Chiyo: Yay! I'm back! :D

Izumi: What are you planning on doing...?

Chiyo: NOTHING *covers Izumi's mouth* nooothiiing...


Chapter 27

Mint Has A Crush?!

Izumi was being dragged around by her friends. "Hey, did you hear about it?" The cheerful girl with bright purple hair asked. "It's all over town! Everyone's talking about it!" Her charming, bright purple eyes seemed to be too fake to be real.

"Hear about what?" Izumi asked, looking at her friend.

The other girl with them, who had cherry red hair and orange tips with light red streaks spoke up. "About the new club." Her voice was monotone and her dark red eyes made her seem like some sort of vampire from a novel.

"Come on Izumi, you're kidding right?! The hottest guy, other then Ryou Shirogane, in town, is going to be part of it!" The purple haired girl giggled as she teased her best friend. "First, you have no crush, second, you didn't hear about this club?!"

"Sh-shut up, Hana!" Izumi whinned, playfully hitting her friend's arm.

Hana laughed while the girl with red eyes smiled softly. "You don't have a crush either, Hana." Although monotone, Hana and Izumi knew she was joking around.

"So? I happen to have plenty of chances to meet someone!" Hana poudly put her hand on her chest and put her nose in the air.

"And there's the guy who likes Izumi." The other girl said, watching as a boy with short black hair walked by.

Izumi and her best friends were laughing and hanging out, not really paying attention to anyone else. "Hey, Monaru!" Hana giggled, looking at the girl with red eyes. "We should play truth or dare, you up for it?!"

"Sure." Monaru shrugged, not really caring.

The three girls sat on a nearby bench and played truth or dare. A couple minutes later, Izumi was left alone while Hana and Monaru were dragged off by a couple guys. Izumi had her legs crossed and her hands on her knees while she watched Keiichiro and Mitsukie with a smile through the gym doors. She couldn't help but giggle a little when she saw them kiss. "You look like you want to dance..." A quiet voice next to her called out, making her realize that she wasn't sitting alone anymore. But... When did they even get there? How long was Izumi even watching them?

"Ah... Kind of. I was just watching my friend and her boyfriend.." Izumi's smile stayed the same as she turned her gaze to the boy sitting next to her. As a normal teenage girl, of course she had a couple crushes. Her friends didn't know though, Izumi was great at hiding her feelings. Well, until you get her really mad or sad that is. Aito seemed to be a huge jerk though, after he got a girlfriend. Seeing his brother made that smile start to fade.

"Are you ok? Did something I say make you sad?" The boys voice and appearence seemed to make her feel better, but she couldn't stop thinking about Aito and the way he treated her during school lately. "Or was it Aito, do I have to knock some sense into him?"

The boys bright, green eyes stared into Izumi's pink and purple eyes. He didn't care that her eyes were different color, if it was due to something she could handle or not, he loved them. It was clear with the way that the boy looked at them. He had short, messy, green hair. "It's fine. Just... I guess you can say," with a sad and hurt smile, Izumi placed her hand gently on her chest, "that I didn't really... Think..."

"A beautiful, young, talented girl like you shouldn't be thinking like that!" His higher pitched voice shocked Izumi, causing her to look at the boy in confusion. "Whatever Aito did, he's gonna get it!"

"K-Klaus..." Izumi was quite happy. No one really thught like that about her."Aito just toyed with my feelings." She explained how Aito decided to completely forget that Izumi was still a person and had started going out with another girl.

Klaus, the green haired boy, and Izumi decided to talk for some time. "I like it a lot here." Klaus said quietly, gazing at Izumi.

"Huh? This school is very poor, not many people enjoy it here." Izumi said, looking into Klaus's green eyes.

"I like it here, in this school, in this city, I like it here in Japan." Klaus smiled, placing his hand ontop of Izumi's. "America sucked..."

"Y-you mean... That you o-only like it here... Because of m-me?" Izumi's sudden understandment made her blush.

"You are a big reason I like it here." Klaus leaned in towards her. Izumi started to shake, but Klaus's warm and gentle breath on her neck made her even more nervous. "Calm down, it's not like I'm going to hurt you." His quiet, soft, and gentle voice was able to calm Izumi down a little, but she was still shaking a little. She remembered back to Aito took her on a 'date' and teared up a little. "Shh..." Klaus's soft finger wipped the tears away. "Don't worry, he'll get what he deserves for hurting you like this."

Izumi smiled as she put her arms around Klaus. "I think he has already gotten it." She whispered, hugging Klaus. She wasn't shaking or anything anymore, she was happily hugging Klaus. Aito stood not too far away, glaring at his brother as Izumi hugged him.

