Chapter 14:The Blue Bush and the Basketball

Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own PoT, though I wished I owned Marui's brothers. T.Y

Warnings: Softie Jackal

"What are you doing?" He asked as he saw the girl stand up. Ann smiled.

"I've got to tutor an idiot like you right? I'm going to get ready for school." Ann told him. "You can't survive this day without me, can you?"

Kirihara laughed at the girl. "Nope! Not at all!" He said and Ann laughed as well.

Ann stared at Kirihara for a few minutes and he was getting a bit annoyed with her just looking at him like that. He finally decided to brake the silence and ask, "What?"

"Would you please get out?" Ann told him. Kirihara raised a brow at her. "I am going to get ready for school."

"So?" Kirihara asked, a bit confused as to why he has to go out. She's only going to get ready for school, right?

"I am going to get ready for school." Ann repeated. Kirihara didn't seem to get her point though. Ann sighed then she pointed at herself. "Do you think I can go to school wearing pajamas?"

"Ohh…You're going to get ready for school…." Now, Kirihara understood what she was trying to say. She was going to change clothes. "Ohh…I get it."

"Now, get out." Ann snapped at him. Kirihara didn't seem to do anything again; he just stood there, looking at her.

"Why?" He asked again. A vein popped on Ann's head and she kicked him out of the room. Before she closed the door shut, she told him something. "Do you think I could change clothes while you're in here?"

She banged the door shut.

"Geez, that woman really gets on my nerves." Kirihara grouched. He suddenly stepped on something. He stared at it for a couple of minutes and decided to pick it up.

"Bubblegum?" Kirihara said, as he looked at the small pack of mint bubblegum. "Eh? Was Marui-sempai here a while ago?" He asked no one in particular.

He shrugged and went downstairs to wait for Ann to come out. He sat down on one of the couches on the living room. After a few minutes, Ann came running down the stairs carrying her bag and all set for school. Kirihara sweatdropped. 'Someone sick is as hyper as this?' He thought as he looked at the running girl.

"All set!" She said rather energetically. Kirihara was about to nod when all of a sudden, his stomach grumbled. Ann heard it and chuckle, which made Kirihara annoyed. He glared at the girl.

"Stop laughing!" He yelled at him. It made Ann laugh even more.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Ann smirked. Kirihara frowned.

"It's because…I didn't eat breakfast." He told her. Ann suddenly had the urge to pinch his cheeks, and she did. "Oww! Why'd you do that?"

Ann put down all of her things on the near table. She then proceeded to the kitchen. Kirihara followed her instantly.

"Hmm…That reminds me, I didn't eat breakfast either." She mused.

"Why didn't you eat breakfast? You're sick! You should take care of yourself you know." Kirihara scolded her like he was her mother.

"Why, did you eat yours?" Ann asked him knowingly. Kirihara stopped. "Yukimura-san left me breakfast here and that should be enough for the two of us."

"Take a seat." She ordered him. Kirihara did as he was told and sat down on one of the chairs. She served the food and then sat down next to him. They started to eat quietly, not minding each other. Kirihara kept on stealing glances at her though. He watched her eat. Soon enough, Ann noticed this and stared back at him.

"What?" She asked him firmly. Kirihara shrugged and continued eating his omelet. Now, Ann was the one staring at him. She kept her gaze on him for a few more minutes until she realized that she was staring at him. She sighed and stabbed the omelet.

"Hey, Kirihara…" Ann called him. Kirihara turned to look at her and was surprised to see Ann pointing the fork with the 'stabbed omelet' at him, like she was trying to feed him. Kirihara's face turned red for a bit. "Eat." She ordered him.

Kirihara blinked for a few times and stared at the 'stabbed omelet' that Ann was going to feed to him. He then looked at her. She was looking back at him, with an ominous look on her face.

"Eat." She repeated. Kirihara sighed and opened his mouth to eat the food when suddenly, Ann plopped the omelet into her own mouth. Kirihara twitched. Ann chewed loudly to irritate him more. Yeah, he's irritated all right.

"Are you annoying me or something?" He asked. The girl ignored him and continued to eat happily. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Ann then looked at him, "That's better." She said and smiled. Kirihara gave her a puzzled look, not understanding what she was trying to tell him. "It's because you're quiet, I'm not used to it. I had to irritate you in someway."

"I was?" Kirihara asked and Ann nodded. "Oh."

"I'm done." Ann said and rose from her seat. Kirihara gave her a surprised look. He wasn't even half-finished with his food. "I'm going." She said and went to the living room.

"Hey! Wait for me!" He yelled. "Ann! I'm not yet done!"

Ann turned to look at him. She smirked, "So?"

