"Hey! Motomiya!"

Motomiya Daisuke turned around, still holding a stack of papers, his last errand. Hikari, who had been walking with him, also stopped and looked back in the direction of the voice.

A student, Okami Hiro, was running towards them and grinning madly.

"Where were you two?"

"Errands," Hikari pointed to the papers in Daisuke's hands (which she had made him carry).

"Why didn't you hurry up? You missed class!"

"That was kinda the point," Daisuke said, eyebrow raised. "Why? Anything important?"

"Hell, yeah! Oh, man, you should have been there. It was so awesome."

"What was?"

Hiro started laughing again.

"Sorry—sorry—just thinking about it is funny…."

"What happened?" Daisuke demanded, getting annoyed and feeling a little frustrated that he hadn't been there even though he had no idea what it was. It had to be good, or Hiro wouldn't be dragging it out this long to make him suffer.

"Well, you know how the classroom looks, right?"

"Just spit it out, Okami."

"Okay, okay, jeez. Let a guy have some fun once in a while…." Hiro grinned. "All right. We're walking to school, right? And no one's inside. Well, so we think. But then class starts and we all take our time—'cause it is the last day of the term—no big deal, you know. Anyway, we finally get to the door and we're all still talking and everything and so we open the door, right? And guess what we saw."

Neither looked in the mood for a guessing game, so Hiro went ahead and blurted it out:

'"Takeru and Sayuri were making out on the teacher's desk."

Thud!

Daisuke dropped the stack of papers. "What!"

Hikari had a very funny look on her face.

Hiro laughed, "It's true! I swear! We just opened the door as innocent as every other day and there they were, smacking away like there was no tomorrow.Like I told Kioshi, it was the best tongue work this side of the Pacific. Forget the football game last night, this definitely topped it. You two really should have been there." He slapped Daisuke in the shoulder as a manly farewell. "Well, I gotta go. See you around! Good luck next term!"

-

Sayuri was standing in the hall, hands on her hips, looking furious. The second Takeru saw her, he went red. She glared at him.

"This isn't funny, you idiot. Just what the hell are you playing at?"

He stared at her, too shocked to remember blushing.

"What are you talking about? You're the one who threw me on the desk!" he said angrily. "And what are you playing at, sucking up to the teacher like that? You made me look like—like—you made me look bad!"

"Did you want the teacher to call your mother?"

Takeru fell silent, still glaring.

"You listen to me, Takaishi." She wagged a finger in his face, cornering him against the wall. "I do not want you stalking me this holiday. Don't even think of trying to get some more. If you dare come within twelve feet of me I will hurt you beyond all ways possible to humankind."

"You don't scare me—," he started, but hushed up quickly after catching the dangerous look in her eye.

"You had better not have said anything after I left. Why didn't you follow me out right away? You idiot, don't you ever think? You could at least humour me and try once in a while." She backed away, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him expectantly. Was he supposed to say something? This didn't happen in his fantasies. What was he supposed to do? Bow? He waited, wondering, searching for a daydream that might serve up a good line to say to her. She wouldn't let him get past the first fantasy. "What did he say to you?"

Takeru went red again.

Sayuri threw up her hands.

"And why are you always blushing? God, Takaishi! Control yourself!"

"You don't want to know what he said."

Sayuri stared at him suspiciously, then stepped back, arms folded. She smiled triumphantly.

"He gave you the sex talk, didn't he?"

Takeru wanted to die.

She smiled again and tossed her hair.

"Don't you love it when the world goes my way?"

"Oh, yeah, I just get ecstatic..."

She chose to ignore him, this time. "Anyway, you had better take Hikari out this holiday, or I'll kill you."

He blinked, thrown off guard completely. A silence followed as both waited for the statement to register in his thick head.

"Say wha—?"

"You heard me. Now that I won the bet, I order you to take Hikari out. Somewhere nice. She had better be leaking good details to tell me when I get back."

He stared at her speechless.

"But—but—I don—,"

"Do I have to have my tongue down your throat to get you to obey me?" she snapped angrily. "You're more annoying now then when you tried to sneak all those disgusting looks at me in class."

Takeru's eyes went wide.

"You cheat! How did you know?"

Sayuri rolled her eyes.

"Just shut up and ask her, Takaishi. Is that so hard?"

"Yeah, it is! I can't go out with Hikari! She's my best friend! Do you have any idea how awkward that would be?"

"Awkward is having to kiss you. You have no choice but to obey me now or I will blackmail you."

He believed it. "Come on, Sayuri, I'll do anything else except this. It would be like—like—like dating my sister—,"

"Well, get over it."

"But I—why should I?"

"She likes you, moron. I have no idea why she picked you out of all people, but for some reason known to God alone, she did. And I refuse to have you break her heart, you self-absorbed, chauvinistic pig. If you do I'll kill you. Painfully and slowly."

