Walking Home
Disclaimer: I own these charactors, nothing else...
Kitsune went straight to the big sakura tree near the school gates right after
swimming practice, worried that she was late, only to find Miwa sleeping peacefully.
Inwardly, she had to smile. At moments like this, she couldn't help but simply
sigh and take in the sweet resting figure of her childhood friend. It was seldom
that people saw Miwa so unguarded like this. Usually, he was on the edge, alertly
ready to crack a joke or pick a fight. He was always so prickly and loud that when
Kitsune defended him, saying he's a sweet boy, people just gave her weird looks.
But then, what did they know? She knew Miwa best after all. Miwa was the first face
that welcomed her when she moved here with her parents. She was six years old then,
a crybaby. She would sit in the park near their home, quietly clutching a rag doll,
wanting to join the other kids but too shy to do so. Some of the kids would smile
at her, but none would formally ask her to join them.
One time, excitedly wanting to join them, she brought with her a bag of sweets from
Hokkaido that her dad bought her. She was so eager to gain their approval that she
waved the bag of sweets to the other kids. To her surprise, a bunch of bigger boys
approached her. They reached out their hands asking for the sweets, but when they
had finished it all and she had none more to give, they started picking on her,
pulling her pig tails, teasing her, pushing the swing she was sitting on higher
and higher until she was too terrified to cry. Holding on for dear life, she just
closed her eyes tightly, afraid that if she opened them, she'd fall.
In the midst of her terror, she realized that the swing had stopped shaking and
the teasing had stopped. She gingerly opened her eyes, and saw a boy with longish
black hair, fists raised at the bigger boys. She watched the silver haired boy taunt
the other boys, all bigger than him. Finally, when the other boys retreated, the
boy faced her. Only then did she realize that the boy was looking extra dirty and
extremely disheveled. He had fought the other boys for her! She stared at the boy
who stared back at her. For some reason or another, the tears, which refused to
fall earlier, were threatening to fall now.
"Hey, stop crying, snot-face!" the boy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled
out a small foil-wrapped candy. "Here," he offered her. "I know they took all of
your candy." He smiled at her, and he made a funny sight, with the rumpled hair,
soiled face and gap toothed grin. "My name's Miwa."
Kitsune's reverie was broken when Miwa yawned and cocked open an eye. She smiled
embarrassedly at being caught watching him. Hoping she wasn't blushing, she sat
beside Miwa.
"Have you been waiting long?" Miwa grabbed her wrist to check the time. Kitsune
tensed at his touch. "Nah, just around half an hour. Been sleeping the whole time
though." He lifted his arms and leaned back on the tree, his head propped on his
hands.
"I thought you had kendo practice today?"
Miwa smiled at her. "I skipped it."
"You skipped again? Won't Amawa-sempai get angry? It's the third time this week
that you skipped club practice!" Kitsune had to shake her head at Miwa's
laid-backness. It was just like him to skip club.
"Well, the inter-high is over anyway," Miwa closed his eyes again. "Why do I
have to train extra hard?" Despite his laid back attitude, Miwa was quite
athletic, and was a prized member of the kendo club, if only he could be
convinced to attend. Miwa opened one eye. "What about you? Swimming practice
over?"
Kitsune nodded. "Yeah. Saeki-sempai went a bit crazy today and really pushed
us. I'm dead tired."
Miwa nodded. He leaned close to Kitsune, making her heart beat a little faster.
"No wonder," he moved in even closer, so Kitsune had to hold her breath. "Kitsune,"
Miwa said breathily, "you stink."
"MIWA-NO-BAKA!!!" Miwa lay sprawled under the tree, not knowing what hit
him. Kitsune stood up, putting her inter-dimensional hammer away, while trying
to calm down the nerves which suddenly sprouted on her forehead. "Come on. If
you don't get ready in five minutes, I'm leaving you!"
Miwa was suddenly by her side, grumbling. "Uptight chick, can't take a joke..."
Kitsune glared at him. Miwa stared back. He reached out his hand, then messed
up her semi-wet hair and smiled. "You're so cute when you're pissed you know..."
Kitsune quickly turned away, worried that he might see her blush, and quickly
walked away.
"...NOT!" Miwa almost fell on his back laughing. More nerves broke out on the
back of Kitsune's head. Quickly, she turned and glared at him again, this time,
with a red battle aura enveloping her. Seeing how serious she was this time, he
quickly muffled his laughter and grabbed his bag and chased after her.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Why do we have to go extra-early today anyway?" Miwa asked Kitsune on their
way to school. Sleep was still clouding his eyes, and he was barely keeping up
with Kitsune's cheerful gait.
Kitsune looked back at him, with her arms propped against her hips. "Come on,
sleepy head! It's a lovely morning! I feel so energized." She did a small mock
pirouette which ended in a curtsy. Blushing a little when she realized how silly
she looked, she went to her companion's side and grabbed his arm. Miwa was
suddenly alert and shrugged her off. Not withstanding that, Kitsune grabbed his
arm again and snuggled against him.
"It's such a lovely morning," she said in a sing-song voice, dragging the
protesting Miwa along. When school was in sight though, she suddenly stopped,
and looked at Miwa. "Tell you what. I brought an extra bento today," she
gestured to her bag. "I'll let you have it, if you can race me to the school gate,"
and with that, she took off.
Not to be defeated, Miwa quickly gathered his wits and ran toward the gate,
trying to catch up to Kitsune. He was just a few paces away from her when he
realized that she was sprawled on the ground.
"Kitsune, daijobou ka? What happened?" Kitsune looked up to him, hair slightly
askew, tangled in a mess of arms and legs with a boy he hadn't seen before.
"Ara! Gomen nasai!" Bowing to the boy, she tried to straighten up. "It was my fault,
if I wasn't racing the baka here," she pointed to Miwa, "I wouldn't have hit you.
