(Hm, i guess the biggest complaint so far is the OOCnes of the characters, so i guess i'm hoping to try and explain off their behaviour in the next chapters... But whether i succeed or not i hope you guys keep on reading! :)

jaa na!)

3. a lot of thinking

Midnight.

The moonlight glittered on the ice blade as he swung it around, performing a series of moves that seemed almost a dance. Each strike was perfect, evidence of his unequalled skill with the Ensui. The speed and precision spoke of many long hours of hard training.

Quickly turning, stepping forward and backward, and crouching, ready for an upward strike. Swinging the sword in an arc, or slashing down, or pulling it back to move forward with a sudden thrust. Pivoting on one foot to deliver a spinning blow. Each movement flowing freely into the next, the same way water would move as it flowed through a river.

And when he finished, he stood in the middle of the garden and looked up at half moon and the twinkling stars. He had been performing all these movements since he had reached home late that afternoon, not even stopping for some nourishment.

Is something bothering him about what had transpired that day..? Or is it something else..?

She turned and waved at him before she went into her house. As far as he knew, she was an only child. He had heard stories that her mother was a professional wrestler, but he never believed it. He had never asked directly, but from conversations he gathered that her mother was an ordinary housewife and her father was probably a clerk for a medium-sized company. Well, you can't really call them conversations... since she did almost all of the talking...

Anyway, even though she acted like a tomboy, she knew perfectly well that she was a girl. A girl who could beat up any boy who messed with her! And she was proud of that. She was loud-mouthed and a bit violent, but she also had a sensitive side. And she was strong, and would refuse to rely on anybody but herself. She also had a good head – that is, she is the smartest on the Hokage team. She thinks when she fights, and that is a large part of her strength in battle. She also has a lot of guts, and will never back down from anybody.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of things to admire in Kirisawa....

Thinking back, he tried to remember how they first met... They were... never actually introduced formally. When he became part of the Hokage, she just... started treating him accordingly. Nobody before had ever approached him so directly and talked to him so candidly. And she did it all so naturally that it never bothered him at all. And she was the only girl to ever hug him other than his sister...

Always cheerful, noisy, and unafraid, that was how Kirisawa.... iya, Fuuko seemed to him. Now they were actually calling each other by their first names...

Recca. Domon. Kaoru. Ganko. Yanagi. Fuuko. The Hokage. And he is part of them now. They are his friends. It... really has been a long time since he has had any, but slowly he is learning how to interact with other people again. And besides, everyone seems to accept him exactly as he is, no pretensions or falseness. It was actually Fuuko who had made him feel that. The way she acted with him, he never noticed how easily she had made him feel like he was a part of the team. The people who saw them together thought she was his girlfriend... He wondered why so? What did all those people see between them anyway? Well... they were sitting pretty close, face-to-face beneath the tree... And he had been leaning forward putting the band-aid on her nose... Did it actually seem like he was... about to kiss her?! Those people might have thought so... And one of them actually took a picture!

That made him feel like laughing again... it really was all very amusing. But Fuuko did admit she was embarrassed by it all. She was even all red in the face. He had never seen her blush so much before. She laughed it off in the end, and her laugh sounded more like her.

And then he realizes why he is thinking a lot about that afternoon. It is because he felt something then that he had only felt a long time ago, when his sister had still been with him. Fuuko had made him feel... at ease, comfortable. Like, everything was all right because... she was there. Only Mifuyu had been able to make him feel like that, and it was unbelievable that Fuuko should be the one to awaken those feelings again. But that is proof then – that he likes Kirisawa Fuuko. He likes being around her, and he likes how she makes him feel. He likes her attitude, her cheery demeanor, her fiery temper, and even her oft times silliness.

It is the first time he has ever admitted to liking anybody, and he smiles at the thought. He wonders how she would react if he tells her all these. He didn't know. Which made him think that, maybe he should try and get to know her a bit more. Trying to get to know a person is something he really hasn't done before. But he thought it would be good for him to try. After all, you can only really be good friends with someone if you know that person pretty well...

It was really not like him to think of things so much. Now that his thoughts were clear on these matters, he felt better. He actually found himself looking forward to seeing Fuuko the next day. Before he turned away he sees a falling star flash across the sky. He knows you're supposed to make a wish when you see one, and he was a bit surprised to find that the first thing that came into his mind was... just her name. Fuuko. Before, he thought of nothing.

He goes back into the house and cleans up, and changes into his sleeping clothes. He lies down on his bed and was soon sleepy.

His last thought before drifting off was 'It's amazing how many guys don't notice how beautiful Fuuko looks just because she acts like such a tomboy...'