Their Memories of Fukinara High (KISS Me!)

Heya everyone, by some sort of personal conviction and habit, I really dislike to publish stories that are more than 3500 words long. So when I realized that the following part of Shinrei and Saisei will exceed far far far much, I HAD to create a new chapter. Sorry to make you guys groan with the amount of content to read. Hang in there! You have yet to even reach halfway of the whole story!

Talking about bad habits and idiosyncrasies, I also don't like to read paragraphs, and you can see this reflected in my short paragraphs. I know it may not make sense at some times to leave a paragraph, but I can't help it!

Anyway, with that, I had to create some scenes after Shinrei to ensure that I don't compromise you guys in the length of the story. Aren't I the greatest! (arrogant grin)

By the way, this is why I took so long to update again, apart from the fact that schoolwork is driving me nuts.

Enjoy!

P.S: Please forgive me if the standard is not as good this time round. It's so much I can do without compromising on my school work .

Chapter 35 – The Truth He Needs To Face

The convenience store's lights were the biggest source of light as Shinrei approached.

"This makes zero sense," He muttered to himself crossly. "Sending me to get milk and strawberry jam at 11 P.M. Just so that he could make Yuya's favourite breakfast tomorrow!" He stared into the starless sky. "Even the coldest and most inhuman Akira has feelings huh?"

Well, not that he is inhuman. He mused to himself. He's just human to Yuya. And now, maybe Tokito.

It was weird, seeing him like this. Omoda Akira, in the group of kids they hung out with, was probably the most conniving and sarcastic kid he has met. Even some adults had a small amount of respect for him. Not that people feared him, how ridiculous would that sound? Rather, they preferred to stay away from him. From the very start, his eyes were like sharp daggers, penetrating your thoughts and mocking silently at your flustered replies. Then, after some events that blinded him later on (yes, everyone remembered that he's blind since birth by convention, but the truth is Aki could see very well when he first met him), his capability to continue living a normal life like any other kid was quite astounding. Shinrei was sure that not even an adult could endure what Aki had gone through in his childhood years.

Shinrei smiled to himself as his fingers treaded through the many brands of strawberry jam in the aisle. Thinking about it, Akira was kinda like the devil. Then again, the people that he hangs out with are like devils.

Akari's vast knowledge of medicine and poison made her deadly. Bontenmaru well, if his big animalistic size and fists didn't scare enough, his reputation for being the most-feared in Fukinara High should be intimidating enough. Yukimura's ascension to the bishop rank (refer to chapter 9 for the meaning of bishop) at a tender age of 15, and the ten ninjas ready at his command, need he say more?

Kyoshiro and Kyo, the power twins who excelled in their kendo skills far better than their relationship with each other... If they hadn't refused to join Ryuyousei, who knew how much fear could their names alone create?

Shinrei frowned as he carefully selected the milk carton with the later expiration date. Suddenly he felt so lousy and weak. He silently chided himself as he paid for the goods. There was no way he was the lousiest.

Well, there's always Hotaru. He smirked to himself. Though he disliked his brother on many levels, half of him naturally has a brother-instinctive behaviour towards him. And the truth is that Shinrei is glad that he had his half-brother during the times when people were doubting his character upon finding out that the leader of the triad was his father. It's unlikely that Hotaru thought the same.

It was a terrible thing when his position in the school's students' council was being jeopardized. Nobody, upon knowing the background he was from, believed his true character. Except for the people involved with the Ryuyousei incident, one or two classmates... And Saisei.

"Shinrei-kun?"

Her voice made him jump. He spun around and stared at the mentioned girl.

"What was that for?" He half-coughed. "And why are you here? And at such a late hour too? Are you alone? Did you even bring a jacket?" He stopped himself rationally, and rationally reminded himself to slap himself when he's home, for being such a doofus.

Saisei was clearly amused, and a little... Happy? But before he could make anything out of it, she grinned. "I'm out because I was buying a cup of hot cocoa. But the night was so cold and I felt so cozy with my cup, so I decided to take a long walk before I head home." She laughed and felt Shinrei threw his jacket over her. With surprise, she exclaimed, "Won't you be cold?"

He shook his head. "It's not good if girls fall sick. I mean seriously, what were you thinking when you stepped out of the house without any warm clothing?"

She snorted, a gesture that Shinrei always thought was cute. "You are such a nag." She smiled.

"No, I'm not," retorted Shinrei. "Aki's the nag. My landlord," he added hastily when he saw her confused face. He forgot she has yet to meet Akira. "Omoda Yuya's brother. One day I'll introduce you to them. They are a handful to be with."

She smiled. "Seems like you have a lot of fun with them." She frowned slightly. "Nevertheless, are you and Hotaru-kun coping well with the death of your father?"

