'Maybe running away from home wasn't such a good idea.' Mitsui sighed as he packed all the earthly belongings that he'd lugged with him from home. 'At least at home I needn't worry about money and lodgings.'  He'd considered going back many times before but there was always that part of him holding him back.

"Well, I guess that's about it," he stretched himself and surveyed the empty room where he'd been living the past five months. "Tomorrow, I'll figure out where I'll stay next. For now, I'm going to bed."

Settling himself on the hard, broken mattress, he fell into a dreamless sleep- one of the many he'd had since years ago.

            "Hisashi! Why are you doing this?" came his mother's pleading voice.

            "I just don't want to talk about it all right?" he snapped.

            "I don't understand Hisashi! What's wrong with you?"

            He felt himself turn rigid. "There's nothing wrong with me mother! I'm fine! Just go away!"

            "I'm getting your father!"
            Mitsui swallowed the lump is his throat as he replied, "There's no need to disturb him mother! I'm fine!"
            "But you've been acting so different lately! Is there anything wrong?"

            "For the last time mother, there is nothing wrong with me!" he yelled, angry with her for prying into his affairs.

           

"I'm leaving this damn place! My life stinks. This family stinks. I'm leaving!" he hauled his bag over the sill before he dropped lightly down on his feet from his second-floor bedroom.

            As he snuck away, he passed the study where his mother and father were talking. He could hear snatches of their conversation that was, as he'd expected, about him.

            "Hisashi's teacher called me at the office to tell me he's been skipping school for the fifth time in a row now," came the deep baritone of his father's voice.

            "Fifth time?" his mother was shocked, "Are you certain?"

            "He's been caught smoking within the school premises and mingling with some punks from another class. He's failed all his tests and has never submitted a completed assignment since term started. You tell me if I'm certain!" his father's voice was bitter and Mitsui could just imagine the way his cigar was clenched in his fist in agitation.

            "I tried talking to him but he told me to go away!" his mother started to cry, her body shaking violently.

            Mitsui couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for his mother. What had she ever done to deserve this? He shook the feeling away- determined not to let anything weaken his resolve to run away.

            "He doesn't even go for basketball practice anymore. The boy, Kogure, called. Apparently our son hasn't attended a single practice session all week." His father went on.

            "That's not like him at all!" sobbed his mother, burying her face in her hands.

Not like him at all.

Mitsui woke up with a jolt at those words. As usual, as was routine, he had soaked the broken mattress with his sweat.

'Hell, I can't get peace even in my sleep!' he thought crossly, swinging his feet over the side of his bed and getting up. Abandoning the notion of ever getting some calm in slumber, he trudged to the bathroom, threw his clothes off and stood shivering under the freezing cold water for 15 whole minutes- by which time his teeth were chattering and his body, numb.

            Another 15 minutes later saw him locking up the place for the very last time, bag slung carelessly over his shoulder, face grim.

            "Time to get a roomie, Mitsui my man," he told himself.

            Rukawa couldn't sleep. He felt unusually restless that night so he decided to take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood- maybe even shoot some hoops. Basketball in hand, he headed towards the nearest court, which wasn't really that near, come to think of it. It was definitely not in the neighborhood- somewhere out of town. Hell, he had nothing better to do anyway and a walk around town in the dead of the night sounded like fun.

            A soft whistling interrupted the silence of the night as he strode through the sleeping estate. 'D'aho,' he thought immediately, 'who the hell could be whistling at this time of the night?'

            As if in response to his thoughts, he saw a tall figure not far ahead. The few streetlights in the estate didn't help much in revealing the whistling stranger but Rukawa thought he saw a tinge of blue hair as the figure walked under a streetlight. His eyes widened in recognition. Making no effort to hide himself, Rukawa tailed the person, curiosity getting hold of him. What was he doing here in the middle of the night?

Mitsui knew he was being followed. Not that he particularly cared. He wasn't afraid of getting beaten up- he'd been part of the crowd not too long ago, so he knew inside stuff. Which should be his ticket to getting out of the beating. And, if the fools were ass enough to mess with him- he'd teach them what Mitsui Hisashi was all about.

            So he let them follow him.

            Rukawa was getting bored of this. It seemed like Mitsui wasn't going to stop anytime soon and he was losing interest. The worst thing was he felt like this was some sort of game they were playing. The guy HAD to know that he was being tailed- no one could be that stupid.

            He stopped.

            Oddly enough, Mitsui also froze in his tracks.

            "Come out and fight like a man you little creep! I know you've been stalking me for the last 20 minutes! I'll teach you to mess with Mitsui Hisashi!" Mitsui declared arrogantly. Rukawa rolled his eyes and ignored him. "What's the matter? Ain't got no balls?" Mitsui taunted, settling on the mocking method to lure the stalker instead.

            "D'aho."

            Mitsui froze. Did he hear that correctly? "What did you say?"

