AN: It's such a long time since I updated this but I hope you still enjoy it. This is still one of my favorite manga. This might be a short chapter but I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Eight – Return To School

8.1

When Kei returned to the greenhouse and to school to see how things would be on his body, he knew that everyone knew already about the cancer. He could see the looks on the students faces as he passed by and how they were gossiping amongst themselves and wondering whether he should even be there. As he entered the room, he heard the sound of the other members go silent and made his way to sit down with them watching him.

"Hey," he said as he realized that none of them knew what to say to him. He sighed and looked away. He didn't really know what to say either.

"You're here," Ryuu smiled as he leaned forwards, "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Kei nodded to him before leaning forwards. He saw their sympathetic looks and didn't know how to respond to that. They always treated him as if he were robotic, as if nothing would bring him down, as if he had a stick up his ass and they didn't want to acknowledge it but now….silence was deafening. "I thought that I might go to class with you today," he said as he looked at Hikari whose back straightened.

She turned to the other five students. Kei had always said that going to class was a waste of his time and that he had more important things to do. Hikari was the one who went to the classes and the teacher had cried on the few occasions she had had anyone come with her. Now Takishima was volunteering to go.

"Absolutely," she nodded. "Yes. Well the first class starts in about twenty minutes so we should head there. Are you sure you don't need anything? Water? Medi-cine?" she asked as she caught herself on that word. Kei looked towards her and chuckled as made sure he had his computer and everything else with him. The small times were important and something as simple as just attending class had its own place of importance as well.

"Maybe I should go too," Ryuu said as he looked to Megumi and Jun. "It'll be fun to go, maybe," he shrugged and they looked up at him. Jun shrugged and nodded half-heartedly. Megumi brought her board up.

Pass. Sorry.

"Or maybe not," Ryuu said and Kei laughed at them. He swept a hand across his forehead and turned to Hikari. It didn't matter who else went. Yes, each of these people were important to him but he wanted to spend more time with Hikari. Maybe studying from bed would be easier but he had made an agreement that for two days he would come to campus and the other three study at home. It had been his desire to come back here. Hikari was here. Here was where he had made a home where the Takishima organization wasn't a main player.

"Thanks anyway but I'll be fine," Kei said before Hikari saw Akira's frustration at her old friend not acting very much like himself. Akira had always been arguing with Kei and laughing at him, mocking him. Hikari hated to say it but with the knowledge of his illness, it was hard to mock him and not feel sorry for him. Still, they could get through this together and at least he was showing that he had the energy still to get out of bed.

8.2

Hikari knew that Kei was battling as they sat in the classroom together. She had surrounded herself with notes and was putting them in order whilst glancing over at the textbooks. Kei didn't have anything but a blank notebook that had his fingerprints on it. Well, okay, maybe that was common. Takishima didn't really take class seriously after all. It was his eyes and the way they were dropping to a close every few moments.

"Hey, you don't have to sit here with me," Hikari said as Kei shook his head.

"I'm fine," he said before smiling weakly. He held his hand out in front of him and turned it over as if he were reading his palm or something that required that much attention. "Doing this is actually helping me feel normal. Even though I never come to class I can pretend to be an average student. It's like a game."

"Well, if you're up for another part of the game, I do have some exams," the teacher said. "But I can't have you two sitting so closely. These are just to evaluate your position in this class but it's not part of the midterm."

Hikari smiled and nodded, scooting a few feet away from Kei. She had always looked forward to tests because even if she had not physically surpassed Takishima on anything, doing well on a test showed her intellect. Now she was concerned that she might be showing off. How would Takishima feel if he did not pass the test or if her score was a lot higher than hers. She didn't want to fail but she hoped that it would bring back the old Takishima.

Hikari looked over at him for one more moment before turning her attention to her own test. She read through the questions carefully and chose the best answer, going slowly. Halfway through the exam she could hear Takishima saying he was done and hoped it was because he had finished the test and felt confident in his answers. She wanted to feel confident as well.

Hikari finished the test and once she had done so, she immediately went over to his side and saw him looking down in front of him, his gaze not directed at anything in particular. She took his hand and squeezed it before the teacher came back and handed the paper to Kei.

"I'm glad that you haven't been taken down, now get better so you can go back to being that arrogant jerk," he said and Hikari saw that Takishima had gained five bonus points as well as getting 100% She didn't even care that she had five points less than him. He was proving that he was still staying strong no matter what he might look like.

"I'll make sure to do that," Kei said in a brattish manner and Hikari felt tears in her eyes. She just wanted things to go back to normal. She wanted him to get better and go back and be Takishima again. If she were his mother, she would be displaying his test proudly and bragging that even with cancer this was how capable her son was. She sighed and closed her eyes.

She didn't even flinch as Kei hugged her and pressed his forehead to her shoulder, "Thank you," he said and she just felt comforted that he was here beside her and living and he was finally battling back and getting strong again. She just wanted him to become so strong that cancer wasn't even a word in his vocabulary. That wasn't asking for too much, was it?

8.3

Hikari smiled to herself as she looked over some information for parties that she could hold. She knew that she couldn't do anything too big since Kei still needed to get better but she wanted to celebrate when he would be able to come to the common room more frequently. There had to be some ideas for ways in which to make him happy and she really wanted to do that. He should enjoy life.

"Looks fun," Tadashi said from behind her. Hikari looked over the papers as she then turned to look at the chair where Takishima would usually sit. "He looked much healthier yesterday than one would have thought."

"Yeah, I'm really happy that he beat me on that test yesterday," Hikari said with a grin. She didn't think that she would be saying that to anyone, that she was happy to come second to him but if it meant that he would still be alive and that they would be competing again she would have years of happiness beside him and when she beat him on a level playing field, she would become his wife.

"Did he call you number two?" Tadashi asked teasingly and Hikari shook her head.

"Not yet. I don't know if he has to prove something to himself before he does that but I wouldn't mind hearing it again from him. It just means that he'll be getting better. I want him to return here because otherwise -"

"I don't think it's fair," a boy from Class A said as he came into the greenhouse and Hikari looked up at him and saw that he was flanked by two other boys. She blinked but saw that Tadashi had a firmer expression that usual. "That low level scum should take its owner down to where he belongs. But that will come to fruition soon enough," he laughed and Tadashi raised an eyebrow.

"Can you start making some sense because these long interludes kind of bore me," he commented and the main student pointed at Hikari.

"I hear that Takishima will get a special exception to sit out on the sporting events based on his past performance and his current sickness. I don't think that's fair. I wish that I had someone to coddle me but then I'm not this Takishima giant am I?" he asked and Tadashi frowned.

"Leave Kei the hell alone," he said protectively, "None of you numbskulls know what he's dealing with and don't you think that he would want to trade places if he had a choice. Of course he's not going to be graded on the same level as -"

"He will be once I speak with him," the student said and Hikari looked to Tadashi. Neither of them wanted for Kei to push his body past its limits and they had to be the ones to convince him not to. For once, he shouldn't have to meet other peoples' expectations of him.

End of Chapter Eight

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