LOVE FROM RIVALRY

Chapter 2

Author's Note: Wow, I didn't expect to update so soon! I'm really enjoying writing this fanfiction. Again, if you want to, please review! Anything will do. Thank you and enjoy!

Mitsuki introduced herself to the current members of the S.O.S. Brigade. The red-head, who was now wearing a maid outfit, served her a cup of green tea. The brunette pulled up a chair and sat down. She glanced over at Itsuki, who waved at her, and she waved back. Then, Miss Suzumiya did something rather strange.

She stood atop the desk at the far end of the room.

"Well, Mitsuki, I'm obviously Haruhi Suzumiya," the fellow brunette explained. "This dope sitting her is Kyon, the quiet one over there reading is Yuki Nagato, our other transfer student is Itsuki Koizumi, and our extremely cute mascot here is Mikuru Asahina."

'Mikuru Asahina,' Mitsuki mused to herself. 'I know I've heard that name before.'

"I bet you wanna know what our mission is, huh?" Haruhi said, jumping off the desk.

"Y-yeah, sure!" Mitsuki answered.

Miss Suzumiya scampered over to her, slammed her hands on the table, and set her golden eyes on the fellow brunette.

"We, the S.O.S. Brigade, search for aliens, time travelers, and espers!"

"I-is that so…?" Mitsuki felt her voice go quiet.

"Isn't it cool?!"

The blue-eyed teen slowly nodded her head and averted her gaze. She suddenly felt overwhelmingly nervous. Her palms and forehead started to sweat as Haruhi sauntered towards the far side of the room, rambling about future club activities. She found herself glancing around the room. Kyon was staring at Haruhi like she was mentally disturbed, and Mikuru was trying to squeak out a sentence. Yuki was simply turning pages, and Itsuki was silently listening and smiling. Then, Mitsuki found herself briskly standing up.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I-I remembered that I'm…helping my brother c-cook dinner t-tonight!"

Before even Itsuki could say anything, Mitsuki grabbed her bookbag and darted out of the club room. She dashed downstairs, past her classroom, and to the shoe lockers. She nearly fell down putting her street shoes on, but made it out of the school and to the front gate regardless. There she saw Arashi leaning against the stone wall.

"Where in the hell have you been?" the raven-haired boy demanded.

"W-what do you mean?" Mitsuki asked, catching her breath.

"I've been waiting here for an hour!" Arashi turned and confronted her. "What were you doing? Did you go to that S.O.S. thing?!"

"Well, haven't you chosen a club?"

"Sis, it's only day one for us. No, I haven't."

Mitsuki simply stared at her brother, who was a few inches taller than her. She felt a lump developing in her throat. Why couldn't Arashi just think about his stupid self for once? The brunette lowered her head and clenched and unclenched her fists.

"I…think they're onto me." Mitsuki mumbled audibly.

"What?" Arashi responded.

"I said I think the club leader is onto me!"

The younger twin gazed up at her brother with tears in her eyes. She started whimpering and felt her lower lip trembling. The older twin seemed taken aback, but then he rubbed his face with one hand and took his sister's wrist in the other.

"C'mon, Sis, let's go home."

The two new students started down the steep slope. Mitsuki's whimpers started subsiding, but she let her brother hold her. As they approached the bottom of the giant hill, Arashi stopped.

"What do you say to food from the corner store tonight?" he inquired gently. "My treat."

Mitsuki nodded in response with a small smile. As they continued down the road to the train station, a question popped up.

"Hey, do you happen to remember a girl named Mikuru Asahina?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah, actually," Arashi answered. "She was the lady with that one organization. She helped us get here three years ago, when we were escaping from…"

The raven-haired teen trailed off as they approached the train station. Mitsuki was relieved that he didn't say that name. Otherwise, she would've knocked a few of his teeth out.

The twins boarded the train and rode their three stops to their part of town. They stopped at the corner convenience store to pick up some savory snacks for supper. As the two were browsing the shelves together, another question came up.

