Chapter Eight: Detour
A sunny Wednesday morning found Miyagi pacing the tiled floors of his kitchen with an emptied glass on one hand, musing to himself. Silently, he gazed at the refrigerator, which in turn kicked in and buzzed. The familiar sound of the refrigerator snapped Miyagi out of his reverie and he set the glass down on the kitchen counter He glanced at the small calendar pinned up on the refrigerator by colorful magnets shaped like fruits.
'Today's the day,' Miyagi thought as he opened the door of the refrigerator. Miyagi stopped as he saw a familiar box on the top shelf. Miyagi opened the box and saw that only one piece of chocolate - a heart- shaped one - was left. He suspected that his parents found out what was in the box and decided to take a bite or two.or three. Shaking his head in disbelief, Miyagi took the last bit of chocolate and popped it into his mouth He threw the now empty box on the trash bin.
He didn't feel like going to school today. Today was the last day of the bet He knew that it didn't matter who won; today was going to change the rest of their lives. He wondered what Mitsui was doing right now. Was he feeling nervous too?
"Ryota!" he heard his mother call out. "Hurry up or you'll be late for school!"
"Hai, kaachan," Miyagi whispered, obviously not for the benefit of his mother's hearing. He savored the chocolate's caramel-filled core as he bounded up the stairs towards the bathroom.
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It wasn't until he had reached the corridor leading to the 2nd year's classrooms did Miyagi finally realized that the strange looks and stifled giggles were directed towards him. His classmates, who were chatting enthusiastically outside the door of their classroom, turned and ran back inside the classroom upon seeing him. Miyagi would have been surprised at this behavior if he hadn't gotten the same treatment yesterday, and the day before that. And the only thing worse than the stares and the looks was the reason BEHIND the stares and the looks.
Miyagi groaned as he stepped into the classroom and looked at his desk, which confirmed his suspicions. A bouquet of flowers lay delicately on top of his desk, like it had yesterday and the day before that. Miyagi glared at his snickering classmates as he strode past them as he rushed towards his desk He ran back outside the classroom and dumped the roses in the trash bin, like he had done yesterday and the day before that.
"Oh Miyagi kun, you're breaking my heart."
Miyagi turned around and saw Hideki leaning against the doorframe. He had a look of mock hurt on his face. "I take it you didn't like the flowers Miyagi kun?"
Miyagi sighed. "Look Hideki, I'm new to this courtship ritual, but I don't think you'll get a guy by humiliating him in front of his peers."
"Really?" Hideki said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Mitsui kun gave you chocolates and you didn't find it humiliating."
Miyagi glared at Hideki. "He didn't leave them on my desk for everyone to see!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, let's not fight okay?" Hideki stretched out his hand for a handshake. Miyagi didn't move. "I sent you flowers for three consecutive days. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Of course it does!" Miyagi hissed, glaring at some of his classmates who were inching closer, trying to listen in on their conversation. "Today is the last day of the bet. You're getting desperate."
"You're being unfair. You allow Mitsui kun to spend time with you while you wont even give me a chance!"
Miyagi rolled his eyes. "If I remember correctly Hideki, you were not part of the stupid bet anyway. You're the one who squeezed yourself in. Frankly, I don't care if I never see you again." He turned to return to his classroom, but Hideki blocked his path.
"Come on, just this one time? We can go out, see a movie, anything you want!"
Miyagi sighed again and pulled Hideki out of his way. "Really Hideki I'd love to - well, actually I don't - but I'll be busy this whole afternoon plotting."
His classmates scampered out of the way as Miyagi entered the classroom. He gave Ayako a "don't ask" look and sat down on his desk, burying his head with his arms. He could still smell the fragrance of the flowers embedded into the wood.
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"Look on the bright side Ryota. At least you're a celebrity," Ayako offered as she watched Miyagi shoot another whispering couple a deadly glare. It was lunchtime and they were in the cafeteria, which meant that it was crowded with students, half of which couldn't stop talking about Hideki pursuing Miyagi. Miyagi, Ayako and most of the basketball team were seated in the same table.
Miyagi groaned as Mitsui sat down beside him, lunch plate in his hands. "I already have enough rumors about me circulating around the school without your help, thank you."
