in the legs part. It's just a lot of concentrating and control.

And in no time, thanks to Sanada's speed, I reached my kendo morning practice just in time before my coach could appear. This morning was going to be another rough morning. One last practice before we embark on our journey to snag another championship title. We take our Rikkai rule seriously. We never lose.

As soon as practice had ended, I rushed off to my classroom. The girls were once crowding around my table. Yagyuu was nowhere to be found, nor was Sanada. It felt like déjà vu watching my female classmate scream and yell as they tried to get closer to whoever was on my table. This had happened before.

Not too long ago.

And I was expecting the same person to be sitting on my seat, legs on the table and with his signature phrase.

"Puri"

Niou-kun had once again invaded my classroom and also terrorized my seat.

"What do you want?" I asked as I dropped my bag on my table, not minding that his foot was there. He removed his despicable legs and sat down properly.

"An answer, of course." He said.

Like the time when Yagyuu confessed to me, I had also told Niou to give me time. I needed to analyze this kid a little more. There was something about him that made my heart beat but I just wasn't sure what it was. And I wasn't ready to get in a relationship where I hardly knew why I liked the guy in the first place.

I didn't reply and just stared at him. The girls had finally dispersed and were back to their seats. I knew they were whispering about me and Niou. By this time, I guess they knew that he had confessed to me. And in a few more seconds, the rumor will spread faster and faster. In no time, my best friends from other classes would be yelling at me, wanting details.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" I begged. "I don't think it's appropriate that we talk about here."

"Yes, and it's also inappropriate when you talk about it in front of me." A voice boomed behind me. I turned back and saw Yagyuu staring at me. He didn't look happy. At all. But he tried to smile when he greeted us, "Good Morning, Tanaka-san, Hiroshi-kun."

"Hey" I murmured. It was awkward standing there in between these two boys.

"You're right. We should talk about this some other time." Niou said as he got himself off my seat. I sighed in relief, "One more thing, Tanaka-san. Don't let that guy influence you."

I turned to look at Yagyuu right away. He didn't seem hurt by Niou's comment. But I knew that it had bothered him. I didn't reply to Niou and just took my seat. Things aren't going to be good at all.

It was annoying that I had to be the reason whey Yagyuu and Niou have to be in an argument. This wasn't good for the team. Yukimura approached me later that day to ask me if I could fix the problem, and obviously that was impossible. Sanada didn't look happy when I saw him either.

I mean, even if I did understand what my feelings were for Niou and Yagyuu, it's not like anyone else would understand.

While walking home, my best friends kept bombarding me with questions. Questions I can never answer.

"You know, its clear you like Niou." Ran-chan said, "We can tell. You blush whenever you talk about him and your hands grow cold." She added while grabbing my most likely cold and wet hands.

Haruna added, "Not only that, but we'll be honest with you, Sai, we don't really like him."

"You know his reputation, Sai." Mina uttered, "he steals girls' hearts and break them into tiny pieces. That Kimi girl experienced that, and you saw how heartbroken she was."

Ran took my shoulder and said, "We can't let you go into that lion's arms."

They were all right. They were very much right. But I also wanted to defend Niou. They didn't know what he did to save me from that night. He's tricked me more than once and he's been stealing kisses and sending me to dizzying moments, but I still wanted to defend him.

"But what do I do when I can't stop thinking about him?" I replied. And they all couldn't answer me.

A/n: Two whole years has passed and I realized, that I never uploaded this chapter. This one was actually written a few days after I wrote chapter nine. I don't actually know why I never uploaded it, but I think it was unfinished at that time. I'm so sorry for actually forgetting to upload this. It's pretty short but I hope you enjoyed it. I'll upload the next chapter soon. Don't forget to review! I do plan to complete this, let me just take my time and wait, please. : ) Thank you for the undying support. Reviews are happily accepted, they really really inspire me to keep writing. Constructive criticism is great, too. At this moment in my life, I think I can handle that already. Thank you!