"Oi!" He shouted and quickly stood up to follow her. "This is what I get for fetching you here? You're gonna leave me?!"

Ann didn't bother to look back. She went out of the house.

"Tachibana!!"

Marui entered his classroom to get all of his things. He was too worried about Ann that time so he hastily left the room and didn't bother about his stuff just to see her. 'Í should've brought all my things along with me so that I wouldn't have to go back here. I guess I got worried for nothing.' He thought.

Marui quickly got his bag and suddenly noticed that something was wet and sticky inside of it. He opened it and saw one of his notebooks full of glue. Again. He winced and looked at his seatmate, who was looking back at him with an amused smile on his face. Niou Masaharu had done it again.

"So? How was your visit?" Niou smirked. Marui rolled his eyes and removed the notebook from his bag, leaving it on his table. He then walked out of the room, not even bothering to answer Niou's question. Niou was surprised to see Marui act like that. He never walked out whenever he did pranks on him. Niou stood up. "Oi! Where are you going?!"

"Home. Please, Niou. I'm not in the mood today." He answered before he disappeared from Niou's sight. Niou scratched his head, then sighed.

"Something must've happened…" Niou muttered and sat again, putting his legs above the table and his hands on the back of his head. "He's not in character today… Well, he has mood swings anyway, so…" He closed his eyes.

Kirihara had somehow managed to catch up with Ann. They entered the school together. Yukimura, who was wondering around again, spotted them and quickly approached them, looking a bit worried.

"Ann? Why are you here?" He asked worriedly. "You're supposed to be at home, taking a rest."

"I'm fine onii-san…" Ann smiled at him. She always feels happy whenever she calls Yukimura onii-san. Though she only does that every time he's there. "Kirihara needed someone to help him with his English, so that's why I'm here to teach the idiot."

"Hey!" Kirihara eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you calling idiot?"

"You, obviously." Ann told him. They started to fight again.

Yukimura smiled at them. He had nothing to worry about now, Ann's having fun with Kirihara. Everyone in the team is happy. The only problem now is Marui. Yukimura saw him go home looking frustrated. He was sure that Marui had seen him but he didn't even bother to say 'hi', and that made him really worried. Usually, Marui would greet him and ask for some sweets.

"Now, now you two. Stop fighting and go to you respective classroom." Yukimura said. They glared at each other before looking at Yukimura.

"Hai, buchou." Kirihara said and bowed. He then grabbed Ann's hand and dragged her to their classroom. Yukimura just waved at them as he watched Kirihara pull her.

"Oh, I forgot…She's sick. I shouldn't have let Akaya drag her like that." Yukimura mused, then he smiled. "Oh well."

'I never thought that I'd leave the house just to do things like this…' Ann sighed. It's been almost three hours since she left the house because of Kirihara. Now, she was definitely bored. They had been seated on their chairs, doing nothing but listening to the teacher, who was discussing about the 'great' America. She stared at the wall clock and saw that it's already 11:35 am. She sighed again, then looked at Kirihara. He was sleeping while she was there, staring at nothing. Ah, boredom.

'He's so lucky he can sleep anytime he wants…' Ann thought, jealous of Kirihara's 'sleeping talents'. 'What time will this boring discussion end?'

She leaned on her chair to try to get some sleep. She faced the window and saw a blue bush. 'Wait a minute, a blue bush? Is there any thing such as 'blue bush'? It looked like more of something else…' She eyed the blue bush and noticed that there was something beside it… 'Is that a basketball or something?' Ann rose from her seat to take a better look, only to let her classmates stare at her.

"Miss Tachibana, is there something wrong?" The teacher asked her. Ann didn't seem to mind the teacher, as she was busy looking at the 'blue bush'.

"Sensei, is there anything such as a blue—" Ann was stopped when she heard the blue bush hush her. "Eh?"

'Niou-sempai?' She thought as the 'bush', as she thought, came closer. She sighed and sat down. "Never mind sensei."

"Hmmph." The teacher grunted. "I suppose next time, you won't bother my discussion…" She said and went on.

She saw Niou came closer to the window and look at her as if he was trying to tell something. She didn't understand though. Then she saw the ball hand Niou a small board. The ball now revealed it's true identity. Jackal Kuwahara was handing Niou a small whiteboard and a marker. Niou started scribbling on the board then he raised it up. It read:

Yo Ann! –smiley-

Come out of the room! We want to show ya something! Bring Kirihara along too! XD

Meet us at the cafeteria! Puri!

At first, Ann looked a bit puzzled as to what the trickster was thinking. She sighed and finally nodded. She kicked Kirihara's chair hard (But not that hard to get the class' attention.) to wake him up. A drowsy Kirihara glared at her and mouthed 'What?' She pointed at the window to let him see his sempais. Kirihara blinked a few times before he raised his hand high up. The teacher eyed him.