Mitsui laughed. "Really? And I thought you were enjoying all of this attention."
"Oh yes, it's all so flattering," Miyagi replied sarcastically.
"100 yen says Ryochin will win!" Sakuragi announced, emptying his pocket for some change. The redhead laughed but Miyagi thought it sounded kind of sad and hollow. Miyagi looked at Rukawa and the latter seemed to notice the same thing. Sakuragi was just putting up a tough front and all he wanted was for his beloved to finally say 'I love you'.
Miyagi turned and looked at Mitsui, who was also staring back at him. Mitsui must have seen right through Sakuragi's act. The expression on Mitsui's face told Miyagi that the former felt guilty about what they were doing to Rukawa and Sakuragi's relationship.
As the other members of the table started to joke about whom they were rooting for, Mitsui leaned towards Miyagi and whispered, "Listen, I don't want to go through this bet anymore."
"That's just because I'm winning." Miyagi whispered back.
Mitsui shook his head. "No. Even if I was winning, I'd call it off."
"What would you do if I won the bet?"
"I don't know," Mitsui shrugged. "I guess I'll congratulate you and face my gang bravely for my consequence. Everybody lives happily ever after." He looked at Sakuragi, who was pushing his meatballs around the plate with a plastic fork. "Okay, so maybe not everybody."
"I guess when the bet's over it's really gonna be over, right?"
"Huh?" Mitsui asked, puzzled.
"I mean all this. Of course you wont be chasing after me anymore after the bet is over right?" Miyagi laughed.
"Ryota?" Mitsui asked, worried. Miyagi's laugh sounded as hollow as Sakuragi's.
Miyagi must have noticed this. He stood up suddenly and announced, "I have to go." He left the cafeteria without a backward glance while everyone on the table watched him leave.
"What did you do?" Ayako asked, pointing her fork at Mitsui suspiciously.
Mitsui glared at Ayako. "I didn't do anything!"
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Miyagi walked along the corridor of the first year classrooms slowly. After he had left the cafeteria, he walked around the school grounds a little bit, in deep thought. Everywhere he went, he would always catch someone looking at him and snickering.
As Miyagi saw it, no one could ever win. If he won, it would hurt Sakuragi and Mitsui would lose the bet with his gang. If Mitsui won the bet, there was a possibility that they could never be friends again and the whole team would be affected.
'And I'll never know,' Miyagi thought to himself. He wished there was some way to make everything okay for everyone. Miyagi stopped walking. He looked at the classroom next to him and saw a familiar mop of raven hair huddled on a chair.
Miyagi approached Rukawa carefully. He knew what happened to people who woke Rukawa up so he stood a foot away from the supposedly sleeping boy.
"I'm awake," Miyagi heard the boy murmur. Rukawa lifted his head and looked at Miyagi. Miyagi could see Rukawa's eyes lit up but it disappeared when he saw it was Miyagi. "It's you," Rukawa said blatantly.
Miyagi smiled sadly. "You were expecting Hanamichi I guess." Rukawa didn't reply so Miyagi leaned against the wall and asked, "Do you really love Hanamichi?"
Rukawa just stared at Miyagi. Miyagi thought that his junior would tell him it was none of his business. Instead, Rukawa replied, "It doesn't matter to you. You don't really want to know."
"I want to know a lot of things," Miyagi murmured. "If you don't gamble, you might regret it in the future." His voice was so soft that Rukawa might not have heard his advice. But maybe it was because the advice was not for Rukawa. Miyagi stood up straight. "Rukawa."
"Hm?"
"I have a favor to ask."
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Sakuragi walked along the corridor, his pockets a little lighter. He had just been in a betting match with his gundan to who would win the bet. He bet for Miyagi, because he was his friend. Yohei had looked at him with worry, knowing exactly how his redhead friend was truly thinking while the others just kept of raising the bet, unaware of what Sakuragi was going through.
'Remember,' he told himself. 'You're just betting for Ryochin because he's your friend, not because you believe in what he's betting for.' And it was only for today. He could last the day. It was not like Rukawa was just going to grab him and tell him he loves him. It was so unlike Rukawa.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm. Sakuragi jerked his arm away and turned around to face the stranger to give him a head butt. "Kitsune!"
