"Yuki?" Mr. Hanson peered at her. "Is something the matter?"

"Hmm?" She turned back to the orange-seller. "Oh, right! I need to pick out my oranges!" Ignoring the fact that she had just seen the same guy she had poked in the nose (very rudely, in her opinion) only half an hour ago, she did her best to concentrate on picking the best oranges of the bunch. It wasn't hard— they were all good!

"I'm surprised they're not all gone yet," Yuki said, putting them one by one in her produce bag.

"We had a lot of oranges in the orchard this time. I just hope we have the same luck next time," Mr. Hanson laughed.

"I do too; I'll be sure to be back for more!" She walked away happily, after thanking Mr. Hanson and asking about his wife, on the lookout for more deals. Instead, she got an eyeful of Hikaru— right in front of her.

"Doing a little shopping?" he asked snidely, still a little annoyed by their last encounter.

Yuki almost wished Hiro was there to save her. "Um, yes…" she answered meekly, when her crazy boss didn't pop up.

"Are you sure it's safe for you to be all by yourself?" None of his earlier attitude was gone, and his question didn't really sound sincere.

"Are you sure it's safe for you to be talking with such insincerity? You might drown in all the sarcasm you're dripping."

Both Hikaru and Yuki blinked at her biting reply. "Uh, I… uh, ah…" Hikaru stammered.

He was about to apologize, but Yuki beat him to it. "I'm sorry; that was mean of me. I just don't know what happened."

He recovered himself enough to say, "Yeah, it was pretty horrible of you. What's with your attitude?"

Yuki frowned— the bitter edge in his voice was back, and she didn't like it. "I don't know; what's with yours, Mr. Teenage-Hormones?"

"What? Hey! I'm not a teenager. I happen to be twenty."

"Yeah, well, you act like you're two," she said, looking away dismissively.

Hikaru was just a little outraged. "Hey, you can't talk to me like that, I'm from the—!"

"Ooh! Mushrooms!" Yuki dashed off, leaving him standing in the middle of the crowd.

Hikaru was left blinking dazedly. "I believe that's what's called an epic fail," he finally said, heading off in the direction Yuki had taken. She was chatting it up with a little old mushroom lady, already finished with her lightning-fast purchase.

"These are exceptional, Wilma! You finally figured out the perfect moisture, didn't you?"

"Well," the wrinkled woman in a pink and purple tie-dyed muumuu said. "Not to brag, but I spent three months, non-stop, working on figuring it out. I almost forgot market day several times."

"Oh, that's right. One time you sent your grandson. He was very nice, and terribly polite." Yuki saw Hikaru not to far away and grimaced. "Unlike some young men nowadays."

Wilma wasn't fooled by Yuki's attempt at generalizing. "Is that man yours? He's so handsome! Isn't he a bit old for you, though?"

Yuki blushed, getting flustered and almost dropping the little container of mushrooms she was holding. "Wilma! He's not mine! He's kind of rude, and he flirts with girls my age all day— and older, I suppose. And yes! He's way too old for me!"

"You make him sound like an old geezer, sweetie. What, he can't be much more than a few years older than you?"

"Three years, Wilma. Three years older."

"You say that like it's thirty, not three. Oh, looks like he's coming over," Yuki panicked at this. Wilma just chuckled. "Why don't you introduce me to him?"

"Because I don't want to!" she hissed.

"Don't want to what?"

Yuki squeaked. He was right behind her.

Hikaru had heard most of the conversation and had even heard what she didn't want to do, but he pretended he hadn't. Time to give Miss Difficult-Bunch-of-Flowers a hard time.

"Young man, have you come to buy some of my mushrooms, or to stalk poor Yuki?" Despite all her teasing, Wilma was completely on Yuki's side, no matter how cute the boy was.

Hikaru discreetly slipped his hand in his pocket, trying to see how much he had. Bingo. "Why, it just so happens I've come to buy mushrooms. And aren't theses just the most beautiful you've ever seen. I was just thinking how nice it would be to have mushrooms with dinner tonight. I'll take two containers of your excellent produce, please," he said pleasantly.

Yuki stared at him as he paid. So he knew how to play the old women as well as the young.

"Now pick your poison and be off," Wilma said to Hikaru, making shooing motions with her hands.

"Hmm," Hikaru said, pretending to be conflicted. "I'm not really experienced at choosing mushrooms. In fact, I've never done it before." He looked hopefully at the old woman. "Do you think you could help me, since you're the expert here?"

"Well, yes, I suppose so," Wilma looked questioningly at Yuki, who sighed, rolling her eyes and nodding reluctantly. "Sure. I'll help you."

Yuki tuned out most of what was said after that. It was a mix of sweet talking, most of which she didn't understand (and what she did was pretty disgusting), and mushroom jargon, which she fully understood since Wilma had taught her everything she knew about mushrooms.

When he finally finished, Wilma whispered to Yuki, "He's not as bad as you made him out to be." Yuki groaned, but her older friend added, "But he's too smooth. You'll have to work on this one before he's ready."

