S.M: I finally am getting Chapter 8 up, I hope that everyone's enjoying the story so far. I really hope I haven't made it too confusing I tend to do that, I also hope you'll let me know if I have, and maybe I can make it less confusing.

One More thing I'm starting school tomorrow : `( SO my reviews won't be as frequent as they have been.

::Yuu, Yu-gi, and Gene all try to sneak away.::

S.M: STOP!!!

(All action freezes.)

S.M: OK, what's going on?

Yu-gi: Nothing

Gene: Yea what he said.

Yuu: Oh boy.

S.M: Then why do Yu-gi, Gene, Duo, Quatre, Heero, Trowa, Neofire, and Ginta, and Yue, and Joe??? Wait where did you guys come from. (Eyes go swirly) Why are you fighting.

Yuu: Don't try to figure out why they do what they do

Yu-gi: Well You see???

Gene: It's all his fault. (Points to Duo.)

S.M: (Sighs) Yue, Ginta, Joe what are you guys doing here, and holding Chairs, lamps and a… my rubber duck?

Joe: Well when I heard there was a fight here I had to come.

Ginta: When I heard Yuu was here I had to make sure he didn't sabotage my chances with Miki…

S.M: Sorry to tell you Ginta but your fate weather it be good or bad is set in stone, I already know what's going to happen to you… Yue??? Why are you here?

Yue: …

Neofire: Your friends are so rude… What did Duo or any of them do to them. (Pointing to an angry Gene and Yu-gi)

Yu-gi & Gene: (BLUSH from embarrassment)

Yuu: (Sighs) Idiots

S.M: Shut up you bum… They're just jealous because Duo's so much better than both of them and they're afraid they'll lose me to do stuff for them.

Neofire: (Laughs)

Yu-gi: (Glares) That's not it.

Gene: (Glares) SO WHAT… ?

S.M: Will someone do a disclaimer for me?

::Everyone falls anime style::

Neofire: Why would you ask that?

S.M: I asked really nice. (Puppy dog face.)

Gene: I'll do it.

Yuu: I'm leaving.

S.M: (Looks at Yuu) You're still not leaving. (Glares at Yuu)

???: I'll do it.

::Looks around and sees someone falling from the sky.::

Hiei: I will do it for you.

S.M: (Heart eyes) Hiei! YAY!!!

Hiei: This beautiful, talented author has created this story solely for the enjoyment of those of you who enjoy Marmalade Boy. She in no way thinks she owns Marmalade Boy or any of the other numerous characters who make an appearance Ex: Yu Yu Hakasho, Digimon, OUTLAW STAR, Card Captor Sakura or any of the other numerous characters. She hopes that you will enjoy Chapter 8 of this story…

Duo: I know I've enjoyed it so far and I'm not even in Marmalade boy. It's a nice tale of one very confused girl and 2 even more confused boys. (He laughs looking at Yuu, and Ginta.) So you better like it or I'll come after you with my Deathscythe,,, You know what I say… 'The god of death is back from hell!' (Winks at S.M)

Quatre: She also hopes that you will grace her with your opinion no matter what it will be. She needs to know everything she can to make it the best, of the best, of the best, with honors. Hehe… Anyway we're all looking forward to hearing what you have to say about her story.

S.M: Also I do not own the best of the best thing he just said MIB does.

Gene: She really doesn't own us we really do what we want. (Glares at Yuu)

Yuu: I still don't think you're sure about that.

Gene: Why you little…

Duo: You're friends are insane. (Walks over to S.M)

S.M: Hey everyone things are getting a little crowded here, so I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of 'With out me with you, With out you with me'. Miki meets her friend Ginta again and it's almost as if he's never left. But at her little birthday gathering friction generates between him and Yuu. And Miki decides who she really wants but she's not going to go through with what her heart says till she's sure it's what she wants. And when she forced to chose can she or will she put it off as long as she can?

Neofire: You're a bum. (8 P) And I know who you want na na.

Yu-gi: (Grits his teeth)

Joe: Why am I always left out of the loop. What's going on.

Yue: …

Gene: Serenity likes That Duo guy, and Yu-gi and I want to kill him.

Duo: (looks at him strangely) Why…

S.M: (Blushes) I never said I liked anyone. They're just nice.

Joe: Serenity WHY?!?!

S.M: (Sighs)Why me? I'm going… I hope you all enjoy my latest chapter. Let me know what you think. (Leaves grabbing Hiei, Duo, and Quatre, dragging them behind.)

With out me with you, With out you with me

Ginta's back, the birthday ultimatum

Marmalade Boy

By: Yui

"I guess so if you're going to keep going on like I know you somehow."

By now the bell had rung and we stood inches away from each other, I saw a few girls standing around watching us. I snorted and began to walk to class pulling Meiko with me seeing as how she'd been standing behind me. I heard him laugh hysterically and I turned to look at him and He smiled at me as he spoke.