Rukawa held Sakuragi's arm tightly. "We have to talk."
Sakuragi looked around the hallway. There were several students milling around and they had stopped to look at Rukawa and Sakuragi. Sakuragi got worried. "Kit-kitsune. There are people around."
"Good," was all Rukawa said before he pinned Sakuragi against the wall. Sakuragi's heart started beating. 'He's going to tell you he loves you!' a voice inside his head told him. Sakuragi was torn between his friend and his own desires. He looked around and prayed that Miyagi would appear and stop this. "Look, kitsune please. We had a deal. Maybe you can wait for tomorrow or that day after that! Any day! Even everyday if you want but please don't say it now. Ryochin would kill me and the Tensai keeps his word to his -"
Rukawa pressed his lips lightly against Sakuragi's. Sakuragi heard the students gasp. "You always talk too much. Why are words so important to you?" Rukawa began, whispering the words against Sakuragi's lips." Words are just small things that you can take back anytime you want. Words can lie and manipulate. I thought we were strong Hana. I thought you understood that we didn't need words."
'G-gomen," Sakuragi murmured. "I don't need you to tell me. I said I was okay with it right?" Rukawa looked at Sakuragi's eyes and he smiled. A small little smile Sakuragi had only seen twice - it usually meant that Rukawa was amused. Rukawa would always look at Sakuragi's eyes to know the whole truth. Sakuragi's eyes would always betray him and Rukawa could see what Sakuragi truly felt. "It's not what you want is it?" Rukawa whispered, his lips still hovering centimeters away from Sakuragi's. "I said it's only words. I'm not about to lose you because of a few words."
Sakuragi froze in anticipation and almost hit himself for feeling that way.
"Hana, aishiteru."
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"Hideki!"
Hideki turned around and saw his friend Ueno rushing down the hall. "What is it? You shouldn't shout like that you know. It's a total turn-off."
"Mitsui won the bet!"
"What!" Hideki screamed, louder than Ueno had a while ago. He couldn't believe this was happening. "Where's Miyagi?"
Ueno shrugged. "I dunno. All I know is that some kids saw Rukawa and Sakuragi kissing in the hallway. Rukawa had told Sakuragi that he loved him."
"Shit!" Hideki cursed. He didn't like it one bit. For a long time now, he was still better than Mitsui. He didn't want Mitsui to win. He didn't want Mitsui to be better than him. Miyagi was a big fish and Mitsui had caught him. "I can't stay here to watch. It makes me sick." He stood up and walked away from his classroom and his friends.
"Where are you going? It's in the middle of class hours!" Ueno called out, but Hideki never heard him.
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Hideki was still fuming as he walked towards the parking lot. He hated it when things didn't go according to his plan. He specially hated it when Mitsui was involved. He fumbled for the keys to his Toyota and when he looked up, he almost dropped them.
Miyagi was leaning against the side of his red Toyota. Miyagi was looking down and drawing patterns on the dirt with his shoe. When Miyagi heard Hideki approaching, he looked up.
Hideki sighed. Will this day never end? "Look Miyagi kun," he said, his voice devoid of all his usual charm. He was aggravated. "If you came here to rub it in, don't. Okay? For all I know, Mitsui kun would just -"
"Stop," Miyagi said, standing up straight. "I don't want to hear about the stupid bet."
Hideki blinked. He had this funny feeling in his stomach for some reason. "Why are you here?"
Miyagi hesitated, as if he was having second thoughts. "Does your offer still stand? I mean, about us going out and all. I just wanted to ask if you still wanted to."
A smile slowly formed on Hideki's face. "Sure, if you're cool about leaving school in the middle of class hours. I was about to leave. We can go watch a movie then go over to my house to hang out, you know. Does that sound okay?"
Miyagi nodded. "Sounds fine."
"Good. Get into the car." By the time Hideki had seated himself and buckled his seatbelt, he caught himself smile on his rearview mirror. The smile turned into a wide grin as he started the car. Maybe things were not so bad after all. He knew that this would be the biggest blow Mitsui would get.