            Rukawa sighed but obliged nonetheless, steeping out of the shadows and into the light. "D'aho."

            "Rukawa?"

            Rukawa grunted in response. Minutes passed as they stared at each other in silence. Suddenly, without warning, Mitsui walked up to him and shook him by the shoulders, hard.

            "What the hell did you do that for? You've got some nerve stalking me around at this time! Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked the other boy.

            Rukawa felt his teeth chatter as he was shaken back and forth. He might be smaller in size, but Mitsui Hisashi was by no means, weaker. Slightly annoyed, he pushed the older boy away.

"D'aho."

Seriously, what was the kid doing out in town at 3 in the morning? He should be in bed damn it!
Mitsui regarded the other boy suspiciously. "Are you running away from home?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

Rukawa snorted, "D'aho."

"Well excuse me for asking!" huffed Mitsui.

"……."

They stared at each other, both clueless as what to say next. Predictably, Mitsui put an end to the uncomfortable silence.
            "Well, you get back to bed all right? I'll just be on my way……" Mitsui gave a slight wave of his hand and started off.

            "Sempai."

            Immediately he whirled around. "What?"

            "Go to bed."

            Mitsui snorted. "Bed? I have no bed," he answered bitterly, before turning to leave.
            For the first time, Rukawa found he had no words to say, though he wanted very much to say something at that moment. When he finally found his tongue, Mitsui was long gone.

            The next day found Mitsui Hisashi the first student to arrive in Shohoku High. Not surprising, considering that he hadn't slept a wink the previous night, neither had he stopped to rest. Now, as the other students chatted as they entered their classes, Mitsui tried to catch some shuteye before lessons began. He was oblivious to everything around him- even the gang of boys who now stood staring at him as he slept. One reached out with a muscled hand and reached for the sleeping boy.

            "I know I know! I didn't do anything if that's what you want to know!" Mitsui yelped as he was shaken awake roughly. He blinked at his assailant then scowled in annoyance. "What the hell do you want?"

            The other boy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Mitchan- didn't mean to scare you. We were just wondering where you were and found you asleep here."

            Mitsui's eyes flashed. "And?"

            "And well, we found you."

            Mitsui growled, "Get out of here and don't bother me."

            "Uh, okay. We're really sorry……" the boys backed out of class, looking sheepish.

            "Fools," grumbled Mitsui, settling himself into his chair again. He was about to drift off to dreamland when the sensei came in and roused him out of a promising sleep.

"Ohaio," replied Sensei as the class greeted him, including a drowsy Mitsui Hisashi, "before we start on today's lesson, I wish to announce a new scheme that will be implemented in Shohoku High. Some of you might welcome it gladly while others might not be as eager. Nevertheless, all of you will be required to participate in this program and, I'm sure that as it progresses, you'll find the program to be beneficial to all parties involved." He smiled round at the class.

            Mitsui grunted softly. 'Whatever it is I know it'll be dumb,' he thought sourly.

            "To put it simply," Sensei beamed, "the third years, which means all of you, will tutor the first years."

            The reaction was instantaneous, and well, varied.

            "Tutor the first years? Sensei that's impossible!"

            "I object! We've got enough things to do without tutoring those horrors!"

            "Cool! It sounds pretty fun!"

            "I guess that's not too bad."

            "The first years are so cute! Maybe we'll even get to that cute boy from class 1/1!"

            "No! The one in 1/8's way cuter!"

            "Well, neither of them can beat that one from 1/10!"

            "Are you kidding? You won't stand a chance with him!"

            "Can we scrap the stupid scheme?"

            "Maybe we can try it awhile and if it doesn't work, maybe we can file a complaint to the headmaster."

            "That's the stupidest thing I've heard."

            Everyone turned to look at him.

            "What? It's a real waste of time if you ask me," snorted Mitsui.

            "Now why do you say so Mitsui?" asked Sensei nicely.

            "Because its dumb."

            "You'll never know till you've given it a shot."

            "I don't need to try it to know its stupid," rebuked Mitsui.

            Sensei shrugged and smiled, "Well, you might change your mind," he turned to the rest of the class, "I have the list of who's going to tutor whom. Its not exactly random since we gave some regard to the subjects involved but I assure you that it has nothing to do with setting anyone up and whatsoever."

            The boys in the class snickered, including Mitsui.

            "Mitsui Hisashi," Sensei began, "you'll be teaching Rukawa Kaede."

            Mitsui blinked. "I'm sorry?"

            "Rukawa Kaede? He'll be your tutee."

            Most of the girls whined at the injustice of it all.

            Mitsui shrugged, "Hell. It could've been worse. Could've been Sakuragi."

Mitsui made his way to the gym, deep in thought. So he was to tutor Rukawa thrice a week. Not as bad as he'd expected. Since the boy was always sleeping, it should be an easy job teaching him- he could catch up with lost sleep during those sessions as well.