He smiled slightly. Only Saisei (and Yuya) cared about his family as a family than a triad leader. "We've been fine. Rather, Hotaru doesn't really care much. But other than that, we are doing well." He stared into the night sky, his thoughts cloudy. "Hey, it's getting late. And there's school tomorrow. Allow me to walk you home."

She looked surprised. "No, it's fine!" She hastily replied, shaking her head, but upon his insistence, she relented. They walked together towards her house.

"Couldn't sleep?" Shinrei asked.

"Yeah. Not as if you don't know what tomorrow is."

"Tell me all about it." Shinrei replied bitterly. "So I presume that you'll be finding the boy that you like?"

"Oh?" She stared at him, startled. "Hehe," She laughed somewhat sheepishly. "Yeah." She quickly changed the topic. "How about you and Miko-san there?"

"Miko-san?" Shinrei frowned.

"Remember? She talked to you about Valentine's Day?"

"Oh." Shinrei now remembered the shy girl who is a friend of Yuya's. "She didn't approach me after that conversation anymore."

"Of course she wouldn't!" She laughed as she pulled him closer to the side of the walkway so that he wouldn't be walking on the road. Despite the chill in the air, he felt his face a little warm with the closer distance. "She's hoping that you would ask her, if you were interested."

Shinrei huffed. "I don't feel that way for her."

"You don't?" The girl frowned at him. "I… I always thought you have a soft spot for her…"

"I don't." He suddenly turned and glared at her suspiciously. "What's this all about?"

Saisei flushed. "Well…" She pulled his jacket closer to her, her eyes looking away.

Could it be? His heart dared not hope. Even though there were many times he wondered to himself if it was remotely possible that Saisei might… might have feelings for him, he often brushed the happy thought aside. Now, with her awkward attitude like this… his mind worked quickly.

"Well?" He asked in spite of his mind's protests of understanding the situation.

"Okay! I'll say I'll say! She is like, a friend of my close friend and well, you and I seemed like pretty good friends…" She sounded embarrassed saying these things, as if she was just assuming that Shinrei and herself are good friends. "So she er... Approached me asking if I could talk you into asking... her... out..." she trailed off and anxiously glanced at Shinrei.

In his mind, Shinrei laughed at his own stupidity for even believing, for one second, that Saisei could possibly like him. He looked at her bitterly. "So you're playing matchmaker, huh?"

To his surprise, the anxious glance turned into a glare. "It's not what you think. I don't treat you like some product to bargain and barter. I know it sounds lowly of me to do something so under-handed." Her voice was humbled, but Shinrei's ego wouldn't hear of it.

"Well, I wouldn't blame you too much for that." He mocked. "I mean, we are becoming pretty good friends and I guess that hinders you from being able to talk to your guy isn't it?" His hands clenched into fists in his pockets. "Finding me someone so that you have more space and time. It's not your fault."

Whatever happened next, Shinrei didn't know. By the time he could analyse the situation, he was on the floor.

Saisei... She knows judo?

Her pretty face was red from exertion of throwing someone heavier than her, and anger. "That was not the reason why I did that. My reason is not even remotely related to that!" Her usually mid-low voice (a nice contrast, Shinrei always noted, to the usual pitchy voice of her classmates) was unusually screechy.

"I'm sorry..." Shinrei apologised, picking himself up from the floor. His ego is a little deflated by the fact that a girl could do an over-shoulder throw on him. "I didn't mean-"

He couldn't see her face because her back was facing him. "It's just that..." Her voice was soft and upset, it sounded almost… helpless. "Miko-San really likes you. But you never give her any more attention than that. I... kinda feel for her."

"Saisei-san…"

"You don't know it, but the guy that I have a crush on… Everyone has a certain impression of awe and fear for him. But the truth is, he's quite a nice guy, and in the rare times I saw him laugh… I can only say I love the way he laughs." From the back Shinrei saw her hand flew to her face, in a swift, wiping motion. "I… I can't say for myself that he likes me. He's like a faraway dream that I can never reach. All I can do for myself, is just to be content with the friendship, the opportunities that I can talk to him. And hope for the best."

The revelation of Saisei's crush finally hit him, and the truth could only get as bad as this.

Saisei… she likes… Kyo.

It was 11P.M. when Kyo and Kyoshiro met at their family dojo. Kyoshiro had just finished wearing his armguards when Kyo walked in, a wooden katana in his hand. Even though the twin brothers hated each others' guts, there was one thing they agreed on, and have been faithfully doing these years. Every Sunday night Kyo and Kyoshiro will meet at the dojo to spar with each other.