'This'll teach you not to play with fire, Mitsui kun,' Hideki said to himself as he backed the car into the afternoon traffic.
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"Where's Miyagi?" Mitsui asked. He had just heard the news. In fact, everyone in Shohoku has heard the news.
"I don't know!" Ayako said frantically. They have been searching for Miyagi for over an hour, yet they couldn't find the curly-haired boy anywhere. Mitsui and his gang had caught up with Ayako near the school entrance.
"Maybe he went home because he lost the bet," offered Hotta. "That little chicken."
Mitsui knew Miyagi would never do that. He was starting to get worried. He knew something had gone wrong.
"Didn't you guys hear the news?" Kawai Mari asked excitedly as she bounded up the stairs leading to the school entrance, where Mitsui and the others stood.
"What news?" Ayako asked.
"Well," Mari started, flipping her notebook. She just loved to brag to everyone that she knew every latest tidbit that happened in school. "Some students saw Miyagi leave with Hideki this afternoon."
"What?" Mitsui cried out loudly, which made Mari jump. Mitsui shook Mari. "Ryota would never do that!"
Irritated, Mari whacked Mitsui's arms. "Look Mitsui! News is news. I swear, I have reliable sources."
"Ryota is not that stupid!" Mitsui said stubbornly, all the while racking his brain out for reasons why Miyagi would do such a thing. Before Ayako could say anything, Mitsui rushed back into the school premises.
Mari raised an eyebrow. "What's up with him?"
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"Did you enjoy the movie?" Hideki asked Miyagi as they entered Hideki's living room.
Miyagi simply nodded. He couldn't concentrate on the movie, not when Hideki's hands were snaking around his shoulders every 10 minutes. Not when he kept on thinking about Mitsui. What was he doing now? Was he worried?
"Miyagi kun are you okay?" Hideki asked.
"Hm? Oh, hai. This house is beautiful. Where are your parents?"
Hideki laughed. "Oh this is not my parent's house. I live here alone."
"Oh," was all Miyagi could say. He looked around the house. It was like a dream house taken from a romantic novel. This is where he must have taken his conquests. Did he take Mitsui here before?
"You can take your bag up to my room. I'll go to the kitchen and fix us something." With that, Hideki disappeared into the adjacent room. His instincts were telling him to get out of there as quickly as possible, but he ignored it and climbed up the stairs. The second level of the house was small. It only had one bedroom and Miyagi assumed that the other door led to the bathroom. Miyagi entered the bedroom and looked around. The drapes and the bed sheets were both velvety and soft to the touch, like it was made from very fine material. On the beside was a small oak table with three scented candles, judging by their blackened tip, the candles have been used before. The bed was king-sized and had about a dozen pillows. The closet door was open and Miyagi could see several unused towels, robed and extra bed sheets. The floor was carpeted and filled with small throw pillows. The whole room smelled like lavender and bath oils. It was what every playboy hideaway was supposed to be.
Miyagi sighed and put down his bag. What was he doing here anyway? Suddenly, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist.
"Comfy yet?" Hideki whispered into Miyagi's ear. "What do you think of my room?"
"It's very - beautiful," Miyagi supplied, for a lack of a better adjective.
"I have some champagne cooled in the living room for us and dinner's almost ready." Hideki caressed Miyagi's earlobe with his lips. "I have some things you can use in the closet. The bathroom is ready for use too." When Miyagi didn't reply, he turned Miyagi around to look at him. "Are you okay?"
Miyagi nodded slowly. Hideki smiled. "Good, because all I want to do is to make you happy right?"
Suddenly, Miyagi scoffed. "Come off it Hideki. We don't need to get emotional. I know what you want."
Hideki smiled. "But you're still here. You could have left you know. But you chose to stay." Miyagi had no retort to this and Hideki felt in control once more. He took Miyagi's arms gently and placed it around his neck. He pulled Miyagi closer and placed his arms around Miyagi's waist. When Miyagi didn't make a move to break away or kick him, Hideki leaned down and pressed his lips onto Miyagi's.