Gomen nasai!"
The boy smiled a devastatingly handsome smile. "Iie, it's my fault. If I simply
looked where I was going, it wouldn't have happened. Gomen nasai." The boy stood up,
and brushed his clothes off. Smiling again, he went off to the school gates, leaving
a confused Kitsune.
"Daijobou ka?" Kitsune blinked her eyes and saw Miwa staring at her curiously. "I'm
all right, don't worry, I don't think anything's broken."
"That's a relief. About that bento---" suddenly, he rushed to the school gate,
stopping only when he had entered. "I think I won it!"
* * * * * * * * * *
"But I won!" Miwa argued, as he walked in the hall beside Kitsune, on their way
to class.
"No. You CHEATED. Cheater. You're not even getting near the bento." She just
loved teasing Miwa, especially when it came to food. Food was something Miwa
held sacred, so she knew that withholding food from him was the best way to annoy him.
And he looked so cute when he was annoyed.
"Come on, Kitsune-CHAN," he said, while opening the classroom door for her.
Kitsune's eyebrow shot up. "you didn't say anything about a time-out. You can't
blame me for running. Besides, you can't waste a perfectly good bento---" Just as
Kitsune guessed, this was about food.
"Well, I'm pretty hungry today, I can eat for two---" Kitsune was cut off mid-sentence
when their teacher entered the classroom. Everyone stopped chattering and rushed to
their seats.
"Okay class, before we start today's lesson, I have an announcement to make."
Kishimoto-sensei went to the door and slid it open to admit a tall, strikingly
handsome, bespectacled boy. "Class, this is your new classmate, he just transferred
from Kanagawa. Hitoshi-kun," Kishimoto-sensei turned to the boy, "please introduce
yourself."
The boy nodded, then turned to the class. "Ohayo gozaimasu! I am Wataru Hitoshi.
We just moved here, from Kanagawa, because my father was reassigned for work. I
like sports a lot, and I look forward to joining the kendo club."
"Okay, Hitoshi-kun," Kishimoto-sensei looked around the room and gestured to the
empty seat beside Kitsune. "You can take that seat beside Kitsune-chan. Now
class, open your books to page 78--"
Hitoshi smiled at Kitsune, as he took his seat. "Ohayo. So, your name's Kitsune?"
He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Hope you weren't hurt this morning." Startled,
Kitsune looked up, and saw that she was staring at the same bright blue eyes she
was staring into this morning.
"Oh, it's you! I didn't recognize you with the glasses." Kitsune felt someone tap
her shoulder from behind. "Ahem," Miwa leaned forward, "I think we're supposed to
pay attention in class." Kitsune blushed, then smiled at Hitoshi apologetically.
She'll have to talk to him later.
* * * * * * * * * *
"I can't believe this," Kitsune declared to her new classmate, Hitoshi. "You
just put your glasses on and I barely recognize you."
"It's all right," he said, smiling that devastating smile again. "Actually, I
bumped into you this morning because I forgot to wear my glasses. I'm sort of
near-sighted, but thankfully, I remembered you. Quite hard to forget a cute girl."
He winked at her. He actually winked!
Kitsune blushed, and rushed to pull out the two bento from her bag. She looked up
to Hitoshi. "Hey, did you bring lunch?" she asked him. "Because if you didn't..."
He stood from his chair and nodded. "Iie, it's all right. I figured I'd buy lunch
from the cafeteria, like I always did at my old school. Might as well get used to
this school's cafeteria." He smiled again, and made his way out of the room. "Ja ne!"
Kitsune stared at him on his way out, disbelieving that such a handsome guy would
actually think she was cute. She slightly blushed at the memory, only to be stopped
by the sound of someone clearing his throat. "Ahem---"
"See, I'm sort of near-sighted, but I can never forget a cute girl. Aaaaakkk---"
Miwa imitated Hitoshi, then ended up gagging. Kitsune glared at him, frozen
daggers forming from her gaze. Miwa cowered a bit, then moved his desk beside hers.
"Aw, all right. I won't pick on him." He took his seat and grabbed the other bento
on Kitsune's desk. "But you have to admit, he's such a smooth operator," he said,
opening the bento.
"Just because someone's being nice, it doesn't mean he has an ulterior motive."
Kitsune said, clearly miffed at Miwa's snide remarks. It was useless though,
since Miwa was already busy attacking the food she prepared. Kitsune sighed as
she realized how pointless it was to talk to Miwa sometimes, and turned to pay
attention to her food instead.
* * * * * * * * * *
Kitsune stood by the sakura tree after swimming practice, waiting for Miwa. It
was quite unusual for him to be late, because a). he usually skipped practice,
b). he left practice early, or c). he refused to stay longer than he usually had to.
She took a seat at the base of the tree, and leaned back, prepared to wait for him.
Not five minutes had passed when someone called out her name.
"Kitsune-chan!" she looked up to see Hitoshi jogging to the tree from the direction
of the gym. "Fancy seeing you here. Waiting for someone?" he asked, right before
taking a seat beside her.
"Actually, I am. I'm waiting for Miwa. We usually go home together." She tried
not to blush at Hitoshi's attention. No matter how you looked at it, Hitoshi was
really cute.
"Ah, Miwa," he said, leaning back on the tree. "Yeah, I think I saw him at
kendo practice earlier," he remarked, surprising Kitsune.
"You joined the kendo club?"
Hitoshi nodded at her surprised reaction. "But I thought you were near-sighted?"
"Hai! But I can wear contacts, right? I'm wearing a pair now."
Suddenly, Kitsune was aware of his sparkling eyes again. She shook her head
quickly, trying to get rid of any untoward thoughts about the sparkling blue eyes
and dazzling smile of the person beside her. "Ah, but wait," she said, trying to
change the topic. "You were at kendo practice?" When he nodded, she continued.
