Disclaimer!! Slam Dunk doesn't belong to me and won't belong to me till the end of time. Thank you. Second chap!
Sumone stupid: You read all of my fics? Haven't heard of you. And you're even keeping your nickname from me! Mysterious now, aren't you? *grins* Thanks for reviewing!
Fiery-ice: Have fun partying! And Fujima's updated!
Fer-chan: He he, it was rather obvious with a name like 'Pooch'. Now why didn't shouri think of that?
Shirodachi: Whoa, are you okay? Shirodachi, you worry me!
Kka: NOT IN THAT TERM OF SLEEPING, YOU HENTAI!!
Lazuli: Don't worry, I'm laughing with you!
Tensaispira: I think Kiyota's absolutely gorgeous when he doesn't pull all those chibi faces! But hey, he looks cute doing that too!
Akane: Yes, you can have more of these funny episodes!
SLL: You are so cool for telling off the best-looking guys in tuition and school. Maybe I crafted Shouri out of you, who knows?
Jo-sen7: Thank you! I'm glad your eyes are okay!
Tiran: Thank you!
Patty g: Thank you – that was a HUGE compliment! I'm glad you like my fics, and even gladder that they make you grin!!
Rapt142: You guys say such nice things. *wipes a tear* Thank you!
Picky-devil: Too many stories picture Kiyota as an idiotic egoist! I can't make Shouri fall for a guy like that, can I? So it's a bit of a change and maturity for Kiyota! Ha ha! (but if you don't like my Kiyota, then you don't have to force yourself to read this fic, you know! It's only going to make me feel guilty if you get disappointed!) (Ps: Um, I dunno about Uozumi being the cutest guy on earth though)
Ayu: Thank you! You'll find out soon enough!
"YOU DID WHAT???" Jura screamed.
Shouri took step back from her cousin's desk. "Why, Jura, what's the problem?" she said, puzzled. "I told you I'd teach that smooth operator a lesson. You should've seen the look –" she paused when Jura released a long shriek. "What?"
Jura had slumped down over her desk.
"Anyway, I'm not finished yet. So I was telling him how barbaric he was –" Jura screeched again "- and how nobody would date somebody named Pooch and how idiotic he was to have slept with her –" Jura dissolved into fits of sniffles " and - WHAT IS IT??" Shouri exploded impatiently. "Why are you looking as if I've just thrown your life into a heap?"
"Because you have!" Jura buried her face in her hands. "First day – no, first HOUR you come back to school and you've already caused all this trouble."
"Trouble? Hey, all I did was defend your rights as a girlfriend to a cheating boyfriend."
Jura whimpered. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Not anymore, and good thing too," Shouri snorted. "If you'd stayed on with him –"
"He was never my boyfriend."
"Even better. You –" Shouri stopped. "What?"
"We weren't an official couple or anything. I have a crush on him, that's all."
Shouri stared at her cousin. "Then why were you locking yourself in your room looking for the world as if you've just suffered a break-up??"
"Because," Jura sniffed. "I heard he'd just gotten Pooch. Now I'll never get a chance with him. Sources say he loves the dog so much that he doesn't pay attention to any of us girls anymore. Can you believe it? He loves his dog more than he loves us girls!"
"A dog?? Pooch's a dog??" Shouri felt her own life spiralling down. She leaped to her feet. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME???"
Jura's head snapped up. "WHY DID YOU GO AND CONFRONT HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE??"
"BECAUSE I THOUGHT I WAS DOING THE RIGHT THING –"
"Girls!" their English teacher hushed firmly, stepping in. "What's with all the racket?"
They ignored her, fully turned to each other and glaring and spitting like dragons. "RIGHT THING??" Jura yelled. "YOU'VE NEVER DONE A SINGLE RIGHT THING IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!"
"WHY, YOU –"
"Girls! Girls!" The English teacher tried to butt in. "The least you can do is fight in English! (bearing in mind that they actually speak in Japanese)"
Shouri was in a terrible mood as everybody around her rushed excitedly for the canteen. Her dark scowl accompanied her as she walked grumpily down the corridor. Jura had gone on ahead for recess after both vowed never to speak to each other again till the end of eternity. Good thing too, or Shouri would've rattled her cousin to death.
Lips twisted downwards in the worst of frowns, she turned a corner – and saw Nobunaga Kiyota emerging from his classroom. Wonderful. She stopped abruptly, face turning red at the embarrassing memory. This is what you get for trying to help other people out, she thought sulkily. I had innocent intentions, and next thing I know, I'm probably the laughing stock of the entire school.
He noticed her with a slight raise of the eyebrow and paused too. They stared quietly at each other before he sighed and broke the silence. "Whom did I sleep with now?"
Shouri flushed, looking down, suddenly fascinated by the cracks on the floor. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "It was a misunderstanding between me and the messenger."