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Bwahahahahahahahah!!! Okay, so some of you are probably screaming, "What the hell" right now. But I assure you; this IS a MitMiya (and a RuHana, but that's another story)
A sunny Wednesday morning found Miyagi pacing the tiled floors of his kitchen with an emptied glass on one hand, musing to himself. Silently, he gazed at the refrigerator, which in turn kicked in and buzzed. The familiar sound of the refrigerator snapped Miyagi out of his reverie and he set the glass down on the kitchen counter He glanced at the small calendar pinned up on the refrigerator by colorful magnets shaped like fruits.
'Today's the day,' Miyagi thought as he opened the door of the refrigerator. Miyagi stopped as he saw a familiar box on the top shelf. Miyagi opened the box and saw that only one piece of chocolate - a heart- shaped one - was left. He suspected that his parents found out what was in the box and decided to take a bite or two.or three. Shaking his head in disbelief, Miyagi took the last bit of chocolate and popped it into his mouth He threw the now empty box on the trash bin.
He didn't feel like going to school today. Today was the last day of the bet He knew that it didn't matter who won; today was going to change the rest of their lives. He wondered what Mitsui was doing right now. Was he feeling nervous too?
"Ryota!" he heard his mother call out. "Hurry up or you'll be late for school!"
"Hai, kaachan," Miyagi whispered, obviously not for the benefit of his mother's hearing. He savored the chocolate's caramel-filled core as he bounded up the stairs towards the bathroom.
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It wasn't until he had reached the corridor leading to the 2nd year's classrooms did Miyagi finally realized that the strange looks and stifled giggles were directed towards him. His classmates, who were chatting enthusiastically outside the door of their classroom, turned and ran back inside the classroom upon seeing him. Miyagi would have been surprised at this behavior if he hadn't gotten the same treatment yesterday, and the day before that. And the only thing worse than the stares and the looks was the reason BEHIND the stares and the looks.
Miyagi groaned as he stepped into the classroom and looked at his desk, which confirmed his suspicions. A bouquet of flowers lay delicately on top of his desk, like it had yesterday and the day before that. Miyagi glared at his snickering classmates as he strode past them as he rushed towards his desk He ran back outside the classroom and dumped the roses in the trash bin, like he had done yesterday and the day before that.
"Oh Miyagi kun, you're breaking my heart."
Miyagi turned around and saw Hideki leaning against the doorframe. He had a look of mock hurt on his face. "I take it you didn't like the flowers Miyagi kun?"
Miyagi sighed. "Look Hideki, I'm new to this courtship ritual, but I don't think you'll get a guy by humiliating him in front of his peers."
"Really?" Hideki said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Mitsui kun gave you chocolates and you didn't find it humiliating."
Miyagi glared at Hideki. "He didn't leave them on my desk for everyone to see!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, let's not fight okay?" Hideki stretched out his hand for a handshake. Miyagi didn't move. "I sent you flowers for three consecutive days. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Of course it does!" Miyagi hissed, glaring at some of his classmates who were inching closer, trying to listen in on their conversation. "Today is the last day of the bet. You're getting desperate."
"You're being unfair. You allow Mitsui kun to spend time with you while you wont even give me a chance!"
Miyagi rolled his eyes. "If I remember correctly Hideki, you were not part of the stupid bet anyway. You're the one who squeezed yourself in. Frankly, I don't care if I never see you again." He turned to return to his classroom, but Hideki blocked his path.
"Come on, just this one time? We can go out, see a movie, anything you want!"
Miyagi sighed again and pulled Hideki out of his way. "Really Hideki I'd love to - well, actually I don't - but I'll be busy this whole afternoon plotting."
His classmates scampered out of the way as Miyagi entered the classroom. He gave Ayako a "don't ask" look and sat down on his desk, burying his head with his arms. He could still smell the fragrance of the flowers embedded into the wood.
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"Look on the bright side Ryota. At least you're a celebrity," Ayako offered as she watched Miyagi shoot another whispering couple a deadly glare. It was lunchtime and they were in the cafeteria, which meant that it was crowded with students, half of which couldn't stop talking about Hideki pursuing Miyagi. Miyagi, Ayako and most of the basketball team were seated in the same table.
Miyagi groaned as Mitsui sat down beside him, lunch plate in his hands. "I already have enough rumors about me circulating around the school without your help, thank you."