"Did you ditch? Or is it over already?"
"Well, we were let out around 20 minutes ago. I took a quick shower then I was
going home until I ran into you here."
"That's weird," Kitsune mused. "You sure you saw Miwa at practice? He usually
doesn't take more than 10 minutes to shower." Hitoshi suddenly looked thoughtful.
"Oh yeah, I think I saw him. He left the locker room before I did, but I think
he was talking to the team manager, Mami, uh, Mimi---"
"Minami-san?" Kitsune supplied.
"Yeah! That's it, Minami-san. I saw them talking just outside the gym doors."
Kitsune's eyebrow shot up. "Nani desu ka?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just, I don't know. Weird, or something? See Miwa usually
scampers out of the gym as soon as practice is over. It's not usual for him to
loiter." Just then, Kitsune spotted Miwa rounding the bend from the gym. "Oh,
there he is now," she said, her eyebrow shooting up even higher as she realized that
someone, was walking side by side with him, with that someone's hand casually
propped against his arm. AND he was making no effort to remove it!
Miwa waved at her then ran to the sakura tree, leaving behind the pouting
Minami. "Konnichiwa! Been waiting long?" he asked, suddenly stopping short when he
realized that Hitoshi was seated beside Kitsune. "Come on, let's go home. Your
okaa-san might get worried already," he said, then quickly took off in the direction
of the school gate, with Minami trying to catch up. Kitsune quickly stood up and
gestured good-bye to Hitoshi, then rushed to catch up to Miwa.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Sorry had to break up your little, 'love scene' with pretty boy there." Miwa
said, sarcasm dripping from every word. Kitsune's eyebrow shot up, for the ninth
time that day.
"Excuse me. That wasn't a 'love scene'. Now Minami-chan hanging on to your arm,
THAT was a 'love scene'," she retorted, surprised that Miwa was taken aback.
"What love scene?! Mizuharu-san and I were only talking about the upcoming
district meet!" Suddenly, a sinister smile blossomed on Miwa's face. "Don't
tell me -- you were jealous!"
"Excuse me! ME?! Jealous? Of you and Minami? Hah, don't make me laugh, maybe
you're the one who's jealous, giving Hitoshi-kun the cold shoulder."
"That pale patsy? Why should I be jealous? He can't even play decent kendo!"
What do you see in that guy?"
"Well, Hitoshi-kun's a whole lot nicer than some people I know, and he isn't a
fawning groupie like your Minami!"
"My Minami? My Minami? I suppose it's your Hitoshi?"
"STOP!" Kitsune suddenly screamed. "What are we doing?"
They both stopped talking and stared at each other. A bright red blush was starting
to creep up both their faces so they quickly turned away from each other.
"Walk faster will you?" Miwa broke the silence, after a few minutes of
awkwardness. "I still have a TV show to catch." Kitsune tried to quicken her pace,
looking down, refusing to say a word. She was much too worried of how her voice
would sound if she talked.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Ohayo, Kitsune-chan!" greeted Hitoshi the next day before classes started.
"Hope I didn't cause any trouble between you and Miwa," he said, gesturing to
Miwa who was across the room, wiping the black board clean.
"Ohayo, Hitoshi-kun! No trouble at all, what gave you the idea?" she asked.
"Well, Miwa took off in a huff, and he wasn't quite happy to see me when I passed
him in the hallway a few minutes ago." Hitoshi smiled. "I can tell when a guy's
jealous, I have a girlfriend too, and I do know how I feel like when I see her
laughing with some guy."
Kitsune blushed. "Iie! It's nothing like that, Miwa and I are just friends.
We've known each other since we were little, so we go home together."
"Sure, if you say so," he replied, smiling a very enigmatic smile. Just then,
Miwa slipped in his seat, giving Hitoshi the cold shoulder. Hitoshi gave Kitsune
an even larger smile, then sat up straighter as the teacher entered the room.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Come on, you're taking too long! How many daikon are you going to go through
before you finally pick one?" Miwa complained as Kitsune sifted through a bin
of daikon, not in a small part to annoy Miwa. They were in the market district
together, picking up some groceries for Kitsune's mom.
"Well, unlike some people here, I try to pick only the best," she admonished.
"Besides, who asked you to come along anyway?"
"I thought we've been through this already. Your mom asked me to go with you,
right? To help you carry the groceries? Besides, don't we always to this? You're
usually a faster shopper," Miwa picked a daikon and put it in their grocery basket.
"I think you're doing it on purpose! You're still pissed at me for the Hitoshi thing!"
"I am not doing it on purpose!" she replied, returning the daikon Miwa picked
to the bin, then resuming her quest for the perfect daikon. "Everything has to be
perfect today, otou-san's returning from his business trip after two weeks, of course
okaa-san and I are excited. We're preparing the best home cooked meal ever." Finally
settling for one, she moved on to the next display stand, this time for tofu.
"Why don't you just admit it that you're still pissed at me?" he asked, not paying
attention at all to where he was going. As a result, he bumped into someone.
"Gomen nasai!" he bowed, only to look up into Hitoshi's smiling face. Of course,
Miwa was ready to pounce on him, if only he didn't notice the girl beside him.
"Kitsune-chan, Miwa-kun," he said, "this my girlfriend, Satsuki. We've been
together for close to three years now," he paused, giving Miwa a meaningful look.
"Satsuki, these are my classmates, Kitsune and Miwa."
"Konnichiwa!" Satsuki bowed. "It's nice to know that Hitoshi has made friends
already. I visit him every once in a while, but it's still difficult, living far
from here." She looked up at Hitoshi petulantly.
"Ah, Satsuki-chan, we talked about this already, didn't we? I'm moving back there
for college, then we can see each other as much as we want."