Takeru just stared.

"S-she what?" he stammered.

"She likes you. Of course, she won't admit it, but come on, it's about as obvious to figure out as your weird looks."

Nothing in God's earth could have prepared him for this. He just stood there, dumbly. Then he brought a hand to his face, shutting his eyes.

"Dammit."

"You mean you didn't know?" Sayuri cried, incredulously. "How could you not know?" Then she stopped her lecture, seeing his expression. "You really didn't know."

His eyes still shut, he said softly, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Well, since it did anyway, you're going to ask her, right?"

"You don't understand," he said frustrated. He opened his eyes and glared at the wall. "Hell, neither do I…."

She straightened.

"You'll be fine. Just trust your heart, no matter how disgustingly cheesy that sounds. And if I come back to see her in tears I swear I will kill you, bury you, and dig you up and kill you again." She glared at him. "And stay the hell away from me while you're at it. Have a nice holiday. If you're in the suicidal mood, I won't be in your way. Kiss her good night, too."

Takeru watched her leave absentmindedly, the mention of "kiss" causing his cheeks to turn pink. An eraser flew out of no where and smacked into his forehead. He staggered back, shocked.

"Stop staring, you jerk, and ask her!" she yelled, slamming the door angrily behind her.

He rubbed his head, wincing. He bent down and pocketed the eraser, as a token for the painful memory of his first kiss, knowing full well it would mean his death if she ever found out. He tried hard not to smile, thinking. The grin quickly faded when he heard the door open again and his two closest friends walk in. He immediately turned around and started to run the nearest escape route but a hand grabbed his shoulder, wrenching him back.

"Takaishi! Spill it! Did you really kiss Sayuri?"

Takeru flushed a dark red.

"I don't want to talk about it—,"

"Yeah, well, too bad!" Daisuke snarled. "You traitor. You already got the whole damn cheerleading squad. How many more do you need?"

Takeru glanced over at Hikari, who was watching the two of them silently, and he looked away.

"Did you or didn't you?"

Takeru sighed. Daisuke threw up his hands, taking his reaction as an affirmative.

"How the hell did this happen? I thought you two hated each other."

"It was part of our bet."

"Bet? What bet?"

"Last night at the school carnival. We made a bet and I lost so she kissed me."

"What the hell kinda bet is that?"

"Our bet, all right?" Takeru was getting angry. Too many things were happening all at once. He couldn't stand it. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Yeah it is!" Daisuke cried. "You just ruined my one chance to ever get with her!"

"You never had a chance in the first place. Look, just leave me alone, all right? I'm going home."

Halfway to his apartment building he heard another set of footsteps. He glared at the sidewalk. Thoroughly annoyed, he spun around.

"Listen, Motomiya, if you don't quit following me, I'll—oh." He stopped, feeling a hot blush creep up his neck. "Hikari. Hi."

She cocked her head to the side. When she finally did speak, it was in the softest tone he had ever heard her talk in. He felt like an idiot.

"You kissed her?"

He looked at the ground, shuffling his feet, embarrassed. "Yes."

"Tell me what happened."

He really did not want to be doing this.

She smiled. "Come on, Takeru, you owe me details. I am your best friend, after all. You're supposed to tell me these kind of things."

He just stared at her, blankly.

"Huh?"

"Well, what happened?"

Wait a minute. What was going on? Shouldn't she be hating his guts by now?

"Okay…our bet was that I'd have to kiss her in front of the entire class if I lost, and she'd have to go out with me if I won. I lost."

"So you kissed her."

"Yeah…."

"It was your idea?"

"Yeah…."

"Well, I wish I had been there."

"Hikari, is something wrong?"

"Wrong? Of course not. Why should anything be wrong?"

He stared.

"Well—I just—I mean I was—thinking—,"

"I think it's good for the both of you. Anyone could see you two liked each other. They'd have to be blind not to see it. After all, there is a fine line between love and hate, right? So it's only natural—and besides, it's about time you found yourself a girlfriend. And I think she's a good choice—,"

"Sayuri is not my girlfriend."

"Well, you kissed her, didn't you?"

"That doesn't—,"

"And it's obvious you like her, right? You've liked for a long time now, I bet. Every since school started and we all met, right? Of course. You know you're supposed to tell me these types of things, we are best friends. I could have helped you. But that doesn't matter now. "

"Hikari, please—,"

"We're going out to celebrate my exam scores but maybe I'll call tomorrow and you can tell me the rest. You know you can ask me anything about—well you know."

"Don't do this, Hikari. Please—,"

"I have to get home now. I'll see you later, then?" Without waiting for a reply, she dashed across the street, waved, and disappeared around the corner.

Takeru watched her, feeling miserable.

If he ever wanted God to tell him something, this would definitely be the time.

-