Mitsui laughed. "Really? And I thought you were enjoying all of this attention."
"Oh yes, it's all so flattering," Miyagi replied sarcastically.
"100 yen says Ryochin will win!" Sakuragi announced, emptying his pocket for some change. The redhead laughed but Miyagi thought it sounded kind of sad and hollow. Miyagi looked at Rukawa and the latter seemed to notice the same thing. Sakuragi was just putting up a tough front and all he wanted was for his beloved to finally say 'I love you'.
Miyagi turned and looked at Mitsui, who was also staring back at him. Mitsui must have seen right through Sakuragi's act. The expression on Mitsui's face told Miyagi that the former felt guilty about what they were doing to Rukawa and Sakuragi's relationship.
As the other members of the table started to joke about whom they were rooting for, Mitsui leaned towards Miyagi and whispered, "Listen, I don't want to go through this bet anymore."
"That's just because I'm winning." Miyagi whispered back.
Mitsui shook his head. "No. Even if I was winning, I'd call it off."
"What would you do if I won the bet?"
"I don't know," Mitsui shrugged. "I guess I'll congratulate you and face my gang bravely for my consequence. Everybody lives happily ever after." He looked at Sakuragi, who was pushing his meatballs around the plate with a plastic fork. "Okay, so maybe not everybody."
"I guess when the bet's over it's really gonna be over, right?"
"Huh?" Mitsui asked, puzzled.
"I mean all this. Of course you wont be chasing after me anymore after the bet is over right?" Miyagi laughed.
"Ryota?" Mitsui asked, worried. Miyagi's laugh sounded as hollow as Sakuragi's.
Miyagi must have noticed this. He stood up suddenly and announced, "I have to go." He left the cafeteria without a backward glance while everyone on the table watched him leave.
"What did you do?" Ayako asked, pointing her fork at Mitsui suspiciously.
Mitsui glared at Ayako. "I didn't do anything!"
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Miyagi walked along the corridor of the first year classrooms slowly. After he had left the cafeteria, he walked around the school grounds a little bit, in deep thought. Everywhere he went, he would always catch someone looking at him and snickering.
As Miyagi saw it, no one could ever win. If he won, it would hurt Sakuragi and Mitsui would lose the bet with his gang. If Mitsui won the bet, there was a possibility that they could never be friends again and the whole team would be affected.
'And I'll never know,' Miyagi thought to himself. He wished there was some way to make everything okay for everyone. Miyagi stopped walking. He looked at the classroom next to him and saw a familiar mop of raven hair huddled on a chair.
Miyagi approached Rukawa carefully. He knew what happened to people who woke Rukawa up so he stood a foot away from the supposedly sleeping boy.
"I'm awake," Miyagi heard the boy murmur. Rukawa lifted his head and looked at Miyagi. Miyagi could see Rukawa's eyes lit up but it disappeared when he saw it was Miyagi. "It's you," Rukawa said blatantly.
Miyagi smiled sadly. "You were expecting Hanamichi I guess." Rukawa didn't reply so Miyagi leaned against the wall and asked, "Do you really love Hanamichi?"
Rukawa just stared at Miyagi. Miyagi thought that his junior would tell him it was none of his business. Instead, Rukawa replied, "It doesn't matter to you. You don't really want to know."
"I want to know a lot of things," Miyagi murmured. "If you don't gamble, you might regret it in the future." His voice was so soft that Rukawa might not have heard his advice. But maybe it was because the advice was not for Rukawa. Miyagi stood up straight. "Rukawa."
"Hm?"
"I have a favor to ask."
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Sakuragi walked along the corridor, his pockets a little lighter. He had just been in a betting match with his gundan to who would win the bet. He bet for Miyagi, because he was his friend. Yohei had looked at him with worry, knowing exactly how his redhead friend was truly thinking while the others just kept of raising the bet, unaware of what Sakuragi was going through.
'Remember,' he told himself. 'You're just betting for Ryochin because he's your friend, not because you believe in what he's betting for.' And it was only for today. He could last the day. It was not like Rukawa was just going to grab him and tell him he loves him. It was so unlike Rukawa.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm. Sakuragi jerked his arm away and turned around to face the stranger to give him a head butt. "Kitsune!"