In school, Kyo is always admired as being one of the best kendo masters of his peers. However, no one ever knew that his friendly and oh-so-unlike-Kyo brother, Kyoshiro, is the true kendo expert. Their many spars in their family dojo was the perfect evidence to prove so.

With the clashing of bamboo sticks, the twins began sparring with fervour. However, it wasn't long before Kyo found a chance to strike, and Kyoshiro fell onto the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" Kyo growled. "You're not taking me seriously today." But he soon found the reason behind his brother's off-form. "It's that woman right?"

Kyoshiro stood up slowly, brushing the dust off his sleeve. "Why?" He asked.

"Why what?"

"You have all sorts of girls who are willing to throw their lives for a chance to date you." Kyoshiro growled, his disgust visibly showing.

"You aren't so bad yourself." Kyo sneered mockingly.

Ignoring him, Kyoshiro continued. "You have many girls to choose from. It doesn't matter what kind of girls they were, since you are not interested in any of them. But… why are you interested in Yuya-san?" The younger brother gripped his bamboo sword with one hand, pointing straight at Kyo. "She is different from the girls you normally go for."

Kyo scoffed. "I'm merely going with her wishes to be with me."

"I won't allow you to take her," Kyoshiro gripped his bamboo sword tighter. "Fight me again!"

"Tch," and before Kyoshiro knew it, Kyo was in front of him. Kyoshiro's sword barely blocked his brother's strong attack. Kyoshiro leaped back and swung his sword at Kyo's stomach, without success. His concentration is failing, he knew.

And so did Kyo. He swiftly blocked another lunge by his unusually rash brother, did a side step and elbowed his back roughly. Kyoshiro choked as he fell onto the floor.

"Just take it that I wanted to spite you." Was Kyo's cold answer as he walked away.

Kyoshiro yelled, still flat on the floor. "We're not done yet!"

The crimson haired man glared at his look alike. "I feel ashamed that my first victory over you was because of your distraction, and not my strength. You owe me one."

"You!" But Kyo closed the sliding door on Kyoshiro before he could say anything.

Nevertheless, Kyoshiro's mind was not bothered because he lost to his older brother for the first time. His heart burned with fiery hatred at the thought that Kyo is only reciprocating Yuya's feelings to spite him. He must stop him, no matter what.

But it doesn't matter, isn't it? The thought in his head retorted, almost in despair. Yuya wants Kyo, she has never seen you as anything more than a friend.

His heart wrenched at the thought of seeing his buddy, his heart's desire, hanging out and clinging onto his arrogant brother.

He sat, deep in thought in the dojo for an hour. By the time he walked out of the dojo, Kyo stood by the pillar, his back facing Kyoshiro.

"If..." He could barely find strength to speak, but the pain caused by his clenched fist gave him the strength to. "If Yuya-san wants to be with you, I shall respect her decision."

Kyo didn't turn around. "I expected you to put up a bigger fight than this."

"Huh?"

Kyo turned to his twin, his crimson eyes almost glowing in the dark. "I'll treat her well, for your sake."

Kyoshiro was taken aback by his sudden change in attitude. Truth is, he always knew his older brother has a softer side behind his menacing glare. And he knew that sometimes Kyo looked out for him. Truth is also that, they do want to kill each other off, but they don't hate each other. Their relationship is special, yet the bane of their existence. Yes, both parties never showed any explicit kindness towards each other, yet they don't really hate each other. At least, Kyoshiro never did. And somehow, he knew that Kyo felt the same too.

But what Kyo said next threw Kyoshiro off-guard completely.

Kyo got off leaning his back against the pillar and faced Kyoshiro. "I won't let you, nor anyone, take her away from me."

"What are you talking about? Do you mean that you actually…" Kyoshiro ran up and grabbed his brother by the cuff. "Don't go around saying things like that so easily!" When Kyo did not reply, he asked quietly. "Since when?"

Kyo shrugged off his brother's tight grasp and looked away. "Since Wintumn Fair." He looked straight at Kyoshiro. "I've nothing more to say to you. Goodnight."

"You! We're not done with this!" exclaimed the bewildered Kyoshiro for the second time. But this time, Kyo has gone back into the house.

Kyoshiro stood there, not knowing what to do with the inconvenient truth he's now faced with.

Wahahahaa, call me a genius. But for some reason initially this series will end at 39 chapters, but I extended till 42 chapters! Don't groan, you people. The more things you read, the more I need to write and research!

Trivia: how many truths were revealed in this chapter? XDDDD

Surprised by Kyo's statement? Actually I wanted to reveal Kyo's feelings for Yuya much much later in the story, but now I have something up my sleeve, so do stay tuned!

Just a random thought, I really liked the phrase I used "Kyo and Kyoshiro's kendo skills excelled far better than their relationship with each other." I thought that was kinda funny.