"I see. Where is that messenger now?"
"Six feet under."
Kiyota's eyes widened. "Buried?? You killed her?"
"No –" I wish. "She's under this very floor, in the canteen, eating." She coughed importantly and started to move again. "See you."
She was about to go past him when he stopped her. "Wait a minute. Is that all you can do?"
"What?"
"You," Kiyota said then, with an edgier tone, "humiliated and damaged my reputation in front of hundreds this morning and now you come up and say 'sorry', and that's it??"
"There were only forty people," she reminded sullenly.
"And you apologise in front of no one. How am I going to make myself clear in front of those forty?" he asked. "Now that all of my fans think I'm a sex-crazed teenager and send me indecent messages and interesting offers, how do I make them see that they're misinformed?"
"I'm sorry," Shouri said again. "Okay?"
He took hold of her wrist when she tried to go. "I didn't say you were forgiven."
"Of course I'm forgiven. Everybody forgives and forgets."
"I'm not everybody." He said pointedly. "And I certainly don't forgive and forget."
She scowled at the floor. "What do you want me to do?" she muttered disdainfully. "How else am I supposed to apologise?"
Kiyota grinned then. "I'll think of something."
"I, uh… well," Dina murmured indecisively as she stared at her classmate, Shouri. "You sure, um, make your comeback noticed."
Shouri glanced down at the paper pinned to the front of her uniform with the words: - Kiyota is not a pig. I am – in neon green. Then she touched the fake pig's ears and snout on her head and face. She winced. "Do me a favour and shoot me, Dina."
"You don't look that bad."
"But I feel that bad." Shouri turned beet-red as a couple of seniors walked by and laughed at her. "I'll never meddle in someone's business again," she promised sadly. "Ever."
"And the pigs will all fly to heaven." Jura snorted from the doorway. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Shouri." She walked over, studied the state of her cousin and then sighed pensively. "I wish Kiyota had spoken to me," she said. "I'll put on those disgusting disguise – no matter how horrible they are - for him."
"Speak for yourself," Shouri murmured. " I wouldn't."
The rest of the class filled in, along with the Math teacher, and all openly snickered at Shouri, who shrunk more and more in her seat as the minutes passed. By the end of the lesson and school, she was halfway under her table, face blooming red in embarrassment. And it didn't help at all when Kiyota waltzed in right after the bell rang.
Excited at the prospect of having both main characters of the scandal in one room, the other students packed their bags as slowly as possible, their muscles suddenly exhausted and unable to move efficiently. Aware of it, Kiyota grinned easily as he caught sight of Shouri – which wasn't so hard since the ridiculous, self-made ears and snout made her stand out. She paled at the sight of him and sighed into her hands.
"Ready for the parade, Hanataka?" he asked loudly, standing in the centre of the class, comfortable with thirty pairs of eyes on him. "To tell you the truth, I can't wait."
Shouri stonily zipped her bag even as Jura nudged an elbow at her in jealousy. "I prefer lies to truth," she muttered grumpily. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything."
Kiyota's eyes widened impressively. "I'm not the one who started it." He replied with an innocent look. "And as I recall, you didn't have anything nice to say to me either this morning. But you babbled anyway. At the very least, I'm not jumping into ridiculous conclusions." He turned to the class. "Unlike a certain someone here, don't you think?"
Everyone nodded supportively.
Shouri turned a flaming shade of magenta. Did she say he'd make a terrible debater? She must've been drunk. Grabbing her bag, she stalked towards him, face like a thundercloud. Behind her, Jura scrambled to catch up.
"No, don't hold your bag in front of your shirt," Kiyota reproved, smiling. "You're covering the entire message. We don't want that to happen now, do we?"
Again, the rest of the class nodded.
Shouri straddled her bag over her back with a hiss, exposing the idiotic message to the public again. Kiyota nodded approvingly and then looked questioningly at Jura. "Hi, baby. Can I do anything for you?"
Jura practically swooned down to the floor. "I –" she stammered, eyes starry. "I want to come along – to see Shouri parade." She ignored Shouri's I-thought-we-were-related-by-blood-how-could-you-do-this-to-me look. "And you."
"And what's your name?"
"Jura." She said sweetly. "Jura Wanaku."
Kiyota looked sharply at Shouri with a glint in his eyes. "Ah," he said simply, but his look sent a novel-long speech. Shouri looked at the floor again. Smirking, he bowed extravagantly to Jura. "Nice to be your acquaintance," he said. "Next time I break your heart again, please send someone else to bash me."
Jura giggled as Shouri stared harder at the floor.
"All right, Hanataka," Kiyota turned back to his practically bending victim. "Four rounds around the school. Come now, everyone's waiting to see you." He grinned charmingly. "Especially me."
*wink* ^_^