"Ginta"

Was all he mumbled and I looked at him closely and gasped. I walked up to him and put my face so it was only mere centimeters from his own and looked into his eyes. I now knew he was indeed my best male friend Suou Ginta. I closed the distance between us and hugged him tightly not wanting to let go, he hugged me even tighter and we stayed that way for a moment till a girl came up to me and told me I was going to be late for class. I hopped out of Ginta's grip and ran to class the girl besides me, I saw her looking at me strangely but chose to ignore it. We got into class and I got lectured for tardiness Ginta walked in only moments later and took his seat, which happened to be besides me.

I couldn't help but glance over at him. He'd changed in some ways but not at all on others. His hair was a little shorter and blonde, a shocking change it made him look younger than he was because it was so bright. But he was a lot taller than before and more muscular. His eyes were still the same confused shade of brown as mine. He looked over at me and gave me a smile, I smiled back and turned to the front of the class. Class soon ended and I went to go meet Meiko to walk home.

"Time to meet Yuu and my parents."

I sighed as I looked to Meiko who looked lost among her thoughts. 'I knew she was worrying over Nachan and felt bad because I knew how he must have felt seeing the one you love kissing someone else or in my case hearing about it.' I took a deep breath and gained courage.

"Meiko-chan, I kind of understand how Nachan must feel, but he had to see the 2 of you. I just heard about it and it's killing me. But maybe I can talk to him for you help him understand the situation, and tell him how I fit into this, but I'm sure he must already know about my feelings for Yuu doesn't he."

I mocked playfully; she still didn't look up at me. She kept her gaze glued to the ground before her. I looked at her worried but looked up when I heard someone calling my name. I saw Ginta running towards me and I stopped and waved to him. He stopped a foot away from me and smiled.

"Can I walk the lady home?"

He joked I forced a laugh and turned to talk to Meiko but she was still walking a head. I frowned and turned back to Ginta, who noticed my down mood.

"Miki, are you alright? You've seemed unhappy since lunch."

I forced him a smile and nodded.

"Everything's ok."

I lied. He let it go for now and we started towards my house in silence.

"This is going to sound funny but you want to come shopping with us?"

I somberly asked him as I turned to face him. He looked at me oddly.

"Why?"

"All of my parents just got back from Hawaii and they're going to take me shopping, and out to dinner tonight kind of as make-up for not even calling on my actual birthday."

I explained, he smiled at me and nodded.

"Of coarse"

He said as I felt myself walk into someone because I was walking backwards and I scrambled to my feet and apologized and noticed whom it was. I stared at her feeling uneasy.

"A- Arimi-san"

She gave me a conniving smile and waved.

"Hello Miki-san, how are you."

I shrugged and grabbed for Ginta and started to leave. Arimi looked a little confused that I was just leaving without saying anything to her and she yelled something to me.

"Sorry you got in a fight with Yuu? He was really nonchalant about it."

She told me a sad smile playing n her lips.

"Arimi-san, we already know that Yuu doesn't care about me, so please just be quiet."

I said as I grabbed Ginta's arm and headed for my house. We walked in silence I think confused about what happened and I was still hurt by what Yuu had said to me. Ginta had grabbed my shoulder and was going to talk to me when we finally approached my house.

"Ginta-kun, I just need to tell you one thing. My family has changed quite a lot. So please don't say anything about it."

I warned him as I opened the door and walked in only to be attacked by streamers. I jumped back and all my parents yelled surprise. They noticed the person behind me and were a little confused.

"Miki-chan, who's that?"

My mother asked.

"You better not be having any secret boyfriends!"

Both Youji and My dad threatened. Ginta backed up a little but I pulled him inside and I closed the door.

"Mom dad this is Ginta. Chiyako, Youji this is an old friend of mine who's back for a little while."

"Suou-kun?"

My dad asked as he inspected Ginta. I sighed and we all went into the kitchen.

"Yea I didn't recognize him either, but I invited him to come with us shopping and to dinner. Can he?"

I asked, they all got dreamy eyes and nodded, I plastered on a forced smile.

"Ginta fend for yourself while I go get changed."

I whispered in his ear as I headed up to my room and my smile wavered. I was outside my door starring at it before I finally opened it and went inside.

"He doesn't like me… Why can't I just get over it."

I seethe to myself as I walk into my room. I grabbed a pair of flare jeans and a half sweatshirt. I put my hair up in a ponytail and headed out of my room but I ran right into Yuu. He looked down at me strangely and I just walked by him not saying anything. I got to the stairs and turned to him.

"You going to at least come to dinner with us?"

I asked not really caring. He looked over at me surprised, and nodded.

"I was going to go shopping with you too."

