Tomodachi
Chapter 6
by
Nana
Just Desserts
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Author's Notes: Gomen for this late update! I realize it has been a while since the last one, but I cannot break away from my schedule. Things are going to get even more hectic this week, but hopefully the updates will be quite regular after November 16.^^ In the meantime, on with the show!
Disclaimer: Yes, yes. I own nobody here.
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As she walked beside a silent Takeda, Sango felt that, for the first time in a long while, she was dangerously close to tears.
She had never been so humiliated…so angry…!
That..that baka! She thought furiously. How dare he--!
"Sango," began Takeda softly.
"Hai?" she asked, forcing herself to smile as she turned to him.
Kami…here it comes. Before their date could even begin, he was going to call it quits already. She just knew it. All thanks to that bloody idiot…
"Don't look now, but I think we've got a tail…"
"Huh?" Sango asked, involuntarily looking over her shoulder. Takeda stopped her just in time.
"Trust me, he's following us," he said with a slightly amused smile.
"What?!" Sango could feel her heart turn cold and drop alarmingly to the pit of her stomach.
"Takeda-kun," she began quickly as she turned to back to him, "about what happened earlier on, I just want you to know--"
"I think I understand," he cut in. "After all, what guy in his right mind wouldn't want to--"
"No, no!" said Sango. "That's precisely the point that I want to clarify with you! That guy--I've known him since we were twelve. In fact, we're friends. Believe me, he doesn't see me as a girl--"
At the look of surprise on Takeda's face, Sango found herself stumbling over her words. "I mean," she hastened to clarify, "he doesn't see me as the type he'd go out with, so there's really no point in making him an issue here, okay?"
"You mean, you're just friends?"
"Hai."
A short silence ensued, and Takeda found his curiosity getting the better of him. "He's never asked you out?" He ventured to ask. He sounded as though he could not believe it.
"Well, no."
"Not even once??"
"You don't have to keep asking," snapped Sango, irritated.
"Gomenasai. I just thought…well…" He shrugged.
"Better believe it."
Takeda looked at her oddly for a moment or two before he said simply, "I understand."
Of course, he would like to argue that Sango's explanation could not quite cover why her "friend" was following them now, but the tone she used made clear that no further discussion was welcome.
But then, Takeda felt he needed no further explanation. Guy things were kind of hard to put down in words anyway. Suffice it to say that the guy in question was acting strangely enough for another guy not to notice.
In a way, even though Sango's explanation did not seem to mesh perfectly with Terada's actions, Takeda took comfort in the fact that she was disturbed enough at the thought that he might take things the wrong way that she had offered an explanation. Perhaps there might be something that could be salvaged from this situation after all.
Like it or not, Takeda had a feeling he really did understand the drive that was spurring the other one on; while a part of him could find it in himself to feel sorry for the poor guy, another part of him could not help but feel a wild urge to stir things up.
He smiled as he said, "His loss, then."
Sango stiffened as she felt him casually slip an arm around her shoulders.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she fought not to raise her voice in a squeak of protest.
"I can tell he's caused you a great deal of aggravation," he observed.
"Hardly," said Sango coldly. "What made you think so?"
Takeda smiled and shrugged. "Wild guess, maybe. So why don't you throw some of his own medicine back his way?" he suggested.
"What are you saying?!"
"How about it, Sango? Six years is a long, drawn-out meal, don't you think? Some just desserts are in order," he said.
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Back a block away, things were not going well for Miroku.
What the hell does he think he's doing?? He thought as outrage choked at his throat.
Takeda had barely known Sango for two, three days and he was already slinging an arm around her?? The utter nerve!
Even worse, how could Sango stand for any of this? How could she??
She always made a big show of feeling repulsed whenever he grew touchy in school (and to think he was not even touching her during all those times), so where, pray tell, was all that righteous indignation right now??
Now what?
What the hell…? He thought as an even stranger sight greeted him.
She was laughing?? Laughing with this guy whom she barely knew?! He couldn't believe it! The only way he could ever get her to laugh at him these days was when he poked fun at himself!
Dimly, he knew that something was up, but he couldn't seem to be able to make sense of it, not when his mind was in a total muddle.
Get a grip! A part of his mind snapped, irritated.
What was he doing here, following Sango around like this? He had a strange feeling that he was being whipped, but he could not for the life of him stop. Had he finally lost his mind?
He just didn't get it. In all their six years of being friends, Sango had made a big deal about being impervious to guys' charms. Hadn't she perfected the hell-freezeth-over stare technique that could rob any guy of his speech when he's in front of her? They had laughed over it from time to time.
So what was she doing getting all soft and feminine with this guy???
Unless…
His breath caught and died in his throat as something hit him.
Unless…she likes him?
But…but how could she?
How could she not? A little voice inside his brain whispered. Just look at him… he's tall, he's not exactly without features…and he had his full attention on her...
And he just made her laugh. Again.
Miroku felt his legs slowing to a stop as he digested this. He had never seen it like this before.
But he…
A slow, dreadful ache blossomed and spread in his chest as the thought completed itself: But he wanted her for himself...
The realization was belated, stupid, and true. He wanted her…wanted things to be the same just as it had always been for the last six years, wanted her to smile only for him, see only him. He wanted to continue seeing her every day without the fear of losing her to another.
And so he couldn't stop now…
With that, Miroku resolutely shook his head as he continued to follow them.
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Takeda took her to a restaurant near the department store for an early lunch.
Well, hell…what now? Miroku thought as he paused and waited for them to enter.
He had been in this restaurant before. This was where he had taken some of his dates to before. And he knew there was one more entrance into it aside from the front door…
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He was able to creep in unnoticed from the back.
