Note: My stupidity is fading….NO!!!!!!! I don't wanna be an A student anymore! Let me be!!!

Anyways….on with the story with a lil surprise coming up…

Chapter 7

(1 hour later)

Kiruchi woke up and looked around. She rubbed her head and remembered that she had defeated Riokushi in the last budo spar. Kiruchi threw of the blankets and walked over to her bag that was in the corner. She was sharing a room with Narumi who wasn't there. She's probably out stalking that guy. She thought to herself. She took her robe out and changed.

(3 minutes later)

She untied the ribbon from her head and threw on the counter. She took the lucky chain and decided to put it around her neck. Kiruchi fingered the tiger. Now, with Misao gone, everything was different. The gang was still four with Narumi. She saw a pair of keys on the counter and read the note underneath it.

Kiruchi,

Yes, I'm stalking Yugaski. I'll be at the pool if you need me. Yahiko and Soujiro got a room nearby. Oh yea, our room number is 7. Theirs is 13. Hope you feel better! Kamiya won the budo spars, but the iaido spars are tomorrow from 10-3. Don't worry. We'll have an intermission, I know how much you like eating.

-Narumi

Kiruchi smiled and folded the letter and keys into her pocket. I think I'll go visit Yahiko and Soujiro to see how they're doing. She locked the door and walked down the hall. She had passed by some Ushoiya students who muttered," Great match." Maybe they're not so bad after all. She grinned to herself and found herself at the door of room 13. There was a lot of noise coming from inside. She put her ear by the door and decided to listen in.

"You were great, Yahiko!" She knew that that was Soujiro's voice.

"Yea. I am great aren't I?" Yahiko was boasting.

"NO, you're not." She didn't recognize this guy's voice, but she could tell she had heard it before.

"Whatever. I hope Kiruchi's okay. I mean, did you see the way that serpent nailed Riokushi?" Kiruchi smiled and knew that it was Misao.

"You didn't add any points did you Misao?" It was the guy's voice again.

She heard Misao sigh. "No. Judges can't add points for allies though. It's not fair. I gave her a 9.5 though since her technique was perfect. .5 was for a loss."

"What did you give us?" "Yahiko a 9, and Soujiro…8.5." Kiruchi smiled, but she didn't feel the door moving until she fell into their room and saw everyone staring at her. She looked up. "Hi?" Misao walked over to Kiruchi and helped her up.

"So how's everything going?" Soujiro was sniffling slightly because of his score and leaned against Yahiko. "N-Not so good." She walked over to the bed where Soujiro and Yahiko were sitting. "There's still the iaido matches. You still have a chance." Soujiro nodded and smiled.

"The gang hasn't been together in a long time huh?" Kiruchi looked back at Misao and nodded. "What did you do in Kyoto?" Misao blushed slightly. "Well, I decided to visit my sister Mirika and I met Aoshi there." She looked up at the guy who was holding her. He looked up at Kiruchi. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself at the Aoiya…I'm Aoshi Shinomori." "Nice to meet you." Misao cocked her head at Kiruchi. "You two met before?" Kiruchi nodded. "Yea, when we went to the Aoiya to see you. Remember?" Misao nodded.

"I remember that day alright. And I'm pretty sure that Yahiko and Soujiro remembered. Yahiko rolled his eyes and Soujiro nodded with a grin. (He smiles too much, no wonder he's insane.) "I'm gonna walk around a bit. It's nice here. Where are we again?" Aoshi pointed to a sign out the window. "Oh yea, we're in Yokohama. I'll see you guys at dinner." She walked out of the room and closed the door.

She walked down the hallway and looked out the window. The sun was starting to set as a few early stars were coming up. She sighed and opened the door to the outside. A gentle breeze ruffled her black hair. She had untied her hair since it had been making her head feel tight. Kiruchi walked over to the top of a cliff and looked out over the horizon. The Tokyo Bay was below her with the waves rolling in. "Beautiful sunset isn't it?" Kiruchi turned around and saw Riokushi standing by an oak tree. She nodded.

"You put up pretty well today even though you lost." He shrugged. "I can learn things from my losses. This is where I usually come to relax my mind from the negative things." "It's a great place. Very calm and peaceful." He nodded. "It's usually like this. Your name's Kiruchi right?" She nodded again. "And your Riokushi, the guy who a lot of girls drool over." He blushed a bit. "Yea…but they'd rather go shopping that practice budo. I mean, they're just so…. girly. But you, Narumi, and Misao are different. You three do train and practice even if you get really dirty from dirt and blood. Most girls aren't like that."

She shrugged. "Everyone's different, but we all get along fine. We'd rather train than go shopping….mostly. But we do shop once in awhile. There's always a bit of girlyness in all girl's blood." He chuckled. "You know, you actually have a point there. Thanks for telling me that." He walked over by Kiruchi. She blushed slightly and looked behind her. She saw Narumi running into the motel with some guys chasing her.

"I guess not all girls are bad after all." She hit him on the head. "All girls are great and better than boys. You know it cuz I demolished you today!" He rubbed his head. "Yea, yea, yea. I'm gonna go inside. Here's my room number if you ever wanna chat again." He took a marker out of his gi shorts and took her hand. (o.O What have I turned into?!? He didn't change clothes yet by the way.) She blushed redder as he wrote the number 9 on her palm.

Riokushi smiled at her and walked off. Kiruchi just stood there shocked at what he'd done.

(5 minutes later)

She finally smiled a bit. Maybe he's not so bad after all. She shook her head. What am I thinking? Kiruchi walked back inside to her room where Narumi was drying her hair with a towel. "What happened?" Narumi blushed. "Well, as you know I went to stalk Yugaski and…I accidentally fell into the pool by accident. The other boys were shocked and then ran after me for fun I guess. They're really nice for guys." Kiruchi smiled. "I'm glad you made some new friends." She winked at Narumi. "Haha. I'm gonna go get something to dinner. You coming?"

"Yea, I'll be there after I take a shower. I feel well…dirty." She glanced at her hand. Narumi nodded and went out the door. Kiruchi sighed and thought to herself. Wow, today's been pretty great and it's not even over yet. She smiled to herself and cradled her purple robe.

(10 minutes later)

"That was enjoyable." She changed into her purple robe and tied it with a lavender obi. She was coming out of the bathroom and put the towel in the hamper. "I wonder what we have for dinner? I hope they have steak or ribs (drool)." She licked her lips and walked out of the room.

*~*

To be continued…