Klaus chuckled and moved his lips to Izumi's. Without thinking, the two pushed their lips onto the others. Although it was only a kiss, Izumi felt a lot better about how Aito treated her. What made it even better, was that all of Aito's friends were laughing and taking pictures, not to mention picking on Aito.

During the time everyone was getting a lot of romatic moments going on, Mint was standing around, doing nothing. A lot of guys tried to get her to dance, but she declined everyone. Someone who didn't ask her caught her eye. He had short, dark blue hair and light blue eyes. He wasn't all that cute, but Mint found him 'hot'. Mint really needs to get outside more often... She watched him hold a glass in his hand. She couldn't tell what he was drinking, but it looked red. "Hey!" A girl with golden braids ran over and took the cup from him. "Heyy!" She yelled again, trying to make herself sound angry. "I'm not that convincing... Am I?" She asked, giggling.

"Not really." The boys soft voice made Mint blush slightly. "So, sis, still haven't found anyone to dance with?"

"Hey! No need to rub it in! You haven't either, right?" The girl laughed and took a sip of the drink, then handed it back to her brother. "I thought I saw a girl though, I mean for you."

The boy looked around, trying to see if he could spot the girl. "The girl with blue hair in that expensive looking dress?" He asked, motioning over to Mint.

"Yep! Go get her!" The girl laughed happily and ran off, joining her friends in trying to find a guy.

The boy pushed himself off the wall and took a deep breath before walking towards Mint. She couldn't believe it, a guy she found cute was actually going to talk to her. He wore normal clothes, just every day, normal clothes, but Mint found him even cuter in them. Mint folded her arms and looked the other way as the boy came closer to her. "Hey, you seem pretty... Lonely.." He said, taking a sip of his juice.

"Lonely?" Mint snapped, not meaning to make it sound harsher then it was.

"O-oh... Sorry..." The boy said, sighing heavily. "Didn't mean to bother you..."

"Psh." Mint sighed and glanced at the boy.

"Well um..." The boy turned around, meaning to walk off. "Bye, didn't mean to make you so angry." His voice was sarcastic, as if he did mean to. He didn't either, it just came out like that. He just wanted someone to talk to. He sighed and walked off, leaving Mint to stand alone and get even more angry.

She started walking around, trying to calm herself down from whatever happened back there. Mint sat down on a bench outside, looking at the stars. "Way to go Mint." She muttered to herself. "Get everyone mad at you. Well now look at where you are. Alone." She folded her arms and continued to mutter to herself.

She finally decided to go back inside and get a cup of juice. She grabbed a cup and walked towards the juice. She ran into someone and started to fall. Mint had lost her balance, so she started to flail her arms around and panic. "Sorry!" The person yelled, grabbing Mint's hand and pulling her back to balance her. She fell forward, into the boys chest and stayed there for a moment. "I see you're in a better mood now." He chuckled as Mint pulled herself away from him and looked down, her cheeks red. "I'm Nearu." He smiled, pouring himself another cup of red juice.

"Is red juice all you drink?" Mint laughed as she got some blue juice. She felt like she was in a better mood too. (A/N: Flavor them any flavor you wish, when I was writting this, I didn't think there was anything like blue juice, but my bro proved me wrong! XD So yeah, go ahead and flavor them anything you want!) They chatted for a while. Long enough for the others to get their kiss in before they started talking again.

"Hey! Nearu-oneechan!" The girl from before, hanging out with Nearu, called and ran over. "I... Don't want to go. But mom is here and says we're leaving. She wants help moving out." The girls pale blue eyes seemed to be clouded with mist, blocking her view from what she should decide on. "So... We should go before she gets mad. I'll be outside, ok?"

Nearu didn't have a chance to respond before the blondie was off. "Sorry, I should probably go. My mother is pretty scary when she's mad." He sighed.

"Oh, that's fine." Mint faked a smile to make him think she was fine.

"Here, let me give you this. I have a feeling you're not a girl who wears jewlery, but here, I've had this for a while." Nearu smiled warmly and hooked a necklace around her neck. When Mint looked up to see what Nearu was doing, he pushed his lips onto Mint's. She was so confused, she had never kissed anyone before. She kissed him back though, ignoring what her mind was telling her to do, and enjoyed every moment of the kiss. Nearu pulled away slowly, still smiling. He brushed Mint's bangs out of her face. "I hope to see you around."

Mint nodded with a smile. "Oh! I'm Mint, it was nice meeting you." They waved and Mint watched Nearu walk off.

Last, Zakuro. Well, easily said, she found no one. She talked to a lot of boys, but she didn't like any of them.

Mitsukie and Keiichiro wandered outside and lied in the grass and stars. Ichigo and Ryou decided to sit on a bench outside. Pudding and Taruto played around, running around. Lettuce and Pai cuddled each other on a bench outside while talking and looking at the stars. Izumi and Klaus sat against a tree outside and pointed out constellations. Mint and Zakuro stood around alone outside by the doors.