Satsuki smiled widely, "Of course I can't help missing Hitoshi."
Hitoshi smiled back at her, affection pouring from every pore of his being. Then
he faced Kitsune and Miwa again. "Oh, we'll leave you two now, okay? We still
have a lot of shopping to do. Ja matta!" he said, then walking off, hand in hand
with Satsuki.
For a few moments there, Miwa was shocked, whether from his mistake or from
the very affectionate display he just witnessed, it was quite impossible to tell.
Kitsune cleared her throat loudly. "It's easy to see that some people jump to
too many conclusions, too quickly, and think the worse of others." Miwa looked
crestfallen.
"Uhm, ano, Kitsune?" Kitsune looked at him expectantly. "G-go-go-gomen nasai.
Friends?" he offered his hand in a gesture of peace.
"Oh, Miwa!" Kitsune squealed, then took Miwa's hand. "All right. You know
I can never stay mad at you for long." Refusing to release his hand, she quickly
dragged him to the tofu stand. "Come on, we have to rush, okaa-san still has to do
the cooking after all."
* * * * * * * * * *
It was such a happy day for Kitsune. Yesterday, she and Miwa finally patched
up their misunderstanding so he was fun company again as they were going home from
their shopping. Seeing Hitoshi with his girlfriend Satsuki really knocked the
arrogance from Miwa, when he realized how mistaken he was. As a result, he was
being extra attentive, and less critical of her. He even carried all of their
groceries on the way home!
Skipping cheerfully from the girls' locker room, she decided to surprise Miwa
and meet him at the gym. As she rounded the bend, she heard a familiar voice.
"Mizuharu-san..."
"Iie, Miwa-kun! Let me finish," said a voice which Kitsune distinctly placed
as the kendo club's manager. 'Miwa's with Minami!' she thought. Quickly,
she hid herself from view, and strained to hear their conversation, amidst the
frantic beating of her heart.
"Miwa-kun! Minami has liked Miwa-kun for sometime now," whispered Minami
who Kitsune saw was nervously twisting her bracelet. She stared at the nervous
girl, quietly wondering who was more worried, Minami about being rejected, or her,
about Minami being accepted by Miwa.
"In fact, I joined the kendo club because of Miwa-kun." Minami looked
up, straight into Miwa's eyes. "Will Miwa-kun go out with Minami?" Miwa's
eyes softened, then he smiled a weak, subdued smile.
"I think Mizuharu-san's really nice and pretty," he started, "but I already like
someone else. Gomen nasai, Mizuharu-san. I can't date you knowing that I feel like
that. Will you forgive me?"
Minami smiled a little, trying to stop the tears which were building up from
falling. "She must be a very pretty girl, whom Miwa-kun likes. Very pretty."
"She is." Miwa replied, in a soft matter-of-fact manner. He reached into his pocket,
then pulled out a handkerchief which he handed to Minami. She took it and dabbed
at her eyes.
"Arigato, Miwa-kun," she sighed, then continued. "She must be a very lucky girl,
being liked by Miwa-kun, ne?"
Kitsune could not believe her ears. Miwa turned down Minami! Feeling guilty
at listening in, she quickly backtracked, and took a shortcut to the sakura tree.
Her heart was thundering even louder as she leaned back on the sakura tree, trying
to process everything that she heard. It was a very difficult task, with her emotions
in turmoil, the most she could muster was hearing Miwa's words echo in her mind.
She was definitely happy that Miwa didn't like Minami, but at the same time, she
was confused. Miwa admitted he liked someone! Did this mean he liked someone
else? Could it be her? Or could there still be another girl? She was still in this
bewildered state of mind when Miwa arrived.
"Kitsune, daijobou ka?" Miwa looked at her curiously.
Trying hard to fight a creeping blush, she straightened and replied. "I'm all
right, why?" Somehow, she couldn't look at Miwa straight in the eye. Not after
what she overheard.
"I don't know, well, you look kind of spaced out." Miwa sat beside her as he
usually did, making Kitsune even more conscious of his presence. "Coach worked
us too much today, I'm so pooped. And hungry too."
"Us too," she quickly declared, "maybe that's why you thought I was spaced out."
Inwardly, she sighed. 'Good save, girl!' she thought. "Because I'm really tired."
"Hmmm... your coach overworked you too?" Miwa smiled. "We deserve a reward.
Let's go eat then! I'm craving for cold soba! Come on, let's go." He stood up and
brushed the seat of his pants.
'It's now or never,' Kitsune thought.
"But aren't we waiting for Minami-chan?" she asked, her heart beating wildly in
her chest again. "Huh?" Miwa looked down to where she was sitting.
"Mizuharu? Why? Did you agree to go home together?" He asked, a perplexed look
on his face.
"Iie," Kitsune felt a slow blush start to creep up her face, so she quickly
stood up, and tried to hide her blush with the guise of brushing her skirt. "It's
just that I thought you were dating her---"
"I'm dating Mizuharu?" Miwa snorted. "She's a nice girl, but I don't like her."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I like her, but not like, like." Kitsune
was confused. "Well, she's a nice person, I like her, but not the 'I like you, I
want to spend the rest of my life with you' like. Do you get it?" She just stared
at him in response. "Besides, I only date girls I really like."
"So you're not dating her?"
"I'm not. Come on, slow poke, I'm really hungry. I think I'll have some gyoza
with my soba." He took her by the wrist and semi-dragged her along, not that she
minded.
"Chotto matte!" Kitsune stammered. "I don't have money with me right now, I
didn't bring a bento so I had to buy lunch." Miwa looked back at her and smiled.
"Kitsune no baka. You think I'd actually let a girl pay for food when we're out
on a date?" Miwa looked away again and continued to drag her along.
A very bright blush crept up on Kitsune's face, and this time, she made no effort
to hide it.