"Doesn't really matter to me. You can meet my friend though."

I said as I stormed down stairs really angry. Ginta was in front of me and gave me a worried smile, I just walked up to him and gave him a hug and thanked him for coming with us. I couldn't bring myself to muster even a fake smile. My parents had already gone out to the car and I was about to go outside with them. But Ginta stopped me.

"Miki-chan, You're dad told me to tell you to get Yuu down here if he's going to come."

I stomped to the foot of the stairs and yelled up.

"I'll meet you there."

He yelled down to me.

"You're going to meet us? You're going to meet us at Tokyo Square?"

I questioned him. He came to the end of the stairs and slowly came down.

"Fine I'm ready."

He said all to enthusiastically (Sarcastic). I just turned around and headed out of the door and walked past Ginta. I stopped and turned to face their direction once again.

"Yuu this is my best friend Suou Ginta, and Ginta this is Matsuura Yuu don't ask about the relation."

I quipped sarcastically.

"The guy with Meiko, and you in that picture?"

I just stood there and nodded. Ginta walked past me and headed for the van.

"So this is him Miki? This is my rival?"

He whispered into my ear as he headed for the van. I followed and got in next to him and Yuu reluctantly got in next to me not even looking at me. We were all in the van my parents had rented for all of us. Just being near Yuu like this makes me want to cry and I almost did, then thinking about him and Meiko.

I leaned on Ginta's shoulder who had been talking to my dad and Chiyako who were right in front of us. He looked at me and I just stared forward in my own thoughts. We eventually arrived at Tokyo Square; I gratefully got out of the car. There a lot of nice stores around and a little shop caught my eye and I fingered my bellybutton. 'I wonder.' I ran up to my mom.

"Mom… I'm 18 now, do you think… (Pause for a moment.) Do you think I can get my belly button pierced?"

She gave me a worried look but she smiled and nodded.

"Let's go get it right now, why don't you bring Ginta and Yuu."

I shook my head and pulled her with me. I noticed Ginta and Yuu both saw us and followed us into the parlor. I picked out a ring and within a moment I walked back out and Saw my mom, Ginta and Yuu staring at me I lifted my shirt a little bit and showed them. Ginta and Yuu gave me expressionless looks and my mom was happy. We ran across the street and joined the others in the store. I tried on outfits and looked at lots of shoes, as well as other things by the time we had left I must have 6 bags full of stuff just for me. And Ginta bought me a beautiful necklace chain and it had a ring on it that he had gotten for me form America. I blushed brightly when he put it on my neck, and gave him a tight hug. We went out for dinner at the fancy Italian restaurant that I missed out on the day my parents got married. I sat between Yuu and Ginta, which was really uncomfortable for me. But I got through it alright. For some reason the ride home took an hour longer than it did to get there. I tried to stay conscious but a half an hour into the ride I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I felt my eyelids win the battle and closed, and fell asleep.

Dream

I was falling. Falling into a dark vast tube of nothing. I heard voices talking to me and I was calm as I just kept falling.

"Miki-chan don't be such a baby."

I was scolded as an image of Youji passed through my mind.

"You don't have to think to much about it."

Both my mom and Chiyako told me.

"But he doesn't care about me. He doesn't want me around."

I told them.

"You're going to let some harsh words come between you and the one you love."

I started crying but continued to fall.

"Miki… I'm not going to give you up. I LOVE YOU!"

Ginta's face appeared yelling to me.

"Ginta…"

I muttered to myself.

"Be honest with yourself. Who you love…"

He continued.

I was watching a blurry image of Yuu and Meiko together and my heart wanted to rip out of my chest. But Meiko's face appeared in front of me, with Nachan behind her.

"Miki… I love sensei more than anything, not Matsuura-san. I hope you can forgive me for what happened, I know he loves you. Deep down, you must forgive him."

I looked around aimlessly thinking about what everyone has said.

"I love Yuu, but I still feel hurt by what he's done to Meiko, and more from his words."

Then an unexpected image wafted through.

"A- Arimi-san?"

I questioned she stared at me.

"Yuu doesn't open his heart to strangers. On the surface, he's friendly and sociable, but whenever he's with people, he keeps his distance."

She continued.

" Yuu is the only one I like. For a long time, Yuu's been the only one I've been watching. And you've been pining for some guy who's in America and then there's Funo-san. Whom Yuu told me about."

I closed my eyes and thought about what happened between Funo-san and I.

"I won't be with a guy that struck me in such a way."

I yelled.

"Arimi-san! I love Yuu and even thought I feel hurt by what he said to me I still want to get to know him because I love him so much."

She faded away leaving me in the dark.

"Could you give up on Ginta romantically so quickly."