They were over by a table, partially shielded from his view with an artfully arranged set of potted fern plants.
All right, buddy…let's see what you've got, he thought grimly as he made for the table beside the ferns as quietly as he could.
For a while, Takeda did all the talking about his old school and his old friends, and then the topic shifted when Miroku heard him lower his voice and murmur, "…I have a feeling, though, that things are going to be just fine here."
It took a great deal of effort on Miroku's part not to snort out loud.
He heard Sango laugh nervously.
"So," she said. "Let's order."
Miroku frowned a little as the waitress came over and took their orders. She didn't seem at ease now. What was going on?
From his position, all he could see was a bit of her dress as she remained seated behind him. He resisted the urge to get up and take a peek.
"So what about you? Any special friends you might have?" he heard Takeda say.
"Well, there's Kagome…she's a really great friend. She's the one I'm meeting later, and then there's the other one, but you know all that now."
Miroku's froze as she said this. What the hell? They've been talking about me??
"Oh, yeah. The basketball captain," Takeda said, his voice neutrally polite.
"Yes. The basketball captain. But, you know…you already know the story behind it all, so…"
For a brief second, Miroku felt as though he had lost the ability to breathe.
What is she talking about? What story?
Curiosity overcame caution, and he leaned in to listen closely.
"Pity," Takeda's voice came in firm and strong. "Like I said: his loss. Anyway--"
Miroku's hand abruptly clenched on the tablecloth before him. One more word. One more smug word from this guy and he's history…
But Sango was far from done on the subject of her best friend.
"He's…he's not really like that--I mean, the way you saw him earlier on," she began. "Come to think of it, that was the first time I ever saw him lose his marbles like that."
"Jealous, perhaps?" came Takeda's soft question.
Miroku let out a silent sigh of exasperated disbelief; then Sango's voice came.
"No. I don't think so," she said, her tone quite definite.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because he's incapable of it, in my case," she said. "As I have said, he doesn't see me as a girl. More as a convenient ball player he can shoot hoops with sometime."
"I see. Why do you suppose he did what he did earlier on?"
"No special reason, I guess. Maybe he just couldn't believe it when I told him I was going out with you. I mean--" Sango's voice carried a tone of laughter. Then she grew serious. "I mean, I never said anything whenever he was taking one of his girls out. The fact that he would dare do something like that now, and to me…"
"He's made you unhappy…"
"Well, yeah."
As Miroku sat there, feeling a film of ice wrap around his still heart, he heard Takeda press in.
"Well," Miroku heard him say on the other side. "I've got just the thing, I think. Tell me if this would work."
"What?"
"How about going out with me?"
"We're going out now," Sango's laughing voice drifted by.
"I mean, on a more permanent basis."
This was it. This was the last straw. It was either he stormed the table on the other side or he had to leave. Now. Before he embarrassed Sango further by making a fool of himself.
Takeda heard a chair scraping behind them, and knew without looking that Sango's friend was leaving. All the while, Sango had not known that Miroku had followed them in, and he had not bothered to tell her.
Sango's voice brought him back from his thoughts. "What's brought this on?" she breathed, her eyes suddenly wary and unsure.
"I know this is fast, Sango--" he began.
"Yes. It is," Sango cut in, fixing him with a firm look. "Look, Takeda-kun. I think you're really nice, but right now, I think we'd better stick to the prom first and we'll see about what happens next later."
Realizing he had pushed her one step too far, Takeda suddenly withdrew. "All right," he said as he gave her a gracious smile. "There would be lots of time to get to know one another better now."
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Miroku had left the restaurant numb and his thoughts reeling, and so he had not heard Kagome calling him until he had reached the end of the street.
"What are you doing here?" She panted as she caught up. "I saw you leave that restaurant and--"
"I'm going home," he said shortly.
"What were you doing in there? How did your talk with Sango go?"
"We never got the chance. That morning engagement of hers before your afternoon meeting--she went out for lunch with Takeda," he said. "She's still inside that restaurant with him."
"N-n-NANIIII?" Kagome whirled around and made as if she was going to storm into the restaurant. Miroku stopped her just in time.
"Just let her be," he said. "I think she's finally found someone who's going to make her happy."
"What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy?!"
Miroku shut his eyes, feeling the gradual stirrings of a headache. "Look, I've made her unhappy. She said so herself," he argued.
"You were eavesdropping?!"
"I heard her say it," said Miroku quietly.
"She'll get over it," said Kagome fiercely. "She'd been doing that for six years!"
It was the wrong thing to say and she knew it. Kagome gasped and fell silent as she realized what she had just said and how it had meant to the person standing before her.
A small, sad smile crossed Miroku's lips unexpectedly. "Is that so?" he replied softly.
"I didn't mean it that way," Kagome cried. "It's just that, it's such a waste--"
Miroku shook his head. "He asked her to go steady with him," he said gravely.
A short, shocked silence ensued.
"What did she say?" Kagome breathed, her lips hardly moving.
He shook his head. "No idea," he said. "I didn't stay long enough to find out. And now, I must be going…"
As he left her behind, he heard Kagome call out one last time, her voice filled with bitter hurt, "don't you--can't you care to know just a little??"
What was it about the differences between the thinking processes of men and women, Miroku thought as a ragged sigh escaped him, that they were destined to misunderstand each other?
He had left Kagome thinking he couldn't possibly care less what happened to Sango and Takeda, when all he wanted to do was to get away from it all.
How hard was it for girls to understand that guys had hearts too, and while he did not wear his on his sleeve, how could they not see that his was simply too bruised to be handled at the moment?
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