Chapter 21

Broken By Seether Feat. Amy Lee

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph, I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away&&&&&&&&&&&

Weeks Passed by, and Yuki noticed strangely more frequent appointments Airah had been going to. She had obviously gone each time, but he had no clue why they had to be twice weekly…he was becoming suspicious. He tried to ignore his suspicion, but…he just wanted to know what was going on that she hadn't told him. He confronted her on it as they walked home after her work one night.

"Airah-san?"

"Yeah?"

He fidgeted uncomfortably, feeling a bit guilty for prying into her business.

"What…" She sighed "Look, Yuki-kun, it's easy for me to tell when something's bugging you: just tell me…"

"Why…why have you been going over to Hatori's so often?" He blurted "Did something happen…that you didn't tell me about?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, trying not to look him in the eyes lest she be beguiled into telling him the truth. She stared at the ground as Yuki stopped beside her.

"Airah-chan?" he asked "Is there something I should know?"

She sighed and looked up, but his sorrowful gaze made her turn away again.

"It's nothing…just, you know…checkups..." she mumbled, avoiding Yuki's questions by resuming her walk towards her home. Yuki stared after her sadly, but followed a few seconds later with a sigh.

Once again, more hidden secrets, more lies…

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Okay class, pick a partner-"

It was gym time at school the next day. Yuki and Airah stared at each other pointedly, but Sensei hadn't finished.

"-of the same sex."

The entire class groaned, but Airah tried to keep her relief off her face. After Yuki's question the previous night, she'd avoided him so she didn't have to answer him truthfully. She hadn't told him yet about the…"growth" in her brain. Hatori had been keeping a close watch on her incase it went away, but it instead seemed to be growing. Four more months. That was all she had until…

"Airah-san?"

She looked up to see Tohru standing in front of her,

"Would you like to be my partner? Everyone else has already chosen…"

Airah looked up to see that indeed, everyone else already had a partner and had gathered back by sensei for instructions. She shrugged and followed Tohru over to the group, tugging on her burgundy shorts nervously.

"Why do these have to be so damn short?" She muttered to Tohru, and swore she saw hint of a smile.

"Okay, guys, today is Badminton. Girls against guys. I'll pair teams up, so no ideas…"

She glared at Yuki and Kyo, who had been forced, as the last two boys, to pair up. Although they had become friends, that didn't mean they had to LIKE each other. Airah chuckled as Sensei stared from them to Airah and Tohru with a smirk.

"Okay, let's have you two against Sohma and Honda."

They stared at each other, a grin creeping across her face.

The teacher walked over after pairing the other teams and handed them a birdie and four rackets. Airah bounced the birdie on her racket aimlessly as Yuki and Kyo set up the net. Tohru watched them all silently until the net was set up and Sensei blew the whistle. Airah smiled as she served the birdie over to Yuki, who whacked it back flawlessly as his nickname, Prince. They whacked it back and forth while Tohru and Kyo waved their rackets, pretending to hit the birdie as Yuki and Airah hit it back and forth. A real smile replaced the fake one on Airah's face as they continued, neither slipping, neither letting the birdie fall to the floor. Twenty minutes later, everyone else had finished two matches, but they were still at it. Tohru and Kyo had resigned to sit out on the edges and let them carry on, and sensei didn't argue. When the end of the class period was ten minutes away, Airah finally let her guard slip and let the birdie fall. Tohru and Kyo sighed, and walked back to the court. Yuki smiled as he walked over to her side.

"Time to switch teams."

She smiled back as Tohru served the birdie across. This time the birdie actually fell a few times, scoring a couple points on both sides. With only two minutes to go, Airah was serving, and she whacked it with all her might. She heard an "ow!" and she turned around. Yuki had his hand held to his forehead, cursing under his breath. She gasped.

"Sorry, Yuki-kun! Did I hit you-oh, god, sorry!"

"s'fine" he grumbled, but...it did hurt a lot…she didn't look strong, but…damn…

"Come on; let's go get you an icepack." Airah waved Sensei over. "Can you give us a pass to the nurse please?"

The sensei grinned, and hid it behind her hand.

"Why, Sohma, what happened to you?"

"A crazy woman with a racket." He muttered "Now please, just give me the pass."

Airah growled her eyes at his comment, but took the pass the teacher gave her and escorted Yuki to the nurses.

"Sorry about that…they really should not allow me to have objects that could cause any sort of damage…"

Yuki laughed quietly as they reached the nurses office. The nurse looked up and, recognizing him right away, led him over to one of the beds.

"What Happened, Sohma-kun? Did you get hurt by someone?"

Yuki smirked, staring straight at Airah as he responded.

"A crazy woman with a badminton racket."

The nurse looked up at Airah, who had scowled, before walking over and taking out an ice pack from the little freezer in the corner and handing it to Yuki.

"Would you like some pain killers or something?"

Yuki nodded, taking the pills and glass of water gratefully. Airah sat by his side, grabbing his cup when he was done and throwing it away for him. They thanked the nurse just as the bell rang, and they walked with the rest of the students back to class.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

A/N: Shortish again.

Oh, and special, SPECIAL, thanks to Running to my Heart for the lovely reviews!And also for your compliments and just…everything!

And of course, I still love you, Rona-kun!

Kira-chan