"What is it, Kirihara-kun?" The teacher asked, a bit annoyed.

"Ne, can Tachibana and I go to the bathroom?" He asked nonchalantly. A few of their classmates laughed hysterically and the girls blushed. The teacher eyed them both suspiciously. Ann blushed a bit then whacked his head. Kirihara flinched.

"Why'd ya do that?!" Kirihara yelled at her. Ann glared and took a glance at Niou. She didn't see him anymore, probably left already. But what she didn't know, the trickster was still there, rolling and laughing on the grass as Jackal tried to calm him down. Ann sighed and tried to clear what Kirihara had just stated.

"We'll go separately, sensei." Ann said and dragged Kirihara out of the room. Ann could still hear the guys holler.

"Hey! Stop dragging me!" Kirihara shouted as he tried to release himself from Ann's powerful grip. Ann glared at him.

"Do you know how embarrassing it is, what you've said?" Ann yelled back, irritation evident in her voice. "Try to use your feeble mind and figure out what's wrong with what you have just said."

"All I did was excuse ourselves from the class…" Kirihara pouted. Ann let out an exasperated sigh.

"You're hopeless." Ann muttered. Since when has Kirihara's pout been a powerful weapon against her? "I don't know what I'm going to do with you…"

"Mou…" Kirihara pouted even more. He then let himself be dragged by the girl.

Ann scanned the cafeteria for a while then saw Niou and Jackal seated on one of the chairs, waving at her. She waved back and approached them.

"Puri? Done going to the bathroom already?" Niou smirked rather slyly. "It's okay, take your time…Don't mind us."

"Sempai…" Ann muttered. "…Stop it."

"Mou, Ann-chan is blushing!" Niou's smirk grew wider. Kirihara noticed as well and began to tease her too.

"It's the first time I saw her blush." Kirihara smirked. "Why is it, Ta-chi-ba-na?"

Niou and Jackal sweatdropped. Hadn't he already noticed that it was about him?

"That's it, I'm leaving." Ann said and began to walk out. Niou laughed.

"So, Ann-chan's also hot-tempered, huh?" Niou grinned. Ann then turned to look at the trickster and she gave him mighty death glare.

"Sempai, kindly shut up and die." She told him. Niou was flabbergasted. It's the first time he really shut up because of an order. Only Ann was able to do it to him.

'Puri…interesting.' Niou smirked again then he chased Ann before she could leave the place. "I was only kidding! Come with us! We're going somewhere."

Niou led the gang to somewhere that's supposed to be prohibited to students. It was an old building located at the back of the main building and it seemed deserted. Ann's eyes widened. What were they going to do there? They entered and saw nothing but darkness, because all of the windows were covered with wooden planks. They continued to walk inside.

"Sempai, not that I'm scared or anything but…What are we doing here?" Ann asked rather anxiously. It was true, she wasn't scared at all and she was just curious as to why they were there. Niou smirked; they can barely see it though, because of the darkness that surrounded the halls as they walked.

"They said that ghosts live here. Rumor says that if you enter this place, you'll never be able to come out ever again." Niou said, trying to scare Ann. But Ann didn't even flinch. The other person, named Kirihara Akaya, trembled a bit. "We're going to find out if that rumor is true."

"They also said that there's a piece of real gold located in here." Jackal added. "I think that's what those ghosts were guarding here."

"Se-sempai…Is that true?" Kirihara asked. Nobody answered him and they continued to walk. Then suddenly, Niou paused and turned to look at his kouhai. "It is…Akaya." He muttered as he placed a flashlight below his chin and scared the pants off Kirihara.

"Seeemmmppppaaaiiii!!" Kirihara shouted in fear. Niou dropped on the floor and started laughing simultaneously. Jackal and Ann too, laughed a bit.

All of sudden, They heard a loud crash from somewhere and Kirihara saw a small girl dressed in white on the mirror beside him. Out of surprise, they started running. Especially Kirihara, who was terrified since they entered. Ann followed him, not noticing that Niou and Jackal ran the opposite direction. Kirihara and Ann ran deeper into the building while Jackal and Niou ran the opposite way. Outside…? Puri.

"Oi! Kirihara! Wait for me!!" She shouted as she chased Kirihara. Kirihara still ran and Ann was already having a hard time catching up with him. She panted then gave up. She dropped on the floor, alone. "Ma…" She huffed, not able to continue what she was going to say, she was too tired of chasing Kirihara. "…i-sem…pai."

Kirihara continued to run and entered a random room. Then he noticed that he was alone. He halted and scanned the room he was in. He guessed that he was in a Music room, since he found a piano and a big harp. Then the piano started playing. Kirihara froze. "Ann?"

