Chapter 8

"Remember, Asayake, as soon as you finish your homework, you come straight home!"

"I know Mom, high school isn't any different than eight grade!"

"When I was in high school, they gave out mountains of homework on the first day! Don't expect things to be easy."

"Mom, I'll be fine!"

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow after school, ok?"

"Ok. Bye!" Asayake called out from inside the well. 'Tomorrow I'm starting high school! Lots of cute boys and everything!' she thought. ~~

"Hey, Sana-chan!"

"Hey, Asa-chan!"

"You know, do you think we're too old for the whole '-chan' thing? I mean, we're going into high school!"

"Who cares? High school is no big deal!"

"To you! The first day of high school has to be perfect! Perfect outfit, perfect hair, perfect attitude... perfect impression for all those cute high school boys!"

"Perfect outfit? It's a school uniform!"

"Well, it'll have to be perfectly cleaned!"

"It doesn't matter to me."

"But it does to me because tomorrow is my chance to start over with a new reputation and I don't want to mess that up!"

"What was wrong with your old rep?"

"It was fine, but this time I don't want to settle for 'nice, funny, cool to talk to but that's it.' I want to be the center of attention!"

"To catch the eye of a certain boy, maybe?"

"You know that I don't like anyone now!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Sana!"

"Kidding!"

"You'd better be!"

"But seriously, there are tons of cute guys in school. How is it possible that you don't like any of them???"

"It's very simple. I just _don't_ like them!"

"Are you sure you don't have your eye on someone else? Maybe even subconsciously?"

"Subconsciously?"

"Can't it be possible that you like some one but don't want to admit it to yourself? Like on TV shows!"

"NO!"

"Come on, think!"

"Well... maybe... no! There's no one that comes to mind." She said, obviously lying.

"Who?"

"Um... no one."

"I'm your best friend and have been since we were in preschool!"

"It's just someone you don't know."

"Who??!!"

"That's for me to know and for you to not find out."

"You know I'll figure it out!"

"Trust me... you won't."

"Watch me."

~~

Asayake planned everything out: how to do her hair, her makeup, how to act, talk, walk, etc. She made sure everything was perfect.

She smoothed out her skirt, put on her backpack, and left for school: high school.

~~

Asa-chan found her homeroom class (which was math) and noticed a rather handsome boy two seats down. As soon as the bell rung for their second class, Asa-chan bolted out the door, purposely leaving her pencil. Since the boy was in the last row, he'd be last out the door and Asa-chan would be able to go back in, 'accidentally' bump into him, and introduce herself. It would've worked if she hadn't bumped into the wrong person.

"Asa-chan, what are you doing? I thought you were supposed to go to your _second_ class; not homeroom again."

"Sana? Where did he- how did you-?"

"He? As in a boy? Have you gotten a little crush?"

Asa-chan glared at her and retrieved her pencil. She proceeded to her second class and noticed that the mystery guy was there again: two seats down from her, in the back row. "This time, I won't mess up." She said to herself. She planned on subtly waiting in the hall at the end of class and when he comes out: wham! She was dying of anticipation, but managed to listen to the excruciatingly boring language arts teacher.

The bell rang and her plan was working fine so far. She waited in the hallway for him to come out. She saw him in the doorway and swooped in.

"Oh, my goodness! I'm so sorry. I'm really clumsy."

"That's ok. For some reason, a lot of girls bump into me. I'm used to it."

Asa-chan laughed. "Hi, I'm Asayake."

"I'm Kyouko."

"Nice to meet you... um, we have to get to class, so, bye!"

"Bye!" he called out, slightly mesmerized.

'Kyouko! What a nice name! My scheme worked! Oh, he's so cute!'

"Asa? Asa-chan? Snap out of it!" Sana cried.

"What? Huh?"

"You almost missed the classroom."

"Oh... oops."

"Who is he?"

"What?"

"You only act like this when it involves a boy."

"His name is Kyouko."

"Is he cute?"

"Duh!"

~~

"I can't believe the amount of homework they give out on the first day of school!" Asa-chan muttered under her breath. She started with her math homework (which there was the most of) and worked her butt off for an hour and a half when she was halfway through the assignments.

She took a 15-minute break and got back to work. Finally, after a long 3-½ hours, she was finished with all of her homework. She put all of her work in her backpack and set it down in front of her bedroom door. She plopped onto her bed and yawned. "A tiny nap won't hurt!" She set the alarm clock. She fell asleep the moment she hit the pillow.

~~

"Goodness, where is that girl??"

"Calm down! Didn't you say they gave out 'mountains of homework'?"

"But it shouldn't take her over 4 hours to finish it!" Kagome exclaimed. "She's taking a nap, I bet. She always does. I'm going to wake her up and bring her back."

Kagome jumped into the well. She entered the house and called out for her.

"Kagome?" Her mother asked. She still looked young to be a grandmother.

"Mom, where's Asa-chan?"

"Her room; she hasn't come out since she came home, except to get a drink." Kagome's mother replied. Kagome rolled her eyes and continued up the stairs.

"Asayake Misora Higurashi, how many times do I have to tell you not to fall asleep?!"

"Hmm? Mom?" Asa-chan woke up, rubbing her eyes.

"I always tell you not to take naps!"

"Sorry, I didn't think I would sleep through the alarm clock."

Kagome sighed. "Let's go home."

On their way down the stairs, Asa-chan asked if it was ok to start dating, now that she was 14 and a half.