"You make him sound like a car."

"Cars are refered to as she, Miss Smarty-pants."

"Whatever you say, Momma Muumuu."

Hikaru flashed a brilliant, perky smile, only hearing the last few sentences. "Do I get a nick-name?"

Wilma shrugged. "You can have Fancy Frog."

Hikaru's eye twitched. "Ah, no thanks."

"Well," Yuki said. "I'll see you later, Wilma. Take care!"

Wilma waved as Yuki walked away. "Take care, Yuki!"

Hikaru was following Yuki, and they both jumped when they heard Momma Muumuu yell, "And teach that boy how to sweet-talk the right way!"

"Uh, eh-heh…" Hikaru trailed off, giving Yuki a sheepish grin.

"Are you going to keep following me?"

"Um, yes? Maybe? I'm a little bit… well… lost. I have no idea where I am right now."

This elicited a sympathetic look. "Your first time in a farmer's market? It can be a little confusing, I guess." She smiled at the hustle and bustle around her. "But once you get used to it, it's really a great experience. There's just something really honest and down-to-earth about it all." Yuki seemed to remember that he was there. "Oh, yeah, where do you need to go? I know this place like the back of my hand."

"Umm, the exit?" Hikaru said, feeling a little uncomfortable after her open statement.

Yuki blinked. "Oh. Ok, I know the way. Just follow me," Without any further ado, she made her way expertly through the crowd.

Hikaru tried to stay close behind her, but every once in a while, he'd panic, thinking for a moment that he'd lost her. Yuki looked back now and then, but for the most part, she forged ahead trying not to think about who was behind her.

She stopped suddenly, and Hikaru had a chance to catch up. "Oh, yeah! I forgot to ask! What'd you come to the market for?"

Hikaru sighed as she started again. "I actually didn't come on purpose."

Yuki looked back quizzically. "How could you not come on purpose?"

"I sort of walked in… without knowing it." Seeing Yuki trying to keep from laughing, he quickly added, "I was thinking! I just didn't see where I was going, ok?"

"That's some deep think-walking," Yuki said, giggling slightly.

Hikaru shoved his hands in his pockets. Yuki wanted to laugh again. He looked so out of place, still in his host club uniform, carrying his fancy blazer under his arm and the two containers of mushrooms squished right next to it. "Yeah, it was. I don't normally do that a lot." That was a lie. Nowadays, it seemed like he was deep in thought all the time.

"I didn't think you normally thought at all."

It took him a few moments before he realized what she was saying. His head shot up. "You know, you can be pretty mean when you want to."

Yuki sighed. "I know. I'm not usually this horrible. It's only when I get stressed does it get bad. It's just kind of my way of venting a little. I'm sorry you're my victim today."

"What are you stressed about?" Hikaru asked in surprise.

She shrugged. "My job. Being a host. Just everyday stuff accumulating into one big worry. Well, here's the exit."

Hikaru persisted. "Anagawa-san seems like a pretty laid-back guy. How can your job be stressful?"

"Well, that's the point. He's really laid-back. I kind of run the shop."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess— well, it's like, whenever I ask him about something or ask what I should do, he says it doesn't matter, just to do whatever. So I end up making all the decisions— even the important ones. And I have to contact all the people we do business with, and organize all sorts of stuff, because he'll forget, even if I remind him."

"That's a lot for one person," Hikaru said, his eyebrows wrinkling in concern.

Yuki shrugged again. "Yeah, but I manage. Um, here's the exit."

"But hosting's fun, right?"

"Maybe for you. I'm not used to being watched for hours and hours, talking and serving people, answering embarrassing questions—."

"Those punks asked you embarrassing questions?" Hikaru bristled.

Yuki hurried to amend her statement. "No, no! Not really— just little things I didn't know how to answer. It was more embarrassing because I didn't know the right thing to say."

"Oh."

Yuki poked him in the arm. "Hey. This is the way out," She gestured the sidewalk, which was finally in sight. "You know, the exit? Escape? The portal to the outside world?"

Hikaru nodded, not realizing she was making fun of his lack of focus. "Oh, right. Thanks for helping me out of this jungle."

"Yeah, it is a little like a forest in here," Yuki said glancing at a slightly overgrown house-plant stall. "See ya later."

"Well, bye," Hikaru said awkwardly, making himself meet her eyes. He frowned. She wasn't even paying attention. Instead she was looking right past him, over his shoulder and beyond. Puzzled, he turned to see what she was staring at.

He felt her dash past him as he turned, felt the wind between them. All he could do was watch in what felt like slow-motion.

Yuki had felt like something was going to happen as soon as she saw the little kitten behind Hikaru and the wobbly fruit cart coming towards them. It only took a split second after the farmer lost a hold of the handles, and the cart skidded quickly down the small incline straight towards the unaware kitten for her to decide what she had to do.

Making a mad dash at the small white cat, she scooped it up and rolled, shutting her eyes tightly and thinking, Gee, I hope this actually works. That would kind of suck if I died.

-'V' is…