- end -
Disclaimer: I own these charactors, nothing else...
Kitsune went straight to the big sakura tree near the school gates right after
swimming practice, worried that she was late, only to find Miwa sleeping peacefully.
Inwardly, she had to smile. At moments like this, she couldn't help but simply
sigh and take in the sweet resting figure of her childhood friend. It was seldom
that people saw Miwa so unguarded like this. Usually, he was on the edge, alertly
ready to crack a joke or pick a fight. He was always so prickly and loud that when
Kitsune defended him, saying he's a sweet boy, people just gave her weird looks.
But then, what did they know? She knew Miwa best after all. Miwa was the first face
that welcomed her when she moved here with her parents. She was six years old then,
a crybaby. She would sit in the park near their home, quietly clutching a rag doll,
wanting to join the other kids but too shy to do so. Some of the kids would smile
at her, but none would formally ask her to join them.
One time, excitedly wanting to join them, she brought with her a bag of sweets from
Hokkaido that her dad bought her. She was so eager to gain their approval that she
waved the bag of sweets to the other kids. To her surprise, a bunch of bigger boys
approached her. They reached out their hands asking for the sweets, but when they
had finished it all and she had none more to give, they started picking on her,
pulling her pig tails, teasing her, pushing the swing she was sitting on higher
and higher until she was too terrified to cry. Holding on for dear life, she just
closed her eyes tightly, afraid that if she opened them, she'd fall.
In the midst of her terror, she realized that the swing had stopped shaking and
the teasing had stopped. She gingerly opened her eyes, and saw a boy with longish
black hair, fists raised at the bigger boys. She watched the silver haired boy taunt
the other boys, all bigger than him. Finally, when the other boys retreated, the
boy faced her. Only then did she realize that the boy was looking extra dirty and
extremely disheveled. He had fought the other boys for her! She stared at the boy
who stared back at her. For some reason or another, the tears, which refused to
fall earlier, were threatening to fall now.
"Hey, stop crying, snot-face!" the boy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled
out a small foil-wrapped candy. "Here," he offered her. "I know they took all of
your candy." He smiled at her, and he made a funny sight, with the rumpled hair,
soiled face and gap toothed grin. "My name's Miwa."
Kitsune's reverie was broken when Miwa yawned and cocked open an eye. She smiled
embarrassedly at being caught watching him. Hoping she wasn't blushing, she sat
beside Miwa.
"Have you been waiting long?" Miwa grabbed her wrist to check the time. Kitsune
tensed at his touch. "Nah, just around half an hour. Been sleeping the whole time
though." He lifted his arms and leaned back on the tree, his head propped on his
hands.
"I thought you had kendo practice today?"
Miwa smiled at her. "I skipped it."
"You skipped again? Won't Amawa-sempai get angry? It's the third time this week
that you skipped club practice!" Kitsune had to shake her head at Miwa's
laid-backness. It was just like him to skip club.
"Well, the inter-high is over anyway," Miwa closed his eyes again. "Why do I
have to train extra hard?" Despite his laid back attitude, Miwa was quite
athletic, and was a prized member of the kendo club, if only he could be
convinced to attend. Miwa opened one eye. "What about you? Swimming practice
over?"
Kitsune nodded. "Yeah. Saeki-sempai went a bit crazy today and really pushed
us. I'm dead tired."
Miwa nodded. He leaned close to Kitsune, making her heart beat a little faster.
"No wonder," he moved in even closer, so Kitsune had to hold her breath. "Kitsune,"
Miwa said breathily, "you stink."
"MIWA-NO-BAKA!!!" Miwa lay sprawled under the tree, not knowing what hit
him. Kitsune stood up, putting her inter-dimensional hammer away, while trying
to calm down the nerves which suddenly sprouted on her forehead. "Come on. If
you don't get ready in five minutes, I'm leaving you!"
Miwa was suddenly by her side, grumbling. "Uptight chick, can't take a joke..."
Kitsune glared at him. Miwa stared back. He reached out his hand, then messed
up her semi-wet hair and smiled. "You're so cute when you're pissed you know..."
Kitsune quickly turned away, worried that he might see her blush, and quickly
walked away.
"...NOT!" Miwa almost fell on his back laughing. More nerves broke out on the
back of Kitsune's head. Quickly, she turned and glared at him again, this time,
with a red battle aura enveloping her. Seeing how serious she was this time, he
quickly muffled his laughter and grabbed his bag and chased after her.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Why do we have to go extra-early today anyway?" Miwa asked Kitsune on their
way to school. Sleep was still clouding his eyes, and he was barely keeping up
with Kitsune's cheerful gait.
Kitsune looked back at him, with her arms propped against her hips. "Come on,
sleepy head! It's a lovely morning! I feel so energized." She did a small mock
pirouette which ended in a curtsy. Blushing a little when she realized how silly
she looked, she went to her companion's side and grabbed his arm. Miwa was
suddenly alert and shrugged her off. Not withstanding that, Kitsune grabbed his
arm again and snuggled against him.
"It's such a lovely morning," she said in a sing-song voice, dragging the
protesting Miwa along. When school was in sight though, she suddenly stopped,
and looked at Miwa. "Tell you what. I brought an extra bento today," she
gestured to her bag. "I'll let you have it, if you can race me to the school gate,"
and with that, she took off.
Not to be defeated, Miwa quickly gathered his wits and ran toward the gate,
trying to catch up to Kitsune. He was just a few paces away from her when he
realized that she was sprawled on the ground.
"Kitsune, daijobou ka? What happened?" Kitsune looked up to him, hair slightly
askew, tangled in a mess of arms and legs with a boy he hadn't seen before.
"Ara! Gomen nasai!" Bowing to the boy, she tried to straighten up. "It was my fault,
if I wasn't racing the baka here," she pointed to Miwa, "I wouldn't have hit you.