"Hey, Bro," Mitsuki said. She grabbed a box of Pocky. "I…was thinking about the two of joining the Wind Ensemble."

"Isn't that a little expensive?" Arashi responded absently.

"Well, it's something we can do together. You can play percussion and I can play flute. Sure, we'll have extra practices sometimes, concerts and competitions, but I like the feeling of being part of something bigger, ya know? One of my classmates told me this afternoon that the club fees aren't bad and we can borrow instruments from the school. We probably have enough money in our savings by now to pay for it anyway."

"I thought we were gonna use that money for a rainy day."

"C'mon, Bro, live a little! Don't you miss when we would play instruments together on sunny days? We would get around 100 yen a day back then for that, of course, but this time it will be a feeling of pride! Don't you wanna show off your skills?"

Arashi ruffled his sister's hair and grinned, "Ya got me there. Let's check it out tomorrow."

Mitsuki nodded and smiled, and the two bought the rest of their supper and paid. Then, they went home where she changed from her uniform into blue jeans a black tank-top. She sat down on the couch, turned on the television, and snacked on her Pocky. Later that night, the brunette curled up in her bed and swiftly went to dreamland.

Over the next month, the twins joined the North High Wind Ensemble and started polishing their skills. Arashi continued eating lunch every day in class one-nine with Mitsuki. Sometimes their friend Itsuki would be there, and other times he would be off somewhere else. Either way, it became a tradition for both brown-haired teens to talk before and right after class. Despite the two being in separate clubs, Mitsuki felt that they were developing a strong friendship.

Then, one day, Mitsuki heard the classroom door open right at the beginning of lunch. She had just taken a luscious bite out of her pork onigiri when she overheard her name and footsteps coming towards her. The brunette glanced up to see none other than Kyon standing beside her desk.

"Can we talk?" he asked rather bluntly.

Mitsuki nodded before swallowing a bite and followed him to the hallway.

"What'd you want to talk about?" the brunette inquired once the door closed.

"Well…how do I say this…," Kyon mused aloud. "You see, after you dashed out of the club room last month, Miss Asahina and I became worried. We thought that Haruhi had done something so outlandish that it scared you and we haven't seen you since. I asked Koizumi about it, since you two are in the same class, but he said you joined another club, so I left it. Then Haruhi told me this morning to, in her own words, go check on Mitsuki you lazy good-for-nothing Brigade member."

"I thank you for your concern," Mitsuki giggled. "I have joined the Wind Ensemble since then, though. Practices keep me busy, so I'm afraid I don't have time for the S.O.S. Brigade."

"I see. Well, you probably made the right choice. Good luck, then."

"Thank you, Kyon. Oh, and if your club ever needs something, don't hesitate to come find me."

Kyon nodded and the two waved their goodbyes and went separate ways. Mitsuki finished her lunch and proceeded to read a book until the warning bell rang. That was when Itsuki slipped into his chair behind her and began to prepare for Japanese class.

"You're right on time," Mitsuki commented, turning around. "What took you so long to get back? You're usually early."

"Oh, I was talking to Kyon. We had coffee and cafeteria food in the courtyard." Itsuki answered.

"Really? I just saw him at the beginning of lunch. If you don't mind me asking, what'd you two talk about?"

"Just some guy stuff. Ya know…sports, video games…"

Mitsuki nodded slowly and turned back around. Kyon and Itsuki were in the same club, after all.

The afternoon passed slowly without incident. Mitsuki paid attention for the most part, but at times she found herself daydreaming about multiple things. When the final bell rang, Itsuki and Mitsuki said their friendly goodbyes and went to their separate clubs. In Wind Ensemble, the brunette couldn't help but wonder what the S.O.S. Brigade was up to. Sure, they were searching for the somewhat impossible, but they were probably going on fantastic adventures. And Itsuki—

"Miss Takiya, focus!" the director commanded, interrupting her thoughts.

