A/N: Hi everyone, I am introducing a new OC in this chapter. Akiko-chan's baby sister: Mika Ayuzawa, going to be 5 yrs old.

As soon as the club practices were over, Akiko brought Tezuka straight to a department store without allowing him to even go home to change into street clothes.

First they went shopping for birthday gifts for the little girl. Akiko had already decided to buy some soft toys for her sister and that was how Tezuka found himself amidst children dragging in their parents to look at a few of the toys and have them bought one.

The crying.

The whining.

But looking at a collection of stuffed dinosaurs brought back memories. While he was around four or five years old, he used to be obsessed with dinosaurs. It was all thanks to his senpai-tachi at the dojo, always telling him stories about great samurai warriors defeating giant dinosaurs.

When his father bought him a pink dinosaur plushy with purple speckles on it, he tried killing it with a wooden Katana and got punished by his grandfather. He didn't understand then, why his grandfather was scolding him.

He had felt like crying. But he did not, since he was a big boy and big boys don't cry. It was the first time his grand papa scolded him.

That night, his mother came to his room and consoled him saying that it was a good dinosaur so he should treat it like a friend.

"Tezuka-kun...are you going to buy that for Mika-chan?" Tezuka looked at the stuffed animal in his hand and shook his head. It seems Akiko had found the perfect present for her sister. If the bright smile on her face was anything to go by.

"No. I don't know what your sister likes."

Akiko looked thoughtful for a while and then, "Follow. Me." was all he heard her say before she abruptly turned around and walked out of the toys section.

"How about this skirt? It's pretty, isn't it?" asked Akiko but before Tezuka could reply, she went on "No. It's too bright. It hurts my eyes!" and she disappeared into a cluster of other customers.

They have been at this for the past 30 minutes and Tezuka could not take any more of this.

True, she is trying to help him.

True, he promised her to keep his schedule for the rest of the day free for her.

But, he _did not_ like wasting precious time.

He stood up and ushered her out of the shop before she could disappear again. He had made up his mind. He was going to buy that as the gift.

After buying the gifts and other necessities for the party, the both of them were heading towards the Ayuzawa household.

"Tezuka-kun, I am counting on you to make this birthday a memorable one for Mika-chan." Akiko suddenly said and then added, "Since you are going to be the only guest, I would very much appreciate it if you start acting a little more… amiably. My sister is too young to appreciate your curtness." She continued, trying to sound teasing although in her mind she was pleading him not leave her for not informing him earlier. She knew he would have found some reason or the other to decline her invitation, had he known that he was the only one receiving it.

"Oishi, nya!"

Oishi looked at his doubles partner who had suddenly exclaimed in surprise. They were currently going to the street tennis courts with Fuji and Kawamura in tow.

"What is it Eiji?" Oishi asked, puzzled by his friends antics.

"Isn't that Tezuka and…Aki-chan?" Eiji asked, wondering what the two of them were doing together.

"Sa…what do we have here?" Fuji said opening his blue eyes. "Looks like we have missed out something ne, Inui?" he said. And Inui popped out off nowhere, scaring the other three tennis players.

"Inui, don't scare people like that!" Oishi lectured while trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"Ayuzawa Akiko, class 3A, same class as Tezuka Kunimitsu, first spotted talking to him 16 days ago during lunch break…" Inui paused and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "ever since that day, they have been walking home together."

"Their conversations seem to be heavily one-sided, with Tezuka accentuating it with occasional nod or monosyllabic words. But there seems to be an improvement on Tezuka's part by 13.4 percent."

He closed his trusted note book and gave a heavy sigh. "I haven't been able to listen in on their conversations since Tezuka has very keen senses; I had to keep my distance."

Fuji wasn't happy at all that he had missed this important piece of information about his favorite buchou for so long. But he looked forward to the upcoming days.

Then it occurred to him. "Ne, Inui, this is not the usual route Tezuka takes from school and it's been three hours since school ended" he said, wondering what else he had missed.

"You're right, they are returning from the shopping mall." Inui said.

"Nya, Tezuka and Aki-chan are dating?" Eiji asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"I highly doubt it. The probability of that happening is 0.0021 percent." Inui said while busily noting down his teammate's reactions.

"They went to a soft toy store, a kid's wear shop and-" he tried explaining his statement, but got cutoff by Kikumaru's boisterous burst of laughter.

From the look on his face, it was clear for the world, what he was thinking.

'Tezuka + Stuffed dolls =?'

tbc...

Response to reviews

meowzzzz: That's very kind of you, but I'll be very happy if you put in some comments as well^_^

hisss: I am not able to update as often as I want to. There won't be much romance in this story for now and I am not going to reveal her secret anytime soon;p