Gomen nasai!"
The boy smiled a devastatingly handsome smile. "Iie, it's my fault. If I simply
looked where I was going, it wouldn't have happened. Gomen nasai." The boy stood up,
and brushed his clothes off. Smiling again, he went off to the school gates, leaving
a confused Kitsune.
"Daijobou ka?" Kitsune blinked her eyes and saw Miwa staring at her curiously. "I'm
all right, don't worry, I don't think anything's broken."
"That's a relief. About that bento---" suddenly, he rushed to the school gate,
stopping only when he had entered. "I think I won it!"
* * * * * * * * * *
"But I won!" Miwa argued, as he walked in the hall beside Kitsune, on their way
to class.
"No. You CHEATED. Cheater. You're not even getting near the bento." She just
loved teasing Miwa, especially when it came to food. Food was something Miwa
held sacred, so she knew that withholding food from him was the best way to annoy him.
And he looked so cute when he was annoyed.
"Come on, Kitsune-CHAN," he said, while opening the classroom door for her.
Kitsune's eyebrow shot up. "you didn't say anything about a time-out. You can't
blame me for running. Besides, you can't waste a perfectly good bento---" Just as
Kitsune guessed, this was about food.
"Well, I'm pretty hungry today, I can eat for two---" Kitsune was cut off mid-sentence
when their teacher entered the classroom. Everyone stopped chattering and rushed to
their seats.
"Okay class, before we start today's lesson, I have an announcement to make."
Kishimoto-sensei went to the door and slid it open to admit a tall, strikingly
handsome, bespectacled boy. "Class, this is your new classmate, he just transferred
from Kanagawa. Hitoshi-kun," Kishimoto-sensei turned to the boy, "please introduce
yourself."
The boy nodded, then turned to the class. "Ohayo gozaimasu! I am Wataru Hitoshi.
We just moved here, from Kanagawa, because my father was reassigned for work. I
like sports a lot, and I look forward to joining the kendo club."
"Okay, Hitoshi-kun," Kishimoto-sensei looked around the room and gestured to the
empty seat beside Kitsune. "You can take that seat beside Kitsune-chan. Now
class, open your books to page 78--"
Hitoshi smiled at Kitsune, as he took his seat. "Ohayo. So, your name's Kitsune?"
He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Hope you weren't hurt this morning." Startled,
Kitsune looked up, and saw that she was staring at the same bright blue eyes she
was staring into this morning.
"Oh, it's you! I didn't recognize you with the glasses." Kitsune felt someone tap
her shoulder from behind. "Ahem," Miwa leaned forward, "I think we're supposed to
pay attention in class." Kitsune blushed, then smiled at Hitoshi apologetically.
She'll have to talk to him later.
* * * * * * * * * *
"I can't believe this," Kitsune declared to her new classmate, Hitoshi. "You
just put your glasses on and I barely recognize you."
"It's all right," he said, smiling that devastating smile again. "Actually, I
bumped into you this morning because I forgot to wear my glasses. I'm sort of
near-sighted, but thankfully, I remembered you. Quite hard to forget a cute girl."
He winked at her. He actually winked!
Kitsune blushed, and rushed to pull out the two bento from her bag. She looked up
to Hitoshi. "Hey, did you bring lunch?" she asked him. "Because if you didn't..."
He stood from his chair and nodded. "Iie, it's all right. I figured I'd buy lunch
from the cafeteria, like I always did at my old school. Might as well get used to
this school's cafeteria." He smiled again, and made his way out of the room. "Ja ne!"
Kitsune stared at him on his way out, disbelieving that such a handsome guy would
actually think she was cute. She slightly blushed at the memory, only to be stopped
by the sound of someone clearing his throat. "Ahem---"
"See, I'm sort of near-sighted, but I can never forget a cute girl. Aaaaakkk---"
Miwa imitated Hitoshi, then ended up gagging. Kitsune glared at him, frozen
daggers forming from her gaze. Miwa cowered a bit, then moved his desk beside hers.
"Aw, all right. I won't pick on him." He took his seat and grabbed the other bento
on Kitsune's desk. "But you have to admit, he's such a smooth operator," he said,
opening the bento.
"Just because someone's being nice, it doesn't mean he has an ulterior motive."
Kitsune said, clearly miffed at Miwa's snide remarks. It was useless though,
since Miwa was already busy attacking the food she prepared. Kitsune sighed as
she realized how pointless it was to talk to Miwa sometimes, and turned to pay
attention to her food instead.
* * * * * * * * * *
Kitsune stood by the sakura tree after swimming practice, waiting for Miwa. It
was quite unusual for him to be late, because a). he usually skipped practice,
b). he left practice early, or c). he refused to stay longer than he usually had to.
She took a seat at the base of the tree, and leaned back, prepared to wait for him.
Not five minutes had passed when someone called out her name.
"Kitsune-chan!" she looked up to see Hitoshi jogging to the tree from the direction
of the gym. "Fancy seeing you here. Waiting for someone?" he asked, right before
taking a seat beside her.
"Actually, I am. I'm waiting for Miwa. We usually go home together." She tried
not to blush at Hitoshi's attention. No matter how you looked at it, Hitoshi was
really cute.
"Ah, Miwa," he said, leaning back on the tree. "Yeah, I think I saw him at
kendo practice earlier," he remarked, surprising Kitsune.
"You joined the kendo club?"
Hitoshi nodded at her surprised reaction. "But I thought you were near-sighted?"
"Hai! But I can wear contacts, right? I'm wearing a pair now."
Suddenly, Kitsune was aware of his sparkling eyes again. She shook her head
quickly, trying to get rid of any untoward thoughts about the sparkling blue eyes
and dazzling smile of the person beside her. "Ah, but wait," she said, trying to
change the topic. "You were at kendo practice?" When he nodded, she continued.