"Date?"

"I don't know... I'll ask your father tonight."

"Ok. Be sure he knows that dating is _way_ less serious than courting."

"Alright."

"Thanks Mom!"

"No prob."

~~

"Are you sure she should be dating?"

"Well, I don't see the problem."

"She's fourteen!"

"And a half! I started dating when I was fifteen, and she's almost there! Just let her!"

"Hmmph. Fine."

~~

"Hey Sango!"

"Hey."

"Do you think I made the right choice, letting Asa-chan date?"

"Well, dating is less serious than courting, but it's almost the same thing, and she's practically ready to court!"

"You're right."

Ryo-kun stopped in his tracks. His mom was talking about Asa-chan dating?!?"

~~

"Hey!"

"What's up, Ryo-kun?"

"How was high school?"

"It was pretty much the same as junior high."

"Oh... I've been wondering... you always talk about Sana, but after 10 years, I still haven't met her."

"Do you want to?"

"I guess."

"Well... I think I can introduce you two after school tomorrow."

"Alright." Ryo was eager to find out who Asa-chan was dating.

~~

"Hey, Sana!" Asa-chan called her five minutes after finishing her homework, which there didn't seem to be as much of.

"Hey. Done with your homework?"

"Barely! You?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you know how I talk about my friend Ryo-kun a lot?"

"Yeah... when am I gonna meet him?"

"See, he wants to meet you too, so I was thinking you could come over, like, right now?"

"Sure; I'll be there in a sec."

"Ok, bye~!"

"Bye!" As soon as they hung up, Asa-chan brought Ryo-kun through the well.

"Sana, that was quick."

"We're only, like, two houses apart, Asa."

"I know... but still."

"Ahem..." Ryo cleared his throat.

"Oh, right! Sana- this is Ryo-kun; Ryo-kun, this is Sana."

"Hi..."

"Hello."

"So... I'm going to get you guys some drinks; is soda ok?"

"Sure."

While Asa-chan went into the kitchen, Sana and Ryo-kun sat on the couch. Sana decided to break the silence and asked, "How long have you known Asa- chan?"

"Um... since she was born, actually. We, uh, used to be neighbors."

"Oh..."

"Yeah... So... Ok, I'll cut to the chase; I kind of wanted to know if you knew if Asa-chan was dating anyone. I don't really want to ask her, and I don't think she'd tell me on her own."

"Dating? Um, no..." Ryo-kun sighed, relieved, "but she does have a crush on this guy in our homeroom... Kyouko, I think it was."

"Kyouko, huh?" Ryo-kun said menacingly, cracking his knuckles.

"The soda's here!" Asa-chan came out of the kitchen with three cans of soda.

~~

"So, Sana was nice."

"She is... glad you like her... Maybe you should go out with her. Then we'd be able to double date!"

"And who would you go with? No one in their right minds would date you!"

"Shut up!" Asa-chan said, punching him teasingly."

"But seriously, who?" Ryo-kun asked.

"I don't know... but there's this nice guy in my homeroom-"

"Kyouko?"

"How'd you know?"

"Well, Sana told me."

"Did she just flat out tell you, or did you ask her?"

"Well, it just kind of came up."

"Uh-huh, sure." Asa-chan said disbelievingly. "I know you asked her! What happens in my personal life is my business! I know you're just looking out for me, but you don't always have to play the 'older brother'!"

Hearing those words really hurt, and it wasn't even the fact that she just chewed him out for butting into her personal life, but she thought of him as the 'older brother,' nothing more.

Over the next few weeks, Ryo-kun avoided eye contact with Asa-chan. He spent the least amount of time with her as possible, and always had an excuse handy when she needed to talk to him. Finally, one day, she cornered him.

"What the heck is up with you?"

"It's... nothing. I have to get home; Mom's expecting me to fix the holes in the roof."

"I've had enough of this! Why are you always avoiding me?"

"I told you, it's nothing."

"So 'nothing' is why you haven't looked me in the eyes for two weeks? 'Nothing' is why you can't stand to be in the same room as me? 'Nothing' is why I've been without my best friend for the longest in our whole lives?"

"Asa, it's just... guy stuff. I need to sort some things out."

"I thought we were going to be best friends our whole lives, but now you can't even talk to me?"

"But that's exactly it! We're only best friends!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I- nothing."

"Tell me! What's going on with you?"

"I mean, for the rest of our lives, that's all I'm going to be to you! A best friend!"

"What more do you want?"

"I mean, I- I-" Ryo-kun couldn't find the words. "I'm- I think I have a crush on you."

"What?!?"

"I don't know!"

"I can't- I can't deal with this right now! This, on top of school and everything else going on in my life! I can't do this!"

"I didn't want to tell you in the first place!"

"Is this why you've been avoiding me?"

"Yeah! I mean, the thought of you with _Kyouko_ and knowing that I'll only be a 'friend' to you; I can hardly handle talking to you anymore!"

"You could've talked to me."

"How? This is hard enough as it is!"

"Well, it's better than keeping it bottled up inside!"

"I know. I just hate this! All of it! I wish I never started feeling like this!"

"Ryouga..." she said, pulling him into a hug. "I don't what to do, but just promise me you won't avoid me anymore! I hate life without you."

"I promise."

"Good."

A/N: Another extremely long chapter! Uh, I hope you liked it. R+R! I'm not sure when I'll post the next chapter, but it should be soon! *Sarah*