A rough voice questioned threateningly. I looked around in a whirl as I saw Yuu actually standing before me. He came up to me and I had noticed that I had stopped falling. He caressed my cheek and stared into my eyes. I started crying and grabbed for him and he stepped away from me and I started crying.

End Dream

"Yuu"

I heard myself sob as I opened my eyes and noticed something that freaked me out. My head was leaning on something and I looked around and noticed I was leaning on Yuu's shoulder. I looked up at him and he was staring at me with an unreadable expression, I sat up quickly painted on a fake smile and laughed nervously as I saw Yuu, Ginta, Mom and Youji staring at me like I awoke from the dead. I sniffled and realized tears were still falling.

"Miki"

Ginta called lightly I sniffled again as I turned to look at him. He wiped the tears away form my eyes and gave me a small smile. 'I- I woke up saying Yuu's name.' I said to myself.

"Gomen Ginta."

I apologized. He smiled at me and put his arm around me.

"S'ok did you have a bad dream."

He asked loudly. I stared out the window and nodded. I leaned on his shoulder once more almost as if I was in a trance. I was thinking about my dream. But my thoughts broke when something was held in my face.

"Miki-san your father and I stopped at the ice cream place in Yokohama. But you were asleep so we brought Ginta, Yuu and you one. You looked like you were having a troubling sleep."

I looked at Yuu and Ginta confused.

"Why didn't you guys get any ice cream there?"

"Couldn't"

Was all Yuu said I looked up at Ginta who was starring at Yuu; he looked down and saw me looking at him I noticed his cheeks turning pink as he spoke.

"Well you were asleep and Yuu was a nice guy and didn't want to wake you up, seeing as how you were lying on his shoulder so he stayed. And I couldn't get out because you 2 were blocking me."

He told me. I sat up and closed my eyes once more leaning forward so I could fall asleep and not bother either Yuu or Ginta. I could see both of them out of the corner of my eye and they were both looking at me very differently. Yuu looked blank like nothing was bothering him and Ginta looked angry and hurt. I ignored both of them and concentrated on my thoughts.

Before I knew it I was home we all got out of the car and Ginta and I were left alone in front of the gate.

"Thanks for coming Ginta-kun. It was really nice to hang out with you… I- I've missed you."

I told him he looked at me with a smile and my hurt frown was engrained into my features by now. He ruffled my hair saying it was nothing. But then looked away suddenly.

"Miki, I want to tell you something."

He looked at me nervously once again.

"Miki will you be my girlfriend?"

He asked with nervousness in his voice, but I looked up at him and he was staring straight at me.

"I- I don-"

Was all I was able to stutter I took a deep breath.

"Ginta… You just came back here can't we be friends first?"

"We are friends but I care for you as much more."

He told me. I looked at him for a moment and then turned my body so I was facing the house.

"Ginta it is very true that I love you as a friend, and possible more, but- but I really love Yuu, even if he hates me and I'm really hurt by him, my heart still wants him."

"So what you're saying is that you want him."

I turned around annoyed.

"Did I say I want Yuu. I just meant that I need time to figure things out, get my thought straight. That's all. Can you do that or do you want a straight yes no answer right now?"

I shouted getting annoyed once again. He looked at me with a sincere smile.

"Miki I will try to patiently give you all the time you need to see that I'm the one who loves you more. But I might not be here forever."

He told me, he gave me a hug and left with a wave. I turned and solemnly went into the house and went up to my room saying good night and thanking my parents. I went into my room and got on my pajamas and went to bed sadly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that's that, chapter 8 has ended… I hope you liked it, and will give me some feed back, and let me know what you think so far, as well as how I could go about continuing it.

In The Future: Miki Talks to Nachan and eventually get him to talk to talk to Meiko, and they're back together? He doesn't trust her at the moment and he really doesn't like Yuu. But even as Nachan and Meiko attempt making a reconciliation work Miki's till heartbroken, and now to cover it confused over Ginta. And she hasn't had a real conversation with Yuu in a while. And they currently hate each other. What will happen to them as well as Meiko and Nachan, and what about poor Ginta and one more exchange student from America? This as well as much, much more as 'With out me with you, With out you with me' continues. Stay tuned…

Gene: Serenity

S.M: …

Yu-gi: I'm sorry, please come back here.

Yuu: Looks like she left you guys high and dry?

Ginta: Sheesh what was all that about, I just wanted t know if I ended up with Miki. (Glares at Yuu)

Joe: What will Izzy and I do wit out her, she's the only one who thinks we're cool.

Yue: …

Takato: Do you ever say anything?

Trowa: This is really weird. Neofire you're friends with them?

Neofire: (Smolder) Why, I can't believe her! GET BACK HERE, DON"T TRY TO STEAL HIM!

Wufai: …

Yu-gi: What if she doesn't come back for us.

Gene: She will…

Ginta: YEA!!!

To Be Continued…

3/9/02