"Did you ditch? Or is it over already?"
"Well, we were let out around 20 minutes ago. I took a quick shower then I was
going home until I ran into you here."
"That's weird," Kitsune mused. "You sure you saw Miwa at practice? He usually
doesn't take more than 10 minutes to shower." Hitoshi suddenly looked thoughtful.
"Oh yeah, I think I saw him. He left the locker room before I did, but I think
he was talking to the team manager, Mami, uh, Mimi---"
"Minami-san?" Kitsune supplied.
"Yeah! That's it, Minami-san. I saw them talking just outside the gym doors."
Kitsune's eyebrow shot up. "Nani desu ka?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just, I don't know. Weird, or something? See Miwa usually
scampers out of the gym as soon as practice is over. It's not usual for him to
loiter." Just then, Kitsune spotted Miwa rounding the bend from the gym. "Oh,
there he is now," she said, her eyebrow shooting up even higher as she realized that
someone, was walking side by side with him, with that someone's hand casually
propped against his arm. AND he was making no effort to remove it!
Miwa waved at her then ran to the sakura tree, leaving behind the pouting
Minami. "Konnichiwa! Been waiting long?" he asked, suddenly stopping short when he
realized that Hitoshi was seated beside Kitsune. "Come on, let's go home. Your
okaa-san might get worried already," he said, then quickly took off in the direction
of the school gate, with Minami trying to catch up. Kitsune quickly stood up and
gestured good-bye to Hitoshi, then rushed to catch up to Miwa.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Sorry had to break up your little, 'love scene' with pretty boy there." Miwa
said, sarcasm dripping from every word. Kitsune's eyebrow shot up, for the ninth
time that day.
"Excuse me. That wasn't a 'love scene'. Now Minami-chan hanging on to your arm,
THAT was a 'love scene'," she retorted, surprised that Miwa was taken aback.
"What love scene?! Mizuharu-san and I were only talking about the upcoming
district meet!" Suddenly, a sinister smile blossomed on Miwa's face. "Don't
tell me -- you were jealous!"
"Excuse me! ME?! Jealous? Of you and Minami? Hah, don't make me laugh, maybe
you're the one who's jealous, giving Hitoshi-kun the cold shoulder."
"That pale patsy? Why should I be jealous? He can't even play decent kendo!"
What do you see in that guy?"
"Well, Hitoshi-kun's a whole lot nicer than some people I know, and he isn't a
fawning groupie like your Minami!"
"My Minami? My Minami? I suppose it's your Hitoshi?"
"STOP!" Kitsune suddenly screamed. "What are we doing?"
They both stopped talking and stared at each other. A bright red blush was starting
to creep up both their faces so they quickly turned away from each other.
"Walk faster will you?" Miwa broke the silence, after a few minutes of
awkwardness. "I still have a TV show to catch." Kitsune tried to quicken her pace,
looking down, refusing to say a word. She was much too worried of how her voice
would sound if she talked.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Ohayo, Kitsune-chan!" greeted Hitoshi the next day before classes started.
"Hope I didn't cause any trouble between you and Miwa," he said, gesturing to
Miwa who was across the room, wiping the black board clean.
"Ohayo, Hitoshi-kun! No trouble at all, what gave you the idea?" she asked.
"Well, Miwa took off in a huff, and he wasn't quite happy to see me when I passed
him in the hallway a few minutes ago." Hitoshi smiled. "I can tell when a guy's
jealous, I have a girlfriend too, and I do know how I feel like when I see her
laughing with some guy."
Kitsune blushed. "Iie! It's nothing like that, Miwa and I are just friends.
We've known each other since we were little, so we go home together."
"Sure, if you say so," he replied, smiling a very enigmatic smile. Just then,
Miwa slipped in his seat, giving Hitoshi the cold shoulder. Hitoshi gave Kitsune
an even larger smile, then sat up straighter as the teacher entered the room.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Come on, you're taking too long! How many daikon are you going to go through
before you finally pick one?" Miwa complained as Kitsune sifted through a bin
of daikon, not in a small part to annoy Miwa. They were in the market district
together, picking up some groceries for Kitsune's mom.
"Well, unlike some people here, I try to pick only the best," she admonished.
"Besides, who asked you to come along anyway?"
"I thought we've been through this already. Your mom asked me to go with you,
right? To help you carry the groceries? Besides, don't we always to this? You're
usually a faster shopper," Miwa picked a daikon and put it in their grocery basket.
"I think you're doing it on purpose! You're still pissed at me for the Hitoshi thing!"
"I am not doing it on purpose!" she replied, returning the daikon Miwa picked
to the bin, then resuming her quest for the perfect daikon. "Everything has to be
perfect today, otou-san's returning from his business trip after two weeks, of course
okaa-san and I are excited. We're preparing the best home cooked meal ever." Finally
settling for one, she moved on to the next display stand, this time for tofu.
"Why don't you just admit it that you're still pissed at me?" he asked, not paying
attention at all to where he was going. As a result, he bumped into someone.
"Gomen nasai!" he bowed, only to look up into Hitoshi's smiling face. Of course,
Miwa was ready to pounce on him, if only he didn't notice the girl beside him.
"Kitsune-chan, Miwa-kun," he said, "this my girlfriend, Satsuki. We've been
together for close to three years now," he paused, giving Miwa a meaningful look.
"Satsuki, these are my classmates, Kitsune and Miwa."
"Konnichiwa!" Satsuki bowed. "It's nice to know that Hitoshi has made friends
already. I visit him every once in a while, but it's still difficult, living far
from here." She looked up at Hitoshi petulantly.
"Ah, Satsuki-chan, we talked about this already, didn't we? I'm moving back there
for college, then we can see each other as much as we want."
