Dislcaimer: Check Epilogue

Part 2: Kainan Bird

"Who...who are you suppose to be?"

They finished the dance and now, they were having a drink at the corner of the gym. The mysterious man is still the main attraction of the party. But the man only gave his attention to the handsome Kainan captain. They did make a strange couple, one looking very much like a tough guy was, and the other couldn't be less pretty than any other girl in Japan. Maki, in dark blue, seemed like taking the role of a SWAT team member seriously, standing proudly while looking at the taller man, who returned the gaze, and casually responsed to Maki.

"Orgy, Placebo. Or any of the men out there who's not afraid to show their androgynous side." He explained, while sipping his drink. Slowly...yet, seductively, without taking his eyes off Maki. The blue never leaves the brown.

"And you're not."

The man just shrugged.

"That's...err...brave of you to dress up this way, choosing this as your costume."

"Well...." his black-painted fingernails played with the glass. "This is not my real self."

"I guess…" Maki couldn't find a word to continue. " This is Halloween Ball after all. Everyone can be whatever they want to be tonight."

"Like Kiyota over there…" he gestured towards the long-haired man. "He's not really a vampire you know. He doesn't drink blood and bite people's neck." Maki's attention turned towards the man's neck " hehehe..... " That is the only intelligible words that came out after seeing the long, pale, smooth-looking neck. Idiot. It's just a neck.

He looked at the neck again, head tilted to the right, to give him a better view. That is one suckable neck. Maki blushed at the thought.

"That's a relief." He answered.

"And Jin, well, he's not a real pirate too."

"He's suppose to be a pirate? He reminded me of Rukawa when he was injured in IH." He went quiet before continued. "That explains the parrot."

Maki was surprised the man knew Rukawa. "You knew Rukawa? And you know about IH?"

"I watched the IH. He was pretty good. You're there too, and you're great."

Maki blushed again. It's not the first time he heard a compliment, but somehow... a compliment from this man, is something else. He wanted to impress this man, he valued this man's opinions, and when he said it's great, it means... it's great! He was better than Rukawa! He knew it all along, but Rukawa...he's just good. I'm great! Maki couldn't help thinking that way.

The man snorted. Maki turned his attention towards source of his amusement. Jin's parrot managed to find its way into the punch. oh Lord! Even though the basketball team members were the most popular students in school, they were also one of the goofiest and kept finding themselves in some 'uncool' situations. Like this one.

"Curious little bird eh?"

"huh?" Then Maki realised he was refering to Jin's parrot that was wet and sticky with the red liquid. "Oh yeah. He's not the only bird here ya know."

"Really?" The man became interested.

"Yea..."Maki pointed at the Kainan Bird on the spectators' seats. "That! is our mascot. Our good luck charm. Been there for 17 years now. And in that 17 years, we never fail to qualify for the IH."

"oh!"

"We took care of our bird. Polish it till it shines. Lock the gym so nobody will vandalise it or take it away. This bird oversee our training everyday, checking each player to see if we're good enough to be in this gym, lifted our spirit to win and examined our moves. It makes us invincible. This bird stays there, never move out of his place. " Maki explained about his school's pride and luck.

"Interesting...." The blue eyes zoomed towards the spectator's seat, more specifically, to the Kainan Bird. Maki, again, was speechless. It seems every movement this man made just too his breath away. He has a beautiful side profile. Long, curly eyelashes, hiding his dark blue eyes, high cheekbone, smooth pale skin, glowing in the array of colours. But his best feature is his lips. Pouty and lucious, it made everyone wondered how does it feel like to kiss him.

They talked for a little more, danced a little bit more and drank a little bit more. That night, was the only night for each other. And the night is no longer young. The time has come. It's the end of the ball. It's about time they announced the best costume for the night. All the attention turned towards the stage, for the first time that night. Even Jin managed to clean his bird and be there in time for the finale.

Maki excused himself and with a heavy heart, walked towards the stage. This is part of his role as the basketball captain, and since they were using the basketball gym, he had to be there to accept the school's appreciation. After all that, came the result of the best-dressed student of the night. The title was given to a student who dressed up as Harry Potter.

Maki turned to talk to the mysterious man, but he was in for a surprise.

The man was gone. Like the fox of the night, he quietly got away, without a sound, or a trace.

Suddenly, heard a shout. Kiyota was shouting and pointing at something. He was pointing at the bird. Or what used to be the bird, now an empty space. Somebody took the Kainan Bird! Maki knew. He had this feeling, a hunch, intuition, he knew it was that man. That devil! He cunningly planned all of this.

Maki quickly ran outside. There, he saw a tall figure running towards the gate. He quickly gave the man a chase. The man has the bird in his left hand and his high-heels boot in his right hand. He was barefooted. He threw the shoes and the bird over the high gate. And with a great jump, he pushed himself on top of the fence and leaped to the other side.

Maki quickened his pace, using the gate instead of the fence and managed to catch him on the other side. You're not getting away. With one last stride, he lunged towards the man. Both of them stumbled onto the road and Maki found himself on top of the thief, looking down at the beautiful young man underneath him. He's so damm gorgeous. Maki quickly remembered the stolen item and pulled the man up.

"Oh no you're not! You're not getting away so soon."

The man just smirked. "Without giving you a goodbye present eh?"

Suddenly, the man pulled Maki closer and planted a kiss on his lips. A deep, passionate kiss. Maki was startled at first, but he found himself responding to the kiss. A kiss unlike any other kiss he had before. A taste like any other taste he ever indulged. A lips unlike any other lips he ever experienced. A cherry lips. He deepened the kiss, wanting more. Delicious.

They parted so suddenly when they heard a call and footsteps. Maki found himself swore under his breath. The man meanwhile, just looked at Maki with a glimmer in his eyes.

"I want to continue..." his mouth curved into a lop-sided, sly smile. "I guess there's always the next time." He winked at Maki and started to run.

Maki can only stare. He was in the oblivion of emotions.

But he stopped at the corner and looked back at Maki. "This is for you!" he shouted before disappearing into the night.

He threw his right shoe at Maki. The shiny black boot came flying gracefully onto Maki's direction. Maki can only watched as the boot descended closer and closer towards him.

It landed on Maki's forehead, with a thud. Thus, broke the spell. Maki touched his forehead and looked at the black boot on his feet.

The best basketball player in Kanagawa couldn't even catch a shoe?????

"Maki-san!!!" Kiyota shouted.

"huh?"

"Are you alright Captain?" Jin asked.

Am I alright? Am I alright. I had the most amazing kiss of my life, and these two morons had to interrupt me. Am I alright??? I will have a bump on my forehead later. Am I alright???? Hell no.

"I guess so." He answered in a disappointing tone. He picked up the black boot and headed back towards the gym.