He realized that he left Ann. He heard her call him but he didn't even look back. He mentally cursed himself. How could he have left Ann?! He went out of the room immediately to search for her, not remembering the piano was playing by itself. "Ann!!"

"Eh? He wasn't scared?" A voice muttered.

He searched every room, slamming the doors open. But he couldn't find her. 'Where could she have gone? 'He asked himself. Then he noticed a small figure on a corner, alone. It seemed like a person, because it was hugging its knees. Now he realized that that was Ann. He hurriedly approached her.

He sat down with her and put her head on his shoulder. Ann looked surprised. Kirihara closed his eyes and whispered something to her.

"I'm sorry…"

"Gah! I can't believe my how-to-make-Akaya-crazy plan failed!" Niou cursed as he watched the scene from a small monitor. Jackal sweatdropped and patted his back.

"Well, at least you brought them together." Jackal comforted. Niou glared at him.

"I'm a trickster, not a match-maker." He said. "Though I must admit that this amused me." He smirked.

Jackal smiled and turned the monitor off. Niou eyed him and he just shrugged. "Now that they've amused you, why don't you give them some privacy?"

"Jackal…" Niou looked teary-eyed. "You are such a softie." He said and hugged him like a kid who's hugging a cat.

"Get off." Jackal snapped at him. Niou hugged him even tighter.

"Softiee!!"

Ann looked at Kirihara. He was frowning and he looked really sincere. She unconsciously smiled at the boy. "Thank you…Kirihara-kun."

"Hn…"

They stayed quiet for some time. Now, Ann didn't irritate the silent Kirihara like she did that morning. She liked his silence now. It was peaceful. It was a bit dark and only dim daylight illuminated the area. Ann was slowly falling asleep. She was feeling sleepy since she attended the class so no wonder she wanted to sleep now. Kirihara opened his eyes and saw a small box just right in front of them. He blinked.

"Hey Ann," Kirihara tried to call her attention. "Ann…wake up."

"What is it?" Ann muttered. Kirihara pointed at the small box.

"Do you see that box?" He asked. Ann turned to where he was pointing and spotted it as well. She nodded. Kirihara went near it and got it.

"There's something in it…" Kirihara tried to peak on it but the dim light wasn't enough to let him see what's inside. He got it out of the box and raised it up so that they can clearly see. They looked up to it and saw a flower-shaped brooch. Ann stared at it in awe.

"It's pretty." She said as she looked at it shine. Kirihara frowned and placed it back inside of the small box. "Maybe it's the treasure Jackal-sempai was talking about. It looks really expensive, it's gold right?"

"Let's leave it there. It belongs to someone else." Kirihara said and remembered the girl he saw on the mirror. He put it back on the floor and stood up, helping Ann as well. "Come on, let's get out of here."

They walked out and passed by the said mirror. Kirihara didn't bother to look at it. He was holding onto Ann's hand really tight. As soon as they walked pass by it, the girl appeared and smiled at them. She watched them get out of the building, holding each other's hands.

Outside, Niou and Jackal were waiting for them.

"Akaya! Ann! Are you okay? How was your date?...I mean…Are you hurt?" Niou asked 'worriedly'. Kirihara shook his head.

"Sempai, we're fine." He said and let go of Ann's hand.

"Hey, we're sorry we made up stories about the building." Jackal apologized. "There isn't any gold there. It's just a deserted building. It's all Niou's idea."

Niou's eyes widened. "Jackal! How could you betray me?" He wailed.

Kirihara smirked. "Really? You just made that up? I think what you've told us is true." He said. He pulled out something from his pocket and flashed a coupon for free dumplings. "Niou-sempai, this is gold for you, right?"

Niou blinked. "Ne Akaya, did I already told you that you're my favorite kouhai and I love you so much?"

"Care to say it again?" Kirihara smirked.

'Where did he get that coupon?' Ann asked herself. "Oh well."

Preview time!

Sneak peak

"Susumu! She's that trouble making girlfriend of Onii-san!" Suzu shouted. The other boy's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah! I remember her!" Susumu shouted back. Ann blinked. "Oi! Nee-san! Come with us!"

- - -

Ann eyed the unfinished painting of herself. She never thought her sempai could draw so well. She was really awed by his skills. "I guess his boasting of his tensai-like skills weren't just plain boasting."

She was disturbed by a loud thud that came from the door. There, she saw her sempai staring at her, completely surprised of her sudden visit. He muttered, "You…What're you doing here?"

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I had a hard time thinking of what will happen in this chapter and ended up having them go on a haunted building…Pretty lame again. And the preview isn't really detailed; I just want to give you a clue on what'll happen next. Hope you enjoyed this one and leave a review!