Satsuki smiled widely, "Of course I can't help missing Hitoshi."
Hitoshi smiled back at her, affection pouring from every pore of his being. Then
he faced Kitsune and Miwa again. "Oh, we'll leave you two now, okay? We still
have a lot of shopping to do. Ja matta!" he said, then walking off, hand in hand
with Satsuki.
For a few moments there, Miwa was shocked, whether from his mistake or from
the very affectionate display he just witnessed, it was quite impossible to tell.
Kitsune cleared her throat loudly. "It's easy to see that some people jump to
too many conclusions, too quickly, and think the worse of others." Miwa looked
crestfallen.
"Uhm, ano, Kitsune?" Kitsune looked at him expectantly. "G-go-go-gomen nasai.
Friends?" he offered his hand in a gesture of peace.
"Oh, Miwa!" Kitsune squealed, then took Miwa's hand. "All right. You know
I can never stay mad at you for long." Refusing to release his hand, she quickly
dragged him to the tofu stand. "Come on, we have to rush, okaa-san still has to do
the cooking after all."
* * * * * * * * * *
It was such a happy day for Kitsune. Yesterday, she and Miwa finally patched
up their misunderstanding so he was fun company again as they were going home from
their shopping. Seeing Hitoshi with his girlfriend Satsuki really knocked the
arrogance from Miwa, when he realized how mistaken he was. As a result, he was
being extra attentive, and less critical of her. He even carried all of their
groceries on the way home!
Skipping cheerfully from the girls' locker room, she decided to surprise Miwa
and meet him at the gym. As she rounded the bend, she heard a familiar voice.
"Mizuharu-san..."
"Iie, Miwa-kun! Let me finish," said a voice which Kitsune distinctly placed
as the kendo club's manager. 'Miwa's with Minami!' she thought. Quickly,
she hid herself from view, and strained to hear their conversation, amidst the
frantic beating of her heart.
"Miwa-kun! Minami has liked Miwa-kun for sometime now," whispered Minami
who Kitsune saw was nervously twisting her bracelet. She stared at the nervous
girl, quietly wondering who was more worried, Minami about being rejected, or her,
about Minami being accepted by Miwa.
"In fact, I joined the kendo club because of Miwa-kun." Minami looked
up, straight into Miwa's eyes. "Will Miwa-kun go out with Minami?" Miwa's
eyes softened, then he smiled a weak, subdued smile.
"I think Mizuharu-san's really nice and pretty," he started, "but I already like
someone else. Gomen nasai, Mizuharu-san. I can't date you knowing that I feel like
that. Will you forgive me?"
Minami smiled a little, trying to stop the tears which were building up from
falling. "She must be a very pretty girl, whom Miwa-kun likes. Very pretty."
"She is." Miwa replied, in a soft matter-of-fact manner. He reached into his pocket,
then pulled out a handkerchief which he handed to Minami. She took it and dabbed
at her eyes.
"Arigato, Miwa-kun," she sighed, then continued. "She must be a very lucky girl,
being liked by Miwa-kun, ne?"
Kitsune could not believe her ears. Miwa turned down Minami! Feeling guilty
at listening in, she quickly backtracked, and took a shortcut to the sakura tree.
Her heart was thundering even louder as she leaned back on the sakura tree, trying
to process everything that she heard. It was a very difficult task, with her emotions
in turmoil, the most she could muster was hearing Miwa's words echo in her mind.
She was definitely happy that Miwa didn't like Minami, but at the same time, she
was confused. Miwa admitted he liked someone! Did this mean he liked someone
else? Could it be her? Or could there still be another girl? She was still in this
bewildered state of mind when Miwa arrived.
"Kitsune, daijobou ka?" Miwa looked at her curiously.
Trying hard to fight a creeping blush, she straightened and replied. "I'm all
right, why?" Somehow, she couldn't look at Miwa straight in the eye. Not after
what she overheard.
"I don't know, well, you look kind of spaced out." Miwa sat beside her as he
usually did, making Kitsune even more conscious of his presence. "Coach worked
us too much today, I'm so pooped. And hungry too."
"Us too," she quickly declared, "maybe that's why you thought I was spaced out."
Inwardly, she sighed. 'Good save, girl!' she thought. "Because I'm really tired."
"Hmmm... your coach overworked you too?" Miwa smiled. "We deserve a reward.
Let's go eat then! I'm craving for cold soba! Come on, let's go." He stood up and
brushed the seat of his pants.
'It's now or never,' Kitsune thought.
"But aren't we waiting for Minami-chan?" she asked, her heart beating wildly in
her chest again. "Huh?" Miwa looked down to where she was sitting.
"Mizuharu? Why? Did you agree to go home together?" He asked, a perplexed look
on his face.
"Iie," Kitsune felt a slow blush start to creep up her face, so she quickly
stood up, and tried to hide her blush with the guise of brushing her skirt. "It's
just that I thought you were dating her---"
"I'm dating Mizuharu?" Miwa snorted. "She's a nice girl, but I don't like her."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I like her, but not like, like." Kitsune
was confused. "Well, she's a nice person, I like her, but not the 'I like you, I
want to spend the rest of my life with you' like. Do you get it?" She just stared
at him in response. "Besides, I only date girls I really like."
"So you're not dating her?"
"I'm not. Come on, slow poke, I'm really hungry. I think I'll have some gyoza
with my soba." He took her by the wrist and semi-dragged her along, not that she
minded.
"Chotto matte!" Kitsune stammered. "I don't have money with me right now, I
didn't bring a bento so I had to buy lunch." Miwa looked back at her and smiled.
"Kitsune no baka. You think I'd actually let a girl pay for food when we're out
on a date?" Miwa looked away again and continued to drag her along.
A very bright blush crept up on Kitsune's face, and this time, she made no effort
to hide it.
- end -