Rukawa held Sakuragi's arm tightly. "We have to talk."
Sakuragi looked around the hallway. There were several students milling around and they had stopped to look at Rukawa and Sakuragi. Sakuragi got worried. "Kit-kitsune. There are people around."
"Good," was all Rukawa said before he pinned Sakuragi against the wall. Sakuragi's heart started beating. 'He's going to tell you he loves you!' a voice inside his head told him. Sakuragi was torn between his friend and his own desires. He looked around and prayed that Miyagi would appear and stop this. "Look, kitsune please. We had a deal. Maybe you can wait for tomorrow or that day after that! Any day! Even everyday if you want but please don't say it now. Ryochin would kill me and the Tensai keeps his word to his -"
Rukawa pressed his lips lightly against Sakuragi's. Sakuragi heard the students gasp. "You always talk too much. Why are words so important to you?" Rukawa began, whispering the words against Sakuragi's lips." Words are just small things that you can take back anytime you want. Words can lie and manipulate. I thought we were strong Hana. I thought you understood that we didn't need words."
'G-gomen," Sakuragi murmured. "I don't need you to tell me. I said I was okay with it right?" Rukawa looked at Sakuragi's eyes and he smiled. A small little smile Sakuragi had only seen twice - it usually meant that Rukawa was amused. Rukawa would always look at Sakuragi's eyes to know the whole truth. Sakuragi's eyes would always betray him and Rukawa could see what Sakuragi truly felt. "It's not what you want is it?" Rukawa whispered, his lips still hovering centimeters away from Sakuragi's. "I said it's only words. I'm not about to lose you because of a few words."
Sakuragi froze in anticipation and almost hit himself for feeling that way.
"Hana, aishiteru."
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"Hideki!"
Hideki turned around and saw his friend Ueno rushing down the hall. "What is it? You shouldn't shout like that you know. It's a total turn-off."
"Mitsui won the bet!"
"What!" Hideki screamed, louder than Ueno had a while ago. He couldn't believe this was happening. "Where's Miyagi?"
Ueno shrugged. "I dunno. All I know is that some kids saw Rukawa and Sakuragi kissing in the hallway. Rukawa had told Sakuragi that he loved him."
"Shit!" Hideki cursed. He didn't like it one bit. For a long time now, he was still better than Mitsui. He didn't want Mitsui to win. He didn't want Mitsui to be better than him. Miyagi was a big fish and Mitsui had caught him. "I can't stay here to watch. It makes me sick." He stood up and walked away from his classroom and his friends.
"Where are you going? It's in the middle of class hours!" Ueno called out, but Hideki never heard him.
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Hideki was still fuming as he walked towards the parking lot. He hated it when things didn't go according to his plan. He specially hated it when Mitsui was involved. He fumbled for the keys to his Toyota and when he looked up, he almost dropped them.
Miyagi was leaning against the side of his red Toyota. Miyagi was looking down and drawing patterns on the dirt with his shoe. When Miyagi heard Hideki approaching, he looked up.
Hideki sighed. Will this day never end? "Look Miyagi kun," he said, his voice devoid of all his usual charm. He was aggravated. "If you came here to rub it in, don't. Okay? For all I know, Mitsui kun would just -"
"Stop," Miyagi said, standing up straight. "I don't want to hear about the stupid bet."
Hideki blinked. He had this funny feeling in his stomach for some reason. "Why are you here?"
Miyagi hesitated, as if he was having second thoughts. "Does your offer still stand? I mean, about us going out and all. I just wanted to ask if you still wanted to."
A smile slowly formed on Hideki's face. "Sure, if you're cool about leaving school in the middle of class hours. I was about to leave. We can go watch a movie then go over to my house to hang out, you know. Does that sound okay?"
Miyagi nodded. "Sounds fine."
"Good. Get into the car." By the time Hideki had seated himself and buckled his seatbelt, he caught himself smile on his rearview mirror. The smile turned into a wide grin as he started the car. Maybe things were not so bad after all. He knew that this would be the biggest blow Mitsui would get.