            The said boy was already there, shooting some hoops. Mitsui strode up to him, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

            "Rukawa."

            Rukawa grunted in acknowledgement.

            "So, I guess we'll be seeing more of each other eh?" teased Mitsui, grinning.

            "Hnn."

            "NYAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Mitchy's going to teach the kitsune? NYAHAHAHAHA!! Be careful Mitchy! The kitsune has a contagious disease called 'stupidity'! NYAHAHAHA!! Not like the tensai!" Sakuragi pointed to himself proudly, "This tensai needs no tutors! The tensai is already a genius! NYAHAHAH--"

            His obnoxious laughter was cut short by a furious punch from a fuming gorilla. "BAKA MONGA! Of all the rotten luck that I have to be the one tutor you!"

            "NYAHAHAHAHA!!!! You should be honored to be assigned to the tensai Gori!!!!!" laughed Sakuragi.

            "BAKA MONGA!!!! Honored my foot! No matter how long I teach you, you'll never learn anything since your brain's the size of a pea!"

            "NANI GORI?!!!!!!"

            Mitsui chuckled and turned to Rukawa, his arm still around the other boy. "I guess I'm lucky, eh? Not to be the one to tutor Sakuragi."

            "Hnn." Obliged Rukawa noncommittally.

           

            "I need to get a roomie," muttered Mitsui, "where the hell am I going to sleep tonight?"

            "Hey Mitsui-san, heard you got Rukawa as your tutee. I don't know whom to pity- you or him," sniggered Miyagi.

            "Shut up. At least I didn't get Sakuragi."

            "What's so bad about Hanamichi?"

            Mitsui snorted, "That's like asking what's so good about Kogure."

            "I suppose," agreed Miyagi, grinning, "Where you off to, by the way?  See you're lugging one heck of big bag. What's inside? Your Sanrio™ collection?"

            "Oh, not Sanrio™. Its my Ultraman™ collection," came the sarcastic reply. Then an idea came to mind. "Hey Miyagi, mind if I crash at your place today?"

            "Today? I'm not sure….I don't have a spare room. Why?" asked Miyagi, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

            "Just asking," Mitsui answered off-handedly.

            "Sou. Since you're asking, why don't you try Hanamichi or Rukawa?"

            "Hey Rukawa, mind if I stay over at your house? I won't be there too long- only till I get a new place to stay. Is that okay?" asked Mitsui as they were packing up to go.

            Rukawa's first instinctive response was to say no, but something made him hold his tongue.

            'Just say no. What's so hard about that?' he told himself, but another part of him argued.

'You heard him last night. He doesn't have a bed. He doesn't have a place to stay.'

'How the hell would you know?'

'Why the hell would he be carrying such a huge bag otherwise?'

'So? What's it to you?'

'Nothing. But it doesn't hurt to be nice.'

'Nice? Since when was Rukawa Kaede ever nice?' a part of him ridiculed.

'Well, now's a good time as any to start,' retorted another.

'You're getting soft.'

'And you're getting annoying. Do me a favor and get lost.'

'Whatever softie.'

'Get. Lost.'

Rukawa's inner turmoil must have somehow shown because Mitsui quickly added, "Its okay. I won't impose on you."

"Okay," said the other boy.

"Okay?" asked Mitsui, slightly puzzled.

"Okay."

Mitsui's eyes widened. "And I was willing to bet my life that you'd say no. So it's yes. Great! I owe you one!"

"Ikuso." Came the monotonous reply.

"Sempai."

"Huh?"

"Why."

Mitsui raised an eyebrow. "Why what? Don't talk in syllables. I can't answer if you don't make sense."

"Ask me."

"Much as I'd like to praise you for progressing, I have to say you still don't make sense."

"If you know."

Mitsui shook his head. "Nope."

"Answer."

"Still nope."

"………"

"Look, I hate to break this to you Rukawa, but you're still not making sense. Plus, you were doing so well- why'd you go back to one-word replies?"

Rukawa sighed. In some ways, Sempai was more unnerving than the d'aho. At least with the d'aho, all he'd had to do was provoke him with just the slightest grunt/gaze/sigh/whatever. With Sempai……well, he wasn't accustomed to him…..yet.

But that could change.

            "So you're just going to drop it huh? Well, you're a yellow-bellied chicken Rukawa Kaede! And you call yourself a man!" taunted Mitsui.

            "Baka."

            "NANI?!!!!" Mitsui rounded on him. "How dare you call me a baka! I'm your senior you little rascal!"

            "You started it."

            "I did not! If you had made sense in the first pla--" Mitsui's agitation gave way to amusement, "Hey! You spoke a complete sentence! Congratulations!" Mitsui smacked the younger boy on the back.

            Rukawa winced slightly. Mitsui tended to smack too hard, even if he didn't mean to. This might not be the most brilliant decision he'd made, after all. Already, he doubted his sanity, or lack of it.

            'Why, Rukawa Kaede? Why?'