Mitsuki stared up at the director. The rest of the Wind Ensemble giggled. Apparently, they had been right in the middle of a run-through of a piece. Mitsuki grinned sheepishly, but her director was not having it.

"Miss Takiya, play from your cue at measure 183 to measure 190. Now!" he ordered.

The brunette sighed, brought her flute to playing position and breathed, then played.

After rehearsal was over, Arashi and Mitsuki helped put their respective sections away and then started for home. As they were leaving the schoolyard, however, a familiar voice and footsteps came darting up behind them.

"Hey, can I walk home with you guys?" Itsuki inquired, putting his arms around both the twins.

"Sure!" Mitsuki answered, smiling.

"What, are you suddenly our next-door neighbor?" Arashi muttered.

"I guess my neighborhood is not far from yours," Itsuki chuckled. "The S.O.S. Brigade got out late today. Thank goodness it's Friday, though!"

The auburn-haired teen proceeded to let go of the twins and put both hands in his pockets. The trio took their time getting down the hill, with Arashi walking a few paces ahead of the other two. Itsuki and Mitsuki chatted about their club activities and how they wanted to spend their weekend. According to Itsuki, the S.O.S. Brigade met on weekends, too.

Suddenly, Koizumi motioned for the brunette to stop. He brought his face close to her ear, which made her want to shoot off into space.

"I've got something I want to ask you, but it can wait until we get outside your place." Itsuki whispered.

"O-okay." Mitsuki whispered back. She smiled up at him.

"C'mon, lazy bones!" Arashi called from about ten feet in front of them. "Or I'm gonna leave you stranded at the station!"

The two shared a laugh and then jogged the rest of the way down the slope. The trio of teens was strangely quiet on the train and on the walk to the twins' apartment. However, Mitsuki's stomach was anything but quiet or content. Her gut felt like a hoard of butterflies would burst out any minute.

Once they got to the apartment building, Arashi motioned for his sister to go inside with him. However, Mitsuki stopped short.

"Itsuki and I have to talk about…weekend homework…yeah…" the brunette's voice trailed off slowly.

Mitsuki felt her brother's narrowed gaze on her, and then she saw his eyes drift to Itsuki. The raven-haired teen grabbed his friend by the wrist and pulled him in. Mitsuki saw Arashi's jaw moving, but she couldn't hear a lick of what he was whispering. By the look of surprise and possible fright in Itsuki's eyes, it didn't appear to be pleasant.

Arashi then released Itsuki quite roughly and then meandered inside the complex. Mitsuki then turned to her auburn-haired companion.

"So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Well, the best way I can put it is this," Itsuki began. "Miss Suzumiya said we could take the day off on Sunday. So…I wanted to ask if you wanted to see a movie Sunday morning?"

Mitsuki instantly grinned up at her friend. She could barely contain her excitement. They were going to talk outside of school for once! Her body was practically floating in the clouds.

"I'd be delighted to." the brunette said, her eyes shining.

"Great!" Itsuki responded, equally pleased. "I'll see you at nine in the morning under the station clock."

Both teenagers smiled and waved goodbye. Mitsuki watched until Koizumi turned the corner and then skipped briskly up to her apartment. She danced past Arashi and into her room. There she rolled onto her bed and squealed into her pillow.

"What did you and Koizumi discuss, if I may ask?" Arashi asked in the doorway.

"Oh, nothing!" Mitsuki answered through muffled singing.

After her brother's footsteps had faded, the brunette kicked her legs up and down on the bed. Would this be her first-?

"Date?" Mitsuki's head flew up as she finished her thought.

The female teen sat up and crossed her legs. Why was her heart almost beating out of her chest? Why wouldn't the butterflies stop in her gut? What on Earth was this feeling?

Then, it came to her. She looked up at the ceiling and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"I like him." Mitsuki whispered. She leaned her head against the wall.

Mitsuki Takiya had a crush on the one-and-only Itsuki Koizumi.