'This'll teach you not to play with fire, Mitsui kun,' Hideki said to himself as he backed the car into the afternoon traffic.
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"Where's Miyagi?" Mitsui asked. He had just heard the news. In fact, everyone in Shohoku has heard the news.
"I don't know!" Ayako said frantically. They have been searching for Miyagi for over an hour, yet they couldn't find the curly-haired boy anywhere. Mitsui and his gang had caught up with Ayako near the school entrance.
"Maybe he went home because he lost the bet," offered Hotta. "That little chicken."
Mitsui knew Miyagi would never do that. He was starting to get worried. He knew something had gone wrong.
"Didn't you guys hear the news?" Kawai Mari asked excitedly as she bounded up the stairs leading to the school entrance, where Mitsui and the others stood.
"What news?" Ayako asked.
"Well," Mari started, flipping her notebook. She just loved to brag to everyone that she knew every latest tidbit that happened in school. "Some students saw Miyagi leave with Hideki this afternoon."
"What?" Mitsui cried out loudly, which made Mari jump. Mitsui shook Mari. "Ryota would never do that!"
Irritated, Mari whacked Mitsui's arms. "Look Mitsui! News is news. I swear, I have reliable sources."
"Ryota is not that stupid!" Mitsui said stubbornly, all the while racking his brain out for reasons why Miyagi would do such a thing. Before Ayako could say anything, Mitsui rushed back into the school premises.
Mari raised an eyebrow. "What's up with him?"
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"Did you enjoy the movie?" Hideki asked Miyagi as they entered Hideki's living room.
Miyagi simply nodded. He couldn't concentrate on the movie, not when Hideki's hands were snaking around his shoulders every 10 minutes. Not when he kept on thinking about Mitsui. What was he doing now? Was he worried?
"Miyagi kun are you okay?" Hideki asked.
"Hm? Oh, hai. This house is beautiful. Where are your parents?"
Hideki laughed. "Oh this is not my parent's house. I live here alone."
"Oh," was all Miyagi could say. He looked around the house. It was like a dream house taken from a romantic novel. This is where he must have taken his conquests. Did he take Mitsui here before?
"You can take your bag up to my room. I'll go to the kitchen and fix us something." With that, Hideki disappeared into the adjacent room. His instincts were telling him to get out of there as quickly as possible, but he ignored it and climbed up the stairs. The second level of the house was small. It only had one bedroom and Miyagi assumed that the other door led to the bathroom. Miyagi entered the bedroom and looked around. The drapes and the bed sheets were both velvety and soft to the touch, like it was made from very fine material. On the beside was a small oak table with three scented candles, judging by their blackened tip, the candles have been used before. The bed was king-sized and had about a dozen pillows. The closet door was open and Miyagi could see several unused towels, robed and extra bed sheets. The floor was carpeted and filled with small throw pillows. The whole room smelled like lavender and bath oils. It was what every playboy hideaway was supposed to be.
Miyagi sighed and put down his bag. What was he doing here anyway? Suddenly, he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his waist.
"Comfy yet?" Hideki whispered into Miyagi's ear. "What do you think of my room?"
"It's very - beautiful," Miyagi supplied, for a lack of a better adjective.
"I have some champagne cooled in the living room for us and dinner's almost ready." Hideki caressed Miyagi's earlobe with his lips. "I have some things you can use in the closet. The bathroom is ready for use too." When Miyagi didn't reply, he turned Miyagi around to look at him. "Are you okay?"
Miyagi nodded slowly. Hideki smiled. "Good, because all I want to do is to make you happy right?"
Suddenly, Miyagi scoffed. "Come off it Hideki. We don't need to get emotional. I know what you want."
Hideki smiled. "But you're still here. You could have left you know. But you chose to stay." Miyagi had no retort to this and Hideki felt in control once more. He took Miyagi's arms gently and placed it around his neck. He pulled Miyagi closer and placed his arms around Miyagi's waist. When Miyagi didn't make a move to break away or kick him, Hideki leaned down and pressed his lips onto Miyagi's.
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Bwahahahahahahahah!!! Okay, so some of you are probably screaming, "What the hell" right now. But I assure you; this IS a MitMiya (and a RuHana, but that's another story)