After a while, the girls, and boys, met up at the doors where Mint and Zakuro were standing. "Awe, Izumi has a crush again!" Ichigo teased.

"Izumi and her crush, sitting in a tree!" Pudding yelled in a sing-song tune. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First come love!"

"Hey!" Izumi giggled, folding her arms. "First of all, we aren't in a tree, second of all, this is Klaus." She smiled at Klaus as she introduced him.

She introduced the others, but Zakuro, Mint, and Ryou didn't say anything to Klaus. Zakuro instead just rolled her eyes. "Izumi, we should spend the night at your house!" Pudding shouted, pretty much bursting everyone's eardrums.

"Not so loud..." Mint snapped, covering her ears.

"U-um..." Izumi smiled, but only few people realized it was forced. "S-sure, I mean... Why not?"

Klaus, Ryou, Keiichiro, and Zakuro stared at her with the look that said 'are you ok?' but recieved no response. "Yay!" Pudding yelled, clapping happily.

Taruto smiled at Pudding, watching her smile happily. "This should be fun!" Lettuce smiled.

Pai hid his smile from everyone, but he was truly happy that Lettuce was smiling again. They set off towards Izumi's house, not expecting what they were walking into. It was nothing bad, but not expected. Izumi and Klaus talked about mythology stuff, something that the others didn't really care much about except for Mitsukie. She was kind of into it, but she talked to Keiichiro about anything that poped up. Ichigo and Ryou stayed quiet, not really knowing what to talk about while Pudding and Taruto were laughing and making jokes as they ran around the group. Lettuce and Pai walked close together, talking in their normal, quiet voices, about Pai's home planet. Every word said was mashed together with another word, making it very hard to understand anyone if you were to pass by them walking down the road. They got to a two story, white house. Izumi seemed like she didn't want to go home.

Klaus grabbed her hand and looked at her in the eyes. "If you don't want anyone to stay here, let us know." He said calmly.

Ichigo nodded, yawning and resting her head on Ryou's shoulder. "Ow!" She whined after recieving a flick to the forehead. "What was that for?"

Ryou just chuckled quietly. "It's not that I don't want you guys to stay here... I'm just... Scared..." She whispered, making everyone look at each other, worried for Izumi.

A boy who looked just like Izumi, but black outfit and black hair, opened the door. "Dad's really mad, beware..." He whispered, his hand over his mouth. "Bah, why can't you get us out of here?" He mumbled, stepping aside from the door to allow Izumi and her friends in.

The small hallway inside scared her, but she walked in anyway. "Because we aren't old enough to live on our own." Izumi said as she reached the first door. "You guys can hang your jackets up to the right, and feel free to make yourself at home." She smiled.

The boy sighed and grabbed Izumi's shoulder. "Lets go make dinner then..." He said, staring down the hallway.

"Making dinner isn't that bad." Mitsukie smiled, stepping forward. "I'll help you, you have a bunch of guests here tonight, you can't do it all alone with your brother."

Keiichiro nodded. "Mitsukie's right, let us help you." Pudding and Taruto shurgged it off and started running around the living room.

A little girl ran over to the others as the new chiefs, along with Mitsukie and Keiichiro, made their way to the kitchen. "Papa is in a bad mood, so don't anger him. He's scary when he's mad. Please, make yourself at home here." She smiled and lead them to the living room. "Izumi almost never has any guests, and look at what she brings when she does." She laughed.

Lettuce sat next to Pai on the couch, leaving room for Mint and Zakuro. Ichigo and Ryou sat on the floor, right next to the coffee table. "This can't be healthy..." Ichigo whispered, poking a bottle of alcohol.

"Papa drinks a lot." The girl sighed, pulling herself up on the couch. "He's really scary... Sis won't leave her room, Izumi won't come home sometimes, and big brother defends us..."

Pudding and Taruto stopped playing around and sat down next to Ichigo and Ryou. "You mean..." Lettuce started, her voice shaky. "You mean that your father abuses you guys?" She asked, her grip on Pai's hand tightening.

"Hey! After dinner, you should play a game!" The girl clapped, clearing avoiding the question asked.

It was a very clean place, but just hearing that Izumi's father abuses her and the other kids, everyone felt like the house was dirty and not supposed to be lived in. About half an hour later, everyone got a plate of pasta with steak chunks to the side.


Chiyo: Oh my god it took over a week to do this and most of the time I was busy ;a; I am so sorry it took so long! Okay, sh, Izumi's home scene probably seems way too... Off... But that scene is actually very important, so don't forget about it! Don't forget it! Next chapter will have something important too, so watch out for that! :p